Beside

Direct local file, folder & text sharing between Windows and Android over Wi-Fi.
Fast. Private. Together. — Send it. It's there.
_{Engineered by Thisma Labs}

Fast. Private. Together. — Send it. It's there.

We are thrilled to announce the initial stable public release of Beside (v0.1.0)!

Beside is a dedicated, local-first file, folder, and text sharing application built for Windows 10/11 (x64) and Android 8.0+ (arm64-v8a). Designed as a wire-speed, cloudless alternative to messaging apps and USB drives, Beside sends data directly between nearby devices over your local network — no cloud relay, no user accounts, and zero tracking.

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## ⚡ What's New & Key Highlights

### 🚀 Wire-Speed Gigabit LAN & 64 KB Bounded Memory Engine

• Direct Peer-to-Peer: High-throughput file and folder streaming over local Wi-Fi, phone hotspots, or USB tethering without traversing the internet.
• Flat 64 KB RAM Footprint: Whether sending a 50 KB code snippet or a 20 GB 4K video, Beside streams data in bounded 64 KB chunks so system memory never spikes.
• Streaming Cryptographic Verification: Computes SHA-256 digests in real-time as chunks arrive; files are safely staged in .part files and finalized atomically only after hash verification passes.
• Collision-Safe Storage: Beside strictly protects your existing files by automatically renaming incoming duplicates (document (1).pdf) instead of overwriting.

### 🔐 Zero-Trust Security by Default

• Mutual TLS 1.3 Exclusively: Powered by Rust (tokio-rustls + ring), every connection enforces strict Mutual TLS 1.3 with self-signed Ed25519 certificates and pinned SHA-256 Subject Public Key Info (SPKI) fingerprints. Legacy TLS versions and insecure cipher suites are unconditionally rejected.
• 8-Digit SAS MITM Defense: Visual Short Authentication String (SAS) verification derived from the RFC 8446 / RFC 5705 TLS Exporter (EXPORTER-beside-pairing-sas-v1). Protects against active Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) attacks when pairing on untrusted or coffee-shop Wi-Fi networks.
• Hardware-Protected Keys at Rest: Device identity keys are encrypted using Windows DPAPI on Windows and the hardware-backed Android Keystore (AES-256-GCM) on Android.
• Path Traversal & Sanitization Guard: Strict rejection of path traversal sequences (..), null bytes, absolute paths, and Windows reserved device stems (CON, PRN, AUX, NUL, COM1-9, LPT1-9).

### 🪟 Native Windows Desktop Experience

• Win32 System Tray: Beside tucks neatly into your system tray with close-to-tray behavior, status indicators, and quick-action menu (Open, Pause receiving, Auto-accept, Send files..., Settings, Quit).
• Start with Windows: Opt-in to launch Beside minimized to the tray at boot via a transparent registry shortcut (HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\Beside --minimized).
• File Explorer Context Menu & SendTo: Right-click any file, batch of files, or directory in Windows Explorer and select "Send with Beside" or Send to → Beside with 220ms smart multi-path coalescing.
• Interactive WinRT Toast Notifications: Native Windows toast alerts with direct interactive actions (Accept, Decline, Copy, Show in folder) and a 60-second pending queue.

### 📱 Deep Android System Integration

• System Share Sheet Target: Tap "Share" from Google Photos, Files, Gallery, or any browser to beam files, media, or text directly through Beside (ACTION_SEND and ACTION_SEND_MULTIPLE).
• Automatic Media Gallery Indexing: Incoming photos and videos trigger Android MediaScannerConnection indexing automatically so they immediately appear in your camera roll and photo gallery.
• Foreground Transfer Service: Reliable background transfer execution without system task killer interference, featuring live progress bars in the notification shade.

### 📋 Instant Text & Clipboard Sharing

• Share terminal commands, URLs, .env snippets, or code snippets instantly between PC and mobile with zero disk overhead.
• Includes one-click clipboard copying from desktop toasts and Android notifications.

### 🔄 Privacy-Preserving In-App Updates

• Built-in GitHub Releases update checker with 24-hour background cadence.
• Fully offline-friendly with zero analytics or tracking telemetry.
• All downloads are cryptographically verified against SHA256SUMS.txt before execution.

