When I share files, I skip right past Quick Share and use this app instead
Sharing files across Android and other devices can be tedious. Although Quick Share has improved slightly since Samsung and Google collaborated, offering a larger feature set than ever, it often feels more cumbersome than convenient. I spend more time connecting to the recipient's phone than sending the file, which I don't appreciate.
How often do you use Quick Share?
2 votes
Daily.
50 %
Once or twice a week.
50 %
Once a month or less.
0 %
I don't use it at all.
0 %
So, faced with the constant challenge of sharing files from my Android phone to my desktop and my partner's phone, I changed my approach. Instead of using a USB cable or Quick Share, I now use LocalSend and wonder why I didn't switch sooner.
Where Quick Share stumbles, LocalSend speeds away
Andy Walker / Android Authority
LocalSend is a free, open-source file-sharing platform that uses my local network to transfer files between my devices. As long as both devices have the app installed and are connected to the same network, I've experienced flawless transfers that complete in seconds. This makes it perfect for buzzing files across devices within the home environment, or really any location with a local network.
And, as everything is done locally within your network, you can send almost anything. The app allows general files, clipboard transfers, simple text sends, entire folders, and even APKs. You can see the process for the latter below.
Perhaps its greatest selling point is its cross-compatibility with major platforms. While I love the Android app's ease of use and simplicity, I've also loaded my desktop and laptop with the Windows version, allowing cable-free transfers of anything on my device. If there's a documentary I want to send to my phone, or a bunch of screenshots I need to send to my desktop, I can do so in mere seconds. LocalSend is also available for Linux distros and, notably, Apple platforms. I don't own an iPhone or a MacBook, but the app would be a must-install if I did. It reaches far beyond Quick Share.
LocalSend's greatest selling point is its cross-compatibility with major platforms, including Android, Windows, and Apple OSes.
It's also available as a web service if you want to try it out without installation or if you want to send a file to a home guest. Including a PIN for verifying transfers is a welcome addition, easing my security concerns when sending sensitive documents. The app also features Quick Save and Auto Finish options, which I enable between my phone and desktop to facilitate unattended transfers, significantly improving my workflow.
Despite this extensive reach, setting it up is as simple as installing an app on the platform of your choice. Unlike other products, where you must set up network parameters and ports, LocalSend forgives my laziness and is as simple as install and go.
While Quick Share struggles to locate devices right next to me, LocalSend excels at seamless transfers.
One of my biggest gripes with Quick Share is its difficulty locating target devices. When trying to send a file to my partner via Quick Share, it takes several minutes to find her phone, though the transfer itself takes only seconds. I've encountered this problem with many other devices, leading me to lose trust in Google's service. With LocalSend, I can send files directly to her without locating her device each time — I just need to know the nickname the service assigns to her device. Additionally, LocalSend offers a multiple recipient feature for sending files to several devices at once.
Quick Share still stars in some scenarios, but it's rarely ever needed
Ryan Haines / Android Authority
Of course, LocalSend isn't perfect in every situation. Its reliance on a local network is both its greatest strength and weakness. Sometimes, I can't use it to send files because neither of us is on a home or private network. However, I rarely need to transfer files in these situations, and when Quick Share inevitably fails, I turn to WhatsApp. It's a small price to pay for LocalSend's effectiveness in other scenarios.
