Android and iPhone users can now share files, starting with the Pixel 10
blog.google361 points by abraham 7 hours ago
361 points by abraham 7 hours ago
This is based on Wi-Fi Aware: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wi-Fi_Alliance#Wi-Fi_Aware
Some background: https://www.ditto.com/blog/cross-platform-p2p-wi-fi-how-the-...
On the Apple side, this was prompted by the EU Digital Markets Act: https://digital-markets-act.ec.europa.eu/questions-and-answe...
I was experimenting with this technology almost a decade ago as part of my work as interaction designer:
https://darker.ink/writings/Mobile-design-with-device-to-dev...
It has a lot of potential but unfortunately it has been kept back until now by lack of support and interoperability.
Waayy back in 2009 we had Bump [1], which allowed transfer between devices and later web apps as well – by banging your phone against the spacebar. It worked 98% of the time and was faster than AirDrop is today, even though we only had 3G.
Google acquired it and immediately killed it.
This is great! I notice that’s on the ditto blog. I can see why the ditto developers are watching with keen eyes!
I have a modern digital camera complete with wifi and bluetooth. There’s an app that lets me connect the camera to my iPhone for monitoring, remote shooting and copying photos. Very useful! But right now the only way for the camera to connect to my phone is through some super complicated song and dance, involving my phone requesting a connection over Bluetooth, then the camera running a wifi access point that my phone connects to (during which time my phone disconnects from my home wifi). It’ll be wonderful when my camera can use wifi aware instead, and this can all happen instantly, without permission prompts and without booting me off wifi in the process.
Pretty sure that ditto article is written by AI ... there's an entire section dedicated to the imagined 5.0 spec..
It's interesting that apple released 3rd party Wi-Fi Aware SDK for iOS and iPadOS but no for MacOS...
MacOS doesn’t have a gatekeeper status in the Digital Markets Act (DMA), so Apple doesn’t need to provide it. This shows that they only provide the SDK because of regulatory pressure, and try to maintain their vendor lock-in where possible.
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Apple is going to leave the EU market anytime now, and US is even a bigger market, they didn't leave EU and will for sure not leave US, they could be a positive force for the world instead of just saying "noooo but the rich will leave uuuus"
Apple will never leave the EU market, that would be a stupid decision. EU is barely smaller than the US market if looking at GDP per capita, it's only a difference of ~$16,000. If looking at population, EU is larger than the US.
Hopefully they keep cracking open the walls of Apple's garden and Apple stops region locking the changes to just those markets.
Guys but do you just read like the first phrase of messages?
I read the comment several times, and I can't figure out your intent, or the message, because of how much it's coded in doublespeak. That might also be what trips others up.
Don't you think that "They didn't leave the EU, and surely not leave US [if they start regulating]"?
Makes it clear?
Background sentiment, US politicians always justify not regulating due to the "fear" of corpos leaving?
I didn't catch on to that at all. I even wrote my own comment, but seeing your reaction to the other guys' comments, I have re-read your original, and frankly, couldn't figure it out. I have asked ChatGPT and it decoded your intent correctly, and even seeing that, I couldn't reconcile it with the comment itself.
They say that a lot of communication is lost over text. I'm sure I could have caught the sarcasm if we spoke in real life, but in this textual form, it was completely lost to me, and it seems that for the other commenters as well.
Your previous comment in this thread doesn't even form a sentence. It's unintelligible.
Your previous comment was a run on sentence and didn't make much sense at all.
The day Apple leaves the EU will be the day that its shareholders will string Apple's CEO up by his own entrails.
His successor will immediately reverse course.
Guys but do you just read like the first phrase of messages?
I read your whole comment, and damned if I know what you’re trying to say. The problem does not lie with the reading comprehension of your audience.
Don't you think that "They didn't leave the EU, and surely not leave US [if they start regulating]"?
Makes it clear?
Background sentiment, US politicians always justify not regulating due to the "fear" of corpos leaving?
Possibly relevant comment from a few years ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26893693
>AirDrop also shares your full name (seemingly the one associated with your Apple ID, not what you have set for yourself in your contacts), both by displaying it in the sharing interface on the involved devices and by attaching it as an extended attribute to uploaded files.
>So if you AirDrop some files to your computer and then zip them up, anyone you send that zip to (a journalist, a public file-hosting site, w/e) will have your full legal name to go with them.
