Tell HN: Want to see Google fail? Try to find how to create a torrent on iPhone

I believe you are being flagged because of the title. Did Google fail? If what you are looking for doesn't exist, you can't blame Google. A title like "how to move photos from iphone"or something would have been better. I'm a little surprised you can't create a torrent on Android, but not surprised you can't create one on iOS. But if the reason to do this is the phone is running out of space why was your first thought "let me first create a large file" There of ways to move photos and video off. You could buy a connector to connect a micro SD card. You could use one of the free cloud service like you mentioned, like icloud and move them a group at a time. Of all the ways to do it, a torrent if the last one I would consider.

I guess I expected Google to either show the correct result or say that there are no relevant results, instead of giving me irrelevant results. I did initially try to also add Bing into title since they both did this, but I've reached the character limit.

Should I change the title now, or should I leave it as it, so that it doesn't cause more confusion?

Isn't a torrent file just an address on how to reach the relevant files, so it should be really small. From what y understand you don't even need the torrent file, you can just use a magnet link, but I don't have a lot of experience with that.

Seems like you XY Problem'd this by starting your search with an assumption creating a torrent was the solution.

Did you try to google "how to wirelessly transfer images and videos from iPhone to Windows computer" first?

It wasn't my first search, but after few failed attemps with torrent, I did, which had better results[1], but the app stopped transfering, and she was unable to select more then one item at the time. Since I use Android I usually try press and hold to mark an item then use the option menu to select all. But she said that she didn't find that option and the pressing and holding just showed her the image.

Few hours of trying different stuff and apps later, I decided to google how to select multiple items on iPhone (You have to drag with two fingers), but by then we were already trying Mega.nz which for her kept interrupting.

[1] https://medium.com/macoclock/how-to-transfer-files-wirelessl...

You can use Resilio Sync if you like torrents.

As silly it sounds to some people, starting with a solution like torrents and then working backwards to solve the problem, in this case Resilio is a good answer, and happens to use torrent, which is all the more reason to not dismiss OP outright. Theres a "i learned something today" south park esque lesson on hubris in this thread somewhere.

I was just as guilty, as I read the thread, until I saw your response.

edit: and the post was just as much a commentary on google refusing to infer meaning from the order of words, and treating them all as keywords. we dont need a million "google sucks more now" threads, but OP isnt wrong either.

I agree! I've just tested Resilio and it works perfectly, so as soon as she gets home, she is going to try it. I've also written here easy to understand steps on how to set everything up, so that she should be able to do it without any major hurdles.

I thought of torrents because that's my immediate association when I hear big files.

Amazon Photos has no limit for photos, so I would suggest just using that.

iPhone's filesystem API is extremely limited, so I would not be surprised if there is no way to create a torrent file.

What makes you think making a torrent file on her phone would have anything to do with freeing up space?

She said she wants to move photos and videos to the computer so that she can delete them on the phone.

PhotoSync is how to transfer photos to a computer without using a cable

It's called FILE Transfer Protocol(FTP). Yes, it still works.

What kind of data is on the iPhone that is exposed to the filesystems to even come to the idea to make a torrent? Why even make a torrent you can use smb in the mobile finder. There are like a thousand easier ways to transfer data from an iphone than torrent. tbh this whole posts stinks like troll flamebait.

It's a mixture of ~8000 photos and videos.

I don't know of SMB, but I'll Google it. Thanks!

Sorry if it feels like troll flamebait. I was being serious.

Consumer toy can't even run torrents, how is this flame bait?

I wasn't able to create a torrent on Android either.

Both platforms have apps that allow you to download, but not too create a torrent.