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With Transloader 3 finally publicly available, I’d like to invite you on a tour through the app and its functionality.

Transloader for Mac's App Icon

Table of Contents

Part IStarting Downloads Remotely on Macs
Part IIDive Into Transloader’s iOS App
Part IIITransloader Siri Shortcuts on iPhone and iPad
Part IVPreferences and Settings
Part VLogin to Download
Part VILink Actions
Part VIIFile Actions

Part I – Starting Downloads Remotely on Macs

Let’s begin this series with why Transloader exists in the first place: to be able to download files on your Mac, especially if you’re not in front of it.

Prerequisites

In order for a Mac to receive links to download, you need, well, at least one Mac.
With macOS 10.14 or newer, and an iCloud account, you’re ready to install and launch Transloader on it.

Installation and Setup

With your iCloud account set up (I’ll let Apple explain how to set it up), launch Transloader on your Mac(s).
Each Mac you launch Transloader on will be registered in the app’s iCloud container, and will thus become available to send links to for download.

A screenshot of Transloader's Devices window, showing an available iMac, a sleeping MacBook Pro, and two iOS devices.
Transloader’s Devices window

As you can see in the screenshot above, all devices I use Transloader with are registered in iCloud.
In this case, I have an iMac, where Transloader is running, and the Mac is on (indicated by the green status icon).
I also have a MacBook Pro, where Transloader is running as well, but the Mac is sleeping (indicated by the orange status icon).
Lastly, I have an iPhone and and iPad. And because they aren’t valid targets for downloads, they get a gray status icon.
Should you no longer wish to use a particular device with Transloader, you can delete it at anytime from this window, or from the iOS app.

Anyway, apart from launching Transloader on your devices once, there’s really no setup, so now you’re all set up and ready to get downloading.

Assigning Downloads to a Mac

Imagine: you’re sitting on your sofa (with a sister or two), surfing on your MacBook, and feeling as relaxed as can be. Feet up, head in the clouds. Then suddenly – BOOM – you get a news alert. Apple has just released a new Xcode beta.
Now, do you really want to break this blissful state of serenity you’re in, get up and go to your iMac in the other room, just so you can start the download? Well, of course you don’t! And why on earth would you? You’ve got Transloader.

Transloader's Share extension appears when right-clicking a link in Safari.
Transloader’s Share extension, running in Safari

So instead of having to put your MacBook away, getting out of your comfy, sofa-surfing position, you assign the link to your iMac in the other room for download with Transloader.
Right-click the download link in Safari, select Share, and Download with Transloader. You’ll see this:

Transloader's Share extension in Safari, allowing us to assign the Xcode download link to the iMac.
Transloader’s Share extension, running in Safari

The Share extension allows you to select one or more Macs on which the file should be downloaded. Click Download, and you’re done. The iMac receives the link and will download it right away:

Transloader running on iMac, downloading Xcode.
Transloader on the iMac, downloading the Xcode beta we just assigned

And when the download finishes, you’ll be notified about it on all your devices:

A push notification on macOS, indicating that the download of Xcode has finished on the iMac and was unpacked.
A push notification lets us know on the MacBook that Xcode has indeed been downloaded, and was opened with Archive Utility to unpack it

With the proper File Action set up, the iMac also unarchives the .xip after the download, saving you even more time. But that’s something we’ll look into in Part VII.

For now, let’s imagine again.
Your friend texts you on your iPhone: “Hey, check out this Mac app – here’s the download link”. But you’re out grocery shopping. Sure, you could wait until you’re back home and remember to download it then. But you already need to remember all the things you wanted to get from the grocery store, so that’s out of the question. And what if the demo is a big file? There’s too much uncertainty here.
Just send that link to your Mac right from the produce-section and you’re worry-free.

