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Ask HN: how to get photos from my Chinese friend iPhone

2 points by jmnicolas 8y ago

Hi, I spent 2 weeks vacations in France (I'm French) with a friend from (mainland) China. She took thousand of photo with her iPhone, so I didn't feel the need to take photos too. However when she wanted to share the photos with me we discovered that I can't access her Baidu cloud account on my PC nor do I find the same app on my Android phone. So now she's back in China and we're left wondering how she can share photo with me, except by sending a few dozen everyday on Wechat. There's nothing sensitive about the photos so I'm not worried about her government (or mine) looking at them, I just want to get these photos the easiest way possible. She has no other "computer" than her iPhone, and I don't want to involve her in some shady VPN things that could backfire on her. Thank you for your suggestions.

bluetidepro 8y ago
Why not just use some free cloud service like Dropbox, to have her upload them from her iPhone and share them with you from that?
- jmnicolas 8y ago
  Most of the apps we are accustomed to are not working in China. We didn't test Dropbox specifically, but she couldn't access Google drive.
  - bluetidepro 8y ago
    Ohhh, derp. I didn't realize that. That makes sense then. I think you're right, it is also blocked. Maybe one of these cloud services will work that they suggested: https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-best-Chinese-Dropbox-alternatives-Im-thinking-not-so-much-of-a-secure-file-space-but-a-convenient-one-for-everyday-use-behind-the-GFW https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-best-Chinese-Dropbox-alte... Also, what about a simple FTP server? you could set it up, and have upload from her phone to it maybe?
entity345 8y ago
"Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of tapes." In this case a few RMB spent on a USB stick or SD card (and a stamp) sent through the post will get you this thousand photos without a sweat.
- jmnicolas 8y ago
  I think we'll go with that if we don't find a fully digital solution.
gotorazor 8y ago
Email
- jmnicolas 8y ago
  She's limited to 5 MB attachments.
jessicatechexp 8y ago
1. Syncthing 2. USB drive sent through epacket service costs less than 5USD to send and takes 10-20 days to arrive on EU. USB drive might cost something. Still it's cheaper than an hourly of wage in West.

2 points by jmnicolas 8y ago

bluetidepro 8y ago

Why not just use some free cloud service like Dropbox, to have her upload them from her iPhone and share them with you from that?

jmnicolas 8y ago
Most of the apps we are accustomed to are not working in China. We didn't test Dropbox specifically, but she couldn't access Google drive.
- bluetidepro 8y ago
  Ohhh, derp. I didn't realize that. That makes sense then. I think you're right, it is also blocked. Maybe one of these cloud services will work that they suggested: https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-best-Chinese-Dropbox-alternatives-Im-thinking-not-so-much-of-a-secure-file-space-but-a-convenient-one-for-everyday-use-behind-the-GFW https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-best-Chinese-Dropbox-alte... Also, what about a simple FTP server? you could set it up, and have upload from her phone to it maybe?

entity345 8y ago

"Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of tapes." In this case a few RMB spent on a USB stick or SD card (and a stamp) sent through the post will get you this thousand photos without a sweat.

jmnicolas 8y ago
I think we'll go with that if we don't find a fully digital solution.

gotorazor 8y ago

jmnicolas 8y ago
She's limited to 5 MB attachments.

jessicatechexp 8y ago

1. Syncthing 2. USB drive sent through epacket service costs less than 5USD to send and takes 10-20 days to arrive on EU. USB drive might cost something. Still it's cheaper than an hourly of wage in West.