Better than Quick Share and AirDrop

Fast Sharing is a useful but flawed feature. Sharing files quickly between your Android, Windows and even iOS devices is quite convenient. Unfortunately, this is not the most reliable tool in the world. Detecting devices and transferring files is often slow and prone to disconnections. Thankfully, there is a better tool that makes my life even easier, and it’s free.

As annoying as using Quick Share was, I refused to use it. None of the alternatives I’ve tried have been better, always have the same issues, or depend on the subscription model. Then, a few weeks ago, I was listening to the Waveform podcast and a program called Blip came up. After hearing how this product reliably handled the huge files the MKBHD team was working on, I decided to try it out for myself – and I couldn’t be happier.

Blip is easy to use. Available on Android, Mac, Windows and iOS with Linux support coming soon. Once you’ve downloaded it to all your devices, it’s easy to share your files. In Windows, you can right-click any file or folder and find an option to move it in the menu. Android and iOS both show it in the sharing menu, as does Quick Share and AirDrop. If you’re sharing to one of your devices, you don’t need to open the app or confirm the transfer on the target device. If the program is entered and activated, the transfer will take place immediately.

I’m not kidding when I say it’s instant. Transmission speed is limited by your network, not the service itself. When I went on vacation last week, I used Blip to transfer 12GB of Sims 4 mods and storage from my desktop to my laptop via Wi-Fi, and it hit 1.5Gbps. You don’t even need to be on the same network. Transfers can be sent over the internet, and I’ve transferred photos to my laptop to edit when I’m back a few times while I’m on vacation.

It is also easy to convey something to others. My wife signed up after I had been using it for a few days and adding her to my program was as simple as searching for her email address.

Here’s another advantage Blip has over Quick Share or AirDrop. With these tools, I need to select the specific device my wife wants to receive files from. With Blip, I just send it and the request appears on all of his devices, along with the files sent to whatever device he used to receive the request. The number of cat photos swiped between our devices is, frankly, concerning. Cat tax below.

Are there any downsides? Not really. Obviously, you have to convince others to download the app, but that goes for anything you don’t have on your device. If you can get past that hurdle, or just need to transfer files yourself, then Blip rings around something else.

There is a paid version of the service, but I doubt you will need it. Blip Business benefits include priority speed at peak times and direct customer support. Priority speeds only matter when you’re transferring to a device on another network, so the free version is likely to be all you need.

I have been using Blip for a month now and use it almost every day. Unlike Quick Share, which often fails to send files or takes half an hour to take a screenshot, Blip has been fast and reliable every time. It’s put it on the list of apps I install on every new device, and I can’t recommend it enough.