Android's AirDrop rival will also work with PCs: Here's how
What's the story
The great thing about Apple's ecosystem is the deep integration you get between the company's apps, regardless of the device being used. The AirDrop file-transfer service, which works seamlessly across Macs, iPads, and iPhones, is the best example of this cohesiveness, and now, Google is working to create something similar for Android users around the world. It's called 'Nearby Share'. Here's more about it.
Feature
What is Nearby Share?
Since last year, Google has been working on Nearby Share (also referred to as Nearby Sharing) as its own native file-transfer solution for Android. The feature has been in development to let closely-located stock Android devices share files - be it movies, music, or word documents - between each other using Bluetooth and peer-to-peer Wi-Fi connectivity - just like how it works on SHAREit.
Changes
Until now, it was targeted at phones
Throughout the development phase spanning months, we knew that the file-sharing solution was being targeted at Android phones, but recent commits in Chromium Gerrit suggest that Google is building this feature for PCs as well. The changes show that the company plans to add the feature into the Chrome platform, allowing it to work on Chrome OS and PCs with the Chrome browser.
Benefit
This would enable seamless phone to PC sharing
The integration with the Chrome platform would make Nearby Share work exactly like AirDrop and enable users to share files not just between their phones but also between their phones and PCs running Windows, macOS, Chrome OS, and Linux. Notably, the setting to enable the capability has already appeared in the latest build of Chrome OS Canary.
Twitter Post
Here's how the setting would look like on Chrome OS
Nearby Sharing shows up in #chromebook settings pic.twitter.com/Z2V5UrgPT4
— Dinsan (@_dinsan) June 19, 2020
Launch
When Nearby Share will be launched?
Currently, there is no word on the official availability timeline of Nearby Share. However, given that the feature has been in the works for a year, we expect it will be released soon for Android (via Play Services) and Chrome users. Perhaps by the first stable release of Android 11? Hopefully, we will know in the coming months.