Quick Share remains my default choice for file sharing when I'm beyond the confines of a local network. However, LocalSend is indispensable in every other situation, and I can't imagine working or living without it.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNBC
a few seconds ago
- CNBC
Google has dropped more than 50 DEI-related organizations from its funding list
Google has purged more than 50 organizations related to diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, from a list of organizations that the tech company provides funding to, according to a new report. The company has removed a total of 214 groups from its funding list while adding 101, according to a new report from tech watchdog organization The Tech Transparency Project. The watchdog group cites the most recent public list of organizations that receive the most substantial contributions from Google's U.S. Government Affairs and Public Policy team. The largest category of purged groups were DEI-related, with a total of 58 groups removed from Google's funding list, TTP found. The dropped groups had mission statements that included the words "diversity, "equity," "inclusion," or "race," "activism," and "women." Those are also terms the Trump administration officials have reportedly told federal agencies to limit or avoid. In response to the report, Google spokesperson José Castañeda told CNBC that the list reflects contributions made in 2024 and that it does not reflect all contributions made by other teams within the company. "We contribute to hundreds of groups from across the political spectrum that advocate for pro-innovation policies, and those groups change from year to year based on where our contributions will have the most impact," Castañeda said in an email. Organizations that were removed from Google's list include the African American Community Service Agency, which seeks to "empower all Black and historically excluded communities"; the Latino Leadership Alliance, which is dedicated to "race equity affecting the Latino community"; and Enroot, which creates out-of-school experiences for immigrant kids. The organization funding purge is the latest to come as Google began backtracking some of its commitments to DEI over the last couple of years. That pull back came due to cost cutting to prioritize investments into artificial intelligence technology as well as the changing political and legal landscape amid increasing national anti-DEI policies. Over the past decade, Silicon Valley and other industries used DEI programs to root out bias in hiring, promote fairness in the workplace and advance the careers of women and people of color — demographics that have historically been overlooked in the workplace. However, the U.S. Supreme Court's 2023 decision to end affirmative action at colleges led to additional backlash against DEI programs in conservative circles. President Donald Trump signed an executive order upon taking office in January to end the government's DEI programs and directed federal agencies to combat what the administration considers "illegal" private-sector DEI mandates, policies and programs. Shortly after, Google's Chief People Officer Fiona Cicconi told employees that the company would end DEI-related hiring "aspirational goals" due to new federal requirements and Google's categorization as a federal contractor. Despite DEI becoming such a divisive term, many companies are continuing the work but using different language or rolling the efforts under less-charged terminology, like "learning" or "hiring." Even Google CEO Sundar Pichai maintained the importance diversity plays in its workforce at an all-hands meeting in March. "We're a global company, we have users around the world, and we think the best way to serve them well is by having a workforce that represents that diversity," Pichai said at the time. One of the groups dropped from Google's contributions list is the National Network to End Domestic Violence, which provides training, assistance, and public awareness campaigns on the issue of violence against women, the TTP report found. The group had been on Google's list of funded organizations for at least nine years and continues to name the company as one of its corporate partners. Google said it still gave $75,000 to the National Network to End Domestic Violence in 2024 but did not say why the group was removed from the public contributions list.
Los Angeles Times
30 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
Google loses appeal in antitrust battle with Fortnite maker
A federal appeals court has upheld a jury verdict condemning Google's Android app store as an illegal monopoly, clearing the way for a federal judge to enforce a potentially disruptive shakeup that's designed to give consumers more choices. The unanimous ruling issued Thursday by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals delivers a double-barreled legal blow for Google, which has been waylaid in three separate antitrust trials that resulted in different pillars of its internet empire being declared as domineering scofflaws monopolies since late 2023. The unsuccessful appeal represents a major victory for video game maker Epic Games, which launched a legal crusade targeting Google's Play Store for Android apps and Apple's iPhone app store nearly five years ago in an attempt to bypass exclusive payment processing systems that charged 15% to 30% commissions on in-app transactions. The jury's December 2023 rebuke of Google's app store for Android-powered smartphones began a cascade of setbacks that includes monopoly judgements against the company's ubiquitous search engine last year and the technology underlying its digital ad network earlier this year. Although not as lucrative as Google's search engine or ad system, the Play Store for Android apps has long been a gold mine that generated billions of dollars in annual revenue by taking a 15% to 30% cut from in-app