GitHub - unprovable/ShadowCat: Single file optical file transfer using a browser
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  • Sneezycat@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    1 hour

    Hmm, interesting project!

    Now I have to figure out how to send the program itself over qr codes ;)

    Edit: After playing around with it for a bit, I have some questions. Mostly, what’s the real use case for this?

    A 1MB file turns into 4k-10k pictures depending on how many characters you choose. My camera keeps auto-adjusting and it misses most of the frames. I could place my phone on a stable surface, angled just right, and leave it overnight/a long time period to finish the transfer. But why would I do that?

    If I have no bluetooth, couldn’t I just use sftp (or some even simpler protocol) over wifi , which should be supported even on ancient devices? Suppose wifi doesn’t work either. How do I transfer the program itself?

    Even if I manage to transfer it, I couldn’t run it directly on Ironfox, only on Via, so not all browsers support opening local files. I can run it on a local http server like apache, but if I can run that I probably can just transfer files via sftp.

    And even if somehow bluetooth, wifi and all the wireless connectivity fails… couldn’t I just use a cable?

    I only can imagine 2 use cases:

    • Your phone’s wireless connectivity is busted, you have a charging cable but it doesn’t transmit data, and you manage to get the app on the phone somehow (maybe typing the code by hand). If you can even run the app, then you can painfully transfer files with it.
    • You want to transfer a very small file (in the order on 50-200KiB), you don’t have easy access to sftp and your charging cable doesn’t support data transfer or you can’t be bothered to look for it. You can then use this app to transfer the file, in a reasonable amount of time (~1 min)

    Disclaimer: I tried this on a 10y/o phone running Android 7, and tried to open it on my current phone too but couldn’t, and I couldn’t be bothered to set up an http server to run it, or self-signed certs to run it from my pc.

    Sorry for the rant, I do think it’s a neat project! I just can’t find its usefulness other than being a fun trick xP