[HN Gopher] Blip: Peer-to-peer massive file sharing
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Blip: Peer-to-peer massive file sharing
Author : miles
Score : 132 points
Date : 2025-07-22 15:54 UTC (7 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (blip.net)
(TXT) w3m dump (blip.net)
| ryandotsmith wrote:
| Does anyone have an idea of how this is built? I wonder if they
| are using QUIC with relay servers or something like Tailscale's
| DERP.
| realsdx wrote:
| If it's truly p2p, some relay would be there in case the client
| cannot be reached through NAT. Not sure how they would bear the
| cost of the bandwidth for unlimited transfers in that case
| wongarsu wrote:
| Traffic is pretty cheap outside the big clouds. For example
| Hetzner charges $1/TB on a 10Gbit connection
| throwawayffffas wrote:
| Their 1Gbit connections are unmetered.
| iamcalledrob wrote:
| It's something closer to Tailscale DERP.
|
| We evaluated QUIC (and many other approaches). Turns out it's a
| _lot_ harder than you might think to move traffic at high speed
| across the world, over residential-grade internet, and not
| drain your battery.
| 2color wrote:
| I wouldn't be surprised if it's built with Iroh
|
| https://www.iroh.computer/
| greener_grass wrote:
| Is this AirDrop but cross-platform?
| kjksf wrote:
| No.
|
| AirDrop is for people who are physically nearby.
|
| This allows to send files between any computers anywhere.
|
| The other person must be a known contact but it doesn't have to
| be on the same local network like in AirDrop.
| dewey wrote:
| There's a new AirDrop feature that also transfers over the
| internet: https://allthings.how/how-airdrop-over-internet-
| works-on-iph...
| thejazzman wrote:
| > To start AirDrop over the Internet, initiate the AirDrop
| as you normally would
|
| ...
|
| this is hardly the same thing?
| FabHK wrote:
| Addressed in the FAQ:
|
| > How is Blip different to nearby sharing like AirDrop? Apple's
| "AirDrop" and Google's "Nearby Share" can be really handy.
| However, they aren't compatible with each other and require
| devices to be physically next to each other. They are also
| unreliable when transferring large files, and will often lose
| your progress.
|
| > Blip doesn't need devices to be nearby, so it's much more
| reliable. Blip works wherever your internet connected devices
| are in the world, and works regardless of what kind of device
| you own. You can transfer from Android to Mac, Windows to
| iPhone, iPad to Android--you name it!
| miksak wrote:
| I wonder how widely usable is file sharing nowadays when most of
| the non tech people just use cloud services for their data, be it
| google docs or some cloud photo storage
| supportengineer wrote:
| Non-tech people couldn't tell you what a "file" is.
| ryandrake wrote:
| I think non-tech people _used to be able to_ , but tech
| companies have been on a 10+ year long crusade against the
| concept of a "file" and where that file is "stored" and
| trying to blur once-sharp lines so that people forget. Tech
| really wants you to think of your data as an amorphous blob
| vaguely "in their app" and not worry about crisp delineations
| like files, whose hard drive those files are on, and whose
| machine that hard drive is in.
| nrmitchi wrote:
| Most non-tech people do _not_ just use cloud services for their
| data.
|
| Really not sure where you got that from, but even if it was
| true, most non-tech people will still shy away from putting a
| 250G file in a cloud service once they get prompted to upgrade
| their plan because they don't have enough space.
| thehappypm wrote:
| Cloud is kinda the default now. Most Americans just take
| pictures with their iPhones and it ends up in icloud.
| throwawayffffas wrote:
| That's different from getting a Dropbox account or manually
| uploading stuff to Google drive in order to share it with
| someone.
| tomazsh wrote:
| Right. We don't provide storage. Blip is designed to be
| the fastest way to send things to your devices and to
| other people in real time, without waiting for uploads,
| sync, or managing shared links.
