Do my files pass through or get saved on any server?

No. Nearsend is strictly a peer-to-peer (P2P) platform. The signaling server is only used to exchange temporary session tokens and WebRTC handshake coordinates. Once connected, your files, text, and clipboard stream directly between your devices via WebRTC DataChannels in 64KB encrypted chunks.

How does the Voice Pairing work securely?

When you generate a voice pairing phrase, the host device creates an ephemeral 3-minute token. When spoken on the guest device, browser speech recognition converts the acoustic phrase into the token. The server validates the match and immediately triggers an explicit confirmation prompt on the host device before any connection is allowed.

Does Nearsend work across different operating systems?

Yes! Nearsend works seamlessly across any modern web browser — Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, iPadOS, and ChromeOS. No native apps or software installations are required.

Is there a file size limit on Nearsend?

Because transfers stream directly via WebRTC without hitting a central server memory limit, you can send files ranging from kilobytes to multi-gigabyte videos. Nearsend incorporates backpressure flow control to ensure smooth transmission without exhausting device RAM.

What to Do When a QR Code Won't Scan

September 27, 2026

Point the camera at the code, and nothing happens. It's one of the more quietly frustrating moments in tech — here's what's actually usually going on, in roughly the order worth checking.

Check the obvious first: lighting and glare

Screens are reflective. A QR code shown on a laptop screen, photographed at an angle under harsh overhead light, is the single most common cause of a failed scan. Tilt the screen slightly or move to reduce glare before assuming anything is actually broken.

Distance and focus

Too close, and the camera can't focus on the whole code. Too far, and the code's individual squares blur together at typical camera resolution. A middle distance — roughly arm's length — combined with giving the camera a beat to autofocus resolves most of the rest.

The code already timed out

A pairing QR code is usually only valid for a short window, for security reasons. Scanning a code that's already expired or been replaced by a fresh one will just silently fail to connect rather than show an obvious error. If the code has been sitting on screen a while, refresh the sending device's page for a new one before troubleshooting further.

Camera permission wasn't actually granted

A scanner that opens but shows a black frame instead of a live camera feed is almost always a permissions problem, not a scanning problem — check the browser's site settings for camera access rather than retrying the same scan over and over.

When scanning still won't work

Any QR-pairing tool worth using should offer a fallback. A numeric PIN or a spoken phrase is usually faster to fall back to than continuing to debug a camera, and it skips the whole problem entirely.