/01 Transfer files from your phone to your PC without a cable
Getting photos and videos from a phone onto a computer usually means hunting for a USB cable, emailing files to yourself, or pushing them through a cloud drive — every one of which uploads your files to a server somewhere just so they can come back down a metre away, squeezed through an attachment limit on the way.
WiFi File Transfer connects the two devices directly instead. Open this page on both, choose Send on one and Receive on the other, then scan the QR code or type the 6-character code. Files travel straight across your own WiFi network. It works in every direction: phone to PC, PC to phone, phone to phone and PC to PC, on Android, iPhone, Windows, Mac and Linux, with nothing to install.
/02 Send large files — even multi-gigabyte videos
Most free transfer sites cap you at a few gigabytes because every byte has to pass through, and be stored on, their servers. There is no server in the middle here, so there is no upload cap. On the receiving device each file is written straight to the browser's storage as it arrives rather than being held in memory, so a long 4K video is handled the same way as a single photo. The practical limit is the free storage space on the receiving device.
Because the transfer stays on your local network, it is usually far faster than uploading to the cloud and downloading again, and it does not use your mobile data allowance.
/03 How the connection works
The devices use WebRTC, the same browser technology behind video calls, to open a direct, encrypted channel. To find each other they exchange one short handshake through a public relay; that message describes how to reach the device and contains none of your files. Each code works once and is thrown away when the devices connect.
No internet relay servers are used for the transfer itself, so the only routes available are ones inside your local network. That is why both devices must be on the same WiFi — and why your files cannot leave it. If you have been looking for an AirDrop alternative for Windows and Android, this is the same idea, working in any browser.
/04 WiFi file transfer compared with Bluetooth, apps and the cloud
Bluetooth is the obvious fallback for moving a file between nearby devices, and fine for a contact card or a single photo. It moves only a few megabits per second in practice, so a one gigabyte video can take the best part of an hour. A direct WiFi file transfer on the same network is typically tens of times faster.
Installed apps are the other common route. WiFi transfer apps on Android usually turn the phone into a small server you browse to from a PC, WiFi Direct sharing tends to work only between devices of the same brand or platform, and excellent open-source options such as LocalSend need the app installed on every device first. Cloud services like Dropbox and Google Drive work anywhere, but the file is uploaded to the internet and downloaded again, costing time, data and free storage.
This tool needs no install on either side and works across iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac and Linux in any modern browser, which helps most with work computers, borrowed laptops and one-off transfers.