Download for Android, macOS, or iOS

Daak (डाक, "post") moves photos, files, and text between your own devices over your local network. Nothing goes through the internet. Nothing goes through a server. You do not create an account.

You have a photo on your phone and you need it on your Mac. You do not want to email it to yourself, sign in to a cloud app, or find a cable. With Daak, you pair the two devices once. After that, you pick the item and send it.

Daak is a fully vibecoded app.

Try it in 3 steps

1. Install Daak on two devices. Get it here.
2. Pair them once. Scan a QR code and check that both screens show the same number.
3. Send. Pick a photo, file, or text. It arrives on the other device.

Screenshots

These are from the Android app.

Welcome	Pair a device	Devices
Send and receive	Where files go	Settings

Why Daak

You want	Daak gives you
To send between an iPhone, an Android phone, and a Mac	One app on all three. No platform lock-in.
To keep your data private	End-to-end encryption. Your data never leaves your Wi-Fi.
No sign-up	No account, no email, no phone number.
To send a big video	Daak streams in 1 MiB chunks, so size is not a problem for memory.
To send when the other device is away	Daak queues the item and sends it when the device returns.
To know the file arrived intact	Daak checks every item. A bad file goes to quarantine, not to your folder.
To trust the code	The source is open under Apache 2.0. Read it, or build it yourself.

Contents

• Try it in 3 steps
• Screenshots
• Why Daak
• Supported systems
• Install
• Pair two devices
• Send and receive
• Troubleshooting
• What Daak does not do
• Build from source
• Contributing
• Security
• License

Supported systems

System	Minimum version	Release file
Android	Android 8.0 (API 26)	.apk
iOS	iOS 16	.ipa (you sign it yourself)
macOS	macOS 14 (Sonoma)	.dmg

Windows and Linux are not released.

Install

Download the file for your system from the Releases page.

Daak is not in the Play Store or the App Store. The release files are not signed with a paid developer account. Each system shows a warning. Follow the steps for your system.

Android

1. Download an APK from the latest release on your phone. Pick the file by the end of its name:

   The name ends with	Use
   -arm64-v8a.apk	A modern 64-bit phone
   -armeabi-v7a.apk	An older 32-bit phone
   -universal.apk	You do not know the phone type

2. Open the file from the notification or from the Downloads app.

3. Android asks you to allow installs from this source. This setting is called Install unknown apps. Tap Settings, then turn on Allow from this source for the app that opened the file (for example Chrome or Files). Then go back and tap Install.

4. Google Play Protect can show "App blocked" or "Unknown developer". Tap More details, then Install anyway. Play Protect shows this because Daak is not in the Play Store. It does not mean that the file is bad.

5. After the install, turn Allow from this source off again for that app.

Daak asks for Camera (to scan a QR code) and Notifications (to show a received item) when it needs them.

To update, install the new APK over the old one. Your pairings stay. You must use a file signed with the same key (see the check below). Android refuses an update that another key signed.

To verify the signer before you install, run apksigner verify --print-certs <apk>. The printed SHA-256 digest must be:

0d825cdc0069c9176bc9232f4be5a5266d51888f54c8fc2ff123c5b41f8f9df5

A different digest means a different key signed the file. Do not install it.

F-Droid

Install F-Droid, search for Daak, and install it. Or open the Daak page on F-Droid. F-Droid publishes the APK that the Daak upload key signed. This is the same key as the GitHub APK. So you can update between GitHub and F-Droid.

Obtainium

Obtainium installs and updates apps straight from GitHub Releases. Tap the Obtainium badge at the top of this page on your phone, or add https://github.com/darshitpp/daak as a source in Obtainium. Each release has 3 APKs. Obtainium offers the universal APK and the APK for the CPU of your phone, and it selects the APK for your CPU. Keep that choice.

macOS

1. Open the downloaded .dmg file.
2. Move Daak.app to the Applications folder.
3. Open Daak.app for the first time with one of the methods below.

Apple has not notarized the app, so Gatekeeper blocks the first open. This is expected. Use the method for your macOS version.

• macOS 14 (Sonoma): right-click Daak.app, choose Open, then choose Open in the dialog.

• macOS 15 (Sequoia) and later: the right-click method no longer works. Open the app once and close the warning. Then open System Settings > Privacy & Security, scroll to Security, and click Open Anyway next to the Daak message. Enter your password, then choose Open.

• Any version: remove the quarantine flag in Terminal, then open the app:

  xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Daak.app

Do this one time. Later opens work as normal. A new download of the app is quarantined again, so repeat the step after each update.

macOS asks for Local Network access the first time Daak looks for devices, and for Camera access when you scan a QR code. Choose Allow for both. If you chose Don't Allow by mistake, turn Daak on in System Settings > Privacy & Security > Local Network.

Daak receives files only while the app is running. A transfer stops when you quit the app.

To check a download, run shasum -a 256 <file>. The value must equal the SHA-256 digest that GitHub shows next to the file on the release page.

Homebrew

brew install --cask darshitpp/tap/daak

Apple has not notarized the app, so Gatekeeper blocks the first open. Remove the quarantine flag once:

xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Daak.app

If you already copied Daak.app to the Applications folder from the .dmg, Homebrew stops with "It seems there is already an App". Quit Daak and delete /Applications/Daak.app first. Then run the install command again.

