[Enhancement] Hotspot - Offline file sharing

[Mitia99]

What problem is solved by the new feature
No need of Internet / data usage

Describe the feature
Transfer files over hotspot like in Xender

Thanks for considering this,

[schlagmichdoch]

See #292 . I’ll keep this issue open though as it is more specific.
@Mitia99 can you shed more light onto how Xender is transferring over hotspot or how the transfer works in general? Do both devices need to have the app installed?

[Mitia99]

Both devices need to have the app installed when it comes to phone-phone sharing.

There's also a Connect PC feature which doesn't require the PC to have the app installed.

Here's how the feature looks like

I don't really know how it works but as PC don't need an app, I think it should be achievable on phone using a browser as well.

As an additional info, that feature is only present in Xender version prior to 14.0.1

[schlagmichdoch]

Alright, thanks for the info!

So the feature has since been removed? Do you know why?

The plan is to implement it in a similar fashion:

1. All devices need to be on the same WiFi, no matter whether as hotspot or client
2. Host device starts host mode via the app
3. Client devices (phones or desktop) go the local ip address of the hosted PairDrop (e.g. 192.168.1.165:3000) or connect to that url inside the PairDrop app
4. All clients + the host device see each other mutually and use PairDrop like before

It’s probably a good idea to add some how-to to the UI. Either as a dialog until the first device joins or via a header icon + QR code or both.

From the flutter issue:

PairDrop Host

• Host a PairDrop instance from the app in your local network and act as the signaling server:
• Clients would go to the local IP-address of a host (like 192.168.178.77:3000)
• All clients are shown to each other: No Pairing, no Public Rooms
• This makes PairDrop usable completely offline
• Only one device needs to have the app installed to host. Everyone else can use the browser or the app.

[Mitia99]

My pleasure.

They removed the feature cause they released a PC app version.

Many users complained about it to be removed so Xender support said that feature should be back in further versions.

Looking forward for the feature in PairDrop.

Keep up the good work,