Linked article from that thread is moved to https://medium.com/@kieczkowska/introduction-to-airdrop-fore... (but is archived).
I wonder if Google is adding metadata as well. Otherwise there does seem to be the problem of, for example, threats being AirDropped in a public place.
Using macOS 26 and iOS 26 I was unable to reproduce their findings. I airdropped a photo from my iOS device to my laptop, and nothing in `mdls`, `xattr -l`, `exiftool -s`, `rg -i` showed my name.
Just a tip - You can put any string as your name for your Apple ID. you can also change it at any time. I have it as Mac Book. It's not checked when making any credit card payment, AFAIK.
Shoutout to https://localsend.org/ - it can even open a local webserver if needed.
LocalSend requires the devices to be on the same local network. TFA is about file sharing using a direct device-to-device wireless connection.
I prefer https://pairdrop.net/ ; nicer interface
To continue the thread, my favorite is https://drop.lol
I’m using FilePizza when I need it, saw it on HN recently. All this AI magic allegedly taking our jobs, but we still can’t transfer files from one device to another, or print a document reliably.
> we still can’t transfer files from one device to another
Nor send text message with images.
Or react to images sent by those that can.
Is replying not enough? I always feel like react is a lazy way to avoid replying
To continue to continue the thread relaysecret.com and relaysecret.com/tunnel Found it on hn years ago, still use it all the time. Perfect replacement for Firefox send, rip
Why only the pixel 10? What piece of hardware is the pixel 9 (one year old) missing?
I think specifically latest Pixels are often Google's beta testers. The enthusiasts owning them are happy to get features first and won't complain too much if it's rough around the edges. The phone is also not big enough revenue driver for them to be afraid that too many people would abandon it due to buggy new features
Then I assume they'll roll it out further
For better or worse, I do own Pixel 10
It says starting with pixel 10, so I assume itll roll out to the others after some time
https://security.googleblog.com/2025/11/android-quick-share-...
From the linked security report in that post https://www.netspi.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/google-fea... it seems like they implemented something similar to https://github.com/seemoo-lab/opendrop (which was also used to test interoperablity
Also `we welcome the opportunity to work with Apple to enable “Contacts Only” mode in the future` doesn't make it sound like Apple actually helped implement this
The answer to your 2nd question might be Google's custom silicon: https://blog.google/products/pixel/tensor-g5-pixel-10/
The answer to your first question may simply be they want to sell more Pixel 10 phones.
The investment into custom silicon is more likely to pay off when new and exiting features are exclusive to the newer platform.
That hardware is completely unrelated to such a simple feature. Something like AirDrop will only use fairly trivial crypto, which most likely ciphers with full acceleration available but even without it would work fine with plenty of performance headroom.
Neither Apple nor Google is doing anything revolutionary with their silicon for such a standard compute task. It's really mostly minor tuning to get a more optimal part instead of an off-the-shelf chip catering to other uses too, with die area and power consumption "wasted" in your setup.
previous pixel phones also had custom Google silicon, just with some Samsung IP
That's just how they roll out features these days, in about 6 months it'll be on every Pixel and in about a year or so on every Android.
We get the early worm. At the same time, as a screenreader user, I wished that I didn't miss the responsiveness and ease of use of my old Samsung Galaxy S9+. I fail to comprehend how Google managed to make a phone which is harder to use than something produced 7 generations ago.
We've reached the point where a program that simply links file selection dialog APIs with network identity broadcast and file transfer APIs is so difficult to get working, that you can't expect it to be functional without the exact specified hardware and software version it was written for.
Do we know yet whether this will require Google Play Services and the like on Android? Or, worse, SafetyNet? I dream of using this on GrapheneOS without any Google stuff.
At the same time as we have companies trying to push their humanoid robots with AI and all, we finally have devices able to communicate with each other again. Vendor locking is such a stupid thing.
The fact that I get excited about this is actually a good representation much vendor lock there is.
We used to be able to send files over Bluetooth before the iPhone came out.
Ever since the iphone apple has been trying to make you believe files aren't a thing.
The file system is the ultimate API, and it gives the user an enormous amount of control to take data, copy it, back it up, transform it, encrypt it, send it places, restore it, etc.
Apple likes to have far more control than that.
