I was sitting next to a colleague at work.
We had to meet a tight deadline, and in order to finish our work he had to share a large file with me.

The file was too large to email, we didn't have a USB stick with us, and only one of us had a MacBook, so we couldn't use AirDrop. Ultimately, the file had to be split and sent via WeTransfer.

It was an incredibly frustrating experience. I could give my colleague a toffee from a bowl on the table, but the only way I could send him a file was by literally sending it to another continent first.

Xkcd comic explaining the issue with file transfers

There had to be another way

This wasn't the first time this had happened. Sending large files via email or with third party tools such as WhatsApp or Slack is impossible. It forces you to use yet another third party service with annoying limitations such as file size limits, speed limits or required registration.

There's always a catch, and no matter which service you use, your files always end up stored somewhere on the internet on an unknown server.

Building a solution

It simply had to change, so I started working on a solution: ToffeeShare. With ToffeeShare nothing is ever stored online, you send your files directly from your computer or mobile phone, there’s no file size limits or speed limits, and if you’re on the same network your data doesn’t even have to leave the building.

In our opinion: file transfer as it should be.