Google Brings 'Nearby Share' To Windows, Making It Easy To Transfer Files

Google is bringing Android's "Nearby Share" feature to the desktop with a new Windows app. Google says the new program will make sharing between Windows and Android easier, letting you send files over in just a few clicks and taps. From a report: Google's Nearby Share has been built into Android for a few years now and allows you to locally transfer files over Wi-Fi, with the initial device-pairing happening over Bluetooth. Nearby share has been kind of tough to use in real life, since most people share files over the Internet. And for personal use, most people only have one Android device, their phone, so there has been nothing to share files with. A ton of Android users have Windows PCs, though, so for many this will be the first time Nearby Share has an actual use. Using the app is easy. Just download it from the Android website and click a few "next" buttons in the installer. You need a 64-bit Windows PC (not ARM, ironically) with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. From there you can easily share by dragging and dropping on Windows or by using the Android "share" button and hitting "Nearby Share." You have the option of signing in to the Windows app or not. If you don't you'll need to manually approve every transaction on both the phone and PC. If you sign in, you can set up auto-accept from yourself, anyone in your contacts, or the probably not advisable "everyone" option.

So easy?

[SynKKnyS]

These WiFi sharing features are always so glitchy. I've never ever gotten the Microsoft one to work. The Apple one mostly works, except sometimes someone will have a device that just doesn't work no matter what we try. And even then there's such a long delay before the target device appears if it isn't your device. The Android one has similar issues. Instead, these days I just use syncthing across Windows, Linux, Mac, Android, and iOS. Just drop it into the folder, and its synced everywhere you want. The on

About Time

[zenlessyank]

Having to use a SIM card to move files is so lame with a USB port on it.

Re: About Time

[FudRucker]

I agree, USB or use an ftp client/server over a LAN is more secure, and i think google is being friendly & helpful so they can get their hooks in to snoop on peopleâ(TM)s files or vendor lock in

Re:

[Fly Swatter]

Considering how bad MTP transfers are. Are you sure about that?

Re:

[Duds]

Having to use bluetooth AND Wifi likewise.

Re:

[AmiMoJo]

Presumably you mean SD card.

You can use USB on most phones to transfer to a computer (Windows has built in support), and you can plug a flash drive into the phone directly.

Personally I found the simplest option to be to run an FTP server app on the phone.

Re:

[zenlessyank]

Yes. SD card. Guess I was having a senior moment.

Re:

[Gilgaron]

Usually USB works fine; likewise if you have something like Synology Drive on the phone or Google Drive installed on the PC you'll already have a local mirror of all the files on the phone before you decide you want to try to transfer one.

uh....

[Gibgezr]

why is this "everyone" even an option? I can see maybe for some god-forsaken commercial installation (CONNECT TO DOWNLOAD YOUR MACDONALDS COUPON NOW!!!), but...why is it there at all for personal use? That is going to get soooooo exploited, right?

Re:

[sit1963nz]

I use it all the time, I use my iPhone to take photos of stuff and then drop share them onto my computer(s)

Re: uh....

[sixminuteabs]

The issue is the permission level. I hope to god you do not require that setting to save to your laptop that would be hilarious

Re:

[Gibgezr]

You use the "everyone" option all the time? WHY?
Why aren't you just allowing YOUR phone to talk to YOUR computers, and not EVERYONE to access your file systems?

Re:

[sir1963nz]

99% of the time its set to me only, occasionally I use everyone when needed.

Old proven methods are bettef

[FudRucker]

I still use an ftp client/server to share files on a LAN

Re:

[MobyDisk]

Seconded. Although I use SMB normally since that is already supported by my NAS. The only limitation is that I have to install an app on my phone to support it. I don't understand why we make new protocols for things that already have protocols. SMB already has discovery. SSDP and UPnP are supported by every printer and camera you buy off the shelf and are built-in to the OS. FTP and SFTP have been standards for 30 years. We don't need anything new, just put the standard suite of internet protocols o

Welcome To The Party

[WankerWeasel]

So they're basically making their own version of AirDrop that iOS and macOS have had since 2011. I use it daily and it's great. Works super simple and it far more convent than other methods. Plus it's built-in so it's available in pretty much every single app. Only issue I've run into is the occasional app that sends things a bit funny. The official Reddit app will occasionally send a text file with the URL to my downloads folder, rather than automatically opening the URL in my browser on my laptop when I s

In my Apt complex everyone uses wifi

[Hey_Jude_Jesus]

it will talk a lot less time to transfer files using USB.

I have 10% success rate using AirDrop

[ljw1004]

AirDrop sounds similar, and sounds like it should work, but I have only a 10% success rate. Most of the time my phone hangs indefinitely on "sending..." but never succeeds.

Is it because my macbook is on 5Ghz and my phone on 2.4Ghz? Or because my macbook is plugged also into ethernet? Or because my macbook is using Cisco VPN? Or because... who knows. Apple error messages are inscrutable, and the online help pages are useless. "Try rebooting. If that doesn't work try signing all your devices out of your Apple Account then signing in again. If that doesn't work consider killing yourself and see if your reincarnated version will connect."

Re:

[Bert64]

Probably the VPN...
If you look closely (ie ifconfig), you will see your apple devices have interface called awdl0 with a link-local IPv6 address and it is this which is used to transfer the files.
If you tcpdump this interface you will see the file transfer traffic (it is encrypted but you can see the packets), you can also ping the multicast address on this interface and get responses from other nearby nodes although you won't get much else out of them.

If your cisco vpn is set to block local network traffic

Re:

[AmiMoJo]

My understanding of AirDrop is that it creates a temporary WiFi connection directly between devices, rather than using your WiFi network. Bluetooth is used to set up the WiFi connection.

If it's failing then it could be an issue with either the Bluetooth or WiFi connection. Interference is a possibility, no idea how the devices choose a WiFi channel but if they don't pick a clear one they are going to have problems.

I'd say just plug in a USB cable, but Apple devices don't really support that.

Try PairDrop

[jomcty]

Nice to have Nearby Share option on the PC, but it is very slow currently. I wonder if it is going over Bluetooth.

PairDrop -- https://pairdrop.net/ -- works well, is cross-platform, and has an Android app.

Snapdrop -- https://snapdrop.net/ -- is another great option.

Re:

[Shane A Leslie]

Literally trying pairdrop right now. If it works then I don't need to order myself a Bluetooth dongle so that I can drag and drop stuff to my phone without having to get out of my goddamn chair to plug it in. Thank you for contributing to my obesity. Pretend that I did Insert emojis that indicate all sorts of humorous sarcasm using my voice to text extension because I'm even too lazy to use a keyboard. Hahaha LOL haha LOL haha s*** I shouldn't have drank that entire bottle of wine when I got home from work.

Re:

[jomcty]

<quote>Snapdrop -- https://snapdrop.net/ -- is another great option.</quote>

The other solution I meant to suggest is Send -- https://send.vis.ee/ -- which is a fork of the now defunct Firefox Send.

KDE Connect

[Anonymouse Cowtard]

Does not require Bluetooth and includes file sharing both ways as well as a shared clipboard and more.

Anyone remember bu.mp?

[XNormal]

It was really convenient to use but suffered an untimely death. Acquired by Google.