Google is bringing AirDrop support to many more Android phones, QR cloud share

Google might have its own Pixel ecosystem to continue building out, but it’s also working on knocking down barriers between platforms. Building on top of a relatively-successful push to establish RCS as an accepted messaging standard, the company has slowly been adding AirDrop support to Quick Share, beginning with its own devices and recent releases from Samsung. Today, we’re learning that’s just the start of Google’s plans.

Cross-platform support between AirDrop and Quick Share is rolling out to devices from more partners this year, including Oppo, OnePlus, Vivo, Xiaomi, and Honor. Samsung, which brought support to the Galaxy S26 trio in March, is also included in today’s announcement, presumably pointing to devices outside the giant’s latest flagship launch. This isn’t too surprising, considering it recently arrived on Oppo’s Find X9 Ultra and Vivo’s X300 Ultra. Once live, that should cover the bulk of phones available on the market today, bringing simple cross-platform sharing to practically everyone.

That’s a great move on its face, but Google isn’t stopping there. While you wait for this functionality to reach your hardware, starting today, you can generate a QR code within Quick Share on any Android device to instantly share to iOS through the cloud. Quick Share will also appear as available within third-party apps, with WhatsApp named as the first partner.

I’ve been surprised by how easy it is to use Quick Share and AirDrop to send files between both platforms since its initial launch, especially considering Google seemed to have built out this compatibility on its own. It was already a surprisingly pleasant surprise to see it arrive at all, and even more so that it works as well as it does,

Finally, Google is continuing to make it easier to switch to Android from iOS, thanks to a partnership with Apple. This experience, which entered testing back in December, allows the transfer of passwords, photos, messages, apps, contacts, eSIMs, and homescreen layouts from iPhone to Android, all without the added hassle of a wire. It’s unclear exactly when this will arrive.