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Quickly transferring files between PC and phone

Hey,

I was wondering what folks use to quickly send a file or a link between your PC and android phone in a lightweight and self hosted way.

Currently I use syncthing to copy files around, but I'm looking for something more immediate, and quick than doesn't involve searching for folders in a file manager.

Example use case: Send a file from PC to phone. Notification pops up on phone, tap it to access.

(PC runs OpenBSD)

What lightweight software do you guys use?

Stuff I tried so far:

  • syncthing
  • xmpp
  • tox
  • scp and termux.
  • magic wormhole
  • telegram saved messages
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  • For more manual stuff; Ssh and X-Plore File Explorer.

    Internal, sd card, ssh, ftp(s), google drive, dropbox, and a bunch of other cloud providers; treats it all like one big file system that I can casually copy/move files between.

    For just syncing files between folders: FolderSync. The 'downloads' folder on my phone is setup as a 2-way sync with a folder on my server. Drop a file in either side, click sync, file is in both places. I use this to keep most of the files on my phone backed up, not just syncing the download folder.

    • I was a dedicated xplore user for years until I saw all the advertising cookies that they stuffed into it. That made me sad and I uninstall it.

      • I just paid the whole 4$ for the pro version and to support an otherwise free app I've quite enjoyed.

        No ads/tracking anymore.

        Devs gotta eat.

        • I also had the pro version. Last time I installed it, it asked me to review a bunch of cookies.

          This was about a year ago. Could have changed since then.

          • I keep a fairly close eye on my DNS traffic; it still does crash reporting through Crashlytics (which I just block), but that's about it.

92 comments