I am excited to announce that, starting today, the initial Alpha version of InterShare for Windows is publicly available!

Thank you to Jakob Bauer and Paul Hüfner for their work in building the initial platform support for Windows.

In this early version, InterShare for Windows supports file transfers only when both devices are on the same Wi-Fi network. Your Windows PC still requires Bluetooth to be turned on, as the discovery of nearby devices currently relies on Bluetooth.

Bluetooth on Windows: A Tragedy

I didn’t anticipate that implementing Bluetooth on Windows would be such a disappointment. First, device discovery is notoriously unreliable. Even more frustrating is the fact that Windows doesn’t fully support the L2CAP Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) standard. Well, not entirely.

Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) is designed for transmitting small data packets. However, the L2CAP protocol allows for sending larger chunks of data bidirectionally. This is significant because using standard BLE for such transfers is highly impractical. L2CAP is natively supported on iOS, macOS, and Android, which is why InterShare leverages this protocol to establish direct BLE connections between devices.

Unfortunately, Windows offers very limited support for this functionality. While basic BLE discovery works—since it doesn’t require the advanced L2CAP standard—file transfers using BLE are not possible on Windows.

I am actively working on a workaround. Until then, file transfers on Windows are restricted to devices connected to the same local network.

But Now to the Functioning Parts

Sending Files on Windows

Works as expected—just drag some files into the marked area and select a recipient. Voilà!

Receiving Files on Windows

To receive files on Windows, simply open the InterShare app and leave it open on the start page. When someone sends you a file, you will see a notification in the bottom-right corner.

Notes

This is an early Alpha version, so there may be a few bugs beyond the ones already mentioned. I am also continuously working on improving the discovery process on Windows to make it more reliable.