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A comment on Snapdrop – AirDrop equivalent through a web browser using WebRTC. Parent comment

Re:Snapdrop – AirDrop equivalent through a web browser using... by capableweb on Thursday December 24, 2020 @06:07AM (#25526549)
To be fair, AirDrop requires you to be on the same network as well, as otherwise the devices don't have any way of communicating. If you're already on the same WiFi, it'll use WiFi but if not, it'll connect to each other via Bluetooth (eg, connecting to the same network [a network of two devices]), but the setup of the connection is automatic.

Maybe Snapdrop can do something similar with the new Bluetooth Web APIs.

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Re:Snapdrop – AirDrop equivalent through a web browser using... by vkoskiv on Thursday December 24, 2020 @06:51AM (#25526743)
False. AirDrop does discovery via bluetooth, but then sets up an ad-hoc WiFi connection directly between devices to transmit data. No network required.
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Re:Snapdrop – AirDrop equivalent through a web browser using... by capableweb on Thursday December 24, 2020 @08:13AM (#25527138)
> False

> sets up an ad-hoc WiFi connection

> No network required

Guess we have different definitions of what a "network" is. I'd call that a network, of two devices.

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Re:Snapdrop – AirDrop equivalent through a web browser using... by avianlyric on Thursday December 24, 2020 @09:43AM (#25527840)
I think the important difference is that AirDrop doesn't require you both to start on the same network for discovery, which SnapDrop does.
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Re:Snapdrop – AirDrop equivalent through a web browser using... by felixr on Thursday December 24, 2020 @07:17AM (#25526879)
> sets up an ad-hoc WiFi connection ... No network required.

It does need a network, that's why it creates one using an ad-hoc WiFi connection.

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Re:Snapdrop – AirDrop equivalent through a web browser using... by JoBrad on Thursday December 24, 2020 @10:16AM (#25528135)
The creation of this ad hoc network is seamless, invisible to the user, and doesn’t require _external_ network hardware.
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Re:Snapdrop – AirDrop equivalent through a web browser using... by sgt on Thursday December 24, 2020 @10:42AM (#25528430)
That Airdrop sets up its own temporary network hidden from view is not really relevant to most users though. For the user, it just works like "magic". All you need are two phones.
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Re:Snapdrop – AirDrop equivalent through a web browser using... by ComputerGuru on Friday December 25, 2020 @01:59PM (#25538288)
That was the initial version of AirDrop that had the same network requirement; future releases negotiated an adhoc wifi connection over bluetooth then used that.
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