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But you still need to be able to send the link, so the receiving party needs some way to be able to receive the link. It is then either some form of local messenger or ... an app. So, yeah, the receiving party needs an app, if the app is not build-in into the OS like Airdrop in iOS.

The receiving person can be sitting next to you so you can share via the sound of your voice or showing them your phone.

Technically they will still need an app to download the file (even if just a web browser) but there’s a gulf of difference between using an app you already have or installing a new one, especially if you need to do all the due diligence of “do I trust this?”

The URL is an IP and a port, so it can be typed by hand. Each connecting client needs explicit approval in the app, and then gets the list of the specific files that have been shared using this method.
It's ridiculous to think people will find it easy type out URLs and that too IP addresses along with a port. It maybe fine for HNerds, but definitely not for others. Shows hows much people in this site live inside a bubble.
It's absolutely fine for a normal person that an advanced feature requires you to type 4 numbers that are on average 2 digits long, followed by a 4-5 digit number. You do not need to understand what it is, and you do not need to memorize it. People are used to typing in their much longer credit card details flawlessly, so there really is zero argument here.

Not that it matters at all. As others have said, the app will gladly show you a QR code for it, which regular smartphone users are trained to use.

You are definitely gonna mess typing this up. A few dots replaced with commas, the colon replaced with semicolon. And remember, most people don't have enough patience to retype the address once it didn't work.

As for the credit/debit card number, it isn't comparable as it is widely used and understood. And yes, QR code is a far better solution, and it is employed by most apps.

Your argument makes no sense: for a normal person, a credit card number is 16 random digits (in some places more) + 3 random digits (the validation code) + a date + a name - a vast amount of data incomprehensible to the average user that must be copied flawlessly. Compare that to an IP and port which is on average just 8 digits + 5 digits.

Heck, the number is even organized similar: the CC is 4 groups of 8 + a group of 3 (ignoring date and name), the IP and port is 4 groups of average 2 digits + a group of 5. And unlike the CC info, every IP a non-techie ever deals with - and they have most certainly seen and typed one at least few times at this point, such as when they got internet service - starts with the same 6 digits.

Not to mention electronic bills and bank accounts/SWIFT/IBAN being even longer and copied without fail.

> And remember, most people don't have enough patience to retype the address once it didn't work.

What? If people have the patience to retype CC info when wrong, they have the patience to try typing an IP again.

Heck, the only use for this feature at all is if you're two people where one has the app and the other does not, so it's two people that need to collectively fail and give up!

You can say that it's annoying to copy an IP, but the task is objectively simpler and less time consuming than other regular day-to-day activities a smartphone owner would go through. The suggestion that two people should collectively fail the task is, quite frankly, ridiculous.

> A QR code is a far better solution

Then just use that instead of ranting about how IPs are unacceptable. The button for the QR code is right beside the address in the app. Or if that's too difficult, install the app on both devices so it's automatic.

QR code.
Yes, QR codes, and that's what most apps do.
... including this one.
Imagine in the year 2023 with internet connected phones and still each phone doesn't have its own web server?

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