Transferring files between devices should be an extremely simple and direct process given how often you have to do it. While there are all sorts of tools that use various protocols for that purpose, few are as fast and smooth as Xender, a free app that lets you send all sorts of files between smartphones. It’s so unbelievably fast that it does transfers 50 times faster than Bluetooth.
The first thing you’re probably wondering is what system this app uses to achieve speeds like that for file transfers. Xender lets you create small, dedicated local Wi-Fi networks that any nearby user can connect to. You don’t have to have all devices connected to the same network and it will never use up your data allowance. The transfer is done directly from point to point via the dedicated infrastructure created for that purpose. This provides nearly-instant file transfers that will genuinely surprise you when you first use it: it can transfer a video of nearly 100MB in less than five seconds.
There are no limitations whatsoever on the format or size: you can share any kind of multimedia files, local documents stored on your internal memory, or even any of your installed apps, with the program automatically creating the APK install file in the process. These features allow the tool to create an exact replica of your phone’s content on another one as if you were doing a full backup.
Although all these features are already surprising, you can expand them with WeLine, a sister app to Xender (both are developed by the Chinese studio Ammobi), which creates a direct connection between your smartphone and PC, with the added benefit of not having to install anything whatsoever on the computer. Just scan the QR code through a webpage to access its online interface from the browser. In fact, you can make two-way transfers between both machines nearly instantly: just click on an image and you’ll be able to view it practically instantly on another machine.
New file transfer tools appear almost daily, but few are as genuinely astounding as Xender. Using a dedicated Wi-Fi zone for the occasion makes it totally independent of external networks or limits of any sort, and likewise there are no restrictions whatsoever on the format or extension. (Well, it seems to support files of up to 10GB. Still—whoa.) It also allows simultaneous transfer with up to five devices connected to the network. One of those apps that’s sure to become an essential as soon as you try it.
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