Android’s counterpart of Apple’s AirDrop technology is now starting to appear on Pixel devices, following its unveiling at CES 2024 earlier this year.
Google Nearby Share and Samsung Quick Share have always operated similarly to AirDrop. The functions allow you to easily share files and photographs with nearby devices, but they only work with devices that use the same sharing system – so if you have a Samsung Galaxy phone and your friend has a Google Pixel, you’ll have to transmit information in a different way.
At CES 2024, Google and Samsung announced that Google’s Nearby Share will be renamed Quick Share (after an unintended hint of this renaming at the end of 2023), and that Samsung and Google devices will be able to Share files with each other, as well as other Nearby Share capable devices such as Chromebooks and Android phones, making Nearby Share / Quick Share a true Android version of AirDrop.
This new Quick Share system will eventually be available for Windows machines, according to a Quick Share platform manager at Samsung (translated from Korean), with support expected by Q3 2024 (July to September).
According to Mishaal Rahman, numerous Pixel owners have noticed that Quick Share has been rolled out to their devices. Non-pixel users have also responded to Rahman’s post with screenshots of the new Quick Share feature on their Samsung and OnePlus devices.
We haven’t noticed the change on any of our Pixel phones yet (this writer’s Pixel 6 still shows Nearby Share), but we’ll keep an eye out for the little but major upgrade to Android’s sharing system. According to a Samsung manager’s post on its community message board (translated from Korean), Galaxy phones should receive the update tomorrow.
Google should apparently finish rolling the update out to other Android devices between February 2 and February 16 (per a new Mishaal Rahman post).
Along with this Quick Share upgrade, Samsung phones may expect a few more updates soon, including the One UI 6.1 update.
Lock screen widgets, improved battery protection options, and some remarkable AI picture edits are now available on the new Samsung Galaxy S24 phones, as well as the Galaxy S23, Galaxy S23 FE, Galaxy Z Flip 5, and Galaxy Z Fold 5.
The Galaxy S21 and Galaxy S22 devices will also receive updates, but will be without AI functionality.
