5 Open Source Apps You Can use for Seamless File Transfer Between Linux and Android
Want to share selected files between your Android smartphone and Linux computer? Explore these open source tools.
I've used all of these except packet and localsend.
Warpinator: your firewall is closed open it. It's a fine app, insecure mode is a bit like airdrop for Apple devices, send files to any unsecured warpinator instance on your network.
KDE connect: calling this a file transfer app is like calling a Corvette a radio. Like, yeah it does that but that's not the point. If ALL you want is file transfer, there are smaller apps. S'good shit though, check it out.
Syncthing: idk maybe I'm dumb but I didn't get it. Felt like it was for backups, could never access my files on the destination device after transfers despite verification that they are in fact where I put them. Maybe a weird permissions issue?
Local send is absolutely my go-to. It is awesome.
iOS, computer, android, whatever, it just always works and is fast and everything is extremely user friendly.
I essentially stopped using kdeconnect except for its automatic clipboard and notifications.
Syncthing is a bit more complicated to set up, but that is what I use for "file sync" which in my view is different than file sharing which is different than file hosting like next/owncloud.
Weird about Syncthing, it works for me on Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android. But I find file permissions difficult so that could be it.
It's nice for my use case: I tend to download things on my phone but I often want them stored permanently on my computer, so I just dump them in a Syncthing folder and It takes care of the transfer automatically. Once it's on my computer my backup program (Backblaze) will back it up too. But not everyone has that particular use case so it's not for everyone.
No Pairdrop?
This works for me, for any adhoc files I want to get to any device any time, any place...
For any regular file transfers, syncthing.
PSA: For any folks that have used snapdrop.net before, switch to this one ⤴️
The old URL got bought by Limewire NFT company and they started sending all files through their sketchy ass service. Pairdrop remains peer to peer.
Ah, thank you for this!
I believe in the conspiracy theory that the reason connecting devices directly to each other anymore without doing a bunch of backflips through third parties is more or less intentional. If you could send a file to your friend sitting right next to you with some sort of wifi-direct or bluetooth or even just via usb-C cable that is seamless and actually works, it would impact every web service from facebook to onedrive. You also have a chilling effect on what kinds of data you're going to share as well.
That said, tailscale is the ticket for me. The client is BSD licensed, and there exists a self-hostable server which is floss (headscale). Works like airdrop but better.
I miss the bluetooth option for sharing files :(
It's rare that I actually want to use it and it was never anywhere near fast but it was a nice thing to have in my opinion and I am disappointed that it was removed
Edit: Nevermind, it's still there. Maybe I was blind the last couple of times I looked for it
I don't want an app to send files, I want to be able to rsync files to my phone like a normal computer.
I have data I want backed up so an rsync script sends it to a few different devices to keep multiple copies. I don't want to manually drag/drop files for that, I just want my script to take care of it.
It's really tragic and inelegant how we have to jump through hoops and bounce files around a wireless network when the USB cable is just sitting right there. What I had to do since rsync doesn't work with mtp file paths was to install android-file-transfer and run the following with my phone connected via USB, but not already mounted by the file manager:
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aft-mtp-mount /path/to/mount/point rsync -a --progress --exclude 'Android/' '/path/to/mount/point/Internal shared storage/' '/path/to/backup/'
You can also omit the --exclude 'Android/' part as needed, I just didn't want to copy over the quintillion tiny files under that directory.
I would be sending files to the Android device, using it as a location to backup "important" data. Mostly Factorio saves.
Plugging in for that is impractical given its already on the same LAN.
Syncthing
KDE connect for me works very well. I even use it on my VR headset to share video recordings to my desktop then upload on my video server, really nice workflow.
I rarely need to do it but what's wrong with just plugging in a cable?
Well I can think of a few things wrong with Kryten's favoured method of plugging in his "cable"
Convenience.
It's bizarre that you have to go through such lengths to do it w native Linux also like scp or rsync; they're both Linux!!!
Android run on top of Linux. Once upon a time it was a Java VM sitting on a Linux kernel, it's roots are still there though it's blown up quite a bit since then.
It's not entirely incorrect to say Linux is somewhere between a bootloader and a bios for Android.
I've using localsend and it's great :)
I would normally use KDE Connect (iOS version) but I had some issues with it. The push local clipboard didn't work, and I think receiving files to my phone didn't work either. It also had a hard time reconnecting to my computer after pairing. It might be better now though, this was several months ago.
It’s still pretty buggy on iOS, only the file sending still works reliably
I use ghost commander on the phone to access the file server.
For quick transfers i quite like https://webwormhole.io/, no need to install anything
I think the easiest way is sftp over tailscale, works over any distance, easy enough to setup, plenty of apps, ish for an iphoneterminal apk add openssh (idk how to dload there but you should be able to, can convert files locally using ffmpeg off an iphone, pretty great), termius/termix/neoserver for a more "modern" way to connect into the terminal and sftp. I prefer apps with a terminal jic I need to use it to convert something real quick on my pc.
love ssh, got me to appreciate and learn to use the terminal more, being able to use a pc without a de is such a good feeling
