https://codeberg.org/blast/blastqr

Hello! I’ve been working on blastQR for a couple of years now and I thought this community might find it useful. Feel free to try it and ask me anything!

blastQR is a fully open-source file transfer app and protocol that works completely offline. You can even use it in airplane mode. Data is transferred through sequences of QR codes displayed on a sender device and scanned by a receiver device’s camera. It uses RaptorQ codes so the receiver can recover the file from any sufficiently large subset of frames.

Note that although I have made use of AI as a coding assistant I do not consider this to be a vibe-coded app and I do plan to continue improving it and supporting it in the future.

See video of blastQR in action: https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/038a2567-70c8-47c8-b165-dea858d1aef3

Here are some of the key features:

  • Works fully offline: No internet, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or servers. Your data stays offline.
  • One-to-many distribution: Share the same file with multiple devices simultaneously using a single blastQR broadcast.
  • Cross-platform: Android, iOS, macOS, Linux and Windows, plus a command-line tool that can send from a terminal, even over SSH.
  • Password encryption: You can optionally encrypt files with an auto-generated password or a custom one.
  • Media compression: The app supports lossy image compression and video transcoding for quicker transfers.
  • Multiple codes on screen: Shows multiple QR codes at once for higher speed. With 8 codes at 60 fps, transfers peak at around 1.4 MB/s.
  • Send multiple files in one go: They’re zipped into one transfer and unpacked into separate files on the receiver.
  • Sound feedback: The receiver plays a short tone when it has the whole file, and the sender stops automatically when it hears it.
  • Start scanning at any point: No need to catch every code, just keep the camera on the screen until it’s done. Blurry or missed codes don’t matter.
  • Regular QR scanner: You can also scan normal QR codes and save them.
  • Open protocol that other apps can implement
  • Built-in file manager

I’m trying to build a small community around the project so it can be improved and maintained and so it can reach more people in the future.

Downloads for all platforms can be found here: https://codeberg.org/blast/blastqr/releases/latest

    • dx1@lemmy.ml
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      20 hours ago

      It’s not that hard. Loop the QR, index the frames without the QR payload, do it ~10fps so you account for camera error, then when all frames/packets are completed, you’re good. There’s a ton of QR scanning libraries out there already.

    • BradleyUffner@lemmy.world
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      11 hours ago

      Yeah, we get it, he used AI. You anti-AI absolutists aren’t actually changing anyone’s minds with this behavior, and it actually seems to be annoying a lot of people in to the opposite direction.

      • ducktumn@lemmy.zip
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        11 hours ago

        The tech or “tool” as you guys like to call it is the issue. Even if you use it the best way you could you still used a tool created by stealing. You guys can’t see past the next 2 years. I will be laughing my ass up in 5 years when all of you are forced to pay 1k a month just to function.

        • BradleyUffner@lemmy.world
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          5 hours ago

          You all sound like the vegans that show up every time someone mentions a burger that yell “meat is murder!!!”, then run off giggling thinking “I got em”. Even if you have a point, and people would otherwise agree with you, you’re annoying and no one in the real world is taking you seriously.

      • KimLuff@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        10 hours ago

        Literally just “leftists are right but annoying so I’m a fascist now :(” enabler behavior applied to AI.

        Being angry also works better in real life in my experience. I think the people who constantly ask others to soften up are opps