LocalSend Is Great for Files, but It Can't Sync a Folder. Here's the Fix.
LocalSend cannot synchronize a folder because it is a manual, one-time transfer tool: every send needs you to pick files and approve them on the receiving device. It has no folder watching and no background sync. To keep a folder continuously mirrored across your devices, use a tool built for automatic sync like Relaaay, where files move the moment they change — no manual approval.
LocalSend earned its popularity honestly. It is open source, privacy-respecting, beautifully designed, and it sends files across iPhone, Android, Mac, Windows, and Linux without any third-party server. For a quick transfer, it is hard to beat.
But the moment your need shifts from "send these files now" to "keep this folder the same everywhere," LocalSend runs out of road — and it is not a flaw, it is simply not what the tool does.
Why can't LocalSend sync a folder?
LocalSend is built around a manual handshake. You choose files on one device, the other device gets a prompt, and someone taps to accept. That deliberate, human-in-the-loop step is what makes it feel safe and simple.
It also means LocalSend never watches anything. It does not monitor a folder for changes, it does not run in the background, and it has no concept of two devices staying continuously in parity.
So if you add a file to a folder an hour later, nothing happens until you open LocalSend and send it again. The work of keeping things matched stays on you, forever.
Sending vs. syncing: a different job entirely
It helps to separate two ideas that look similar but are not.
Sending is episodic. You move a known set of files, once, on demand. Syncing is continuous. A folder stays identical across devices on its own, including edits and deletions, without you initiating each transfer.
| LocalSend | Relaaay | |
|---|---|---|
| Core model | One-time send | Continuous folder sync |
| Watches a folder for changes | No | Yes |
| Needs manual approval each transfer | Yes | No |
| Background operation | No | Yes |
| Best for | Quick one-off files | Folders that must stay mirrored |
Neither is "better" in the abstract. They solve different problems. The mistake is trying to run a syncing workflow on a sending tool — which is exactly what people do when they send the same folder through LocalSend three times a day.
The cost of doing sync by hand
Manual transfer feels cheap because each send is small. The cost is in repetition and in the mistakes it invites.
You forget to send the latest version, so the other device works from stale files. You send a folder twice and end up unsure which copy is current. Every transfer is a tiny interruption that pulls you out of whatever you were actually doing.
Automation is not about saving one transfer. It is about never having to think about transfers again.
How to get automatic folder sync
Relaaay is built for the syncing job. You link a folder once on each device, and from then on it keeps that folder in parity automatically — additions, edits, and deletions included.
When your devices share a network, transfers complete locally and almost instantly. When they are apart, files route securely between them, so the folder catches up as soon as a device reconnects. Files are encrypted in transit, verified with SHA-256, and expire after delivery rather than living forever in cloud storage.
Keep LocalSend for the quick one-off send to a friend across the room. For the folder you keep re-sending to yourself, let sync do it — once, and then never again by hand.