How to use AirTransfer

1. Install the app. AirTransfer is available for Android, Windows and Linux — get it from the download section. The Mac app is coming soon.
2. Create an account. Choose Create account and enter your email address. We email you a 6-digit code to confirm it. You can then claim a @username so friends can find you.
3. Already have an account? Choose I already have an account and either join from a device that is signed in, or use your recovery phrase.
4. No account? Choose Continue without an account. You can still share with people nearby by pairing, or with Quick Share.

The app asks for permissions (nearby devices, Bluetooth, camera) when a feature first needs them. Each request says what the permission is for, and you can skip it.

• Send to my own devices Moving files between your phone and your computer, or any two devices signed in to the same account.
• Send to a friend Sending files to someone else who has an AirTransfer account.
• Share with someone nearby, without an account Swapping files with a person in the same room, when one or both of you have no account.
• Quick Share by QR or 6-digit code A one-off share with anyone, with nothing saved about either of you afterwards.
• Tap to Share Sending by touching two phones together.
• Shared groups A standing room for people who share with each other often, like a family or a team.
• Clipboard sync across my devices Copying on one of your devices and pasting on another.
• Public share links Sending a file to someone who does not have the app.
• Drag and drop on the desktop Sending from your computer without hunting for the file twice.
• Send from any Android app Sharing a photo, document or anything else straight from the app it is in.
• Add a new device to my account Signing in on another phone or computer of yours.
• Recover my account with the 12-word phrase Getting back into your account when you have no signed-in device left.
• Lock the app with a PIN or biometrics Keeping the app closed to anyone who picks up your unlocked phone.
• Pause, resume, cancel and history Keeping track of what you sent and received.

Steps

1. Make sure both devices are signed in to your account and the app is open on both.
2. Pick the files and choose Send.
3. Under My devices, choose the device you want.

What to expect

• Your own devices accept straight away, with no question on the other screen.
• Your devices show up as one list, whether they are on the same Wi-Fi, nearby over Bluetooth, or somewhere else.
• You can pick several recipients at once.

Steps

1. In Settings, open Friends and send a request to their @username. They accept it on their side.
2. Pick the files, choose Send and pick your friend.
3. If your friend is offline, the app offers to leave the files in their mailbox. It only does that when you tap it.

What to expect

• Your friend is asked to accept the files, in the app.
• Files left in the mailbox are encrypted before they leave your device, and wait there for your friend to collect them.
• For each friend you choose which of your devices they can see and send to, and whether their files are accepted without asking. The app explains what each choice means.
• You can remove or block a friend at any time.

Steps

1. On the home screen, tap Pair with someone nearby.
2. Turn on being discoverable, then pick their device from the list and tap Pair.
3. Read the six words on your screen out loud. Confirm only if their screen shows the same six words, in the same order.
4. After pairing, tap Send on their row.

What to expect

• Nearby devices show as “Nearby device” with a short code until you pair. Names appear after pairing.
• The other person is always asked before anything arrives.

Steps

1. Both of you open Quick Share from the home screen.
2. The person sending shows their code: a QR code and six digits.
3. The person receiving scans the QR, or types the six digits.
4. If asked, compare the six words on both screens. They must match.

What to expect

• Whoever shows the code sends; whoever reads it receives.
• A code lasts three minutes. If it runs out, ask for a new one.
• You can send more than one file in the same session. Tap End quick share when you are done.
• Between two computers, type the six digits; computers cannot scan the QR code.

Steps

1. Both of you open Tap to Share from the home screen.
2. The sender adds files and turns on Ready to tap.
3. The receiver keeps the page open with Ready to tap on.
4. Touch the two phones together.

What to expect

• Leaving the page or switching it off stops waiting for a tap.

Steps

1. Open the Groups tab and create a group, then add members.
2. To send, open the group and send to it. Every member gets the files.
3. To receive, open the group and accept or download what was shared.

What to expect

• Joining a group is your consent to receive from its members, so group files do not pop up and interrupt you.
• Every member sees who else is in the group.
• Only the owner can rename the group, change members or delete it. If the owner leaves, the group closes for everyone.
• What you sent and received stays in your Activity, on your device, even after you leave.

Steps

1. Open the Clipboard tab and tap Turn on clipboard sharing.
2. Copy text as usual; it appears on your other signed-in devices.
3. To sync copied files too, turn that on separately in Settings, under Security.

