LocalShare — share Mac files, scan a QR code to view or save them in your phone's browser

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A small macOS app that moves files and text between your Mac and other devices (phone, tablet…) over WiFi — the other end just uses a browser, with no client to install.

• Pick a file or folder, scan the QR code that appears (or just open the link), and browse the files in your phone's browser (HTML, PDF, Markdown, images…)
• Two-way text transfer — type some text and share it via a QR code, or send text back from the phone to the Mac

Home

Share Files

Transfer Text

Features

• Share files and text by QR code, or just by opening the link
• Serves HTML / PDF / video / images; previews Markdown / JSON / CSV
• After you share, the other end can send files and text back
• Shows who's currently viewing
• localshare command line: bring up the window to share, or --headless to print the link and QR code in the terminal

Why this app exists

• When AirDrop is flaky, or the other device isn't an Apple device
• iPhone Safari can't open local HTML files directly, so previewing the web pages you vibe-coded is awkward
• No need to spin up python3 -m http.server
• No need to install a client like LocalSend
• Preview only — no need to actually save files onto the phone
• Quickly pass text around, without relying on flaky Handoff

GUI usage

Scan the QR code, or open the LAN address directly. If macOS shows a firewall prompt on first launch, click "Allow".

The QR code points to something like http://192.168.x.x:8080/?t=<random-token>: the link carries a one-time token, so whoever scans it gets in seamlessly, while anyone who only knows the IP:port cannot access it.

⚠️ Traffic is plain HTTP (unencrypted). Best avoided on public networks like airports and cafés.

Terminal usage

In Settings → Command-Line Tool, click "Install". After that you can share from the terminal in one command:

localshare a.html b.pdf        # bring up the LocalShare window to share these files
localshare ~/Documents/report  # folders work the same; mix and match multiple items
localshare --headless ./dist   # no window — print the link and QR code in the terminal (Ctrl-C to stop)

Download

https://github.com/rrbe/LocalShare/releases

Notes

The app is ad-hoc signed, so opening it may be blocked by Gatekeeper (warning that it's "damaged" or "can't be opened").

• In System Settings → Privacy & Security → Security, find the prompt and click "Open Anyway"; or
• run the command below in the terminal to strip the quarantine attribute, then open the app normally:

xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/LocalShare.app

License

MIT — see LICENSE.

Credits

This project was inspired by:

• localsend
• dufs