[jchw]

I dunno, I use Bluetooth to send files regularly, and it seems alright. The only reason I do this is because it doesn't really require anything particularly special, though it's not particularly fast.

Other than that, there's so many ways to send files that it's hard to pick one as an obvious "best" way to go. However, for something that is reasonably versatile and noob friendly, I pick Wormhole.app. Anything with a modern web browser can use Wormhole.app just fine. I can't speak to how much good its 'end-to-end encryption' is, but it does seem like it mixes some of the best of all worlds for point-to-point file sharing, allowing direct connections but also allowing temporary storage in the someone-else's-computer too.

Of course, will Wormhole.app be around in 10 years? Dunno. I also frequently use Tailscale, rsync, SMB shares, etc. for different purposes. Of course this is only fair as sometimes I'm sending files for different reasons, and I would never use Airdrop to do all of those things, so it's not like it's fair to say the fact that I don't use one solution is an indication that there is some big failure.

Airdrop is indeed convenient, but it being hard to audit does make me a little nervous about stuff like that. There's a lot of reason to be at least a little cautious[1]. Of course, there's no single alternative that is installed by default, has a better track record and more auditability, so I think it's hard to just say that this nullifies any benefits of Airdrop.

It is indeed a bit madness that there are so many options and none of them are the "obvious" right way to go. I think this is a problem that can and will be solved eventually though. Miracast is slowly solving the problem of having a "remote" display as I effortlessly can cast my Linux desktop to a random Samsung TV just by being in close proximity; We basically need a lot of parties to agree to something like that but for point-to-point file sharing.

It's probable that security concerns, though, are indeed one of the main reasons why this continues to be difficult.

[1]: https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/12/tech/china-apple-airdrop-user...

[dash2]

So your best answer needs an app and a visit to a website...? I rest my case!

[jchw]

Nope! Like I said, I often just use Bluetooth to send files. That requires neither an app nor a visit to a website.

I am really miffed that this is your exact takeaway from what I said. I gave you a way that someone can do this:

* I have a file on a device I own.

* I wish to send it to another device.

* I send it.

Yes, it is in fact just as easy to do this via Wormhole.app as it is Airdrop, except it also works across the Internet when not in close proximity.

The problem here is mainly 1. Wormhole.app is just some website some entity runs, not a standard. We should have a good standard specifically for point-to-point sharing, and 2. It's not integrated into the OS. It's just as easy to pop open Safari and go to Wormhole.app as it is to go to the Share menu and select an Airdrop target, but one is vastly easier to discover than the other.

However, what you said was that you think it's "crazy" you can't just share a file between two devices. You in fact can, easily, without downloading random apps, in numerous ways, from Bluetooth to websites using WebRTC like this one. The Bluetooth one even has pretty good discoverability on Android as I would typically just use the share menu.

I will admit that it is unfortunate that there is no "obvious" solution but that's kind of how the ecosystem works outside of Apple. A lot of things will compete on solving a given problem before we actually get an answer that everyone agrees on. This has its pros and cons, and one of the definite cons is that not everyone is sure what to do. But it's weird to point at this and say "Look! You can't even send files between devices easily!" Yes I can. Lack of a single standard solution does not make it significantly harder, even when doing it between me and some random person that may use a different kind of device than I do.