Google has been working on a file sharing service since July last year. Originally referred to as fast Share, the Mountain read giant renamed it to ‘Nearby Share’ earlier this year in January. when beta testing over the last couple of months, Google has finally started rolling out its AirDrop-like file sharing service – nearby Share to android phones running Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) and later.

Once your device gets near Share, you’ll be able to access the service from your phone’s quick settings. a dedicated QS toggle for the feature will appear, which you’ll be able to switch to handily use nearby Share.

Getting started with nearby Share is sort of straightforward. The sender chooses the file and decides to share it via nearby Share through Android’s share sheet. Sender’s device can currently search for available devices. Devices with visibility turned on are listed on the sender’s device. The sender can now tap on the receiver’s avatar to begin the transfer.

Keeping the huge userbase in mind, nearby Share automatically chooses the most effective protocol accessible – Bluetooth Low Energy, WebRTC, or peer-to-peer wifi to share files between two devices.

Privacy-concerned users are going to be glad to grasp that nearby Share supports sending and receiving files anonymously. The feature additionally provides 3 privacy settings for device visibility specifically All Contacts, Some contacts, or Hidden. in addition, users can have the choice to simply accept or decline an incoming file.

Google has not restricted nearby Share to android phones. Google says nearby Share can support Chromebooks in the coming months. the corporate has already taken steps to bring nearby Share to Chrome OS, Windows, Mac, and Linux via Google Chrome.

Starting today, select Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy smartphones running Android 6.0 or later will start getting Nearby Share. Since this feature is baked into Google Play Services, it’ll eventually become available for more Android smartphones.