Google has officially launched Nearby Share, its competitor to Apple’s AirDrop, with the official release of Nearby Share for Windows.
Google has been working to close the integration gap with iOS. Apple’s iOS has long held the lead when it comes to integrating features and abilities across Apple’s platforms. Nearby Share is one of Google’s main efforts to close the gap, adding the ability to easily drop files between Android devices and Windows computers.
A beta of Nearby Share for Windows was released in March 2023, but Ronald Ho, Group Product Manager, Android, announced the official release in a blog post:
With nearly 3 billion active Android devices around the world, Nearby Share provides an easy way to share files across your phones, tablets, Chromebooks and more devices. Earlier this year, Nearby Share expanded with a beta to support Windows PCs, allowing you to connect a new type of hardware with nearby Android devices.
Nearby Share for Windows, available as an app download on PCs around the world, has now been installed by more than 1.7 million people. With photos and videos being the most popular file types to send, we’ve seen over 50 million files transferred between PC and Android devices since launch. No need to search for any cables or cords – sharing media to your own devices or with nearby friends and family is possible with just a few clicks.
Today marks the official launch of Nearby Share with Windows, offering improved performance and new functionality that can make it even easier for you to share content and stay productive.
Ho says more features are planned for Nearby Share for Windows:
To make sharing between Android devices and PCs even more seamless, we’re working with partners like HP to include the Nearby Share app on select Windows PCs, such as the HP Dragonfly Pro.
Users can download Nearby Share for Windows here.