Google has officially unveiling its tool called Nearby Share that’s basically Android’s version of Apple’s AirDrop sharing feature. It’s rolling out today to select Pixel and Samsung phones, with Google saying it’s continuing to “work with our partners to bring Nearby Share to more smartphones in the Android ecosystem over the next few weeks.”
Nearby Share will let you quickly send and receive files with the people around you and uses a mix of protocols. It’ll show you a list of devices near you, and once you select your recipient, they’ll get an alert to accept or decline your file. The system will then pick the best protocol for the transfer whether it’s Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy, WebRTC or peer-to-peer WiFi” which means you can share files even when you’re technically offline.
Google said the feature spent “years in development,” and will be available on “thousands” of different models of Android phones. It will work with devices that run Android Marshmallow, the version of the operating system released in 2015, or newer. Almost a decade ago, Google released a similar feature called Android Beam, but it failed to gain traction with consumers.
Nearby Share will also work with Chromebooks in the coming months and enable easy transfers between your laptop and smartphone. A version of Nearby Share has existed for Android devices for years whether it’s through the recently retired Beam feature (which worked via NFC) or through Google’s Files Go app. But this new iteration looks better integrated into the OS.