| crazygringo wrote:
| The point is your stuff is in there already. You just
| click share and send somebody a link.
| crazygringo wrote:
| I dunno, seems like most do? Their stuff is in Google Photos,
| Google Docs, iCloud Drive, etc. And yes they pay for the
| space once their photos or phone backups get big enough.
|
| And I don't know any non-tech people who have any 250GB
| files. The only people I know with those shoot 4K video
| professionally. Or scientists running truly massive
| simulations.
| abcd_f wrote:
| This is a minor OCD nitpick, but
|
| > _at super fast speeds_
|
| Fast speeds aren't a thing, just like cheap prices and wet waters
| aren't.
| Tokumei-no-hito wrote:
| nit-nit, what's wrong with cheap prices? price doesnt infer
| magnitude.
| abcd_f wrote:
| Cheap means "low in price". Price can't be "low in price", it
| can be just "low".
| gnabgib wrote:
| Cheap has many more meanings than that. It can mean
| comparatively inexpensive (a cheap Lamborghini), of
| inferior quality (cheap paperclip), miserly (he's too cheap
| to buy better), gained with little effort (cheap win).
| FabHK wrote:
| So what's a cheap price? A price of inferior quality? A
| miserly price? A price obtained with little effort? Or is
| after all a low price what's meant?
| abcd_f wrote:
| Sure. Still doesn't make "cheap price" a valid combo.
| therealdrag0 wrote:
| I don't follow. Speed and price can be many values, high or
| low. It's perfectly valid to add an adjective describing it as
| fast or cheap.
| abcd_f wrote:
| Cheap means "low in price", so "cheap price" makes no sense.
|
| Fast means "of a high speed", so it's the same here.
| Foivos wrote:
| Somehow it has to be contrasted with ``slow'' speeds.
| abcd_f wrote:
| "High speeds"
| readthenotes1 wrote:
| That's a quality nit pick for sure.
|
| J/k
|
| It's a _high_ quality nit pick imo:)
| Saris wrote:
| Interesting that it says "Internet sending may be slower during
| peak times to keep things fair" even though it's supposed to be
| P2P?
|
| Maybe they just mean if you end up with a relayed connection due
| to NAT issues? Because lower down it says "Send as fast as your
| connection"
| tantalor wrote:
| > When a direct connection isn't possible, files travel through
| our servers.
| bilbo0s wrote:
| That's what actually made it a hard pass for me.
| SquirrelOnFire wrote:
| Why's that, given that files are encrypted?
| throwawayffffas wrote:
| With whose key? I am not saying the service is not trust
| worthy, just that there is trust involved.
|
| Trust not only they are not malicious, but also they
| won't have some kind of vulnerability.
|
| Plus if it's encrypted how is the other party going to
| read the file? The key will have to take the same path.
| actionfromafar wrote:
| Hopefully it's a privpub negotiation. But yes, you have
| to trust the code.
| Dylan16807 wrote:
| > Trust not only they are not malicious, but also they
| won't have some kind of vulnerability.
|
| Wouldn't that still be the case if relay servers didn't
| exist? A hacked version can send your file to the wrong
| person.
| Saris wrote:
| I figured, it's just explained in an odd way.
| tomazsh wrote:
| That's right. We actively manage load across our relay network
| to ensure good performance, but we'll prioritize business
| transfers during peak times. We don't artificially limit the
| client, but P2P connection speeds can sometimes be affected by
| router configurations and ISP routing. For example, some ISPs
| route P2P traffic through slower paths, which can introduce
| variability.
| poisonborz wrote:
| Free open source alternative: https://pairdrop.net
| dhruvmittal wrote:
| Magic Wormhole [1] also exists.
|
| [1] https://magic-wormhole.readthedocs.io/en/latest/
| ori_b wrote:
| And for a web native version, there's also WebWormhole:
| https://webwormhole.com/
| ch71r22 wrote:
| also Keet: https://keet.io/
| rickydroll wrote:
| Syncthing [1] also exists
|
| [1] https://syncthing.net/
| jjcob wrote:
| Syncthing is for syncing folders like Dropbox
|
| It's not a good solution to send individual large files.
