Airdrop on Every Android
After a party or an event, we all share our WhatsApp numbers or telegram username to get the photos from the event. However, we have always wondered about the possibility of there being a better solution.
In 2011, Apple introduced “Airdrop,” an ad-hoc file-sharing solution for Apple devices that would allow for sharing photos and videos without having to send them at the cost of your bandwidth. Airdrop can simply drop the files to any nearby Apple device with just a few taps!
On the other side of the smartphone sector, Android has been without any reliable first-party universal sharing feature for years, WiFi direct notwithstanding.
Nearby Share: Android’s Airdrop Equivalent
Finally, Google has introduced Nearby Share as an Android alternative to Airdrop. Phones with Android 6 and up can make use of this useful feature. It’s almost as simple as Airdrop. As long as the devices are in close proximity, the feature works with much ease.
While the feature has been a part of Android for a couple of years now, it’s still not too well known. You can easily search for Nearby Share from the Settings app and turn it on from there. It should also show up as an option whenever you access the share sheet.
As an OS-level integration, Nearby Share can be somewhat hit or miss at times with the reliability. However, Google has been working on adding lots of other functionalities to Nearby Share, like sharing passwords and WiFi networks. Google also has plans to introduce the feature on Windows, which would be a godsend for an overwhelming majority of people who use Android and Windows simultaneously.
Nearby Share has a good chance of finally filling the void of an in-house file sharing service for Android users. As long as Google keeps iterating and polishing the feature, it can definitely be a game-changer.
