5 ms·

It would be great to have an mobile version of magic wormhole, though sadly I'm not an app developer so while I would really like to implement it, it's outside

by cyphar 5y ago

It would be great to have an mobile version of magic wormhole, though sadly I'm not an app developer so while I would really like to implement it, it's outside of my skillset.

throwaway82003 5y ago
For Android, there is one from Peter Sanford (psanford on HN). He implemented the Go version of magic-wormhole, which I think is used by people like tptacek. So I guess it can be trusted. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=io.sanford.wormhole_william https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=io.sanford.wor... https://github.com/psanford/wormhole-william-mobile https://github.com/psanford/wormhole-william-mobile One disadvantage is that current magic wormhole doesn't support resume but they plan to implement it. Another app that you might have heard of is croc, but it doesn't seem to be secure: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27056746 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27056746
lxgr 5y ago
The biggest problem here is that Apple unfortunately doesn't provide any API for peer-to-peer wi-fi access [1], as far as I know. This means that all solutions will either require sender and receiver being connected to the same wi-fi network (possibly provided by one of the devices involved, which is pretty awkward and also has its downsides like unintentionally sharing the internet connection [2]), or resorting to Bluetooth LE (resulting in extremely slow connection speeds not really suitable for file transfer). Finally, any solution requiring installing a third-party app has an inherent growth impediment given that sharing the app itself is all but impossible when offline. [1] Wi-Fi Direct would seem to be ideal for this use case but is Android only, and even there does not seem to reliably work on all devices. Even Google's native AirDrop alternative resorts to using mobile data in some circumstances/device combinations. [2] It seems possible to avoid this given that the Android device is providing the network: https://developer.android.com/reference/android/net/wifi/WifiManager#startLocalOnlyHotspot(android.net.wifi.WifiManager.LocalOnlyHotspotCallback,%20android.os.Handler) https://developer.android.com/reference/android/net/wifi/Wif...
- Arathorn 5y ago
  Apple provide AWDL, which Pinecone implements.
- neilalexander 5y ago
  Apple do provide two APIs for peer-to-peer Wi-Fi access — one of them is the Multipeer Connection Framework and the other is the NetService API with the “includesPeerToPeer” parameter. This only really helps us when talking to other Apple devices though as the AWDL protocol is proprietary. The Wi-Fi Alliance have been trying to standardise something not dissimilar to AWDL under the name “Wi-Fi Aware” (NAN/Neighbour Awareness Networking), but it is not widely implemented and will probably never be supported by Apple either, limiting cross-platform potential.
lxgr 5y ago
Oh, if you simply want to send files from a command line utility to a browser and vice versa, may I recommend WebWormhole [1]? There is both a webapp (which works on mobile browsers) and a command line client. The command line client can even display ASCII QR codes for easy access on mobile devices. The only problem is long-running background uploads/downloads, but I don't think a mobile app could help there (at least on iOS). [1] https://webwormhole.io/ https://webwormhole.io/
psanford 5y ago
Just for you: https://github.com/psanford/wormhole-william-mobile https://github.com/psanford/wormhole-william-mobile

by cyphar 5y ago

It would be great to have an mobile version of magic wormhole, though sadly I'm not an app developer so while I would really like to implement it, it's outside of my skillset.

throwaway82003 5y ago

For Android, there is one from Peter Sanford (psanford on HN). He implemented the Go version of magic-wormhole, which I think is used by people like tptacek. So I guess it can be trusted. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=io.sanford.wormhole_william https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=io.sanford.wor... https://github.com/psanford/wormhole-william-mobile https://github.com/psanford/wormhole-william-mobile One disadvantage is that current magic wormhole doesn't support resume but they plan to implement it. Another app that you might have heard of is croc, but it doesn't seem to be secure: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27056746 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27056746

lxgr 5y ago

The biggest problem here is that Apple unfortunately doesn't provide any API for peer-to-peer wi-fi access [1], as far as I know. This means that all solutions will either require sender and receiver being connected to the same wi-fi network (possibly provided by one of the devices involved, which is pretty awkward and also has its downsides like unintentionally sharing the internet connection [2]), or resorting to Bluetooth LE (resulting in extremely slow connection speeds not really suitable for file transfer). Finally, any solution requiring installing a third-party app has an inherent growth impediment given that sharing the app itself is all but impossible when offline. [1] Wi-Fi Direct would seem to be ideal for this use case but is Android only, and even there does not seem to reliably work on all devices. Even Google's native AirDrop alternative resorts to using mobile data in some circumstances/device combinations. [2] It seems possible to avoid this given that the Android device is providing the network: https://developer.android.com/reference/android/net/wifi/WifiManager#startLocalOnlyHotspot(android.net.wifi.WifiManager.LocalOnlyHotspotCallback,%20android.os.Handler) https://developer.android.com/reference/android/net/wifi/Wif...

Arathorn 5y ago
Apple provide AWDL, which Pinecone implements.
neilalexander 5y ago
Apple do provide two APIs for peer-to-peer Wi-Fi access — one of them is the Multipeer Connection Framework and the other is the NetService API with the “includesPeerToPeer” parameter. This only really helps us when talking to other Apple devices though as the AWDL protocol is proprietary. The Wi-Fi Alliance have been trying to standardise something not dissimilar to AWDL under the name “Wi-Fi Aware” (NAN/Neighbour Awareness Networking), but it is not widely implemented and will probably never be supported by Apple either, limiting cross-platform potential.

lxgr 5y ago

Oh, if you simply want to send files from a command line utility to a browser and vice versa, may I recommend WebWormhole [1]? There is both a webapp (which works on mobile browsers) and a command line client. The command line client can even display ASCII QR codes for easy access on mobile devices. The only problem is long-running background uploads/downloads, but I don't think a mobile app could help there (at least on iOS). [1] https://webwormhole.io/ https://webwormhole.io/

psanford 5y ago

Just for you: https://github.com/psanford/wormhole-william-mobile https://github.com/psanford/wormhole-william-mobile