LocalSend: Open-Source Cross-Platform AirDrop Alternative

TL;DR: LocalSend is a free, open-source file-sharing app that works across iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, and Linux. It uses your local network to move files directly between devices — no cloud upload, no account, no internet required. Written in Flutter under Apache 2.0.

Source and Accuracy Notes

• Repository: localsend/localsend
• License: Apache-2.0
• Stars: 91,353 (as of September 2026)
• Language: Dart
• Topics: dart, file-sharing, flutter, flutter-apps
• Homepage: localsend.org

What It Is

LocalSend is a cross-platform file-sharing utility that mimics the convenience of Apple’s AirDrop without locking you into one ecosystem. Once installed on two or more devices on the same WiFi network, you can send files, photos, text snippets, and URLs between them with a single tap. The transfer happens directly device-to-device over the local network — no intermediate server, no cloud storage, no signup.

The app uses a simple REST-style protocol over HTTPS that any device on the LAN can advertise and respond to. Discovery is automatic: each LocalSend instance announces its presence, and others show up in the picker without manual pairing. For networks that block multicast (some guest WiFi and corporate networks), the app falls back to manual IP entry.

Why It Matters

Cross-device file transfer is one of those everyday tasks that’s surprisingly painful without an ecosystem-aligned tool. Apple’s AirDrop only works between Apple devices. Android has Nearby Share, which is improving but still uneven across vendors. Sending a file from a Linux laptop to an iPhone traditionally means email, Slack, or a cloud drive round-trip — each with its own size limits, privacy concerns, and ads.

LocalSend solves this with a single, vendor-neutral protocol and a UI that behaves the same on every platform:

• Cross-platform parity. iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, Linux, and a CLI. The same protocol works between any pair.
• Local-first by design. Files never leave your network. There’s nothing to log into, and nothing on a third-party server can see the contents.
• No size limits. The bottleneck is your WiFi, not a 25MB attachment cap. Sending a 4GB video is a normal use case.
• Open protocol. Because the protocol is documented and open, other apps can interoperate. There’s an active ecosystem of compatible clients in different languages.

The Apache-2.0 license and Flutter codebase mean the project is friendly to both end users and contributors. The build pipeline produces native binaries on every supported platform from a single Dart codebase.

Practical Trade-Offs

A few honest limitations to keep in mind:

• Same network required. Both devices must be on the same LAN (or have a routable path to each other). It won’t help you send a file to a colleague across the country.
• Speed depends on WiFi. On a fast local network you’ll see hundreds of megabits per second; on a congested guest network it’ll feel slow.
• No sync, no history. Each transfer is one-shot. There’s no shared clipboard, no persistent device list, no cross-device sync. For those, you’d layer a different tool on top.
• Discovery can be flaky on some networks. Multicast-restricted networks (many guest WiFi and corporate setups) require manual IP entry. It’s a small ergonomic hit but worth knowing.

For the use case it’s designed for — moving a file or a clipboard snippet between two devices in the same room — it works well and gets out of the way.

Who Should Care

LocalSend is one of those rare apps that earns a permanent spot on the dock:

• Mixed-OS households where Apple and Android and Windows devices all need to talk.
• Privacy-conscious users who don’t want files touching a cloud server just to hop between two of their own devices.
• Developers and IT folks who frequently move logs, screenshots, and dumps between machines on the same network.
• Travelers on hotel or coworking WiFi where cloud drives are slow or blocked.

It’s also a good reference for anyone curious about how a small Flutter codebase can ship clean native apps on six platforms with a shared UX.

Summary

LocalSend is the open-source answer to AirDrop that actually works on every platform you’d want. It’s local-first, privacy-respecting, and small enough to install and forget. If you’ve ever wanted to send a file from your Linux laptop to your iPhone without involving the cloud, this is the tool.