How to send large files from your phone

Nothing to install: there is no Transferify app, for Android or for iPhone. You open the website in your phone's browser and send from there, with the same options as on a computer. The part that really matters on a phone is not how you start, but what happens if you leave the browser while the file is uploading, and we give you the full answer here.

Step by step, from your phone

1. Open Transferify in your phone's browser.
2. Tap Add your files. Your phone's file picker opens, with the gallery, the camera and the files app, and you can pick several photos or clips at once. For a whole folder, tap Add a folder instead.
3. Choose how to send: Direct for an instant transfer, or Hosted for a link that stays online, and press send.
4. If you are not signed in yet, confirm your email address with a one-time code. You do not choose a password. Then share the link through any messaging app.

On a phone the buttons are the only way in: there is no gesture for dragging something from a files app into the browser, which is why the "or drop them anywhere" hint is not shown there at all; it only appears on devices that can actually drag. The files go out at their original size, unlike a clip sent as media on WhatsApp, which gets re-encoded.

What happens if you leave the browser

This is the question that ruins transfers, so it gets its own table:

The difference between the two columns is the one most often misunderstood. "The link keeps working after you close the tab" is true for a transfer that has already uploaded, not for one in progress. While the progress bar is moving, your phone is sending bytes. If the system closes the tab to free memory, the upload stops, but this browser has kept it: open Transferify again in the same browser, signed in to the same account, and the Continue your upload card sends only what is missing. For a small selection the browser keeps a copy of the files; for a bigger one it asks you to pick the same files or folder again. You can continue only in that browser, and only until the link's own expiry, never more than 7 days after the upload began.

With instant transfer, peer-to-peer, the files are never stored on our servers, they go straight between the two browsers; that is why the tab has to stay open from start to finish, on both sides.

How not to lose a transfer you started on your phone

• Keep the tab open and in front while it uploads, with the screen on. Do not switch to another app and do not lock the phone.
• Prefer a stable Wi-Fi connection for big files. A dropped connection is retried for up to ten minutes, and time with no connection at all does not count. If it stays down longer, the upload pauses, and you continue it from the same card once you are back online.
• If you sign in with Google or another provider, do it before you add the files. On a phone, signing in with a provider takes you away from the page and back, and files you had already picked stay behind; the page warns you and offers an email code instead. Confirming by email code happens inside the page and does not have this problem.
• If the tab closes halfway, open Transferify again in the same browser and press Continue upload, or discard the upload there if you no longer want to send it. An instant transfer that stops has to be started again.
• Start very large files on a computer, if one is within reach. A phone lying there for ten minutes with its screen lit is a real requirement, not a theoretical precaution.

What you cannot do on a phone

• You cannot drag a folder in. Use Add a folder instead. If your browser opens the picker but adds nothing, which happens on some older iPhones, zip the folder first; the details are in the guide on how to send a whole folder.
• You cannot let the transfer run in the background. While you are in another app the phone may stop the page; when you come back, you continue a hosted upload from the card in the same browser.

Receiving is simpler: the recipient opens the link in any phone browser and downloads, with no account and nothing to install. For files of several gigabytes, a computer is still the safer choice for downloading too.

If what you really want is to move material from your phone to your own computer, or the other way round, the same rules apply in a different setting, explained in the guide on transferring files between two computers.

How much fits

On the free plan a hosted transfer comes with 50 downloads a month and a link that lasts 1–3 days, enough for a batch of photos or a clip filmed on the phone. The size each plan allows is on the pricing page. Instant is free up to 5 GB on the free plan; above that, any paid plan unlocks any size. It does need both tabs open, which on a phone is exactly the hardest condition to keep.

If you send client material straight from the field, photos or footage, it helps to know that password protection and download notifications start on the Basic plan, and Zero-Knowledge encryption is available on Premium. What both mean is explained in the guide on how to send files securely. If you are used to another service's app, see how Transferify compares in the WeTransfer alternative page, and every other way to send is on the page about how to send large files.

Open Transferify on your phone and send. Nothing to install, and the recipient needs no account either.