transactions funneled through the company's own payment processing system. Following a month-long trial, a nine-person jury determined that Google had rigged its system to thwart alternative app stores from offering better deals to consumers and software developers. That verdict resulted in U.S. District Judge James Donato ordering Google to tear down digital walls shielding the Play Store from competition, triggering the company's appeal to overturn the jury's finding and void the judge's mandated shakeup. But a three-judge panel that heard Google's appeal in February rejected its lawyers' contention that Donato erred by allowing the case to be determined by a jury that deviated from the market definition outlined by another federal judge who mostly sided with Apple in Epic's case against the iPhone maker's app store. Epic's lawsuit 'was replete with evidence that Google's anticompetitive conduct entrenched its dominance, causing the Play Store to benefit from network effects,' the judges wrote in the decision. The ruling 'will significantly harm user safety, limit choice, and undermine the innovation that has always been central to the Android ecosystem,' Google's vice president of regulatory affairs Lee-Anne Mulholland said in a statement. Unless Google can extend the enforcement delay placed on Donato's order issued last October, the company will have to begin an overhaul that includes making the Play Store's entire library of more than 2 million Android apps available to would-be rivals and also help distribute the alternative options. Google has argued that the required revisions will raise privacy and security risks by exposing consumers to scam artists and hackers masquerading as legitimate app stores. But Epic's lawyers have ridiculed Google's warnings about the changes as scare tactics in a desperate attempt to protect the fortunes of its corporate parent Alphabet Inc. Although Epic fell short in its attempt to have the iPhone's app store declared a monopoly, that case resulted in a judge issuing an order that required Apple to surrender exclusive control over the payment processing of in-app transactions and allow links to alternative systems without collecting a commission. Besides being hit with Donato's order, Google still faces further trouble ahead that could leave an even bigger dent in its finances. As part of the effort to address Google's illegal monopoly in search, a federal judge is weighing a proposal by the U.S. Justice Department that would require the sale of its Chrome web browser and ban the multibillion dollar deals that company has been making with Apple and others to lock-in its search engine as the main gateway to the internet. Google is also facing a proposed breakup of its advertising technology as part of the countermeasures to its monopoly in that business. A trial on that proposal is scheduled to begin in September. Liedtke writes for the Associated Press.
Gizmodo
30 minutes ago
- Gizmodo
Forget Price Comparisons, Walmart Drops Fitbit Charge 6 With Premium Membership to All-Time Low
It may have gotten a little lost under the avalanche of smartwatch health trackers, but the Fitbit was first, and it's still very much here and very much an excellent fitness wearable. The latest iteration of this lightweight exercise and sleep tracker, the Fitbit Charge 6, is the best one yet, and now it's bundled with six free months of Fitbit Premium membership for just $111 at Walmart. The Fitbit may look very as it has for several years, and it has the same lightweight almost-forget-it's-there comfort, but the Fitbit Charge 6 has advanced features that would seem completely alien to the early Fitbits (remember the clip-on model with no screen?) and a price tag that will make all of those high-end fitness smartwatches blush. It's still compatible with both Apple (iOS 15 or higher) and Android (OS 9.0 or higher) devices, which just adds to its universal appeal. See at Walmart One of the Fitbit's longtime best features, its crazy long battery life, is still very much present in the Charge 6 model. No matter how hard or how often you work out (or don't), the Fitbit Charge 6 gets roughly 6 full days and nights of battery life, which is key if you're also taking advantage of its outstanding Nightly Sleep Score feature. It's also now collaborating with Google, so it comes with great apps like Google Maps and Google Wallet preloaded. The other improvements are all for your health. The Fitbit Charge 6's heart rate tracking is up to 60% more accurate than previous models, a key feature when you're doing some serious cardio like HIIT workout or long runs. It has an accurate GPS system that pairs nicely with Google Maps, and the colorful display screen is customizable with different faces, along with timer and stopwatch features. With such a long battery life, the Fitbit Charge 6 keeps an eye on your essential health metrics all day and all night for accurate readouts. It can connect to several workout machines via Bluetooth at the gym, and it measures your active zone time, cardio fitness level, and workout intensity, along with oxygen saturation (SpO2), and 24/7 heart rate monitoring. The Fitbit Charge 6 gives you a daily readiness score to help you decide whether or not to hit the gym, along with gentle reminders to get up and move and a Smart Wake alarm clock feature. Not to fear, it also has Sleep and Do Not Disturb modes if that seems like a lot of notifications. All those features and the ones we didn't have room for could very easily be the product description of one of those high-end fitness smartwatches, but when you get to the bottom line, things change dramatically. Rather than fork over hundreds of dollars and sometimes even more for a smartwatch, the Fitbit Charge 6 bundled with six free months of Fitbit Premium membership is barely over $100 — just $111 right now at Walmart thanks to a deal cutting nearly $50 from the price. See at Walmart
