Ask HN: how to get photos from my Chinese friend iPhone

Hi,

I spent 2 weeks vacations in France (I'm French) with a friend from (mainland) China.

She took thousand of photo with her iPhone, so I didn't feel the need to take photos too.

However when she wanted to share the photos with me we discovered that I can't access her Baidu cloud account on my PC nor do I find the same app on my Android phone.

So now she's back in China and we're left wondering how she can share photo with me, except by sending a few dozen everyday on Wechat.

There's nothing sensitive about the photos so I'm not worried about her government (or mine) looking at them, I just want to get these photos the easiest way possible. She has no other "computer" than her iPhone, and I don't want to involve her in some shady VPN things that could backfire on her.

Thank you for your suggestions.

8 comments

[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 31.8 ms ] thread

bluetidepro 7y ago ↗

Why not just use some free cloud service like Dropbox, to have her upload them from her iPhone and share them with you from that?

jmnicolas 7y ago ↗

Most of the apps we are accustomed to are not working in China. We didn't test Dropbox specifically, but she couldn't access Google drive.

bluetidepro 7y ago ↗

Ohhh, derp. I didn't realize that. That makes sense then. I think you're right, it is also blocked. Maybe one of these cloud services will work that they suggested: https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-best-Chinese-Dropbox-alte...

Also, what about a simple FTP server? you could set it up, and have upload from her phone to it maybe?

entity345 7y ago ↗

"Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of tapes."

In this case a few RMB spent on a USB stick or SD card (and a stamp) sent through the post will get you this thousand photos without a sweat.

jmnicolas 7y ago ↗

I think we'll go with that if we don't find a fully digital solution.

gotorazor 7y ago ↗

jmnicolas 7y ago ↗

She's limited to 5 MB attachments.

jessicatechexp 7y ago ↗

1. Syncthing

2. USB drive sent through epacket service costs less than 5USD to send and takes 10-20 days to arrive on EU. USB drive might cost something.

Still it's cheaper than an hourly of wage in West.