This Link Exchange App Is Better Than AirDrop
AirDrop is one of the most compelling reasons to invest in the Apple ecosystem. When it works, it’s an easy way to send links and files between your iPhone and your Mac. However, while it is usually fast, it is also quite unreliable and sometimes refuses to work for no apparent reason. I’ve always wanted a more reliable way to send links to my Mac and my search ended up running Hyperduck .
How to quickly send links with Hyperduck
Hyperduck is a free app that works on iPhone, iPad, and Mac that allows you to quickly send links from your mobile device to your desktop. This is an app that does one thing and does it very well. You can open any file or link on your iPhone or iPad, hit the Share button, scroll down and hit Send to Mac to do just that.
Why Hyperduck is better than AirDrop
As long as Hyperduck is open on your Mac, the link you share will load in your default browser. It’s faster and more reliable than AirDrop, which is why I prefer sending links from iPhone to Mac. AirDrop makes you wait a couple of seconds before your Mac appears in the shared sheet and takes a second or more to open the link in Safari. Hyperduck sends and opens these links much faster, probably because once set up it’s always on and ready to go.
What’s more, it works when you’re not near your Mac, and even when your Mac is turned off. You can send multiple links to your Mac using the app, and whenever you boot up your Mac and launch Hyperduck, those links will open in your default browser. This is a significant improvement over AirDrop, which requires devices to be turned on and within range to send links.
What’s the catch?
Hyperduck works through iCloud, so you’ll need to be signed into the same Apple ID on your iPhone and Mac. While usually fast and reliable, the app depends on the stability of the iCloud infrastructure. If iCloud experiences an outage or unexpected delays, Hyperduck will also be affected.
The other big limitation is that Hyperduck cannot send links from your Mac to your iPhone. It is designed exclusively for one-way transmission. If you’re like me, that’s fine: I’m much more likely to send links from my iPhone to my Mac than the other way around, as I want to see these things on the big Mac screen.
To send links from your Mac to iPhone, you can rely on the usual options – AirDrop, Universal Copy-Paste, and iCloud Tabs.