Forget AirDrop: This free app lets Android customers switch images and movies to iPhone and Mac

Despite gaining access to among the greatest iPhones, I’m drawn to one of the best Android telephones when it comes time to select up a each day driver.

However, as a Mac and iPad consumer, I admit that there’s nonetheless a little bit friction between Google’s cellular working system and Apple’s platforms. While the interplay between the 2 ecosystems is best than earlier than, some completely primary duties stay inconvenient or downright tough.

One of them is to switch recordsdata from Android cellphone to Mac laptop; It would not matter when you’re attempting to maneuver images and movies, paperwork or audio, getting information between the 2 methods is not precisely straightforward.

For one factor, Mac computer systems usually refuse to indicate a USB-connected Android cellphone in Finder, which often eliminates the power to pull and drop recordsdata.

And whereas AirDrop makes wi-fi switch trivial between Apple units, there is no built-in equal for Android telephones. You can use Google Drive or WeTransfer, and even message your self on WhatsApp or social media with the attachment, however you may run into lengthy add occasions, file compression, dimension limits, and incursions on cloud storage budgets.

However, I lately found an app that provides Android telephones the power to switch recordsdata to a Mac effortlessly, and all it requires is 2 free downloads and a steady Wi-Fi connection.

All LocalSend requires is that each units, with the codenames seen above, be on the identical Wi-Fi community.

LocalSend is a free and open supply app that permits customers to switch recordsdata between units over a shared Wi-Fi connection and has shortly change into certainly one of my most used apps. All an app like this has to do is figure, and this one does it completely.

Once each units are related to the identical community, merely select whether or not you wish to ship or obtain recordsdata and search for the codename of the chosen system to look. You can then choose your media, press ship and foolishness. Simple and full cross-platform file switch.

Sure, it isn’t as quick or handy as AirDrop, which continues to be an enormous profit for utilizing iPhone, but it surely’s a lot quicker than utilizing cloud storage to add after which obtain recordsdata, like I needed to do by way of Google Drive earlier than discovering LocalSend.

Once the switch is full, your recordsdata are added to the Downloads folder by default.

LocalSend is accessible on the Google Play Store and App Store for Mac, iPhone and iPad, and will also be downloaded out of your devoted web site – all free.

I despatched dozens of movies and images from my varied Android telephones to my MacEbook Pro utilizing the app, they usually all transferred at tempo (relative to my house WiFi velocity). The issues are uncommon and straightforward to beat, and are usually on account of instability in mentioned connection.

There’s not rather more to say about LocalSend aside from that I believe all Android customers ought to strive it. If you, like me, use a hybrid on-the-go system day-after-day, then LocalSend can function the magic glue that holds Apple and Android collectively (a minimum of in the case of transferring recordsdata).

Have you tried LocalSend or comparable apps? Let us know within the feedback beneath.