TE
TechEcho
Home24h TopNewestBestAskShowJobs
GitHubTwitter
Home

TechEcho

A tech news platform built with Next.js, providing global tech news and discussions.

GitHubTwitter

Home

HomeNewestBestAskShowJobs

Resources

HackerNews APIOriginal HackerNewsNext.js

© 2025 TechEcho. All rights reserved.

Show HN: It's 2022 and sharing files from Android to Mac is still a pain

28 pointsby alexstylover 2 years ago
I always found sharing files from my Android phone to my Mac a pain. I wanted to have a way to share my photos, videos, documents etc from my phone directly to my MBP, without having to upload anything to the &#x27;cloud&#x27; or some messaging app. Those ways tend to be less secure and fairly slow.<p>Because of this I made this little app you see on the video that enables you to share the files directly from your phone to your laptop. I have been using it for a while now for personal use and it works really well!<p>The app was recently made available to everyone. You can try it out for free via https:&#x2F;&#x2F;ubidrop.com<p>Happy to answer any questions you might have.

19 comments

Vibgyor5over 2 years ago
Your app is appealing and kudos for building it. But I have 3 questions:<p>1. How is it different from using KDE Connect (Android) -&gt; Soduto (Mac)? What is it doing differently?<p>2. Can I use this app offline that is, without internet connection. If yes, then how?<p>3. I see that this is a paid app. Are you planning to add other features too? (Find my phone, browsing files remotely on my phone, incoming call notifications etc.)
评论 #33286676 未加载
notRobotover 2 years ago
Sharing files from Android to any computer is a pain.<p>If you ever need to transfer lots of files (for example while making backups), my recommendation is to use an FTP server app on your phone and then download the files on your PC (explorer.exe has native FTP support but use can use Filezilla or a different FTP client too).
评论 #33286571 未加载
评论 #33286557 未加载
评论 #33286541 未加载
评论 #33287474 未加载
microflashover 2 years ago
I use VLC on iOS to transfer files from Android and PC. VLC offers a handy network share which basically starts an HTTP server. The devices on the same network can then access that URL and from there onwards it is just drag and drop of folders and files.
longnguyenover 2 years ago
It’s amazing to see you’re building and growing Ubidrop, Alex.<p>I spent a few months using Android and then went back to iPhone because it’s so hard to get Android OS working with MacOS. So many incompatible or non-smooth integrations between them.<p>Glad to see Ubidrop exist. I bet it will improve life of an Android user a lot.<p>Congrats on the launch. Dan
评论 #33285507 未加载
ggmover 2 years ago
Its remarkable how a-social &quot;ecology&quot; owners are, when it comes to making it easy to do things into or across ecologies. So, I can imagine an iPhone and a Mac do this better, but my goodness, the lack of motivation to make it simple for an Android and a Mac. or rinse and repeat for an iPhone and a chromebook.<p>&quot;not my problem&quot; and &quot;hey, what if I said we sell more units inside our ecology if we make this a walled garden&quot; come to mind.
评论 #33284571 未加载
Jemmover 2 years ago
Apple is an anti-consumer company. They make choices designed to force users to stay within the ecosystem.
aperubotlaover 2 years ago
This is pretty cool! Transferring files from Android -&gt; Mac is definitely a pain point for me and I&#x27;m sure many others. Nice work!
Existenceblinksover 2 years ago
Your app is appealing since I use Signal to send my files .. the hustle is having to download from Signal desktop. And for image files I have to change ext to .zip in order to prevent compression.
yankexeover 2 years ago
Have been using Snapdrop (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;snapdrop.net" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;snapdrop.net</a>), but product demo on the homepage of ubidrop looks compelling.
wanderingmindover 2 years ago
For those who can hack around a bit, Tailscale + KDEConnect can help you to send files from Android to any device (and vice versa) even when not in same network.
GaryNumanVevoover 2 years ago
I&#x27;ve just been using AnyDrop.io, no application, just a website that works over local wifi to share files. I use it a ton if I can&#x27;t use airdrop.
评论 #33293767 未加载
izerikover 2 years ago
I feel your pain! Currently using Snapdrop[1] but will check out Ubidrop.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;snapdrop.net" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;snapdrop.net</a>
评论 #33286358 未加载
charleshanover 2 years ago
For those who are looking for an open source alternative, you can use Syncthing to share and sync files without uploading anything to the cloud.
johncoltraneover 2 years ago
Not to rain on your parade but Bluetooth has been solving that very problem across every OSes for _many_ years without having to install anything.
评论 #33288681 未加载
评论 #33285320 未加载
评论 #33285930 未加载
anta40over 2 years ago
I&#x27;m testing Ubidrop on Pixel 3 (latest OS update installed).<p>&quot;App update is needed to send to that device&quot;.<p>Hmm what, so I&#x27;m not installing the latest APK?
评论 #33287186 未加载
评论 #33304551 未加载
rakooover 2 years ago
I use Syncthing with a &quot;Documents&quot; folder for that. All the stuff I want to keep goes there. Photos go in a different folder that is also synced with Syncthing.<p>When I want to send a file, I just put it in Documents. Works over WiFi or internet. Bonus: the file is replicated on a server, so it&#x27;s available <i>and</i> in an easy to find location.
bradknowlesover 2 years ago
Is SyncThing not available on Android? Or something compatible with it?
mdni007over 2 years ago
That&#x27;s because Apple has specially designed it to be difficult
amitrippingover 2 years ago
why can&#x27;t you just use <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.android.com&#x2F;filetransfer&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.android.com&#x2F;filetransfer&#x2F;</a> ?