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Sharing files between friends and colleagues has gotten plenty easier than passing along floppy disks and thumb drives. Heck, it's even slicker than taking a run through a cloud service. Apple's AirDrop may be the most recognized form of wireless peer-to-peer file sharing, but Google and Samsung have had their own separate protocols to serve the Android ecosystem for years. They covered a lot of ground, but they weren't exactly complementary to each other.

In 2024, the two have joined forces to merge their solutions into a single one called Quick Share. It's meant to work across devices running Android, ChromeOS, and even Windows.

But what exactly is Quick Share, and how does it work? Let's break it down.

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The history of Quick Share (and Nearby Share)

To say that Apple carries a massive lead against the Android world with AirDrop is an understatement. After all, AirDrop came out in 2011, and it wasn't until 2020 that we started hearing that both the Google and Samsung camps were developing their own standards. Google, which previously promoted the NFC-based Android Beam as its local wireless file sharing solution, would come out with Nearby Share and Samsung would bring along Quick Share.

Much like with AirDrop, devices using Nearby Share and Quick Share would send out a low-power wireless signal, usually Bluetooth, to detect file sharing targets. Users would then be able to select their target or targets and initiate a transfer through a regular Bluetooth connection or a direct, high-bandwidth Wi-Fi hookup. No more barebone emails containing small pictures and short links -- Quick Share and Nearby Share would let you do it with a couple of taps and no mess left behind.

Each service evolved by expanding support to PCs and refining features. Samsung Quick Share was built to support the Galaxy ecosystem with special features like file transfers via the cloud (limited to a paltry 2GB, later 5GB per day), expiring file shares (Private Share), and a few other touches.

That was until CES 2024, when Google announced it would merge its Nearby Share protocol with Samsung's Quick Share. The fine details of the combination have yet to fully surface. As of this writing, the rollout has just started and will take some time to reach everyone, but you will notice when that happens because you'll see a new logo deployed with the service -- it's a circular glyph featuring dueling arrows meeting in the middle. The deployment of a unified Quick Share will likely happen with an update to Google Play services.

Which devices can use Quick Share and how?

If you want to use Quick Share (or Nearby Share, as it remains named on most non-Samsung Android phones), you'll need to make sure you turn on Bluetooth and Location on your Android 6.0, ChromeOS 91, or newer device. You can also use Quick Share on your Windows 10 or later PC by installing Quick Share for Windows.

Samsung Quick Share is available on Samsung phones and PCs with Android 10 or Windows 10 and later. To be clear, you are able to share between Galaxy and non-Galaxy Android devices via each respective method, but Galaxy-to-Galaxy transactions may still use Samsung's Quick Share protocol, which has a few extra conditions and features to it. There's also a Samsung Quick Share app for file transfers to non-Samsung PCs on Windows 10 version 19041 or later.

If you own multiple phones or PCs and would like to use Nearby Share or Quick Share with them, consider assigning them different device names. You will be able to do so in the respective Nearby Share and Quick Share sub-settings menus for each device. In some cases, such as with the Nearby Share for Windows program, you may also change where received files are saved.

How can I toggle device visibility through Quick Share?

Keep in mind that turning on Quick Share not only means you get to seek out and share files with other devices, but that other devices may be able to seek and share files with your device, too. There are four general visibility levels and a couple of sub-settings you should be aware of.

  • Everyone allows anyone to initiate a transfer with you. You'll be asked to approve the transfer. You may have the option to keep Everyone mode all the time or enable it temporarily for a specific transfer or set of transfers. Samsung Quick Share defines this period as 10 minutes.
  • Contacts allows only your contacts to initiate a transfer with you. You'll be asked to approve the transfer. You may opt to allow all of your contacts to transfer with you or select specific contacts to be able to do so.
  • Your devices will allow you to transfer files between devices where you are signed in to your Google or Samsung account, depending on the device.
  • No one or Hidden means no other device will be able to initiate a transfer with your device. You're able to toggle full Quick Share/Nearby Share visibility on and off with a Quick Settings tile in the notification shade.

If the Quick Share tile is not already there on your non-Samsung Android, you may need to press an Edit button or a pencil icon in your Quick Settings panel, then search the tile drawer and drag the appropriate tile up to the active shelf.

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To toggle your Android device's visibility to other Quick Share users, follow these steps:

  1. Go to your system settings and head to the Google section.
  2. Tap Devices and sharing under the All services tab.
  3. Next, find and select Quick Share (or Nearby Share).
  4. For the item reading Device visibility, press the switch to toggle Nearby/Quick Share on or off.
  5. To toggle your visibility level, press the Device visibility menu item to be taken to the list of levels.

With Samsung Quick Share, here's what you need to do:

  1. Head to system settings.
  2. Select Connected devices.
  3. Hit Quick Share at the top.
  4. Select Who can share with you.

On ChromeOS, perform the following:

  1. Select the time in the bottom-right corner, then Settings.
  2. In the left-hand side panel, select Connected Devices.
  3. Next to Nearby/Quick Share, press Set up.
  4. Enter a name for your device.
  5. Under Device visibility, you may toggle this setting on or off.

If you've opted to turn it on, you can also select your visibility level while your device is unlocked and your screen is on.

The story on Windows goes like this:

  1. Download and install the Nearby Share for Windows program from Google.
  2. Open the app.
  3. On initial setup, sign in to your Google account.
  4. Once on the home screen of the program, select the current status under the Receiving section.
  5. Toggle your device's visibility level.
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When you are ready to fire over a file, photo, webpage or anything else you might want to share, here's what you need to do:

  1. Make sure both your device and the recipient's device have Bluetooth and Wi-Fi turned on along with the proper visibility settings.
  2. Tap the relevant Share icon and then select Nearby/Quick Share.
  3. Your device will begin looking for nearby devices. They'll appear as icons in the pop-up interface. Select the device you intend to share with.
  4. The recipient device will be prompted by Quick Share, notifying them of the file they're getting. Both devices will get a matching four-digit PIN that can be used to verify the transfer.
  5. All the recipient has to do is press Accept and make sure to keep their device relatively close to yours.

How to receive a file using Quick Share

Make sure your device visibility setting you've selected will allow your device to be found by whoever is sharing it. You'll see the same Quick Share prompt when the sender selects your device to share with.

Make sure to verify that the PINs match and then press Accept. If you're sharing files between devices that are logged into the same Google or Samsung account, your devices will bypass the verification stage.

Sharing apps using Quick Share

Quick Share is useful for much more than just sharing files. If your Android groupies need to hunt for an app -- let's face it, you probably might have to at some point -- you can do them a favor by saving them a download and just directly send them the entire app.

  1. Open up the Play Store on your phone.
  2. Tap your profile photo in the top-right corner.
  3. Select Manage apps and devices under your profile photo.
  4. You'll find a menu item with the Quick Share icon called Share apps.
  5. Press the Send button.
    • You may need to grant the Play Store permission to use your Bluetooth capabilities.
    • The recipient needs to do the same, but press Receive.
  6. Select the recipient's device from the interface
  7. A four-digit pairing code will appear on both devices. Make sure they match, then have the recipient press Receive.
  8. Once the transfer is completed, the recipient will need to press Install for each of the apps that have been moved over. Either user may press Disconnect in the top-right corner to end the connection at any time.