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Google and Samsung join forces: Android's Nearby Share is now Quick Share
- Google and Samsung have come together to rebrand Nearby Share to Quick Share.
- The new Quick Share option will roll out to current Nearby Share-enabled devices next month.
- The companies are also in talks with PC makers to expand Quick Share to Windows PCs as a pre-installed app.
Google introduced Nearby Share in 2020 as an answer to Apple’s AirDrop. Most Android users might already be very familiar with the feature by now. For those who’re not, Nearby Share essentially allows you to share images, videos, files, links, and Wi-Fi passwords between Android, Chromebooks, and Windows devices. As we first reported prior to the official confirmation, the feature is now getting a new name thanks to Google’s close ties with Samsung.
Nearby Share will now be called Quick Share. Those who use a Samsung phone will know that Quick Share is the company’s proprietary file transfer tool. It’s very similar to Nearby Share. Both solutions use Bluetooth Low Energy and Wi-Fi Direct to find devices close by and transfer files. However, unlike Nearby Share, Samsung’s Quick Share is only targeted at Galaxy users and doesn’t work with non-Samsung devices. There’s a workaround, but that involves additional steps.
Another point of difference between Google and Samsung’s file sharing solutions is that Quick Share allows users to share files with up to five devices simultaneously, but Nearby Share limits transfers to just one device at a time. The file transfer limits of both solutions also vary, with Nearby Share allowing 500 files/day of unlimited size and Quick Share allowing files of up to 1GB for a single transfer and a total of 5GB per day.
These differences should now fade away with Nearby Share and Quick Share merging into one and becoming just Quick Share. However, it’s unclear if the merged solution will be based on Google’s version of Nearby Share or Samsung’s existing version of Quick Share.
“We’ve integrated the experiences and created the best default, built-in option for peer-to-peer content sharing across all types of devices in the Android ecosystem, including Chromebooks,” Google writes in its blog post.
The companies are also in talks with PC manufacturers like LG to expand Quick Share to Windows PCs as a pre-installed app.
Google says Quick Share will start rolling out to current Nearby Share-enabled devices next month.