To update, run brew upgrade --cask daak. Then remove the quarantine flag again.

iOS

The .ipa file has no signature, and Apple does not allow it in the App Store. You install it by sideloading. A sideloading tool signs the file with your own free Apple ID, then installs it on your iPhone. Use one of these tools:

Tool	What it needs
SideStore	A computer for the first setup only. Then the iPhone refreshes the app on its own.
AltStore	AltServer running on a Mac or a Windows PC on the same Wi-Fi as the iPhone.
Sideloadly	A Mac or a Windows PC and a USB cable, for each install and each refresh.

Each tool has its own setup guide. Follow the guide of the tool that you pick. The steps for Daak are the same for all three tools.

1. On your iPhone, turn on Developer Mode: Settings > Privacy & Security > Developer Mode. The iPhone restarts. Confirm after the restart. This option appears only after a sideloading tool has connected to the iPhone.
2. Install the tool that you picked and sign in with your Apple ID.
3. Download the .ipa file to the iPhone or to the computer.
4. Give the .ipa to the tool and install it.
5. If iOS says "Untrusted Developer", open Settings > General > VPN & Device Management, tap your Apple ID, and tap Trust.
6. Open Daak. When iOS asks for Local Network access, choose Allow. Without it, Daak cannot find other devices. Also allow Camera to scan a QR code and Notifications to see received items.

Get updates in SideStore or AltStore. Add the Daak source one time. Then the tool shows each new release as an update.

1. In the tool on your iPhone, add this source: https://github.com/darshitpp/daak/releases/latest/download/source.json
2. Install Daak from the source. If Daak is already on your iPhone, this install replaces it. In a test with SideStore, the pairings stayed.
3. For a new release, tap Update in the tool.

Add only this source. The source must show the developer Darshit.

A free Apple ID profile lasts 7 days. After 7 days, the app stops opening. Refresh it in the same tool before that time. SideStore and AltStore can refresh in the background. Your pairings and data stay on the device when you refresh. A free Apple ID can keep 3 sideloaded apps at one time.

The tool changes the bundle id of the app to make it unique for your Apple ID. This is normal. If you delete the app, its pairings and data go with it.

An iPhone cannot send the presence signal that tells other devices it is online, so the iPhone can show as offline on your other devices. Sends to it still queue and arrive when Daak is open on the iPhone.

The iOS share sheet cannot send a file to Daak. Open Daak and add the item there.

Pair two devices

You pair two devices one time. Both devices must be on the same network.

1. Open Daak on both devices.
2. On the first device, choose to add a device. It shows a QR code.
3. On the second device, scan the QR code. If you cannot scan, use the short code.
4. Both devices show a 6-digit number. If the numbers match, press They match on both devices.

If the numbers do not match, reject the pairing. Someone else can be on your network.

A new pairing stays pending until you confirm it.

Send and receive

1. Open a paired device in Daak.
2. Add text, a file, a photo, or a video.
3. Send.

On a Mac, you can also start in Finder. Right-click a file or a folder, then choose Services > Send with Daak. Daak opens and asks for a device. Tap a device and Daak sends. If the entry is missing, turn it on in System Settings > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts > Services > Files and Folders. Daak must be in the Applications folder. Open Daak once before macOS lists the entry. On a new install, Daak shows its setup first.

The other device shows a notification. On iPhone and Android, received photos and videos go to Photos or the Gallery. Other received files go to the save folder that you choose in Settings. On iPhone, Daak asks once for permission to add photos.

If the other device is not reachable, Daak queues the item. It retries with a growing delay until the device returns.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Cause	What to do
A device does not appear	The devices are on different networks, or the router blocks device-to-device traffic	Join both devices to the same network. Turn off "AP isolation" or "client isolation" in the router. Guest networks often block it.
A device does not appear on iPhone	Local Network permission is off	Open Settings > Daak and turn on Local Network.
The send stays in the queue	The other device is asleep, closed, or away	Open Daak on the other device. The queue sends on its own.
An item is in quarantine	The received data did not match its checksum	Send the item again from the sending device. The receiver cannot ask for it again.
The iOS app does not open	The 7-day profile expired	Sign the .ipa again.
macOS says the app is damaged, or cannot be opened	The app is not notarized	Use Open Anyway or the xattr command in Install.
Android says "App blocked"	Google Play Protect does not know the developer	Tap More details, then Install anyway.
A device you removed still shows as paired	The other device was offline when you unpaired	It learns about the unpair when it returns. Until then, remove the pairing on that device by hand.

What Daak does not do

• Daak does not send data over the internet.
• Daak does not back up your files.
• Daak is not a chat app. It has no read receipts and no groups.
• Daak does not keep transfers running on desktop after you quit the app.
• Daak does not support Windows or Linux releases.

Build from source

You need these tools:

• Rust (stable) and cargo
• Node.js and pnpm 9
• Xcode (for iOS and macOS) or Android Studio with the Android SDK and NDK (for Android)

git clone https://github.com/darshitpp/daak.git
cd daak
pnpm install
cargo test --workspace
pnpm -r typecheck
pnpm -r test

Native build steps for each system are in apps/mobile/README.md.

Contributing

Bug reports, ideas, and pull requests are welcome. Read CONTRIBUTING.md first.

Security

Do not report a security problem in a public issue. Use private vulnerability reporting on GitHub.

License

Daak uses the Apache License 2.0.

You can use, change, and share the code, including in a commercial product. You must keep the copyright notice and the NOTICE file. You must say what you changed.

Copyright 2026 Darshit Patel.