Link sharing and quality of life improvements.

NEW floatingfile Tunnel

floatingfile Tunnel is a URL shortener. It adopts a similar approach of sharing to the main file sharing platform. Enter any valid URL and a six-character code will be generated. Use the code to access the website from any device. To try it out, head over to app.floatingfile.space/tunnel.

Web Updates:

• Added a checkbox selector for files

Fixes, improvements, and a new way to interact with floatingfile.

General Updates:

• Increased storage capacity of each space from 1 GB to 5 GB
• Reduced upload time for images¹
• Removed uncommon animal names from the list of usernames

Web Updates:

• Fixed a bug where downloaded files on mobile devices would be missing the file extension
• Fixed a bug where users that recently destroyed a space and immediately created a space would be redirected back to the home page
• Fixed a bug where clicking the remove file button on mobile wouldn't do anything
• Increased the accuracy and range of the file size calculation, previously maxed out at 1 GB
• Changed the download process so that multiple downloads can occur simultaneously (previously, starting one download would prevent the user from downloading other files)
• Added support for drag and drop uploads even when files are in the space
• Updated all popups to match the same visual style
• Added ability to cancel individual file downloads
• Added timestamps to the event logs and a more detailed explanation of the event when hovered
• Added a confirmation step when more than 5 files are selected to be uploaded

iOS Updates:

• Fixed a bug where some spaces would not close once destroyed
• Fixed a bug where some deep links would not open the space
• Added a new feature that allows users to upload files to floatingfile from the iOS share sheet
• Added image previews
• Added ability to cancel in-progress file uploads and downloads
• Updated icons for events
• Improved share extension smoothness by parallelizing files processing

NEW floatingfile CLI

You can now interact with floatingfile through the official floatingfile command line interface. For more installation instructions and usage guides, visit the docs.

Additional Details

(1) The preview image process now happens asynchronously which shaves off around 4s.

Related Articles

• End-to-end Type Safety
• Browser Support for File Downloads

Two long-awaited quality of life improvements finally land.

General Updates:

• Added file preview for images¹

Web updates:

• Added a file download progress indicator²

Additional Details

(1) File Previews

We've also introduced file previews for some file types on both web and mobile. Currently, only images (.png, .jpg, .jpeg) are supported but we hope to extend this feature for other file types soon. 🤞

A note on performance impact: File previews are generated at a resolution of 64x64 at 75% quality. Previews have been on average 1.5 KB and doesn't have a significant effect on load performance. From our testing, generating a low resolution image preview adds around two seconds to the total file upload time.

(2) Download Progress Indicator

Downloading files now displays a download percentage. When downloading multiple files, the progress of each file is shown along with the number of files downloaded over the total number of downloads queued. Download progress indicators have been implemented in the iOS since release so these updates only change the web application.

For a single file:

For multiple files:

Performance improvements and a refreshed logo.

General Updates:

• Added a new logo¹
• Increased the capacity of each space to 1 GB (from 300 MB)²
• Increased the lifetime of spaces to 24 hours (from 1 hour)

Web Updates:

• Added a new feature that displays queued files for upload³

iOS Updates:

• Added download queue
• Added upload queue
• Added drag and drop support for files of any type on iPadOS
• Increased stability of connections
• Increased file upload speed by 2x
• Bug fixes

Additional Details

(1) New Logo

New year, new logo! We're rolling out a new logo that's truer to our name.

(2) Performance Improvements

The capacity and duration of spaces has been increased with v3.2. Spaces and files are now automatically deleted after 24 hours (spaces from 3 hours and files from 1 hour). As well, the previous 300 MB size limit on individual files has been replaced with a limit of 1 GB storage capacity across all files in the space.

For those interested in the technical details: The previous single file size limit was due to a bandwidth constraint of the server. Previously, files were first sent to the server and then uploaded to S3 (from the server). This was wildly inefficient as the server wasn't doing anything with the file data. With this release, files are uploaded to S3 from the client (browser) using a signed URL generated by the server. From our testing, we've seen upload speeds increase by around 2x.

(3) File Upload Queue

Files that are selected to be uploaded are now visible in a queue. As well, each file can be individually cancelled. The upload queue is currently not available for mobile, but we hope to bring a similar feature (in a different format) to mobile users soon.

Updates:

• Fixed a bug where the space would not close for the user that initiated the action
• Changed 'Delete' to 'Remove' for consistency
• Disabled the ability to select files on mobile
• Generated codes now use capitalized letters
• Fixed a bug that broke ZIP functionality
• Darkened warning color to improve text visibility
• Updated icons used in the history tab
• Added alerts when a user attempts to upload a file that exceeds the individual max file size (see the faq for more info)
• Code of the space is shown in the title of the browser tab
• The displayed file size is now more accurate
• Changed the way file downloads are handled on mobile ¹

Additional Details

(1) We've changed the way file downloads are handled for mobile.

All browsers now open the requested file in a new tab. To visually reflect this change, using the mobile version of floatingfile will show different buttons indicating the functionality (download or open). This means we are no longer tracking file downloads for mobile users; however we believe this change is neccessary for consistency and usability.

Previous on the left, new on the right:

Version 3 is here! 🎉

We're rolling out a complete UI refresh for the desktop application along with small adjustments to improve the overall experience.

Updates:

• New web UI ¹
• Changed the space history to persist to the space, not to the current session (persists between page refreshes)
• Added auto generated nicknames that are saved to the browser
• Removed limit on the number of users in a space
• Added support for bulk downloads, zip, and deletion
• Increased the file expiration time to 60 minutes (from 30 minutes)
• Increased the space expiration time to 3 hours (from 1 hour)
• Removed settings panel²
• New changelog page
• Updated privacy policy and terms of service

Additional Details

(1) New Web UI

(2) We've temporarily removed the ability to adjust space settings while we reconsider which settings are useful for the average user.

Updates:

• New option to change to list view
• Default space duration has been set to 60 minutes

NEW We're super excited to be releasing floatingfile for iOS devices. For more informaton, visit the floatingfile.