How to Try Out the New Android AirDrop Feature
I remember when Apple first launched AirDrop for iOS in 2013. Another version had been around on the Mac for some time now, and it didn’t matter because AirDrop was much more useful when you could shoot files between different iPhones and laptops, not just the latter. At the time, I thought, “Well, this is the future.”
Fast forward seven years and Android will finally get its own built-in sharing feature. This is called “Sharing Nearby” and you can use it to send files and other content like URLs between Android devices, with “other platform” support hopefully coming in the future ( teases Google). I wouldn’t hold my breath regarding cross-platform sharing between your Android and iPhone, but sharing across Windows and Linux systems at least someday seems plausible.
If you, like me, are too excited to give it a try, I have good news and bad news. Site sharing should be ready soon, but not ready yet; Google is beta testing this feature and you can try to see if you have access, but there is no guarantee that you will be able to play with it. Ah, the joys of introducing new features – even in beta.
However, being able to send items between Android devices without having to send them emails or messages is well worth a few minutes of verification. To get started, you need to participate in the beta version of Google Play services .
Once you’ve done that, open the Google Play Store and check if you have any app updates. Ideally, you should have an update for Google Play Services ready, but you can also click on the Beta tab to see if an update is available.
Now is the moment of truth. Select something on your phone that you want to share with another phone, such as a photo or video, and press the Share button on Android. If you are lucky, you will see some sort of “Sharing Nearby” option (or you will be asked to do so). If not, well, you haven’t won the beta lottery, so you’ll have to wait until you can play with this feature.
I haven’t had access to this feature on any of my Pixels, which includes one running stock Android 10 and one running Android 11 developer beta . On the other hand, you don’t need to have a Pixel device to participate in beta testing or to use the side-by-side sharing feature, as shown here:
Technically, you don’t even need Android 10:
If you are a Samsung Android user, I will assume that Nearby Sharing will work fine for you once you have access to this feature. However, don’t confuse Google’s approach with Samsung’s Quick Share feature; a similar concept, but Quick Share only works between Samsung phones and tablets. Sharing nearby should be more versatile if there is no glitch when using it on your Samsung device.