What to expect

• It only works between devices on your own account.
• Clips are kept in a history where you can pin or delete them, or send one to a single device.
• Syncing copied files is off until you turn it on, and the app explains the risk before you do.
• On Android, the app asks to show notifications when you turn clipboard sharing on. If you say no, sharing still works inside the app.

Steps

1. Pick the file and create a share link.
2. Copy the link and send it to them any way you like.
3. They open it in a web browser to download the file.

What to expect

• You can revoke the link at any time from the app.

Steps

1. Drag files onto the AirTransfer window or the quick-send window.
2. Pick who to send to.
3. To open the quick-send window, choose Quick send from the AirTransfer menu in your system tray.

What to expect

• Dropped files go through the same send screen as everything else.

Steps

1. In any app, tap Share and pick AirTransfer.
2. Choose who to send to.

What to expect

• You can share one file or many at once.
• If some items could not be read, the app tells you how many were skipped.

Steps

1. On the new device, choose I already have an account, then A device of mine is signed in.
2. Connect the two devices with a QR code, a 6-digit code, or over Bluetooth.
3. Compare the words shown on both screens, and confirm only if they match.

What to expect

• The new device joins your account.
• You can also start from a device that is already signed in and invite the new one.

Steps

1. Before you need it: in Settings, under Security, open Recovery phrase and write the 12 words down on paper.
2. To recover, choose I already have an account, then I have my recovery phrase.
3. Enter your username, the code we email you, and the 12 words.

What to expect

• The words are shown once, and the app never saves or logs them.
• If something does not match, the app does not tell you which part was wrong. That is deliberate.

Steps

1. In Settings, under Security, turn on Require PIN on launch and choose a PIN.
2. On a phone, you can also turn on Biometric unlock.
3. Choose how soon it locks again under Auto-lock after.

What to expect

• The app asks for the PIN when it starts, and when you come back to it after the auto-lock time.
• Biometric unlock is a shortcut in front of the same PIN.

Steps

1. While you are sending, the progress screen has Pause, Resume and Cancel.
2. A banner on every screen shows a transfer that is still running; tap it to go back to it.
3. Open the Activity tab to see everything you sent and received.

What to expect

• Leaving a screen never cancels a transfer. Only Cancel does.
• Either side can cancel. The other side sees who cancelled.
• You can withdraw a send the other person has not answered yet, where your app shows the option.
• History tells apart declined (someone said no), cancelled (someone stopped it) and failed (something went wrong).
• Tap a received file to open it or show it in its folder. Deleting a history entry removes the entry on this device only, not the file.

You never pick how a file travels. The app looks at the ways the two devices can reach each other and uses the fastest one it has, in this order:

1. Your local network — both devices on the same Wi-Fi or wired network.
2. A direct Wi-Fi link — the two devices connect to each other with no router in between.
3. Directly over the internet — device to device, when they are on different networks.
4. Through our relay — only as a last resort, when nothing direct works. The relay passes along encrypted data it cannot read.

If the path drops in the middle of a transfer, the transfer carries on from where it stopped over another path, instead of starting again. The progress screen tells you when the path changes.

What the “turn on Bluetooth / Wi-Fi” messages mean

If a send cannot leave your device, the app shows each way it could still use and what is blocking it — usually Bluetooth or Wi-Fi switched off, or a permission you declined. On Android a button takes you to the right settings page. Nothing is switched on unless you tap it.

• “This will use your mobile data” appears when the only way left is over the internet on a metered connection.
• “Connecting directly over Wi-Fi…” means the two devices are forming a direct link. Some devices briefly leave your Wi-Fi network to do this; the app warns you first and reconnects you afterwards. A phone may show its own prompt to join the link.

• End-to-end encrypted. Files and clipboard items are locked on your device and unlocked only on the device that receives them. Each transfer uses a fresh key.
• Our servers cannot read your files. The server, the relay and the mailbox for offline friends only pass along or hold encrypted data.
• Comparing words keeps strangers out. When you pair or add a device, both screens show the same words only if you are connected straight to each other. If they differ, cancel.
• No trackers in the apps. The apps carry no analytics or tracking code.
• What the server does keep. Some account details have to be stored for the service to work, such as your email address, your username and the names of your groups. The privacy policy lists all of it.

Stuck on something this page does not cover? Email us.

hello@airtransfer.com