I tried to use it with my linux laptop but it didn't work. It assumes you're in the same wifi and that the usual broadcasting works, right? This is not what airdrop does.

Airdrop is fast and works by physical proximity. You don't need to be in the same wifi, just near each other. That's what makes it so useful, otherwise I could just use a cloud solutions as I usually have internet access when I'm in a wifi.