Samsung ‘Quick Share’ is the company’s AirDrop clone, coming to Galaxy S20

Ben Schoon | Jan 23 2020 - 5:31 am PT

Over the years, Samsung has built out a software suite on top of Android that brings a lot to the table beyond Google’s own offerings. Now, we’re learning that the Galaxy S20 will apparently see the arrival of Samsung “Quick Share,” a clone of Apple’s AirDrop.

AirDrop is a feature on Apple’s iOS and macOS that has proved to be incredibly useful. It allows for quick and easy sharing of files between devices over a Wi-Fi connection. Google is preparing its own copy of this feature called “Nearby Sharing,” but it looks like Samsung might beat them to the punch.

Max Weinbach, responsible for quite a few other Galaxy S20-related leaks as of late, found evidence of this new “Quick Share” feature and says it will apparently arrive on Galaxy S20. He was able to get the feature running (via XDA-Developers) on his Galaxy S10+ and Galaxy Note 10. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to actually transfer files with this early version of the app.

The feature has a panel within Samsung’s settings and, just like AirDrop, it shows devices around you. As one might expect, it only shows nearby Samsung devices.

The scope of this feature is something that does concern me a bit. Since Samsung doesn’t control Android as a whole, this feature wouldn’t be available for sharing with other Android devices, or iPhones, for that matter. Further, Samsung would have to update quite a lot of other devices to make Quick Share ubiquitous, even on Samsung’s own smartphones. Presumably, Samsung would also bake this feature into tablets like the Galaxy Tab S6, its Windows laptops, and who knows, maybe it’ll even find a way to put it on the Galaxy Chromebook.

Interestingly, Samsung does have one other expansion available for this feature. Files will also be able to be sent to devices using Samsung SmartThings. This is done by temporarily uploading the files to Samsung Cloud and then streaming them to that device. There’s a 2GB daily limit on this, however.

Some other notable details about Quick Share include the ability to limit who can receive files. To avoid spam, users can only allow their contacts to send files to their device. Quick Share can also be turned on or off, as you’d probably expect it to be able to. Your device’s name can also be adjusted as you see fit.

It’s great that we’re finally seeing Android manufacturers finally taking the time to compete with Apple’s AirDrop. This is long past due.