Apple isn’t about to make AirDrop work with Android, and so thereby Google is readying its next best move: bring Quick Share to iPhones. It’s an easy goal, but one that was a long time coming — achieve fast, easy file sharing between the world’s two most dominant mobile platforms without sending people through awkward, convoluted hoops to get it done.
There are early signs that Google’s first version will hinge on a QR code, which would hand off downloads over the web rather than through an entirely offline device-to-device transmission.
That would be a practical bridge for mixed iPhone–Android households — but it also emphasizes why real AirDrop-style interoperability is difficult to come by.
Why “AirDrop for everyone” is possible, but difficult on iOS offline
On Android, Quick Share (formerly Nearby Share) performs a handshake over Bluetooth and then uses Wi‑Fi Direct for high-speed transfers at close range (no internet required). iOS doesn’t expose Wi‑Fi Direct. Instead, AirDrop is based on Apple Wireless Direct Link (AWDL), a private communications protocol built into the company’s products. Researchers from TU Darmstadt’s Secure Mobile Networking Lab reverse‑engineered AWDL and found that it’s closely integrated with Apple’s stack, meaning legal third‑party interoperability isn’t going to happen.
That leaves Google with clunkier options on iPhone: set up a temporary hotspot or use the same local network (both unreliable when it comes to iOS), or shuttle the payload through the cloud. Factor in iOS backgrounding limitations and App Store distribution friction and the solution that looms in the near future becomes more akin to “share via secure web link” as opposed to an immediate offline beaming experience.
What Google’s iPhone Quick Share might look like
Expect a two-phase play. First comes a zero-install path: you pick Quick Share and it sends the file over to Google’s servers with E2E (end‑to‑end) encryption and produces this QR code. Your iPhone buddy will scan the code, and Safari opens up to a secure page, allowing downloads of those files. It’s clean, universal and evades App Store challenges — but it does need a live data connection, which can be an issue at concerts or on planes or anywhere there’s weak uplink.
Concurrently, Google’s been bulking up its cross‑platform Nearby communications library with hooks into iOS and macOS. That groundwork hints at a local Quick Share client down the line, facilitating faster local transfers over Bluetooth LE together with a Wi‑Fi hotspot or local LAN. Distribution is still the barrier; users would have to download an app, but once they do so, Android–iPhone share could start feeling truly instantaneous.
The speed delta is real. Local peer‑to‑peer Wi‑Fi can frequently shift hundreds of megabits per second; AirDrop and Android Quick Share can move a multi‑gig file in minutes. The uplink is limited on cloud relays. Median mobile uplink speeds in most markets still fall back into the tens of megabits based on Speedtest Global Index data: fine for photos, but painful for 4K video.
A playbook revisited: pressure leading to progress
There’s precedent here. Google prodded Apple on modern messaging for years before the iPhone maker agreed to back the GSMA’s RCS Universal Profile. There is also a live regulatory theme in interoperability: the European Commission’s Digital Markets rules are pushing gatekeepers toward more open interfaces across areas. File sharing isn’t the primary focus anymore, but the ambiance has changed.
By delivering to iOS a functional if not perfect Quick Share bridge, Google can at least identify this friction point more clearly. If users grumble that cross‑platform sharing is slower than AirDrop, blame it on the not-so-secret sauce: Apple’s closed AWDL and a standard local link both platforms can’t share. Such public pressure can be effective, even when the technical path is relatively clear.
Why it matters to the average user across platforms
Mixed ecosystems are the norm. IDC’s shipment numbers have consistently had Android at about two‑thirds of the world market and iOS most of the rest. Or, in other words: Your group chat probably does too. And a built‑in, cross‑platform share flow lessens the “just email it to me” friction that has nonetheless persisted in the simple task of transmitting a video from a Pixel to an iPhone.
Security will be scrutinized. The Google cloud relay, reports suggest, will come with end‑to‑end encryption and ephemeral links. That would be consistent with how the company has deployed on‑device encryption for RCS chat and has also cracked down on link-sharing elsewhere. Look for options to specify expiration and limit who can retrieve the file. As an enterprise admin, I would want MDM toggles, along with logging and domain scoping before green‑lighting it at work.
There are already third‑party tools out there, of course — Send Anywhere, SHAREit, and Snapdrop among them — but none of them is quite as slick as a native share target that sits right in your system share sheet.
And that is what changes behavior at scale.
What to watch next as Google rolls out iPhone support
The big factors:
- If Google eventually ships a native iOS app for true local transfers
- Whether Apple relaxes any networking barriers or documentation that would allow standards‑based peer‑to‑peer
- How aggressively Google exposes the feature within Android’s share sheet to make it feel like it’s “built in,” not bolted on
If history is any guide, a cloud‑first bridge will come first, followed by a speedier native option for those willing to install an application. That’s not the AirDrop alternative Android users are looking for, but it’s a step in the right direction — and it puts pressure back on Apple to decide whether seamless sharing across ecosystems is a feature they should support or defend.