Android works with Apple AirDrop now, all due to Google

In shocking information, Google has introduced that Quick Share, its in-house wi-fi file sharing protocol for Android and ChromeOS, will now begin working with Apple’s proprietary AirDrop characteristic. Beginning with the Pixel 10 familyof smartphones, customers will be capable of beam paperwork, pictures, and extra to any modern-day iPhone mannequin straight by way of Android’s Fast Share interface.

“We constructed this with safety at its core, defending your information with robust safeguards that had been examined by unbiased safety consultants. It’s only one extra approach we’re bringing higher compatibility that persons are asking for between working techniques, following our work on RCS and unknown tracker alerts,” says Google in a blog post.

In a separate Security Blog post, Google goes on to substantiate that Android-to-iPhone wi-fi sharing requires iPhone customers to toggle on “Everybody for 10 minutes” inside their AirDrop settings, and that it’d “welcome the chance to work with Apple to allow “Contacts Solely” mode sooner or later.”

In a later assertion made to Android Authority, a Google spokesperson additionally confirmed that AirDrop compatibility inside Fast Share was carried out independently by the corporate and with none enter or sanctioning from Apple. As such, it is unclear whether or not Apple will try to squash compatibility by way of a future software program replace, or if it’s going to decide to affix forces with Google to deliver “Contacts Solely” mode to the characteristic stack at a later date.

In the interim, there isn’t any phrase on how lengthy it’s going to take for this cross-device wi-fi switch performance to make its strategy to the broader ecosystem of Android-powered smartphones and tablets. With no public assertion constituted of Apple as but, both, there are nonetheless questions surrounding the characteristic’s efficacy and long-term availability.

Androids and iPhones can lastly peacefully coexist

The (attainable) begin of a brand new cross-platform file switch period

Personally, I am delighted to listen to of this Fast Share improvement by Google. As somebody who incessantly makes use of quite a lot of smartphones, tablets, and PCs, and who sends and receives information between stated units regularly, the power to have my Android and ChromeOS devices work extra seamlessly with iPhones, iPads, and Macs is extremely welcome.

Over on the Windows 11 facet of issues, Google has already constructed a devoted Fast Share utility for PC customers, which sidesteps Microsoft’s personal Nearby Share protocol. I have been counting on Fast Share to reliably ship screenshots to and from my Surface Pro 12-inch and my Pixel 10, and I am unable to wait to begin testing interoperability between my Pixel 10 and my iPhone 15 Professional within the close to future.

In an ideal world, I might love for Apple AirDrop, Google Fast Share, and Microsoft Close by Share to all work in concord with each other, as to streamline wi-fi information switch for all customers of all cell computing platforms throughout the board. Whereas being separate, unbiased protocols, the three techniques do all depend on the identical base Bluetooth and Wi-Fi Direct applied sciences for peer-to-peer (P2P) information sharing, in spite of everything.

In any case, and assuming there isn’t any large tech headbutting on the horizon, AirDrop assist inside Fast Share is a step in the precise path for the trade, and I hope to see Google and Apple work collectively versus individually to additional bolster cross-platform experiences akin to this one.