FrameSend: QR Code File Transfer — Send Files From One Screen to Another Device’s Camera With No Wi-Fi, Pairing, or Cable

FrameSendPrivate QR file transfer
No cloud upload

Private QR file transfer

Send a file to any nearby device. Nothing gets uploaded.

A direct handoff for devices that don’t share the same account or ecosystem. Choose a file here; the other device points its FrameSend camera at this screen and saves a verified copy.

Useful for phone ↔ computer, work ↔ personal, and quick transfers without accounts.

New here? or .

Works across devicesNo pairing or account
Private by designNo cloud copy
Verified on arrivalChecked before saving
  1. 1ChoosePick any file
  2. 2OpenScan the still code
  3. 3PointUse FrameSend’s camera
Your handoff

Choose a file

Step 1

Drag and drop works here too on a computer.

——
Receiver linkCan’t scan?
Backup option

Share a setup link

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Share this small setup link with the receiving device. It only opens FrameSend; the file itself still comes through the camera.

This opens the receiving page only. It never contains or uploads your file.

Choose a file. FrameSend will turn this screen into a private handoff — a photo takes about a minute.
Transfer details
Frames to send
—
Total encoded size
—
Approximate time
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Fingerprint
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How it worksOne screen sends. One camera receives.
No cloud
Screen → cameraQR frames cross the gap. Your file never touches the cloud.The receiving browser watches the moving QR frames, rebuilds the file locally, and verifies it before saving.
Choose a file to turn this preview into the live transfer.
StepChoose a file
TransferNot started
Approx. time—
2Scan once. FrameSend handles the rest.The first code opens the receiving page. Its in-browser camera reads the moving code beside it.
The file stream loops continuously, so the receiver can join at any point.
FrameSend is ready.

Preferences

Sending

FrameSend chooses a readable QR size and pace automatically. Change this only when the receiving camera needs help or both devices are close together.

Automatic is best for most files. Reliable is easier to scan; Faster works best at close range.

Fine-tune sending

Lower the pace only when the receiving device repeatedly loses the moving code.

Screen

Keep the screen awake

Prevent either device from sleeping during a transfer.

How FrameSend works

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FrameSend turns one screen into a sender and the other device into a receiver. A still code opens the right page; the camera inside FrameSend then watches the moving code and rebuilds the original file.

1Open the receiving deviceScan the first, steady square with its normal camera—or send the receiver link.
2Start FrameSend’s cameraThe normal camera only opens the page. FrameSend’s camera view receives the changing file frames.
3Keep the moving square in viewLeave the sender running until the receiving device says File ready, then save it there.

No file upload

The receiver link can identify the file and transfer session, but it does not carry the file itself. The file bytes travel from the sender’s screen to the receiver’s camera.

Camera access

Host this HTML over HTTPS for live camera access. In normal hosted use, FrameSend loads its enhanced recovery and camera readers when they are first needed; the attachment itself is never sent to those services. Once both devices are ready, the file moves only through the displayed QR stream.

FrameSend uses ordinary QR frames, standards-based RaptorQ recovery in hosted use, SHA-256 verification, and a built-in portable fallback. Technical choices stay automatic so the experience remains Pick, Open, Point, Save.

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Third-party notices






Frequently Asked Questions




Everything people ask about moving a file from one screen to another device’s camera.





What is FrameSend?

FrameSend is a free browser-based file transfer tool that sends a file from one screen to another device’s camera as a stream of animated QR codes. There is no network between the two devices — no Wi-Fi, no Bluetooth pairing, no cable, no account, and nothing to install. One device displays the file as moving QR frames, the other points its FrameSend camera at that screen, and the file is rebuilt and verified locally before it is saved.





Is FrameSend free?

Yes — completely free, with no account, no watermark, no size paywall, and no feature gates. It is a single web page. Your file stays on your two devices.





How do I send a file with FrameSend?

Four steps. Open FrameSend on the sending device and choose a file. The receiving device scans the first still QR code with its normal camera app, which opens FrameSend there. Start the camera on the receiving device and point it at the moving code on the sending screen. When the progress reaches 100 percent, save the file on the receiving device.





Does FrameSend upload my file anywhere?

No. The file never leaves your two devices. It is encoded into QR frames in the sending browser and rebuilt in the receiving browser. There is no server, no cloud storage bucket, and no upload step. The setup link identifies the transfer session and the file name, but it does not contain the file itself. The page itself loads anonymous Google Analytics for visit counts, the same as every app on the arcade — that measures pageviews, never your file or its contents.





Is this really an air-gapped file transfer?

Not in the strict security sense, and it is worth being precise about that. A true air gap means no data path at all. A camera reading a screen is a data path — an optical one. What FrameSend actually removes is the radio: nothing is broadcast over Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC, or cellular, so there is no signal a nearby device can passively pick up, and no shared network for either device to join. Someone would have to be physically looking at your screen. For most people asking for air-gapped transfer, that is the property they actually wanted.





Do both devices need to be on the same Wi-Fi network or online?

No shared network is needed for the transfer itself. Each device does need to load the FrameSend page once over HTTPS, because browsers only grant camera access on secure pages. After the page is loaded, the file moves entirely through the screen and the camera.





Can I send a file from an iPhone to an Android phone?

Yes, and that is the main reason FrameSend exists. AirDrop is Apple-only and Quick Share is Android-only, so the two ecosystems have no shared handoff. FrameSend does not care what either device runs — it only needs a screen on one side and a camera on the other. The same applies to phone to Windows PC, work laptop to personal phone, and any pair of devices that do not share an account.





How fast is QR code file transfer, and how big a file can I send?

Optical transfer is honest about being a low-bandwidth channel. FrameSend streams roughly 6 to 16 KB per second depending on which transfer style you pick and how steady the two devices are, and it caps files at 24 MB. A photo or a PDF moves in a minute or two. A movie is the wrong job for this tool — shrink it first with Video Shrinker, or use a cable.





Why does the QR code keep changing instead of showing one code?

A single QR code holds only a few kilobytes, so any real file has to be split across many frames. FrameSend does not send the pieces in order. Each frame is a mixture of the whole file, generated with fountain coding, so the receiver can start scanning at any moment, miss frames, catch duplicates, or see them out of order and still rebuild the original. That is why there is no pairing handshake and no request to resend anything — the receiver just collects frames until it has enough.





How does FrameSend compare to LocalSend, Snapdrop, and AirDrop?

LocalSend needs an app installed on both devices and a shared local network. Snapdrop and PairDrop need both devices on the same network and a signalling server on the internet. AirDrop needs both devices to be Apple. FrameSend needs none of those — just a screen pointed at a camera — which makes it far slower than all three and far more likely to work when the others cannot. It is the tool for guest Wi-Fi, locked-down work laptops, mismatched ecosystems, and rooms with no usable network at all.





What do I need to use FrameSend?

A modern browser on both devices, a camera on the receiving device, and the page served over HTTPS so the browser will allow camera access. It works on iOS Safari, Android Chrome, and desktop Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari. If the receiving device cannot open its camera, you can still take screenshots or a burst of photos of the moving code and import those images instead.





What is Decimen Optical Transfer, and how is FrameSend related to it?

Decimen Optical Transfer is the open-source proof of concept by developer bashalarmistalt that demonstrated fountain-coded QR streaming between a screen and a camera. FrameSend builds on that MIT-licensed work and wraps it in a guided four-step interface, a setup link for receivers that cannot scan, screenshot import, SHA-256 verification, and a portable fallback engine that keeps working when the enhanced recovery module cannot load. Full credit and license text live under Third-party notices in the About dialog.