Alcove — NAS in your pocket

Alcove turns your Android phone into a NAS for every device on your WiFi. No account, no cloud, no ads: your files stay on your phone and only move between devices you choose. Alcove was called Shelf until version 2.2; same app, same features, new name.

BROWSE FROM ANY BROWSER

Tap Start sharing and open the link (or scan the QR) on a laptop, tablet or another phone. Browse, preview photos, video, audio and documents, upload by drag-and-drop, download single files or whole folders as a zip, create folders, rename, move, copy, zip and unzip. The same cream-and-green design on the phone and in the browser, with dark mode on both.

A REAL FILE MANAGER

Switch between the Alcove folder, the whole phone, Downloads, Camera, Pictures, Movies, Music, Documents and SD cards. Sort, search everywhere, pin folders, select all, rename many files at once, find the largest files, and check any file's SHA-256 checksum to verify a transfer.

SEND PHONE-TO-PHONE

The Nearby tab finds other Alcove and LocalSend devices on your network. Pick one or many, send files or a message, accept the files you want on the receiving side, and star trusted devices so they never ask. Choose who can see your phone, set a PIN for new devices, or add a device by address. Android's Bluetooth transfer is one tap away when there is no WiFi.

TRANSFERS THAT FINISH

Browsers upload big files in 8 MB chunks over four connections and resume after a reload or a WiFi drop, with checksum verification. Paste a link and the phone downloads it for everyone over up to eight connections, pausing and resuming segment by segment. Send files from the phone straight to every connected browser, or use the Shelf Connect Chrome extension for notifications and one-click sends. The Receive page on the phone, in the browser and in the extension shows everything that arrived, from whom and how, and is never empty: when nothing has come in yet it shows the address, a QR code and the four ways to send files to the phone.

MOUNT IT AS A DRIVE

Alcove speaks WebDAV and FTP: open the phone in Finder, Windows Explorer, GNOME Files, FileZilla or any file manager app. Create share links with expiry and download limits for anyone on your network.

NO ROUTER? BE THE NETWORK

One tap starts a private network with its own join QR. Devices that join can open Alcove, chat and send files with no internet at all. shelf.local works as the address, and a built-in speed test shows what your WiFi can do.

ALWAYS THERE

Start sharing at boot or automatically on your home WiFi, keep it running with the screen off, and watch transfers in a quiet progress notification.

TRUST IT

Turn on HTTPS with a certificate made on the phone, export your settings and users as a backup, and read the app's own log and crash reports in Diagnostics. Nothing is ever uploaded.

LOCK IT DOWN

Open access at home, a PIN on shared WiFi, or accounts with read-only, upload, full and admin roles. Failed sign-ins lock out. Browsers see only the Alcove folder unless you allow more.

Alcove needs All files access so that any folder on the phone can be shared. It never sends anything to the developer; see the privacy policy.