After appearing in late 2022, the Material You refresh or retune of Nearby Share now finally appears to be rolling out more widely to devices.
Nearby Share Stories March 10
Nearby Share Stories January 18
Nearby Share branding comes to Files by Google
The Nearby Share sheet is due for a Material You redesign, but until then its presence in the Files by Google app is getting more prominent.
Nearby Share Stories January 9
The past couple of years have brought the arrival of some much-needed features on Android in the launch and fast expansion of Fast Pair and Nearby Share, but despite Google’s promise over a year ago, neither has arrived on Windows PCs, the company’s own Google TV platform, or even ChromeOS.
Nearby Share Stories January 5
After rolling out Chromecast support, Google announced at CES 2023 that Android’s media output switcher will support Spotify Connect as it pushes more cross-device experiences.
Nearby Share Stories December 28, 2022
The other change Google is making to Nearby Share are UI tweaks that infuse Material You to the main sheet you interact with.
Nearby Share Stories November 17, 2022
Back in September, Google announced a few updates to Nearby Share, including sharing to your own devices. Another upcoming change will have Nearby Share “show in the first row as a sharing option” in the system Android sheet.
Nearby Share Stories September 8, 2022
Out of the gate in 2020, Nearby Share was aimed at sending pictures and videos with those around you. Google is now embracing nearby self-sharing across your own devices and will make that experience work more seamlessly.
Nearby Share Stories March 10, 2022
Nearby Sharing, Google’s answer to AirDrop, is gaining the ability to send files and more to more than one Android or Chrome OS device at the same time.
Nearby Share Stories February 7, 2022
Google’s AirDrop competitor, Nearby Share, is working on a way to share Wi-Fi passwords from Android 12 to Chromebooks.
Nearby Share Stories January 5, 2022
While Chrome OS is Google’s “desktop” platform for laptops and other computers, many Android users turn to Windows for a more powerful operating system. Google is now fully embracing that trend, with plans to bring Nearby Share and Fast Pair to Windows PCs.
Nearby Share Stories September 8, 2021
Besides a slew of Material You additions and other enhancements, Android 12 Beta 5 today expands — as we’ve been expecting — Nearby Share with an “Everyone” visibility option, redesigned QS pane, and multi-device sharing.
Nearby Share Stories April 9, 2021
With the OnePlus 9 series launch, the new additions were core focus points – but it looks like there have been a few sneaky removals, including that of File Dash from the File manager app in favor of Google’s Nearby Share.
Nearby Share Stories March 15, 2021
After years of users clamoring for the functionality, Google finally debuted its own version of Apple’s AirDrop last year. Now, we’ve spotted what’s next for Nearby Share — the ability to see everyone around you and to send files to more than one person at once.
Nearby Share Stories March 2, 2021
Android Beam may have been ditched in favor of Nearby Share, but the ability to tap-to-send files, websites, contacts, and more lives on as the option actually still exists with the help of NFC.
Nearby Share Stories February 17, 2021
For over a year now, Google has been hard at work on Nearby Sharing, a handy way to share things like files, contacts, and more with nearby Android devices — and Chrome. Today, the Google Play Store now offers the best example of Nearby Sharing, allowing you to share apps and updates between devices.
Nearby Share Stories December 3, 2020
Back in August, Google introduced a native system for quickly sharing text, links, and images across its devices. Nearby Share will soon let you send Android apps to people near you.
Nearby Share Stories August 4, 2020
From Photos to Docs and Drive, sharing on Google services is primarily performed with links where a file is sent to the cloud and then distributed. There are times, however, when the upload process takes too long or you want a share to be more ephemeral. Apple’s offering is called AirDrop, and Google has been working on a solution for its devices over the last few years. After testing picked up in the past month, Nearby Share on Android is launching and beginning to roll out today.
Nearby Share Stories July 31, 2020
AirDrop is admittedly one of the best features of iPhones, especially because it works with nearby Macs too. Google has been slowly building out its own version of that feature for a while now with Nearby Sharing and, as it rolls out more widely on Android, the feature has also arrived on Google Chrome. Well, sort of.
Nearby Share Stories July 30, 2020
[Update: Back, rolling wider] Nearby Sharing, Android’s AirDrop, is disappearing for most
One of the more exciting Google developments of the past year is Nearby Sharing, an AirDrop-like service that can transfer files, links, and more between Android devices and eventually almost any device with Google Chrome. Now Nearby Sharing is beginning to disappear from Android phones and tablets just a few weeks after initially arriving.
Nearby Share Stories July 20, 2020
Samsung’s Galaxy Note 20 Ultra goes official in just three short weeks, and leading up to the launch, there have been a number of major leaks. Today, another hands-on video leak of the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra details camera and video features, as well as giving quick mention to an upcoming feature from Google.
Nearby Share Stories July 9, 2020
Last month, it was discovered that Google was hard at work on bringing Android’s answer to AirDrop, Nearby Sharing, to Chrome OS and Google Chrome for Windows, Mac, and Linux. Now the feature has begun to appear for some on Chrome OS Canary.
Nearby Share Stories July 2, 2020
“Nearby Sharing” or “Nearby Share” is the latest attempt to give Android owners and users a proper rival to Apple’s AirDrop.
Nearby Share Stories June 30, 2020
Following numerous leaks and several accidental mentions over the past year, Google is finally making “Nearby Sharing” official. While the feature still isn’t quite ready to launch, Google has confirmed Nearby Sharing is coming soon and, better yet, is already rolling out to some beta users on Android.
Nearby Share Stories June 23, 2020
Today kicks off the first segment in Google’s 11 Weeks of Android series. Videos and blog posts this week are all about the upcoming operating system’s focus on “People & Identity.” Homescreen conversation shortcuts were previewed in one video, while we randomly see the rumored “Nearby” feature integrated with the Android 11 share sheet.
Nearby Share Stories June 19, 2020
For some time now, we’ve been tracking Nearby Sharing as Android’s answer to AirDrop on iOS, allowing you to, as the name suggests, share things to devices that are nearby. Now we’re finding that Google’s ambitions for Nearby Sharing are far greater, with the feature getting close to arriving on Windows, Mac, Linux, and Chrome OS.
Nearby Share Stories March 18, 2020
Android’s AirDrop-like Nearby Sharing inadvertently acknowledged by 11 DP2
Last June, we exclusively revealed that Google was working on an Android Beam replacement and AirDrop competitor called “Fast Share.” It was renamed to “Nearby Sharing” earlier this year, but ultimately still unannounced. The Android 11 DP2 today surprisingly references the feature.
Nearby Share Stories January 13, 2020
For the past several months, there’s been an ongoing project at Google that’s never been announced: Android’s version of AirDrop. We first broke the news, and now, Google has apparently renamed the Android feature to “Nearby Sharing.”
Nearby Share Stories September 14, 2019
Earlier this year we showed you Google’s AirDrop competitor, Fast Share. Now, as we still wait for the feature to actually launch, new screenshots are showing off Google’s progress as it builds out the feature with a revamped settings menu and new share sheet.
Nearby Share Stories June 29, 2019
Google appears to be working on a new and simple way to share files between a variety of devices, including Android and Chromebooks. We’ve managed to fully enable “Fast Share” on Android today, and here’s how it works.