Because Apple realised that phone users are interested in photos, videos, contacts, documents, appointments etc. not files
Despite others thinking you’re crazy, I think you are right. I remember the start of the smartphone era where many of my relatives switched to iPhone because "you know where the pictures are going and where to find them". The worst offender was my dad that had a Samsung phone running windows phone 6 (with an actual start menu) where you had to dig through folders to find jpeg files.
But what they own is files. Most users aren't interested in mutual funds, but that doesn't mean they don't want them in their retirement portfolio.
One reason I'll never own an apple device, and prefer buying more expensive more open competition. Its just a red line - I own the device by law, if you bend backwards to prevent me from using it via ways that it supports by principle, your product doesn't exist for me.
You are not Apple's target audience, and there is nothing wrong with that.
A file system and its files are a very simple abstraction that lets us organize these exact things.
I understand that some people get confused and overwhelmed by a directory structure, but I see that as an education problem, not a UX problem. I was taught all of this in elementary and middle school computer classes in the '90s and early '00s. Having this knowledge early on made me less afraid of my computer, made it feel less like a magical black box, and gave me the confidence to learn more complex topics on my own.
Computers become way more capable when the people using them understand fundamentals like directory structures and command line usage. I don't think either of these things are as difficult to learn as reading, writing, and arithmetic (especially if you already have a base level education in those three things).
If more "everyday people" just had a little bit more knowledge about these things, they would be able to do way more with their computers with less of a reliance on proprietary solutions that funnel them down whatever path makes someone else the most money.
its a UX probpem insofar as service providers will decide that since they give you a view over the file system, thats enough.
i want file system access, but as a power tool. the 50 clicks through different folders is irrelevant to my most common 5 patterns of use. those should be a single click, or 0 clicks
... This is a joke... Right?
"Dad, download the PDF and then email it to me."
"The file disappeared. I can't find it."
"Look in the download folder."
"How do I get to that?"
iOS isn't just a phone OS.
It is. The other OSes have different names.
Only so they could pretend that iPhones and iPadas are separate platforms under DMA
I generally agree that iOS/iPadOS aren't two different operating systems, but "iPadOS" predates the DMA.
Barely... the iPadOS brand was introduced in 2019, the European Commission proposed the DMA in 2020, and even prior to this there were obvious noises being made in Europe with regards to future regulation. Maybe its coincidence, but the timing still lines up for this being a response to the threat of EU changes.
Im not sure if Android has caught up but the iOS file explorer app is excellent.
Saying "I'm not sure if Android has caught up" when Android is decades ahead of Apple in that regard is some kind of... something.
Certainly wasn’t ahead with the stock file manager that came with my last Android phone.
What about after you spent the two seconds to install a different file manager?
Your Samsung or whatever manufacturer bloated trash ≠ Android.
I used the AOSP app I think? I’d usually agree with you but in this case I really wanted some more bloat because that one was dire :)
Try connecting to a WebDAV server on File. It's possible but it's shitty. And try using Syncthing on iOS to keep your files synced across devices without having them uploaded to servers you don't control.
Also, on Android, you can choose any file explorer. You're stuck with Files and it sucks (but it looks nice).
I don’t have one of those! I do have an SMB share mounted that I’m currently playing music from, though, and it’s working perfectly fine.
I'm pretty sure that iOS only has a file explorer app because Android supported it.
There was almost a whole decade there where Apple pretended that the feature just didn't need to exist.
To be fair, Android lacked a stock file browser for much of its existence.
The difference is that iOS still doesn't show you the files on your device. It only shows you files in a small area.
I love Android but Android does that too. Apps have their internal storage area which you can't access unfortunately (not without root anyway). Nor system files.
When I had an iPhone (a few months ago), there was no way for apps to see files in the filesystem. I wanted to play some music and I had to copy it over to each of the music player apps separately. Is that not the case any more?
VLC for iOS uses the filesystem. You can add files with Finder (newer macOS), iTunes (older macOS), or the Files app on the phone.
You are correct that each app can only see a specific part of the filesystem, unless the apps are by the same developer and part of an App Group.
That’s entirely up to the app developer. Of course apps can see files if they’re developed to do that.
There's a difference between "can't see 'special' folders" & "can't access anything but the app-specific storage". iOS loves the latter, while Android lets you organize files mostly normally even if doing highly stupid/discouraging things for power users & some app developers making questionable non-default choices.
While I bet there’s some technicality I’ll get gotcha’d on, iOS apps do the exact same nowadays.