By Richard Mallion
Transferring files between iOS devices and OS X has always been problematic in its implementation. There are may ways you can achieve this ranging from WebDav servers, iCloud to simply emailing yourself the document concerned.
A new app called “InstaShare” has arrived which mimics the simplicity of AirDrop on OS X.
InstaShare comes in two pieces. An iPhone app and an app for OS X which appears in your menu bar.
Once installed you gain a simple drag and drop interface to transfer files between the two devices either over WI-FI or bluetooth.
On the OS X side you have a very simple window where you can drag and drop files to iOS devices running the InstaShare app.
On the iPhone you have a similar experience. The app gives you direct access to your photo library where you can drag and drop images to OS X, as shown below.
You can also use the share option in iOS to transfer files from other iOS apps to InstaShare which can then be sent on to your OS X machine.
It should be pointed out that this version of the software does not encrypt the file transfer.
The app is free and is supported by ads but there is an in app purchase option of 69p to remove the ads. All in all this is a very nice and polished piece of software. The next best thing to actually having AirDrop built into iOS.