Long press the link and select Share:

The Share sheet on your iPhone includes Transloader when sharing URLs/links

Select Transloader, and you’ll be presented with the familiar options of choosing the Mac(s) you’d like to download the file on:

Transloader’s Share sheet on iOS offers you the same options as the Mac app

And like before, as you move out of the produce- and into the refrigerated section, you’ll be notified of a successful download:

The by now familiar push notification, this time on your iPhone.
Summary

Now you know everything there is to know about the basics of getting a download started on your Macs – from your iPhones, iPads, and other Macs, wherever you are.

I hope you’ll also join me next time, when we’ll dive in to the details of the iOS app for iPhone and iPad.
I’ll see you then!

Links

Transloader Website (with a free, 15-day trial for Mac)
Transloader on the Mac App Store ($4.99 / €5.49 for a limited time)
Transloader on the iOS App Store (free)
Transloader Usage Tips

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Transloader v3 Icon 1024px

I’m so happy to finally be able to announce the immediate availability of Transloader v3.0 for Mac, iPhone and iPad.
The app has been re-imagined, re-designed and re-developed from the ground up, with macOS Big Sur, iOS/iPadOS 14 and Apple Silicon in mind.
It’s been such a long time since the app received its last meaningful update, but oh boy, this is a great one, if I may say so myself.

Intro to Transloader

What is Transloader?

With Transloader running on your Macs, you can assign downloads to it from afar – using your iPhone, iPad, and other Macs.

Say you’re in a Café, surfing on your iPhone and find out Apple has just released a new beta of Xcode. Wouldn’t it be awesome if you could start downloading that huge xip file immediately on your Mac back home, and have it ready when you return? With Transloader, you can.

Send the link to your Mac, and it will start the download right away. When it’s done, it’ll also send you a push notification about it.
You can start downloads on Macs from Transloader itself, directly from within your browser using its Share extension, and – on iOS – with Siri Shortcuts.

What’s New in Transloader v3.0?

– Support for multiple Macs
You can now specify one or several Macs you’d like to download a link on.

– Start downloads from other Macs
Where in previous versions you could start downloads only from your iOS devices, Transloader 3.0 lets you initiate downloads on Macs from other Macs as well.

– Login to download
If a download requires a login on its website before you can access it (like the aforementioned Xcode beta), that’s no longer a problem for Transloader.
You can login to sites you anticipate to download from beforehand, or later, at any time, from any device.

– Link- and File Actions on Mac
Using Actions, you can modify Transloader’s behavior in different scenarios.

With a Link Action, you define an app or Automator Workflow that should be opened with a specific assigned link (based on criteria like the URL host, or URL scheme), instead of being downloaded in Transloader.
This way, you can send ftp:// links directly to your favorite FTP app.

File Actions make Transloader open specific files it has downloaded with an app or Automator Workflow you choose – based on criteria like the downloaded file’s type, or the original URL’s host. As an example, you could use this to organize downloaded files into folders automatically.

– Share Extension
Start downloads on Macs right from within your browser, or any other app that supports sharing links – on any device.

– Save links for later
Whether your desired Mac is not yet activated with Transloader, or you’d just like to wait for a later time until you start a download, you can now save links in Transloader for later, and assign them whenever you please.

– Push Notifications
Transloader can inform you about the status of your downloads, and that of your Macs.

– New App for iPhone and iPad
Alongside the new Mac app comes – naturally – a new iOS app.
Among other key features, the app now supports gestures, drag and drop, keyboard shortcuts, Siri Shortcuts for powerful download workflows, and a Share extension, which works like the Mac version’s.

 

Can I see more of Transloader in action?

Of course.

Login to Download
Link- and File Actions

What are Transloader’s requirements?

– An iCloud account
– At least one Mac with macOS 10.14 or newer
– An optional iPhone and/or iPad with iOS 14 or newer with the free iOS Transloader app

Where can I get Transloader?

