Guide · OtterDrop

An AirDrop alternative that works between iPhone, Android and Windows

AirDrop is great, as long as everyone has an iPhone or a Mac. Nearby Share (now Quick Share) is great, as long as everyone has Android or Windows. The moment a mixed group tries to share photos, it's back to WhatsApp and compressed images.

Open OtterDrop →

The problem with the built-in options

AirDrop: Apple to Apple only. No Android, no Windows, no Linux.
Quick Share: Android and Windows. Not iPhone, not Mac, not Linux.
Messaging apps: work everywhere, but recompress photos and videos, and often cap file sizes.
Cloud drives: work everywhere, but the file goes up to a server and comes back down, which is slow on a weak connection and pointless when the devices are a metre apart.

What OtterDrop does instead

It runs in the browser, so the platform doesn't matter. Open drop.ottercraft.dev on an iPhone, a Windows laptop and an Android tablet on the same Wi-Fi and all three see each other. Drop a file on one, tap it on another, and it travels directly between those two devices. There's nothing to install, no account, and the original file arrives as it is, not a compressed copy.

Steps

Get the devices on the same Wi-Fi. A home router works. So does one phone's hotspot with the other devices connected to it.
Open drop.ottercraft.dev on the first device. It joins the room for your network and shows a QR code.
On each other device, scan that QR code (or type the address). They appear in the list on every device within a second or two.
Drop a file on the page on the device that has it. Everyone in the room sees it listed.
On the device that wants it, tap the file. It downloads straight from the device that shared it. On an iPhone it lands in Files, or you can save a photo to Photos from there.

How it compares

Speed: Wi-Fi speed, device to device. Comparable to AirDrop on a decent network, and not limited by your internet connection.
Size: no limit from my side. Files go in small chunks, so a multi-gigabyte video works.
Quality: the original file. No recompression.
Privacy: the connection between devices is encrypted (WebRTC), and no server ever holds the file. The privacy policy has the details.
Setup: none. A browser is enough.

Where it won't work

Some networks stop devices from talking to each other. Hotel Wi-Fi, conference Wi-Fi and many office networks do this on purpose. In that situation, put everyone on one phone's hotspot; that always works. Also, both devices need the page open while a file is transferring, since the file is coming from the sharing device, not from a server.