Mozilla introduces Send, a file sharing tool that allows your files to ‘disappear’ after a download

File sharing (especially remotely), has always been of essence to people. This is why we always celebrate whenever WhatsApp introduces a better file-sharing tool e.g. most recently when it enabled us to share any type of file. However, in all this, size has always been the limiting factor for most file sharing platforms.

Mozilla recently introduced an interesting file sharing tool called Send. Send is still in its test pilot stage along with Notes and Voice Fill which were also rolled out recently. Send allows you to send files as large as 1Gig, which is great news considering that most of our file sharing platforms do not allow us to send as much. 

Not only is Send incredible in that you can send huge files but the file ‘disappears’ after one download or after 24 hours if not downloaded. Like everything else, this feature has its pros and cons. Pros being unlike sending via Google drive (used to send files larger than 25mb on gmail), the file sent does not take up your space. Well, you might argue that you can just delete after the recipient downloads but Send just does that for you effortlessly.

Also, still on the pros, Send is a quite secure way of file sharing particularly with sensitive information. Not only are the files encrypted using the WebCrypto API with the AES-GCM algorithm during the upload (ensuring privacy even from Mozilla) but the file can only be downloaded once! Which means once your target recipient downloads from the file link you sent them, no one else can use that same link because it expires hence the ‘disappear’. Similarly, If it so happens that the recipient for one reason or the other cannot download the file within 24 hours, it automatically disappears –which then leads us to the cons.

The last pro can also be a con particularly for people with limited internet access which is basically most Zimbabweans. The fact that the file can only be downloaded once means you cannot send it to multiple recipients as you can do on email. Therefore, sending the 1Gig file to 12 people means re-uploading it 12 times and if you are using a limited internet package that’s a waste. It gets even worse when you have slow internet.

Again, unlike using email or Google drive or Dropbox where you can download or access the file a multiple times, Send doesn’t allow that. In order to retrieve a file you’d have lost whether because you couldn’t access the internet within the 24 hour period or because you mistakenly deleted it or it got corrupted after downloading, you’d need to contact the sender again and hope he/she still has it. This might not be as bad if the sender is a peer, but not so much if file is sent on a professional level.

Nonetheless, there are always ways in which to minimise these cons such as ensuring proper communication between the sender and the recipient so that the file is sent at a convenient time etc. Also, you’d need to select the type of files you can send via Send, otherwise one can just stick to the other traditional file sharing methods.

Send is currently available on the latest Firefox browser, I partially used it on Chrome too. It’s free and to access it, click on this link.