Braid on your laptop downloads over its own Wi-Fi and your phone's 5G at the same time.
This app is the phone half: it lends your mobile data, safely, and only when you say so.
Install · Braid for your computer · Highlights · Screens · How it works · Development · Website · Setup guide
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Braid is the download manager this app works with, for macOS,
Windows and Linux. It splits each download across every network your computer has, checks every
chunk, and resumes after a crash without losing the file. This app adds your phone to that list. Braid does the downloading; the phone is one more road to the internet, and shows up in Braid's sidebar with its own speed beside your computer's Wi-Fi and Ethernet. Get Braid for your computer |
| Mobile data and Wi-Fi are separate lanes, each pinned to its own network. Braid splits every download across them by measured speed and moves work off any lane that stalls. | A lane that says 5G leaves over 5G or refuses, and never slips back to Wi-Fi. If your phone is on the same Wi-Fi as your laptop, Braid spots the duplicate and leaves that lane off. | Bytes pass through untouched: no compression, no caching, no retries. Braid checks every chunk on the computer, so a file is either correct or re-fetched. |
| Braid on your computer shows a code. Scan it, check the name, tap Add. No typing, and it works where network discovery doesn't. | Nothing is shared until you pair and switch a network on. Codes only work on your own network, keys are stored as hashes, and Forget cuts a computer off instantly. | Live speed per network, data used this session, and an optional mobile-data limit that pauses sharing when reached. It keeps working with the screen off. |
 What's shared, at a glance. One switch per network. Each turns copper while it's carrying data. |
 The last minute, live. Speed per network, with a crosshair to read any second, and the session's totals. |
 Off means off. Invisible on the network, and no mobile data connection held open. |
Captured on a Pixel 7 Pro on Jio 5G, in light and dark themes. The paired computer
and the traffic in the chart are test ones, sent through the phone with curl
so the chart had something to show.
Download braid-android-x.y.z.apk from Releases and open it on your
phone. The first time, Android asks you to allow installs from your browser or file manager.
| Your device | Architecture | Download |
|---|---|---|
| Almost every phone since 2017: Pixel, Samsung Galaxy, OnePlus, Xiaomi… | arm64-v8a | the same single APK no native code, so one file runs on every processor |
| Older and entry-level 32-bit phones | armeabi-v7a | |
| Chromebooks and Intel tablets | x86_64 | |
| The Android emulator | x86_64 / x86 |
Requires Android 8.0 or newer, and Braid on your computer (macOS, Windows or Linux) from the desktop repository's Releases.
- Open the app, tap Start sharing, and switch on Mobile data.
- In Braid on your computer, click Add phone at the bottom of the interfaces list.
- On the phone, tap Add to a computer by code, scan, and tap Add.
That's it: the phone appears in Braid's sidebar with its own speed, beside your computer's own connections.
No Google Play services? Point the camera app at the code instead. No code on screen? Press Scan in the same sheet and allow the request on your phone, or copy the phone's address from the bottom of the app.
The phone runs a small HTTP proxy. Every request from Braid names the network to use and carries the key from pairing. The phone either sends it out exactly that network or answers that it can't, so Braid can move the work elsewhere. It never guesses.
The phone relays each request as it arrives: bytes come in over mobile data and go straight on to the computer, and nothing is stored on the phone. A USB cable (USB tethering) is the fastest way to connect, because the phone's hop to the computer then doesn't share airtime with the computer's own Wi-Fi.
Sharing runs as a foreground service with an honest notification, keeps going with the screen off, and keeps the processor awake only while data is actually flowing.
Everything that passes through comes out of your data plan, so the phone decides: networks are off until you switch them on, the limit stops sharing when it's reached, and the notification always shows what's been used. Some carriers restrict tethering in their terms, so check yours.
While sharing, the phone asks api.ipify.org and api6.ipify.org for each network's
public address, when it connects and every ten minutes, and announces itself on your local
network so Braid can find it. Nothing else leaves the phone. There are no accounts, no
analytics, and no location permission.
Development: building, releasing, the rules the proxy lives by, and what's not verified yet.
Copyright © 2026 InfoDive Labs Pvt Ltd. · Written by Suraj Tiwari
Source-available under the PolyForm Noncommercial License 1.0.0: free for any noncommercial use; commercial use needs a licence from InfoDive Labs.