| rickydroll wrote:
| Syncing files is only one of its capabilities. It is best
| suited for use between two individuals/organizations that
| need to transfer files between themselves more than a few
| times. Its main advantage for me is that it doesn't
| require a central storage system, such as Dropbox, to
| hold the files. It's just you and me and a rendezvous
| server.
|
| In a previous life, I used Syncthing to transfer
| terabytes of files from the company I worked for to a
| third-party printer. It was delightfully reliable, and
| easy to set up.
|
| If it's a one-off, yeah, you're right that it's not
| wonderful. I've used Magic Wormhole successfully for that
| use case.
| jszymborski wrote:
| Is there something like a Magic Wormhole server, so I can e.g
| host a file on my NAS (behind a NAT) for download long term?
| drexlspivey wrote:
| I vibe coded this in one hour to send files to my work laptop.
| Static page + webRTC + short lived cloudflare durable object to
| make the handshake.
|
| https://send.drexl.dev/
| ishanjain28 wrote:
| Are you people seriously suggesting webrtc crap in response to
| a native app built for much much high speed transfers?
| Unbelievable
| evantbyrne wrote:
| There's also LocalSend, which I've found works the best for me
| personally and is a bit more polished than browser clients
| jjcob wrote:
| There's also croc: https://github.com/schollz/croc
| seemaze wrote:
| ..also FilePizza as a web service:
| https://github.com/kern/filepizza
|
| or tailscale's Taildrop as a native application:
| https://tailscale.com/kb/1106/taildrop
| lagniappe wrote:
| I have a few qualms with this app:
|
| 1. For a Linux user, you can already build such a system yourself
| quite trivially by getting an FTP account, mounting it locally
| with curlftpfs, and then using SVN or CVS on the mounted
| filesystem. From Windows or Mac, this FTP account could be
| accessed through built-in software.
|
| 2. It doesn't actually replace a USB drive. Most people I know
| e-mail files to themselves or host them somewhere online to be
| able to perform presentations, but they still carry a USB drive
| in case there are connectivity problems. This does not solve the
| connectivity issue.
|
| 3. It does not seem very "viral" or income-generating. I know
| this is premature at this point, but without charging users for
| the service, is it reasonable to expect to make money off of
| this?
| bestouff wrote:
| Hey isn't this the same famous reply as the one the Dropbox
| founder got here in HN ?
| rising-sky wrote:
| infamous*
|
| but yes, sure sounds like it!
| jcalx wrote:
| Context, for the above:
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9224
|
| It worked out the first time!
| muppetman wrote:
| Thanks for this - I thought the OP was insane...
| otterley wrote:
| > you can already build such a system yourself quite trivially
| _by getting an FTP account, mounting it locally with curlftpfs,
| and then using SVN or CVS on the mounted filesystem_...
|
| I don't think the word "trivially" means what you think it
| means.
|
| [Edit: I now realize the above is a verbatim quote from a
| naysayer after the Dropbox announcement]
| lynndotpy wrote:
| Other comments have added context, but this is a Hacker News
| "copypasta" of sorts, from DropBox's first launch.
| Dylan16807 wrote:
| > I don't think the word "trivially" means what you think it
| means.
|
| You cut off "for a linux user [in 2007]" and that's a very
| important part of the sentence.
| kvirani wrote:
| Haha
| rvz wrote:
| The joke at hand. [0] Here we go again.
|
| Now let see if the founder(s) will reply here and to run it all
| back from start to IPO.
|
| What would the founders do differently from dhouston this time?
