Instashare for iPhone and iPad review: share files between iPhone, iPad, and Mac instantly
Posted by ryan on April 10th, 2013
If youâve ever used Photo Stream [1] for iOS and OS X, youâre probably already aware of how flaky it can be. Instashare is a service for iPhone, iPad, and Mac that provides a lot of the same functionality but doesnât limit you to simply photos. There literally are no restrictions. Transfer whatever youâd like whether thatâs video files, music files, PDF presentations, and more.
Upon launching Instashare youâll be taken through a quick tutorial of how to use it. Afterwards, youâre ready to start transferring files. Instashare supports both WiFi and Bluetooth transfers. That means if both of your devices have Bluetooth functionality, you donât even have to be connected to the internet in order to share files wirelessly. To share an app from Instashare for iPhone and iPad, just find the file youâd like to share via your camera roll (photo or video) and hold down and drag. Youâll be automatically taken to the transfer screen where you can drop it to whatever device youâd like.
There are certain apps such as document and media apps that have share buttons. You should also see a send to Instashare option which will automatically launch the file sharing option and let you choose a device you want to share it with. The Mac version of Instashare is a free download from the Instashare website. It will basically sit in your task bar where you can drag files directly to it. While Instashare does support all file types, I have noticed that larger files sometimes time out during transfer and Iâm not sure why this is. I experienced it frequently when trying to transfer audio or video files from iPhone to Mac.
Once youâve received files from another device with Instashare you can view them natively inside Instashare or choose to save them or share them wherever youâd like. If you have any third party apps installed that support those specific file types, Instashare will also give you the option to open them directly within that app. For example, if youâre viewing share options for a photo and have photo editing apps installed, youâll see an option to open them directly within that app.
The good
- Bluetooth support means you donât even have to be connected to the internet to share files
- You can easily add and remove trusted devices within settings whenever youâd like
- Supports any file type, not just photos or videos
The bad
- Seems to have trouble transferring larger files resulting in time outs or errors
- When sending multiple files at once, they show up in one bulk upload that you have to scroll through
- Sometimes devices that are within the network or paired donât show up correctly
The bottom line
Instashare is shaping up to be a great way to share all kinds of files between iPhone, iPad, and Mac but it isnât quite there yet. The amount of errors, timeouts, and strange UI bugs I experienced would keep me from using it as a dedicated file sharing service. For the time being, an option like Droplr [2] that also offers link shortening services is probably a better one.
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Links
- ^ Photo Stream (www.imore.com)
- ^ Droplr (www.imore.com)
- ^ Mobile News (www.gelanistyl.nl)
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