Echofiles
The same files on every computer in the house.
Echofiles keeps folders in sync between your Windows PCs and Macs over your own network. No cloud, no account, nothing to pay for storage. Change a file on one computer and it is on the others a few seconds later.
Free. Install it on one computer, then use its installer link to fetch it on the others without leaving your network.
How it works
- Share a folder from any computer. Your Desktop, Documents, Downloads, a project, a photo library. Any folder.
- Every other computer sees it. Open Echofiles there and the folder is listed under On the network. Click it, choose where it should live, and it starts syncing. Same place as the original, or anywhere else.
- Changes flow both ways. Save a file on the kitchen computer, and it is on the laptop before you get there. Delete it, and it goes everywhere too, with a copy kept for 30 days in case that was a mistake.
Only your network
Computers find each other over your Wi‑Fi or wired network and talk directly. Echofiles refuses any address outside the local network, in both directions. There is no server of ours and nothing is uploaded anywhere.
A passphrase, not an account
Type the same passphrase on each computer and they trust each other. Leave it blank and any Echofiles on your network can join. That is the whole setup.
Comes and goes with the computers
A laptop that was away catches up when it comes home. If two computers changed the same file while apart, the newer one wins and the other is kept in Recovered files.
Small and quiet
One program of a few megabytes in the tray or menu bar. Real Windows and Mac interfaces, no web browser inside. It uses no bandwidth outside the house because it never leaves the house.
Questions
- Is it really not using the cloud?
- Really. Files move directly from one computer to another over your local network. Echofiles has no servers, no login, and no telemetry. If you unplug your internet, it keeps working.
- What happens to deleted files?
- A delete on one computer removes the file from the others, and each of them keeps a copy in Recovered files for 30 days. Overwritten versions of files you edited yourself are kept there too.
- Can it sync my whole Desktop or Documents folder?
- Yes. Those are the most common uses. It will not sync a whole drive, your entire home folder, or system and application folders, because that never ends well.
- Does it work between Windows and Mac?
- Yes, in any mix. Windows shortcuts and Mac aliases only work on their own platform, so keep those out of shared folders.
- What does it cost?
- Nothing. There is no storage to pay for because there is no storage but your own.
- Which versions?
- Windows 10 (version 1809) and Windows 11. macOS 10.15 Catalina and later, on Apple silicon and Intel.