WiFi Direct is Better than Bluetooth for Sharing Files Between Android Devices

Most of us share audio, video, image and other files with our friends using online or offline media. And when it comes to share such files in an offline way, we always prefer to go with our old and classical method Bluetooth. If the file you want to share with or sent to a friend’s mobile or tablet device is small in size, Bluetooth is an okay and universally acknowledged choice. But what is your opinion about sharing a bigger file with another phone? Do you have patience enough to wait smilingly till a 50 MB video is received by your from another mobile device or vice versa?

I used to shirk and pretended not to hear when someones asked me to send a big file to his phone. But now if someone requests me to send a big file to his/her phone, I would just ask, “Has your phone WiFi Direct?” Using this feature, you can send even bigger files very easily and, of course, faster. Actually this file sharing method is not new at all, but I am sure most people do not use it. You would easily find many people who are not acquainted with the WiFi Direct feature, and even aware of its presence on their phone. The feature is present on all Android phones with Android 4.0 (ICS) or above. If you are one who is already enlightened about it, please bare with us.

What is WiFi Direct?

WiFi Direct is basically a wireless technology that allows several WiFi-enabled devices to interact directly with each other without having to go through a router. WiFi Direct will enable you to wirelessly print from a device or enable two players to play against each other in a WiFi-supported video game by directly partnering the two devices. It only requires a device that supports WiFi Direct connectivity.  The technology is newer than and similar to Bluetooth but it is much faster and stronger.

The official Android Developers portal explains the term as follows:

Wi-Fi Direct allows Android 4.0 (API level 14) or later devices with the appropriate hardware to connect directly to each other via Wi-Fi without an intermediate access point. Using these APIs, you can discover and connect to other devices when each device supports Wi-Fi Direct, then communicate over a speedy connection across distances much longer than a Bluetooth connection. This is useful for applications that share data among users, such as a multiplayer game or a photo sharing application.

How to Send/Exchange Files Using WiFi Direct:

Well, sharing a file via WiFi Direct is as easy as it is with Bluetooth. First of all, you will have to turn on WiFi on both the concerned devices. Open WiFi settings, tap on WiFi Direct and the phone scan and pair with the other phone or tablet. If you want to share a file from your phone’s file manager app, open the app and navigate to the file you want share. Then tap and hold the file item or mark multiple files, tap on the Share icon and from the list of sharing clients that pop-up, and select WiFi Direct.

You can also share the image and video files directly from your phone’s Gallery app. Open Gallery and press and hold a single image/video, or the whole folder. Mark the desired items and tap on the Share via icon from the top bar. In the same way you share a bookmark from your web browser app, video ans music tracks from dedicated apps. All files shared using this feature are saved  by default to ShareViaWiFi folder on your phone’s internal SD card.

There is also a dedicated app for WiFi Direct that is available for free at the Google Play Store. Its download stats show how much aware people are about this feature.

[appbox googleplay de.j4velin.wifidirect]

I hope this tip will help many of you, if not all. Happy sharing and cheers!