The convenience of sharing files among your devices is one of the most sought after features and to fulfil these there are plenty of third-party apps on the Play Store. But Xiaomi went a step ahead to add even more convenience in their user’s life — albeit at the cost of privacy — with the pre-installed ShareMe app (previously known as Mi Drop).

However, since the app is available on the Play Store, other Android users can also install and use it. Just beware of Xiaomi’s privacy policy as they collect a considerable amount of data.

ShareMe not only allows users to transfer files from one Android to another but also to your PC and iPhone. To top it all, it also has a feature called ‘Webshare’ that allows users to transfer files without needing to connect to the internet. Well, more on that later. First, let’s take a look at how to use ShareMe on your Windows PC to transfer files from your Xiaomi or another Android device.

Also read: How to use your Android as a secondary screen for your Windows PC?

How to use ShareMe on a Windows PC?

• Open your app and tap on the menu option located at the top-left.
• In the menu, tap on Connect to Computer option — the first in the list.
• The next page will display the WiFi network that your device is connected to. Make sure your Windows PC is connected to the same WiFi network. Once that’s done, tap on the Start button located at the bottom of the page.

• Upon starting, you’ll be prompted to choose the connection type from among Portable and Password-protected. If you’re using a private WiFi network and transferring files to your PC, choosing the not secure Portable option will work, but it’s still recommended you choose to Password-protect your file transfer.

Update: To password protect your file transfer, you’ll need to follow some additional steps to establish a network and assign it a username/password, which are mentioned in our guide here.

• Following that the app will display an “ftp://” address that will contain a string of numerical characters. All you need to do is enter that text into the file explorer of your PC, and the files on your Android device will be displayed on your PC.

Now you can copy files from your PC to your phone or vice-versa. You can always change your password from the settings menu (‘gear’ icon located on the top-right) on the Connect to Computer window.

Also read: How to recover data of an Android phone after factory reset

How to use ShareMe on Windows PC without an internet connection?

If you wish to share files from your Android to PC or vice-versa but do not have an active internet connection or don’t wish to use a public WiFi network to transfer files, the aforementioned Webshare feature will come to your rescue.

ShareMe’s webshare feature doesn’t require an active WiFi network to transfer files. Instead, your device creates a Wireless network of its own — sans internet — that can be used to transfer files. In addition to transferring data to a Windows PC as well as Mac, this feature can also be used to transfer files to Android and iOS devices.

Note that users will only be able to send files via this feature and not receive any.

Follow the steps mentioned below to transfer files from your Android to a Windows PC, Mac, another Android or iOS device:

• Tap on the menu option of the app located at the top-left on the main window of the app.
• Tap on Webshare — the second option on the list.
• On the next window, tap on the Share button located at the bottom of the page.
• You can now select the files you wish to send to the other device. The total number of files that have been selected will be displayed at the bottom of the screen. Once you’re done selecting, tap on the Send button.

• Now you’ll be shown the name of the WiFi network created by your phone and a password alongwith. Connect the other device that you wish to send files to this WiFi network.
• Once connected, press on the Next button, which will display the second step. You can either enter the numeric values in a browser’s address bar or scan the QR code.
• Once that’s done, the receiver will be able to see the files being shared by the sender and download them.

Also read: What is no-opt-encrypt? Why is it used?