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## 💎 Beside Free vs. Beside Pro

Beside is freemium software. Beside Free is completely functional for everyday quick transfers with no advertisements, no tracking, and no expiration. A single lifetime Beside Pro license unlocks wire-speed power features for up to 3 personal devices.

Feature / Capability	Beside Free	Beside Pro (Lifetime • 3 Devices)
Max Outgoing File Size	1 MB per transfer	Unlimited (Gigabit LAN wire speed)
Files per Batch	1 file per transfer	Unlimited multi-file batches
Recursive Folder Trees	Locked	Preserved recursive directory structure
Instant Text & Snippets	Up to 40 characters	Unlimited text & code snippets
Trusted Paired Peers	1 paired device	Unlimited trusted devices
Zero-Click Auto-Accept	Manual approval only	Auto-accept from paired peers
Custom Save Directory	Downloads/Beside	Any folder (Storage Access Framework)
Background Listening	Foreground only	Listen while minimized in background
Appearance Themes	Obsidian Dark	Obsidian, Warm Alabaster, System
Receiving from Pro Users	Unlimited	Unlimited

Beside Pro Lifetime License ($14.99 USD): Available at Gumroad and itch.io (thisma-labs.itch.io). Licenses are verified 100% offline via hardware-bound Ed25519 cryptographic signatures.

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## 📥 Official Download Artifacts (v0.1.0)

Asset	Platform / Architecture	Size	SHA-256 Digest
Beside-Setup-v0.1.0-x64.exe	Windows 10 / 11 (64-bit)	11.90 MB	ca5194c5923e7b2cbd4939d61195c2c9488e46a83a37a983fe0ae187754ac29c
Beside-v0.1.0-Windows-x64.zip	Windows 10 / 11 (Portable)	14.12 MB	2344e158997fe31788af0903c58a7b7ad6d6de05117d150fac96f88728ff861d
Beside-v0.1.0-Android-arm64.apk	Android 8.0+ (arm64-v8a)	27.03 MB	3138b55a6bab78fde0fae171afce5009d1d9587b7362b33a177679153fb507b4
SHA256SUMS.txt	All Platforms	228 B	Verification checksum file

Official mirror also available on SourceForge.

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## 🔒 Cryptographic Verification

Verify the integrity of downloaded binaries before executing:

### Windows (PowerShell) ```powershell Get-FileHash -Algorithm SHA256 Beside-Setup-v0.1.0-x64.exe # Expected: ca5194c5923e7b2cbd4939d61195c2c9488e46a83a37a983fe0ae187754ac29c

Get-FileHash -Algorithm SHA256 Beside-v0.1.0-Windows-x64.zip # Expected: 2344e158997fe31788af0903c58a7b7ad6d6de05117d150fac96f88728ff861d

Android (Linux / macOS / Termux)

sha256sum Beside-v0.1.0-Android-arm64.apk # Expected: 3138b55a6bab78fde0fae171afce5009d1d9587b7362b33a177679153fb507b4

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## 🛠️ Getting Started & Tips

1. Local Network Connection: Connect both your Windows PC and Android device to the same Wi-Fi router, phone mobile hotspot, or USB tethering network.
2. First-Time Windows Launch: When Windows Defender Firewall prompts you, check Private networks and click Allow access so Beside can discover peers via mDNS (_beside._tcp.local.).
3. Guest Wi-Fi / Client Isolation: Some coffee shop or university guest networks isolate devices from communicating directly. If devices do not appear automatically, use the Manual IP or QR Code fallback, or turn on your phone's personal hotspot.
4. Pairing: Tap any discovered device to initiate pairing. Verify that the 8-digit SAS code displayed on both screens matches, then confirm. Once paired, future transfers connect immediately.

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Engineered with ❤️ by **Thisma Labs**.

- Website: https://beside-license-worker.khthisald.workers.dev
- GitHub: https://github.com/thisma-labs/beside


[![Download Beside](https://a.fsdn.com/con/app/sf-download-button)](https://sourceforge.net/projects/beside-app/files/v0.1.0/)