Apple's AirDrop is a delight — between Apple devices. Ask it to move a photo from an Android phone to an iPhone and it simply won't: AirDrop is hard-wired to Apple's ecosystem. The good news is that "AirDrop" has become shorthand for quick local file sharing, and that problem has several real solutions. Here are four, ranked by how little you have to install.
Table of Contents
- Method 1: PlainApp — no app on the iPhone
- Method 2: LocalSend — an app on both sides
- Method 3: PlainICU — no app on either device
- Method 4: A cloud drive — when nothing else is possible
- Choosing between them
Method 1: PlainApp — no app on the iPhone
PlainApp runs on the Android phone only. It starts a secure web server on your phone; the iPhone connects to it with Safari over the same Wi-Fi. Nothing is installed on the iPhone, and because it's a web portal, an iPad, a PC, or a Mac can join exactly the same way.
Steps:
- Install PlainApp on the Android phone (Google Play, F-Droid, or GitHub) and tap Start.
- Note the address it shows, like
https://192.168.1.5:8443. - On the iPhone, open Safari and go to that address. Accept the certificate warning — the connection is encrypted with a self-signed certificate.
- Android → iPhone: browse the phone's files in Safari and download what you need. iPhone → Android: use the upload area to push photos or files the other way.
Both directions work, transfers stay on your local network, and there are no file-size limits. The full walkthrough (with what else the web portal does) is in AirDrop for Android: send files to PC in seconds.
Method 2: LocalSend — an app on both sides
LocalSend is an open-source, peer-to-peer file sharing app with real iOS support, plus Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android. If you move files between many combinations of devices and want one consistent tool, this is the sturdier pick — discovery is handled inside the apps, with no account and no cloud.
Steps:
- Install LocalSend from the App Store on the iPhone and from Google Play on the Android phone.
- Open the app on both devices; they find each other on the same Wi-Fi automatically.
- Pick the target device, attach files, send.
The cost is symmetric: an app on every device. A closer comparison of what you give up and gain is in LocalSend alternative: file transfer plus phone management.
Method 3: PlainICU — no app on either device
Sometimes you don't want to install anything at all — a friend's phone, a borrowed laptop, a one-off send. PlainICU (from the PlainApp team) is a browser-only transfer page: open plain.icu in a browser on both devices, and they discover each other on the same network. Files then travel directly between the two devices over an encrypted WebRTC connection — the site's server only introduces the two devices and never touches the file bytes.
Steps:
- Open https://plain.icu in a browser on the Android phone.
- Open the same address on the iPhone (Safari works fine).
- Once both devices appear, drag and drop or pick your files — they transfer straight to the other device.
No install, no account, no file-size limit. The trade-offs: it needs both devices on the same network, and it moves files only — it is a transfer page, not a phone manager.
Method 4: A cloud drive — when nothing else is possible
When the two devices aren't on the same network at all, a cloud drive (Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive) is the fallback: upload from the Android, open on the iPhone. It works everywhere, but notice what you trade for it — the file leaves both devices, uploads over the internet, and lands on storage you don't control. For sensitive photos or large videos, it's also the slowest option of the four.
Choosing between them
| Situation | Use | Why |
|---|---|---|
| One-off transfer, nothing on the iPhone | PlainApp via Safari | Full phone access from the browser |
| Regular sharing across many devices | LocalSend | One consistent native app everywhere |
| Nothing installed anywhere | PlainICU | Both sides are just a browser tab |
| Devices on different networks | Cloud drive | The only option that crosses networks |
A note on the phrase "AirDrop for Android online": web-based relays like Snapdrop once filled this niche, but the original project is no longer maintained. PlainICU is the same browser-based idea — any device, nothing to install — kept current. PlainApp goes further: your own phone is the server, so nothing passes through anyone else's infrastructure and you get full phone management, not just transfers.