Show a code
The receiving device displays a one-time code for the sender.
Private file transfer, made visible
Files travel as light.
Nothing else.
LumeDrop moves a file directly from one screen into another camera. No pairing, no cloud, and no network carrying your content.
Receiving is always free. No account required.
Live optical transfer
Encrypted
Contract.pdf5.8 MB · screen → camera
✓
Verified before saving78%
0accounts
0cloud uploads
0transfer analytics
1visible connection
How it works
One visible connection.
Three simple steps.
The whole transfer happens in front of you, between the devices you can see.
Scan once
The sender scans it, then turns the selected file into an animated pattern of light.
Point and receive
The receiving camera watches the pattern until the encrypted file is verified and saved.
A narrow claim, stated precisely
Your content never takes a network route.
LumeDrop does not quietly fall back to Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, a local network, or a server. The screen-to-camera constraint is the product.
Read the full privacy policy →- File transfer
- Screen → Camera
- Internet transfer
- Never
- Wi-Fi or Bluetooth
- Never
- Cloud storage
- Never
- Account
- Not required
- Analytics
- None
Encrypted by default
A fresh key for every transfer.
Session keys are generated when the transfer starts and discarded when it ends. Encryption is never a paid feature.
Honest about speed
The physics are real.
Light through a camera is narrower than Wi-Fi. LumeDrop estimates the time before you start and never hides a network fallback behind a spinner.
Open protocol
Trust, but verify.
The optical format has cross-platform test vectors so interoperability and privacy claims can be checked, not merely asserted.
Questions
Common questions about transferring files without a network.
How do I send a file with no internet connection?
Open LumeDrop on both devices. The receiver shows a one-time code, the sender scans it, and the file is then drawn on the sender's screen as a moving pattern that the receiver's camera reads. Nothing is uploaded and no network is contacted at any point, so it works in aeroplane mode, in a basement, or on a plane.
Does it work between an iPhone and an Android phone?
Yes. Both apps implement the same optical format, and the format is pinned by cross-platform test vectors that both codebases are checked against, so a frame produced on one platform is byte-identical to a frame produced on the other.
Is this the same as AirDrop or Nearby Share?
No, and the difference is the point. AirDrop and Nearby Share negotiate a radio link — Bluetooth to find each other, then Wi-Fi to move the data. LumeDrop has no radio path at all. That makes it slower and makes it work where radios are switched off, blocked, or not to be trusted.
How fast is it?
It depends on the two devices, because the limit is optical: how many cells the sending screen can draw and how many pixels the receiving camera lands on each one. A large screen sending to a recent phone camera does considerably better than two small phones. The app measures the rate live and shows an estimate before you start, and it will tell you if the transfer is going to be slow rather than hiding it behind a spinner.
Can someone steal the file by filming the screen?
Filming the screen captures ciphertext. The two devices agree a fresh key when the transfer starts, using a key exchange carried in the code you scan, and that key is discarded when the transfer ends. A recording made without the receiver's private key decrypts to nothing, and replaying it later does not work either.
Do I need an account?
No. There is no sign-up, no email address, and no profile. Receiving files is free and always will be; the paid tier only raises the size limit for sending.
What kinds of files can I send?
Any file. LumeDrop treats the content as bytes and verifies the hash at the far end, so what arrives is exactly what was sent or the transfer reports a failure — there is no partial or silently corrupted result.
Why would I use this instead of a cloud link?
Because a cloud link is a copy of your file on someone else's computer, with an address that can be forwarded. Some documents should not acquire a URL at all. LumeDrop is for the transfers where you want to be able to see, physically, that the content went from this device to that one and nowhere else.
Your screen is the connection