Google has announced that Quick Share on Android now works with Apple's AirDrop. And Apple was not involved in building this.
For those unaware, Quick Share is a wireless file sharing protocol that is available on Android devices. It lets you send and receive files from your Android phone or tablet to other nearby Android devices and Windows PCs. Apple's AirDrop is pretty much the same, but is completely locked to its own ecosystem, i.e, AirDrop allowed you to transfer files between your iPhone, iPad and Mac, but it wouldn't let you send the files to Android devices. Both protocols use wireless standards like Bluetooth and Wi-Fi Direct.
Well, that's what Google has accomplished now. The Mountain View company says that Quick Share compatibility with AirDrop is currently rolling out to Pixel 10 devices. It will be expanded to more Android devices in the future. The announcement page has a video that demos the feature in action. And here's a support page on Google's website that has instructions on how to send files to and fro between an Android and an iOS, iPad or macOS device.
Android Authority's Mishaal Rahman reports that users will need the Quick Share Extension app on their Android device to send files to AirDrop-compatible devices. Here's the Play Store listing for it, but it's not live yet. Once you have it on your device, you just need to select the content you want to share, tap on Share > Quick Share, and then select your nearby device. Wait for the other device to accept the request, and the file be sent over.
Google says that it built Quick Share’s interoperability with a focus on security, to protect user data. It also consulted a third-party security firm, NetSPI, to validate the security of the feature, and the assessment determined that the interoperability between Quick Share and AirDrop is secure. Google also sought help from Dan Boneh, a security expert and professor at Stanford University, to ensure that the feature is secure.
Our goal is to provide an easy and secure file sharing experience for our users, regardless of who they are communicating with. Like with RCS and unknown tracker alerts, we always welcome collaboration opportunities to address interoperability issues between iOS and Android.
In a statement provided to Android Authority, a Google spokesperson said, “We accomplished this through our own implementation. Our implementation was thoroughly vetted by our own privacy and security teams, and we also engaged a third party security firm to pentest the solution.”
So, Google reverse-engineered AirDrop to make it compatible with Android. That's pretty impressive. Perhaps this has something to do with the DMA's interoperability rules in the European Union? Well, if it results in cool things like RCS support between Android and iOS, Quick Share and AirDrop compatibility, it's a win for everyone.
On a side note, you can use apps like LocalSend or KDE Connect to transfer files between your devices, and these work across Android, iOS, macOS, Windows, Linux.
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