Google is bringing Nearby Share, a feature that lets users quickly and easily share images, videos, documents, links, and and other things between Android devices, to the PC!
Yes, that’s right, Nearby Share is coming to the PC.
Present in almost all Android devices (pre-installed and available natively on devices running Android 6.0 Marshmallow and later versions), Nearby Share has risen to become the Android equivalent of AirDrop on Apple devices, allowing for the transfer of data between Android devices whether online or offline by taking advantage of Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and even mobile data.
Now in beta, Nearby Share for Windows is expected to be available to PC users soon.
Currently, Nearby Share Beta for Windows is accessible to every PC that’s not powered by a mobile processor (ARM) and running on Windows 10 or Windows 11 (and their variants).
For one to enable Nearby Share on their Android device, and initiate a connection with a PC to facilitate a data transfer, Bluetooth and location need to be turned on. As does the Nearby Share feature itself.
The Nearby Share feature is found in the device settings as well as directly in the universal Android share menu every time one opts to share something from any app and can also be easily accessed and toggled on and off from the Quick Settings menu of just about every Android device out there.
How it works
In order to get Nearby Share to work with a PC, one needs to download the Windows app, first of all. Transfers between the Android device (at this point in the beta only Android smartphones and tablets are supported – Google says that it will be adding more as we go along) are then possible whether the app is running in the foreground or the background.
One only needs to drag and drop whatever they intend to share with an Android device to the Nearby Share app on their computer. Selecting “Send with Nearby Share” in the right-click menu with the intended file selected and then going ahead to select the desired Android device from the subsequent pop-up menu will achieve a similar result.
“Sending files to your own devices is even faster. As long as both devices are logged into your Google account, file transfers are automatically accepted — even if your screen is off,” says Google.
“To share from your Android device to your computer, just make sure the Nearby Share Beta application is running on your PC. Then, it’s as easy as tapping Share on the content you want to send, and selecting the PC from the list of available devices.”
For Nearby Share to work as intended, devices need to be within 5 metres of each other.
