Google may soon expand Quick Share to the iPhone and Mac

Google may be preparing to extend the Quick Share feature (formerly known as Nearby Share) to iOS and macOS devices, making it much easier to share files between Android and Apple. Analyst Mishal Rahman spotted a comment in the Google Nearby repository hinting at this innovation. It states that for iOS and macOS «the device name is already localized and well suited for Quick Share» purposes, suggesting that integration is actively being worked on.

And iOS and macOS «the device name is already localized and well suited for Quick Share purposes.

What Quick Share is

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Quick Share already allows Android, Chromebook, and Windows users to securely share files over a local network, avoiding cloud-based solutions and complicated settings. On Android and Windows, the feature is popular because of the convenience and security of data transfer.

The challenges of integrating into Apple’s ecosystem

While the prospect of Quick Share coming to iOS and macOS looks promising, Google could face restrictions related to Apple’s privacy policies and App Store rules. Google could either release a standalone file-sharing app or integrate Quick Share into existing apps like Google Drive or Chrome.

However, it’s possible that Google could release a separate app for file sharing or integrate Quick Share into existing apps like Google Drive or Chrome.

Previous steps in cross-platform sharing

OnePlus recently introduced the “Share with iPhone” feature in its OxygenOS 15 shell, enabling file sharing via a dedicated iOS app. This shows the growing need for convenient methods of cross-platform data transfer and makes Android and iOS users’ expectations more realistic.

There’s no official announcement from Google yet, but the changes found in the Nearby API code give hope that such features will become available in the future.

So far, there’s no official announcement from Google, but the changes found in the Nearby API code give hope that such features will become available in the future.