Google AirDrop Rival Could Beat Apple In One Big Way

Google's "Nearby Share" (once called "Fast Share") file-sharing system for Android, Chrome, and other systems may soon be far more useful than alternative means of file transfer. The system is based in Android, and indeed seems rather similar to Apple's AirDrop for iOS and MacOS. Other companies like OnePlus, OPPO, RealMe, Meizu, etc are part of a file transfer alliance to create a seamless system – one might wonder why a single system hasn't yet been agreed upon.

You could use Bluetooth. But much like a standard hardware headphone jack, that's become... something that's too simple. Companies cannot profit from a simple protocol that works at a single speed – they need to try to go faster, and find ways to make things seem like they need to get better. As such, we've got a mess of systems to try to wirelessly transfer files from one place to another.

Google's way was once called Fast Share, then it was re-named Nearby Share. According to the latest findings from Chrome developers, we'll see Nearby Share work in both Android and Chrome systems. If we're getting Nearby Share to work with Chrome OS as well as all Chrome web browsers, we'll have a file sharing system that could, potentially, work on basically every device in the world (that also has a Chrome web browser).

Above you'll see a demonstration of how Nearby Share will work, courtesty of XDA Developers. This will work on Android devices first, more ethan likely – then it'll work on Chrome in several forms.

Google Play Services seems to have taken to including Nearby Share as a feature as of June 15 – whether it's active on each individual Android device or not. You'll likely start seeing Nearby Share on your device in the next year or two, or sooner if you've got a device that can update to Android 11 (like a Google Pixel smartphone).