After numerous leaks and several accidental mentions during the past year, Google is Finally making “close sharing” official. Although the function is not yet quite Ready for launch, Google has confirmed that Near Sharing is coming soon, and better yet, it’s already rolling out for some beta users on Android.
What is “close sharing”? Essentially, it’s Google’s version of AirDrop, a handy feature in Apple products that enables fast and easy file transfer over a Wi-Fi connection. It’s something Android users have been praying for years, and now it’s finally coming.
Speaking to Android PoliceGoogle confirmed that it is running a limited beta test of Near Sharing with selected Android users, but the testing field is very small. Even when upgrading to the beta version of Google Play Services, you may not get the live feature on your device. Personally, I couldn’t get it on my Pixel 4 XL. When Near Sharing launches widely, Google says it will run on Android 6.0+ devices and “other platforms.” As we mentioned earlier, those other platforms include Windows, Mac, and Chrome OS.
We are currently beta testing a new near-sharing feature in which we plan to share more information in the future. Our goal is to launch the feature with support for Android 6+ devices and other platforms.
How does this new feature work? As mentioned, this is not live on my device, but AP Ryne Hager was able to run it on his device. As seen in the gallery below, close sharing allows visibility preferences, sets your device’s name, and there’s even a notification to quickly allow the ability to accept files, links, or basically anything else.
Both users have to explicitly accept the ability to send or accept data, and once it is received it will automatically open. For example, an image can be opened in Google Photos while a link can be opened in your browser or in an application that opens that URL. AP He notes that close sharing is very fast in his experience so far.
It is unclear when Near Sharing will be widely implemented on other Android devices, but beta testing is a great sign that it is not far away.
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