this post was submitted on 21 Jun 2026
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cross-posted from: https://lemdro.id/post/41988045

This is a personal passion project of mine, it is still in its early infancy (many core features are still missing) and the development is slow but deliberate.

why should I care?

if you care about speed and deep integration with the OS this project might be of interest to you.

why?

Wireless file sharing between my devices is still unnecessarily slow, half-baked, and unintuitive. Direct-Share is my attempt to build a file transfer tool that makes local file transfer more seamless than:

  • Android ↔ Android (Nearby Share / Quick Share)
  • Apple AirDrop
  • LocalSend
  • Blip

…but for Linux desktops and Android phones, using Wi-Fi Direct.

what?

  • Python, GTK4/Libadwaita on Linux
  • Kotlin, jetpack compose on Android

if you want to stay up to date with the project or want to know or read more, you can take a look at the GitHub repo

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[–] Dirk@lemmy.ml 1 points 56 minutes ago

Between Android phones or Android->Windows Quick Share exists. Between all other devices Bluetooth can be used for sharing.

[–] umbrella@lemmy.ml 14 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

i use localsend. how is this one better?

[–] boredsquirrel@slrpnk.net 2 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago)

Well technically localsend is not native, uses dart and flutter. Something native would be cool, but it should be interoperable with localsend I think.

Localsend is great, absolutely no issues with it design-wise

[–] dan@upvote.au 23 points 9 hours ago (2 children)

Have you tried KDE Connect? It's cross platform and works on Linux, Windows, MacOS, Android, and iOS.

[–] MangoPenguin@piefed.social 4 points 7 hours ago

I find it really buggy, it often loses connection and won't connect to multiple devices at once.

[–] Im28xwa@lemdro.id 6 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

Yes actually I have tried it and I use it to share text between my devices and receive notifications.

The file sharing feature though is unbearably slow.

[–] dan@upvote.au 2 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

Interesting... The file sharing is extremely quick for me at home.

I haven't figured out how to get it working at work though (between my work phone and my work PC, both on the same network). Might not be possible with their firewalls.

[–] urushitan@kakera.kintsugi.moe 1 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

Could always try localsend

https://localsend.org/

Open source and works pretty well

[–] SatyrSack@quokk.au 10 points 8 hours ago

why should I care?

if you care about speed and deep integration with the OS this project might be of interest to you.

what?

Python

[–] Zen_Shinobi@lemmy.world 11 points 9 hours ago

Vibecode

KDEConnect and other apps already do this

[–] eleijeep@piefed.social 7 points 9 hours ago
[–] boredsquirrel@slrpnk.net 3 points 6 hours ago

Wifi-direct is cool, as it doesnt require the whole "setting up a hotspot" mess

[–] warm@kbin.earth 2 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

How can it get more seamless than LocalSend?

Or croc, out of network.

[–] Im28xwa@lemdro.id 3 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

Through 2 things:

  1. The answer is partly in the name, but there is no magic involved. Direct Share uses Wi-Fi Direct (also known as Wi-Fi P2P), which bypasses the middleman and connects the two devices directly to each other, potentially increasing the file transfer speed. However, it is only as fast as the slowest networking stack of the two connected devices. This is in contrast to almost all other solutions (like localsend) that rely on the two devices being connected to the same Wi-Fi network.

  2. The other thing is deep integration with most file managers and desktop environments. For me personally, I believe that you should not need to open an app to send a file to your other device. You should be able to simply right-click on any file on your system, and there should be an option that says "Send to". It should not open the whole app. It should only open a mini window or a small window with only the necessary things you need to send the file, which is:

    1. Select the device you want to send to
    2. (Optionally) Click Send

That's all.

[–] MangoPenguin@piefed.social 2 points 7 hours ago

For 2 that's neat to have, but how do you send the clipboard or something thats not in a file manager?

[–] OliMoli2137@piefed.social 1 points 7 hours ago

I use adb push and adb pull. Simple and fast, works both over USB and wirelessly

[–] amateurcrastinator@lemmy.world 2 points 9 hours ago (2 children)
[–] SatyrSack@quokk.au 5 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago) (1 children)

That is for two devices that are both connected to the same network. If I understand what this program is doing (without actually trying it), it allows two devices to directly connect to one another via Wi-Fi to transfer a file.

With KDE Connect, to send a file from Device A to Device B, your file travels from Device A to a network router (and any number of network switches, etc. in between), then from the router to Device B. It has to make several hops across a number of devices to reach its destination. And both endpoints have to be connected to the same external network.

With this program, Device A and Device B create a direct Wi-Fi connection to each other and just send the file. One hop. Two devices. Direct. The devices are establishing their own ad-hoc Wi-Fi connection for the purpose of the file transfer.

[–] amateurcrastinator@lemmy.world 1 points 8 hours ago

Ah my bad? Sounds cool then!

[–] Daniel_@discuss.tchncs.de 0 points 9 hours ago (1 children)
[–] dadarobot@lemmy.ml 1 points 7 hours ago

i couldnt figure that out, but i didnt try much. kde connect works fine for me with gnome

[–] RodgeGrabTheCat@sh.itjust.works 1 points 7 hours ago

I use Syncthing on my Linux and Android. Once set up, it just works without me getting involved.

[–] nexttech@lemmy.world 1 points 9 hours ago

There are already like 100 of these apps . but sure i will give it a try