Reprinted from TidBITS by permission; reuse governed by Creative Commons license BY-NC-ND 3.0. TidBITS has offered years of thoughtful commentary on Apple and Internet topics. For free email subscriptions and access to the entire TidBITS archive, visit http://www.tidbits.com/ AppBITS: Use Blip to Send Large Files Directly Adam Engst Each month, when I do a podcast with Allison Sheridan (see '[1]Adam Engst Joining CCATP Podcast Regularly,' 12 July 2024), she asks me to record my side of the conversation in QuickTime Player. That generates an M4A audio file that's over 100 MB, large enough that it's problematic to send to her using email or Messages. Services like iCloud Drive, Dropbox, and Google Drive would work, but she showed me something more straightforward and perfect for the job: [2]Blip. Instead of uploading to a shared location for later download, Blip transfers the file directly from my Mac to hers in a single step. I drag the file from the Finder to the Blip icon in my menu bar, pause briefly for the menu to appear, and drop it on her name in the list. (I could also choose her name from the list to display a window onto which I could drop files.) On her end, Blip asks if she wants to accept the file, and then it transfers at the full speed of the connection between us. There are no intermediate servers involved, files can be of unlimited size, it can send folders without archiving them first, it doesn't mess with photo or video quality, and it encrypts files in transit. Blip even resumes automatically after network interruptions. When used between people on a local network, it bypasses the Internet entirely. Like AirDrop, Blip can share files quickly between your own devices, but it works in macOS, iOS, iPadOS, and Android, with Windows and Linux on the roadmap. Blip is free for now, and the team hopes to keep it free for personal use. In response to the FAQ 'Will Blip show me ads?' the developers respond, 'Absolutely not, don't be silly ;-)' Blip requires a minimum of macOS 12.1 Monterey, iOS/iPadOS 15, or Android 9. References Visible links 1. https://tidbits.com/2024/07/12/adam-engst-joining-ccatp-podcast-regularly/ 2. https://blip.net/ Hidden links: 3. https://tidbits.com/wp/../uploads/2024/09/Blip-send-receive.png .