Beam
Moving a file between two devices
Show a code on one device, point the other one at it, and the file moves straight across without being uploaded to anything.
On this page
Beam moves a file straight from one device to another. Open Beam on the device that has the file, pick it, and a code appears on screen. Point the other device's camera at that code and the file starts moving. The device that scans needs no Nemi account and nothing installed, because it is a browser on both ends: Android to Mac, Windows to iPhone, a borrowed laptop to your own.
Sending from this device#
- 1
Open Beam and choose Send from this device
Beam is in the app launcher, the grid of dots at the top of the sidebar.
- 2
Drop the files onto the page
One file or a hundred. They stay on your device while you decide.
- 3
Show the code
A square code appears, with the same link written out underneath it.
- 4
Scan it with the other device
The camera app is usually enough, and Scan a code in the Beam sidebar opens a camera too. If neither works, copy the link and get it to the device any way you like.
- 5
Watch it land
Both screens show progress per file, and one verdict for the whole set at the end.
Getting a file off a phone#
The other direction is the same in reverse. On the device the files should end up on, choose Receive on this device. A code appears, the phone scans it, and the phone gets a page where it picks files and pushes them to the browser showing the code. This is the case Beam was built for: the photos are on the phone and the work is on the laptop.
Where the file ends up#
Arriving files go to the receiving browser's normal downloads folder, without asking anything: no folder picker, no dialog. Some browsers cannot do that, a private window or a browser embedded in another app for example, and there the page holds the files until they are complete and then offers them to save. The page says which of the two is happening. In that second mode a very large video can be too much for a phone to hold in a tab.
What actually happens on the network#
- The two devices talk to each other. The bytes go from the sending device straight to the receiving one, encrypted. Nemi is not in the middle, there is no upload, and there is no copy on a server afterwards.
- Where a network refuses a direct connection, a relay steps in. Some networks will not let two devices reach each other. A relay we run then forwards the traffic without being able to read it, and keeps none of it.
- The two devices see each other's network addresses. That is what reaching each other directly means, and it is the same trade Meet makes. If you would rather not reveal that, send a share link instead, which goes through our servers.
- Nothing survives it. Both pages have to be open at the same time. Close the tab and the beam is over: there is no copy to come back for, and neither you nor we can recover it.
Limits, and what counts towards your storage#
| A live beam | Your drop box | |
|---|---|---|
| Where the file goes | Straight to the other device | Through Nemi into your workspace |
| Largest file | No cap, because nothing is being stored | 500 MB, and never more than your plan allows |
| How many files | No cap | Up to 20 items waiting at a time |
| Devices on one code | Up to 4, including the one showing the code | Anybody who has the link |
| How long it lasts | Only while the page showing the code is open | Until you turn it off |
| Text you can send with it | Up to 4,000 characters per snippet | Up to 10 snippets, 64 KB each |
| Counts towards storage | No | Yes, like any other upload |
A live beam is the handoff you watch happen. The drop box is for when the other person is not there at the same time.
The drop box is a permanent link, nemilab.com/beam/@yourname, that anybody can send files to without an account. Claim a username in settings, then turn it on under Your drop box. Because it holds files while you are away, those files really are uploaded: they land in your workspace, count towards your storage, and everyone in that workspace can see them. If the link leaks, Rotate link kills the old one.
Beam belongs to you, not to your workspace#
Beam is one of the two apps that are personal rather than shared, which is why its sidebar shows your name where the other apps show the workspace switcher. Nobody else in your workspace sees your beams or the codes you put up. The exception is what lands: anything dropped into your drop box goes into your workspace like any other upload, so the people in that workspace can see it there.
When it does not work#
It says the two devices could not reach each other
Put both devices on the same wifi and try again. That fixes it more often than anything else: guest networks and some office networks deliberately keep devices apart, and retrying does not get past that.
The camera will not read the code
Copy the link printed under the code and open it on the other device instead. The link and the code are the same thing.
It stopped halfway through
A beam is two open pages. A phone locking its screen, a lid closing or a connection dropping ends it, and a partly transferred file is not kept. Keep both screens awake and start again.
It says some files did not arrive
Every file is checked as it arrives and only counted when it came over whole, so a file reported as missing really is missing rather than quietly truncated. Send those again.
Can I beam to somebody else, not just my own devices?
Yes, as long as they are looking at their screen while you are looking at yours. Treat the code the way you treat a share link: whoever has it can join the beam while it is open.
Do I need to be signed in?
The person who creates the code does. The device that scans it does not, which is the whole point of it.
When a beam is the wrong tool#
They are not online right now
A share link waits for them, with a password and an expiry if you want.
Read itYou want files from somebody else
An upload link is a page they can drop files onto, into a folder you choose.
Read itYou want it kept
Upload it instead. Uploads go straight from the browser to storage.
Read itSomething failed and you want to know why
The upload and download troubleshooting page covers the rest.
Read itRelated
Still stuck? Email support@nemilab.com and tell us what you were trying to do.