|
| [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9224
| pluto_modadic wrote:
| 1. - FTP could fail / doesn't resume the same way rsync,
| mutagen, or syncthing could
|
| 2. - nothing would by your criteria of an airgap, that's a
| strawman, this is just an alternative over the wire method (as
| is bluetooth file transfer)
| tomazsh wrote:
| Classic lore! :)
| mbrumlow wrote:
| So airdrop...
|
| Not sure why this needs to be a service. Or why data needs to go
| through their servers.
| abcd_f wrote:
| It appears that the data is relayed as a fallback, if there's
| no p2p connection possible. This is a classic transfer model
| for mediated transfers.
| givemeethekeys wrote:
| It looks like this lets you share files with people using a
| different operating system than MacOS. Does AirDrop let you do
| that?
| subarctic wrote:
| His point is about it being a service vs just a peer to peer
| app
| kjksf wrote:
| So you run the app. The other person runs the app.
|
| How do those 2 programs find out about each other?
|
| Well, they need to use some server that will connect all
| users, allow you to find the other person in order to send
| them a file.
|
| Even BitTorrent needs tracker servers to connect
| downloaders to uploaders.
|
| Now, you could try to make it run without a company behind
| it, like BitTorrent.
|
| I guess it's an exercise for the reader.
|
| Someone still needs to run those connecting servers out of
| the goodness of their heart.
|
| You would need to degrade the usability (the first thing a
| user would need to do is to configure the app with the
| address of at least one connecting server).
|
| BitTorrent is anonymous but for sending files you need to
| connect to a person you know. If you enable contacting via
| the protocol, it'll be a phishing nightmare.
|
| So you'll have to degrade usability some more and use a
| side channel (e.g. an email) to exchange identities with
| people you want to send file to (or receive files from).
|
| By having a service and a company behind it, they are able
| to perfect the UX and run the necessary servers to
| implement that UX.
| 42lux wrote:
| Universities, the Debian Foundation, Nvidia, the ccc,
| hell even Microsoft run magic-wormhole relays... the only
| thing new here is the subscription and the hipster gui
| client.
| givemeethekeys wrote:
| This is classic critique. Dropbox was criticized in the
| same way when it was announced years ago.
|
| Magic Wormhole is cool (I just learned about it! Thanks!
| :)), but most people don't use nor care about the command
| line, and are probably afraid of it.
| 42lux wrote:
| I am more in critique of the shameless subscription for
| services like this. US$25 /user/month for what? Certainly
| not the traffic.
| unquietwiki wrote:
| I think that might be billed on the sender vs the
| receiver. So if you're a solo creative person sharing
| stuff with clients, this can be one way of doing that.
| Also potentially useful for small businesses without an
| enterprise file sharing solution.
| otterley wrote:
| AirDrop only works on local networks, not over the Internet.
| api wrote:
| Wait... you're telling me it's 2025 and we can finally
| conveniently send files?
| 42lux wrote:
| Looks not really convenient...
| supportengineer wrote:
| It's like YouSendIt!
| system2 wrote:
| Who else needs to share files bigger than 1 TB? Most cloud
| services, such as Google Drive or OneDrive, are more than
| sufficient for managing massive files. I don't see the appeal of
| this new service.
| supertrope wrote:
| It would save you the time to upload first, effectively halving
| the time required.
| yjftsjthsd-h wrote:
| Oddly enough, I would argue the exact opposite direction;
| really big files are exactly where I want to do a direct p2p
| transfer without paying to store it in the cloud.
| unquietwiki wrote:
| Google Drive throttles uploads over 5GB, and not everyone has a
| storage plan that could fit that.
| timc3 wrote:
| Don't see any mention of an API.
| tomazsh wrote:
| We don't have the API yet, but are exploring use cases for it.
| Send me an email at tomaz@blip.net -- would love to chat.
| markasoftware wrote:
| "former dropbox engineers" doesn't mean a whole lot -- it's a
| large company where tens of thousands of people have worked over
| the years. It's not like this is by the founders or anything.
| ryandrake wrote:
| Yea, "former [COMPANY] employee" could mean anything. I'm not
| sure it's really much of a flex. I'm a former Apple employee.
