Google is expanding the capabilities of its Quick Share feature on Android to work with Apple’s AirDrop. Announced via blog post on Thursday, the new compatibility is now available for the Pixel 10 family of devices. Apple and Android devices typically don’t play well together, but Google has a history of sidestepping Apple’s cooperation to make the operating systems work better together, and it seems that’s what’s happening here, too.
In its current version, Quick Share only works with AirDrop’s everyone mode. To receive files from Android, iOS people will need to adjust the default setting from «contacts only» to «everyone for 10 minutes.»
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I initially couldn’t get the feature to work using an iPad Pro and a Pixel 10 Pro XL, and neither device appeared when I followed the instructions on the support page.
However, 9to5 Google reported a way to get things moving by updating the Quick Share extension via Google Play. Once the extension has been updated on your Pixel 10, restart your phone and try again. After that, I could share photos between both devices.
From an interoperability standpoint, this is a win for the consumer, though it’s a minor feature in the grand scheme of things. But the more Android plays nice with iOS, the better for everyone. Google’s last significant effort to integrate the two operating systems was its push for Apple to support RCS, Google’s standard for replacing SMS. It was a tough push, but ultimately successful.
Google says that it built the new functionality with security at its core. After conducting its own privacy and security testing, Google collaborated with NetSPI, a leading third-party penetration testing platform, to conduct a comprehensive security assessment. The results found that the interoperability between Quickshare and Airdrop is «notably stronger» than other industry implementations.
Google has plans to improve the experience and expand the number of compatible devices in the future.
