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Troubleshooting and FAQ ​

Most problems with NearShare come down to discovery: the two devices cannot find each other on the network. Start at the top.

Finding devices ​

My computer does not appear on the phone ​

Check these in order:

  1. Visible to nearby devices is on in NearShare, and NearShare is running.
  2. The phone and the computer are on the same Wi-Fi network. A phone on mobile data, or on a guest network, cannot see the computer.
  3. Bluetooth is on, on both devices. If the NearShare window shows Bluetooth discovery unavailable, the phone only sees your computer while its share sheet is open and searching; keep it open for a few seconds. For the snap, run sudo snap connect nearshare:bluez.
  4. The network allows devices to see each other. Many public, hotel, school and office networks block this ("client isolation"), and some routers block mDNS. Try a home network or Direct mode.
  5. A firewall on the computer is not blocking NearShare. See below.

The phone does not appear in NearShare ​

NearShare can only see a device while its Quick Share is ready to receive. Open the phone's Quick Share receive screen and set it to receive from Everyone. NearShare has no Google account, so contacts-only or your-devices-only settings hide the phone from it.

Nothing shows up and I use a firewall ​

NearShare needs two kinds of incoming traffic from your local network:

  • mDNS on UDP port 5353, to find and be found.
  • TCP on a port NearShare picks each time it starts, for the transfer itself. Because the port changes, a rule for one fixed port is not enough.

With ufw, allow mDNS, then allow incoming connections from your home network's address range:

bash
sudo ufw allow 5353/udp
sudo ufw allow from <your-network-range> proto tcp

Replace <your-network-range> with your network's range in CIDR form, which you can see in your network settings. Only do this for networks you trust.

To test whether the firewall is the cause, turn it off briefly with sudo ufw disable, try a transfer, then turn it back on with sudo ufw enable.

A phone shows up as "Phone" with a code ​

Recent Android versions hide their name until they send you something. Use nearshare rename to give the phone a name. See Send files.

Transfers ​

A transfer failed ​

The row under Transfers shows Failed: with the reason. Common causes:

  • One device left the Wi-Fi or went to sleep. NearShare treats a connection as lost after 30 seconds of silence.
  • The files do not fit on the receiving disk. NearShare checks free space before accepting.
  • The transfer was declined on the other device.

Try again with both screens on.

The PINs do not match ​

Select Decline. Different PINs mean you are not connected to the device you think, or something on the network is interfering.

Where are my received files? ​

In ~/Downloads. Select the folder button on a finished transfer to open it.

"Send with NearShare" is missing from the Files menu ​

The menu item comes with the PPA package only. Run nautilus -q or log out and back in after installing. With the snap, use Open With > NearShare (send to phone) instead.

If the device picker never opens from the Files app, check your version with apt policy nearshare: version 1.0.9 fixed a problem where the picker did not open from the file manager. The snap has 1.0.9.

Direct mode ​

Direct mode could not start ​

See Direct mode. The Wi-Fi adapter must support hotspot mode, and the snap needs sudo snap connect nearshare:network-manager.

Questions ​

Is NearShare made by Google or Samsung? ​

No. NearShare is an independent, unofficial client that speaks the Quick Share protocol so it can work with those devices. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Google or Samsung. Quick Share and Nearby Share are their trademarks.

Is it secure? ​

Every transfer is encrypted end to end over your local network. The 4-digit PIN is calculated from the encryption keys on both sides, so matching PINs prove no one intercepted the connection. Always compare the PIN before you accept.

Why do I have to accept every transfer, even from my own phone? ​

Quick Share lets devices signed in to the same Google account skip the PIN. NearShare has no Google account, so it cannot use that trust and always asks.

Does it work over the internet? ​

No. Both devices must be on the same local network, or connected through Direct mode.

Does it work on Fedora, Arch or other distributions? ​

The snap runs on any distribution with snapd. NearShare is designed for Ubuntu 24.04 with GNOME.

Get help ​

Search or open an issue on the NearShare issues page. Include your distribution, whether you use the snap or the PPA, the other device, and the output of nearshare status.

Next steps ​