Phone → Computer First time
Three minutes. Two system prompts and you're in.
The happy path is five steps. Everything below that is about what happens when Windows or macOS asks a question nobody prepared you for — and how to tell "I clicked the wrong thing" from "the app is broken".
Before you start
- Computer and phone on the same Wi-Fi (or the computer is the hotspot).
- The app installed and open on the computer.
- Willing to keep the phone screen on while uploading.
On the computer
Three things on screen — check all three
① The QR code
Scan it with the system camera. If it won't focus, use the address printed underneath — hand-typing works identically.
② Network name & address
The address looks like http://192.168.1.23:8787. The network name tells you which Wi-Fi the phone has to be on.
③ The 6-digit code
Shown on screen. This is the source of truth — not what you remember typing into settings last week.
On the phone
Five steps
Join the same Wi-Fi
Check the network name on the computer screen. Same one.
Scan the code
System camera. What opens is a web page. Nothing is installed. If the scan fails, type the address by hand.
Enter the 6 digits (maybe)
If a password is set, you'll be asked for it. Full-width digits １２３４５６ are treated as 123456.
Pick target and note
Which computer folder, and a note for this batch (it becomes the directory name: date-note).
Pick files, then send
Photos, videos, or any file. Review the list — filtered-out rows stay visible — then start.
"Send immediately after picking" is off by default
There's a switch on the phone page: skip the review and start uploading as soon as files are picked. It's stored in that phone's local storage, not in the computer's settings — so one phone turning it on doesn't affect the others.
⚠️ If you turn it on, you're giving up the chance to change the date range, the target folder, or the note before anything goes over. The switch says so when you flip it.
One-time setup
Two system prompts, then you're done
These are the OS asking permission for the app to listen on the local network. Answer them once and you're set — it just makes the phone able to connect.
Windows · firewall dialog
Tick "Private networks" and click Allow. Don't tick "Public networks" unless you know you need it.
Private = your home / your own network. Public = café, airport, a network you don't control.
⚠️ The portable build doesn't write firewall rules, so you may be asked again each time. That's expected.
macOS · local network permission
macOS asks whether the app may find devices on the local network. (macOS is a dev/test platform here, not the delivery target — but this bites anyone testing on a Mac.)
Refusing it is the worst case, because nothing looks wrong: the QR code is on screen, the UI is fine, the phone just never connects.
What happens if you clicked "don't allow"
The app looks healthy. The phone hangs forever.
- The computer side is fine. QR code showing, no error, no warning. From the app's point of view, it's as if the phone simply never called.
- The phone side waits. It just spins. There's no message that says "your computer refused the permission" — the phone can't know that.
- How to fix it. System Settings → Privacy & Security → Local Network, flip the switch for this app on, then restart the app. On Windows, the equivalent is Windows Security → Firewall → Allow an app.
If the code won't scan
Type the address instead
The URL is printed on the computer
It looks like http://192.168.1.23:8787. Type it into the phone browser's address bar. Same result as scanning.
Watch out for a lowercase L next to a 1, or a 0 next to an O — the port is digits only.
The code is normalized for you
Chinese IMEs produce full-width digits. １２３４５６ is accepted as 123456 — the display, the submitted value, and what's stored are the same six numbers.
Wrong too many times? There's a rate limit, per source IP, so one device fumbling doesn't lock everyone out.
During upload
Please don't lock the phone screen
The upload runs in a web page. On iOS, locking the screen or switching away freezes the page's scripts — and the upload stops.
- Why there's no clear error. The phone page has a stall detector that uses a timer. When the page is frozen, the timer doesn't fire. From the outside it looks like a slow transfer that quietly stopped. The computer's row may sit at 98% with no timestamp, no red, no message.
- What the computer does about it. There's a server-side watchdog: if a request is still incomplete and not one byte has arrived for 60 seconds, it aborts and the row turns into a readable failure. This exists and has been tested outside the app. What it looks like on a real phone has not been verified.
- What you should do. Keep the screen on. Turn off auto-lock while a big video goes over. Small files are usually fine while the screen is lit. If it does break, go back into the same app window and hit retry — large files resume from the last confirmed byte.
We'd rather you hear this before your first 4 GiB video than after.
After it's sent
Where to find the files
The folder you chose
You picked a target folder on the computer. That's the top level.
Then date-note/
If you wrote a batch note, the directory is named YYYY-MM-DD-note. No note, no extra level.
Then category folders
If album archiving is on: date folders and Photos / Videos split, according to the layout you configured.
Filenames are kept as they are
No renaming scheme, no prefixes. And if a name collides with something already there, the new file becomes xxx (1).jpg — never written on top.
Stuck?
Check these three, in this order
Same Wi-Fi?
Phone on mobile data, phone on the neighbour's network, computer on Ethernet and phone on a guest Wi-Fi — none of those are "same network".
Compare the network name on the computer screen with the phone's.
System permission?
Windows firewall, or macOS local network. This is the one that fails silently and wastes an hour.
See the two system gates.
The six digits?
Read them off the computer screen. Full-width digits are handled, but a wrong code still counts against the rate limit.
Rate limits are per source IP, so a few mistakes don't lock out everyone.
Three things that look broken and aren't
- "Only today" selected and nothing is in the list. The date filter uses file modification time, not capture time. A photo copied from elsewhere may be dated today — or not.
- A thumbnail is just an icon. HEIC usually can't be previewed in the browser. The file still transfers.
- The row says "already on PC" instead of "sent". That means deduplication is on and the computer already has this content. Nothing is wrong; nothing was sent twice.
Speed reference
Everything in one table
| If this happens | It means | Do this |
|---|---|---|
| Phone can't connect at all | Different Wi-Fi, or permission refused | The two system gates |
| QR won't scan | Camera / lighting | Type the URL by hand |
| Asks for 6 digits | A password is set | Read them off the computer screen |
| Asks you to press "Allow" on the computer | Auto-accept is off | Click Allow on the computer |
| Stalls around 98% | Often the screen locked | Don't lock the screen |
| Only today's photos show up | Date filter is on | Change scope to "all", or pick another day |
| A row is grayed out as "outside range" | Date filter rejected it | Tap "send these too" |
| Row says "already on PC" | Deduplication is on | Nothing — or turn dedup off to force it |
| Thumbnail is a generic icon | HEIC / too large to thumb | File still transfers normally |
| Name collision | Same name already there | Nothing — it becomes xxx (1).jpg |
| Can't find the files afterwards | Target + date-note nesting | Where to find the files |
| Want the full picture | — | Full capability overview |