Awesome trick shared by u/Ok-Click4906 our the Kiwix subreddit. Here it is, with minor edits for readability:
“[P]eople are shocked to learn that it’s possible to use AirDrop as a means of transferring 100GB ZIM files onto an iPhone, loading things like Wikipedia Maxi onto Kiwix for iOS. [I]t could take all day without making a few tweaks, but once optimized this can be done in a matter of minutes.
TL;DR – Your Mac and iPhone need to have WiFi enabled, but without being actively connected to a WiFi network. This allows AirDrop to use 100% of the airtime for file transfers.
How Airdrop works
In short, Airdrop relies on splitting the airtime between an existing WiFi connection and the direct wireless link between two Apple devices. This process is invisible to the user who can use their home wifi while sending or receiving files over airdrop, but under the hood there is a sophisticated process of switching and balancing between connections rapidly. While this leads to a great user experience for transferring small files (i.e you don’t suddenly get disconnected from your WiFi while using Airdrop) the practical result is significantly less bandwidth when transferring large files.
As noted above it is possible to allocate 100% of bandwidth towards AirDrop, using the full 5ghz WiFi spectrum to transfer at near gigabit speeds (note this is an estimate as there is no straightforward way to measure bandwidth precisely). You just need to disconnect from your home WiFi during the process, but while leaving the WiFi capability enabled.
Step By Step:
- Go through your known WiFi networks on both devices and disable ‘Auto Join’ on all of them.
- Turn off WiFi
- Turn WiFi back on, and if done correctly you should not join your home wifi network.
- Share the ZIM file over AirDrop and your iOS device should show up as an option – keep the devices as close as possible to maximize transfer speeds.
- Watch as the transfer speed is orders of magnitude faster than before.
- When finished, re-enable Auto Join on your home network.
Why not just download the ZIM file on the iPhone directly?
iOS isn’t really designed for downloading massive files, and it is much faster to download ZIM torrents on a computer and then transferring them to your phone.
Why not just transfer with a cable?
USB-C iPhones support USB 3.1 transfer speeds, so why bother with AirDrop? The reality is the transfer process on macOS is quite buggy. Despite having 700GB of free space I frequently run into issues where Finder claims I don’t have enough available storage for a 100GB ZIM file. Additionally you can still use your phone during the airdrop process relying on cellular data so it is a bit more convenient.
Hopefully this guide can save some people a lot of time who are struggling to load their ZIM files on Kiwix for iOS!
