Send files directly over your local network

How local network file transfer works

Open the same LanCopy website on the participating devices. Give each browser a useful name such as “Safari · iPhone” or “Chrome · Office PC”. Devices behind the same internet connection then appear automatically in the device list.

Select the receiving device and wait for the secure data channel to become ready. On a desktop, files can be dropped onto the device or into the conversation. The file picker works on both desktop and mobile. The receiver sees an offer and decides whether to accept the file or the complete group.

1. Open LanCopy on both devices and choose different device names.
2. Select the receiving device and wait for the connection to become ready.
3. Choose files or drag and drop them, then accept them on the receiving device.

What “directly on the LAN” actually means

The website and the brief device-matching process are provided by a web server. The file itself is not uploaded to that server. Once connected, the browser sends encrypted data to the other browser through a WebRTC data channel.

WebRTC chooses among the network routes it can establish. When both devices are on the same local network and local communication is allowed, a local route is normally preferred. LanCopy does not claim that every transfer is guaranteed to remain inside the LAN: VPNs, guest networks, Wi-Fi client isolation, Private Relay and unusual router policies can affect discovery or routing.

Send several files without a flood of dialogs

You can select several photos, documents or other files together. LanCopy presents them as one group, so the receiver can accept the group with one decision or review its files individually. Progress, cancellation and retry actions remain in the relevant conversation.

LanCopy does not modify selected files. It does not compress photos or videos and does not convert formats. Whether the receiving device can open a particular format depends on its operating system and installed apps.

Encryption without cloud file storage

Chat text, file contents and metadata such as name, size and media type are additionally end-to-end encrypted inside the sending browser. Fresh keys are created for each browser connection and are not stored as a file on the LanCopy server.

Automatic discovery encrypts the connection, but sharing a network does not by itself prove the other device’s identity. For sensitive transfers, compare the safety code shown on both devices or open the same secure invitation link.

When devices cannot see each other on Wi-Fi

First check that both devices have the current LanCopy page open and can reach the internet. Temporarily disable a VPN or Private Relay and avoid guest Wi-Fi that isolates clients. Switching from Wi-Fi to cellular data also ends an existing local connection.

If connection setup stalls, reload the page on both devices and keep both tabs in the foreground. On iPhone and iPad, the browser or iOS may pause a longer transfer when the screen turns off or the page enters the background. An interrupted chunk transfer does not resume from its previous byte, but it can be started again.