First and foremost we are going to tell you what is Mi Drop and how you can use it.
What is Mi Drop?
Mi Drop is an application to send files between mobiles. In fact, there are dozens of applications that allow us to do something like this. But the interesting thing about Mi Drop lies in several features that make it hard to find. On the one hand, it is easy to use – ordered menus and a pretty clear design that even the least accustomed to technology will know how to use. On the other hand, Mi Drop works offline and is surprisingly fast. Mi Drop promises speeds up to 200 times faster than Bluetooth.
When launching the application, we see two large circular buttons. One of them is to send and another to receive. To send files between one and another mobile will require that both have installed Mi Drop, but will not need to be connected to the Internet. The phone that will send files corresponds to the blue button and the one that will get the green. Next, we have to choose the files to send: No matter what kind of files you want to send. Mi Drop supports multiple selection. Next, you have to search for Mi Drop users nearby.
After selecting the device we want to send files to, the other party should accept. Once done, the transfer will start and end in seconds.
What Technology Does Mi Drop use?
How Mi Drop is capable of sending files at this speed without the Internet? It works in a similar way to what they do for a few years now apps like Airdrop, ShareIt or Xender, which do not need Internet, neither data nor Bluetooth. Mi Drop uses WiFi Direct, a technology that creates a Wi-Fi zone that creates a direct link between the devices. So, that is, it takes advantage of WiFi technology but not to access the Internet but to create a private network between the two mobiles.
By the way, in Apple’s similar technology, some researchers found bugs that helped hackers get users data.
Thanks to this you get much higher speeds than the Bluetooth. Here we can say that this latest technology will be used to detect the presence of the second mobile. Once it’s identified, the network is created to send files. A simple, practical application that does not need internet and also has no advertising.
How to Install Mi Drop on Your Phone?
- Launch the Google Play Store on your Android smartphone or tablet.
- Search for Mi Drop.
- Select the Mi Drop app from the results list.
- Tap the Install button on the app’s main page.
- Exit the Google Play Store.
- Launch Mi Drop from your device’s Home screen.
- Tap the blue Start button.
- You will see your device’s nickname. Write it down.
- Select one of the offered avatars, take a selfie, or choose an image from the Gallery.
- Tap Next.
- Grant the app the permissions it asks for.
How To Connect Mi Drop to the Computer?
- Launch the Mi Drop app.
- Tap on three horizontal dots in the top-left corner of the main screen.
- Select the Connect to computer option.
- Connect to Computer
- Tap the Start button.
- Select the connection type. The two offered choices are Portable (not secure) and Password-protected. For the purposes of this tutorial, we’ll go with the first option.
- Next, select the storage volume you’d like to connect to your computer. We’ll choose SD card.
- You will receive an FTP address. Write it down.
How to Use Mi Drop App to Send and Receive Files
Step 1: Do above mentioned steps to download and install Mi Drop on your Android device.
Step 2: Launch the app and grant permissions it asks. This will take you to the app’s home screen where you will find two options: Send and Receive.
Step 3: Tap Send option which will show files on your Android device divided into different categories. Tap on any category to see files available and select the ones you want to send. Once selected, tap Send button at the bottom.
Step 4: Tap Receive option on the device you want to receive those files. This will make receiver’s device name visible on sender’s device. The sender needs to tap on the receiver’s device name to start sending files. Once he does this, the receiver will get a request which he needs to allow.
Step 5: Now, the file sharing process will start and you will see the progress in real-time. Once all files have been sent successfully, you can either choose to exit the session or continue to send/receive more files.
This way, you can send or receive files using Mi Drop app on your Android device with ease. The whole process is very straightforward with no complicated or hard to remember steps. Another good thing is that even if the sending process gets interrupted because of any reason, you can resume it without having to start everything all over.
How To Use Mi Drop To Send Files From Phone To PC And Vice Versa?
This is simple and easy there is no fancy Mi Drop tool on Windows. You have to use FTP to connect Mi Drop to PC. Here are the steps you need to follow:
Step 1: Download Mi Drop on your Android device. You don’t need to install anything if you have a Xiaomi device running MIUI 9+ since the app is preinstalled on your device. But, if you own any other device, just download the Mi Drop app from the Play Store.
Step 2: Now connect your Android device and the personal computer to the same Wi-Fi network. This is a very important step. If you skip this, you will not be able to connect your PC and the Mi Drop app together.
Step 3: Now open the Mi Drop app on your Android device and tap the three-dot icon at the top-right corner of the Mi Drop app. Now, select Connect to a computer from the menu.
Step 4: On the Connect to the computer screen, tap the Start button you will find at the bottom. You must to select the storage volume of your choice– Internal memory or SD card. Tap the desired storage.
You will then get an FTP address at the bottom of the screen. You will have to use this address on your personal computer as mentioned in the following step.
Step 5: Now open Windows Explorer on your computer and enter the same FTP URL in the address bar of the Windows Explorer. Press Enter.
Once you are done with mobile folders it will be shown on your PC. Just like the normal USB connection, you can now easily, cut, copy and move data between your Android device and PC.
After you have done transferring the data, tap Stop button at the bottom of the app.
FTP connection
To secure your FTP connection, you should add a password to it. To do that, tap the Settings icon on the Connect to the computer screen and turn off the “Sign in anonymously” option.
After doing that, you will notice that the Sign-in option present under the Sign in anonymously will turn black. Click on it and enter a username and password. Now click on OK to save the credentials. So, each time you connect your Android device to PC, you will be asked to enter these credentials, so make sure you remember them.
How To Change Mi Drop Destination Folder
The files that are transferred between Android and PC via Mi Drop will be directly kept in their respective folders. However, when you transfer the files between Android devices, they are kept in the Internal Storage/MIUI/MiDrop folder.
Although you cannot change the exact location of the folder, you can choose to save them on SD card if your device supports it. Meanwhile, if your Xiaomi device is running low on internal storage, here are tips to increase the storage.
To change the destination folder of the Mi Drop app, tap the three-dot icon at the top-right corner of the Mi Drop app. Select Destination folder from the menu. On the pop-up select either Internal Storage or External Storage.
Can You Unistall Mi Drop App?
Yes and no.
If you have downloaded the Mi Drop app on some devices other than a Redmi device, you can easily uninstall it using the general way. Go to Play Store – look for the Mi Drop app and then tap Uninstall button. Or simply long touch the icon and drag it upwards to an uninstall prompt.
However, if you own a Redmi device. We are sad to inform you that you will not be able to disable Mi Drop as it is a system app.