Nearby Share, Android’s wireless proximity sharing tool is being rolled out to Pixel and Samsung smartphones. Here’s how to activate and use it right now.
At last ! Nearby Share, Google’s universal wireless file sharing tool for Android is being rolled out. Like AirDrop on the iPhone, Nearby Share, or Proximity Sharing in our latitudes, allows files to be exchanged between two devices using a Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy, WebRTC or Wi-Fi P2P connection, thus eliminating the need for any connection to the Internet to exchange documents.
And users won’t have to wait for Android 11 to enjoy it. The feature will initially be available to users with a Pixel or Samsung smartphone through Google Play services, before being rolled out on a larger scale to all devices. Be careful, however, a device running Android 6.0 Marshmallow minimum is necessary.
The icing on the cake, Nearby Share could also land soon on Windows, macOS and ChromeOS thanks to the Google Chrome web browser which would integrate it natively. The functionality is indeed already present in the list of experimental functions of Google Chrome Canary 86.0.4224.0, with a fairly clear description “Enables Nearby Sharing for sharing content between devices. – Mac, Windows, Linux, Chrome OS ”.
Find out how to activate and use Nearby Sharing right now on your Pixel or Samsung smartphone.
1. Activate Nearby Sharing
Open Android Settings and go to the Connected Devices section. Then enter the Connection Preferences menu and go to Nearby Sharing.
If you want, you can Change Device Visibility preferences. By default, your smartphone is visible to All nearby contacts to allow them to share content with you. However, you can change this option to choose only Certain contacts, or make your device Hidden so that it is not discoverable.
Then press the Activate button to Activate Nearby Sharing.
2. Choose your connection preferences
Then access the Data menu. Several possibilities are offered for file sharing. So, files can be shared using Mobile data, Wi-Fi only or, more interestingly, No Internet, the main advantage of Nearby Sharing.
Choose the latter option and confirm by pressing Update.
3. Share content
Open your photo library or file manager and select the item you want to share via Nearby Sharing and press the share button.
In the sharing sheet that appears, you should see a thumbnail of the file you want to share with Nearby written on it. Press this button to search for devices around you.
You will then only have to select the contact with whom you want to share your files. They will then receive a notification on their device asking them to accept the sharing you are trying to initiate.