| Nobody gives a shit, and nobody should--That doesn't count for
| anything if I were to do a software startup. It wouldn't even
| bear mentioning in a press release.
| dang wrote:
| Ok, we've taken the former dropbox engineers out of the title
| now.
| rahimnathwani wrote:
| This looks awesome. For sending files between my phone (Android)
| and my son's iPad, I use:
|
| Android: Wormhole William (https://github.com/psanford/wormhole-
| william-mobile)
|
| iOS: Destiny (https://github.com/LeastAuthority/destiny)
|
| Some drawbacks to my current approach:
|
| 1. Destiny needs to be configured to use the standard Magic
| Wormhole servers (just once, after installation):
| https://github.com/LeastAuthority/destiny/issues/259#issueco...
|
| 2. Initiating a transfer requires out of band communication and
| some copy+paste.
| leosanchez wrote:
| Android app looks beautiful. Waiting for the Linux version.
| ceronman wrote:
| This looks really cool. I especially like the "Keep your
| progress, whatever happens" feature.
|
| The product looks polished and I definitely see myself using it.
| My only concern is: Are they taking VC money? Is this going to be
| enshittified to death trying to pursue a 1000x investment return?
| landl0rd wrote:
| No benchmark comparisons with Aspera or similar even though they
| compare pricing? Because my gut instinct is it's probably a good
| bit slower.
| tomazsh wrote:
| That's not what our professional customers are telling us :)
| Good point about adding benchmarks to our website though.
| landl0rd wrote:
| That's awesome man, I'm glad to hear there's a viable
| competitor. Gl and I look forward to seeing it.
| satvikpendem wrote:
| I wonder what tech stack they're using, given it supports all the
| major platforms. I like sendme [0] which uses iroh, a peer-to-
| peer library as well.
|
| [0] https://github.com/n0-computer/sendme
| manoji wrote:
| Surprised syncthing isn't mentioned yet. It has been the most
| stable sync tool for me over the years https://syncthing.net/ .
| Solid product . Great oboarding experience for Blip! Its just
| working!
| tomazsh wrote:
| Hey! Blip co-founder here. We didn't expect to show up on HN, but
| really grateful to OP for sharing Blip. Here's a little bit more
| about it.
|
| We've built Blip because it's still hard to send original quality
| photos, videos, and large files to your devices and to other
| people on the internet. We're designers and engineers, so our
| goal has always been to keep the product super simple on the
| surface, but really fast and powerful underneath.
|
| Blip works in a peer-to-peer way at the UI level: you pick the
| device or person, and Blip takes care of the delivery. Transfers
| go directly over WAN whenever possible, and fall back to relays
| when needed. The idea is to send in one click, skipping the usual
| dance of moving files through cloud drives and managing shared
| links.
|
| Under the hood, Blip is optimized for large media and data
| transfers. It supports full-speed acceleration, resumable
| progress, and we're rolling out E2EE across all clients to ensure
| sensitive business data remains secure. Many creative pros and
| teams already use Blip in their daily media workflows.
|
| We don't monetize data because it doesn't align with the values
| of our creative and technical users. Instead, we run on a simple
| donation and subscription model that lets you support the product
| and use it without limits, quotas, and frustrations. Our goal is
| to make file transfer feel invisible.
|
| Happy to answer any questions.
| mempko wrote:
| Linux support please!
| pizzathyme wrote:
| Looks amazing! Maybe a dumb question: why isn't Dropbox doing
| this? Why did you all need to leave to make this a reality?
| tomazsh wrote:
| Thank you, and great question. In my experience, big
| companies have way more strategic priorities than two guys
| who just want to build something useful. We didn't leave to
| build exactly this, but a few things came together
| organically from past projects, including our work at
| Dropbox.
| packetlost wrote:
| I'd be more inclined to use this if it were open source. Oh well.
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