Mac:
Free, 15-day trial: https://eternalstorms.at/transloader/Transloader.zip
Purchase on the Mac App Store ($4.99 / €5,49 / ￡ 4.99 introductory price at ~50% off): https://apps.apple.com/app/transloader/id572281534?mt=12&at=1001l8pT
Transloader for Mac will be available on Setapp in July 2021

iPhone and iPad:
iOS App Store (free): https://apps.apple.com/app/transloader/id572280994?mt=8&at=1001l8pT

It’s currently available in English and German – more languages will follow.
Transloader 3 is a free upgrade for existing customers.

Do you have more info about Transloader?

Sure!
Transloader Usage Tips: https://eternalstorms.at/transloader/tips/
Press Kit: https://eternalstorms.at/press/Transloader-3-Press-Kit.zip
Transloader Playlist on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXlKHhRX6pIeaHIMKLVqeMSPA6HZSbeR9
Privacy Policy: https://eternalstorms.at/privacypolicy/#transloader

I hope you’ll enjoy this new version of Transloader for Mac, iPhone and iPad. Should you have any feedback or questions, please don’t hesitate to write me! If you’re a member of the press and would like to get in touch, please feel free to do so at any time!

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Yesterday, I was working on Transloader v3.0. In particular, on its push notifications and making sure everything syncs properly.
Today, I wanted to continue working on this, but found myself unable to. My Mac suddenly didn’t receive CloudKit push notifications anymore.
Even worse, neither of the delegate methods

- (void)application:(NSApplication *)application didRegisterForRemoteNotificationsWithDeviceToken:(NSData *)deviceToken

and

- (void)application:(NSApplication *)application didFailToRegisterForRemoteNotificationsWithError:(NSError *)error

weren’t called anymore – without any code changes. Something was wrong.

But here we are, a couple of hours later, and everything’s working again. Finally.
So, to save you some time should this happen to you, here’s what I did:

Restart

I restarted my Mac – the obvious solution. You might think. Only that it didn’t work, the problem persisted. But it’s still the first thing I’ll try if this returns.

Delete Containers, Group Containers, and CloudKit Caches

In Finder, delete

/Users/yourname/Library/Containers/yourAppContainerFolder/
/Users/yourname/Library/Group Containers/yourGroupID.yourAppGroupContainerFolder/
/Users/yourname/Library/Caches/CloudKit/yourAppID
/Users/yourname/Library/Caches/CloudKit/CloudKitMetadata* (*all files that begin with that filename)
/Users/yourname/Library/Caches/CloudKit/CloudKitOperationInfo* (*all files that begin with that filename)

Now launch Activity Monitor.app and force quit the following processes:

cfprefsd
apsd
notifyd
remoted

Now, I’m not sure you need to force-quit each and every one of those, but I wanted to relaunch any process that remotely looked like it had to do with remote/push notifications.

At this point, I restarted Transloader through Xcode, and lo and behold, it worked again.
On my MacBook Pro, where the same problem occurred simultaneously, I took the same steps. And it *didn’t* work. A restart was required, so your mileage – like mine – may vary.

Additional Info

There’s also this handy technical note from Apple, which can help debugging push notifications on both macOS and iOS.

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For Transloader’s upcoming version 3.0, I needed an NSMenuItem that not only showed a title, but also a subtitle, along with an optional image.

Because it took a bit of work and “reverse-engineering” (the click-on-an-item-selection-animation’s timing, in particular), I figured someone else might benefit from this.

Where to get it / Sample Project

It’s all pretty straight forward, and best shown / explained as an Xcode project, which you can download on Github.
This is basically all you need to do:

Screenshot the sample project's source code

That’s it!

Caveats

There are some things this implementation can not do, which the default NSMenuItem can:

  • There is no type select
  • The arrow keys can’t be used to go through the items
  • You can’t activate items with the space or enter keys

Basically, keyboard interaction is unavailable.

I do hope it’s useful to you anyways.
If you’re using this, I’d love to hear from you! 😊

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