Google has updated Android’s Quick Share feature to support Apple’s AirDrop, which allows users of Apple devices to share files directly using a local peer-to-peer Wi-Fi connection. Apple devices with AirDrop enabled and set to “everyone for 10 minutes” mode will show up in the Quick Share device list just like another Android phone would, and Android devices that support this new Quick Share version will also show up in the AirDrop menu.
But earlier this year, the EU adopted new specification decisions that required Apple to adopt new interoperable wireless standards, starting in this year’s iOS 26 release. If you don’t want to wade through the regulatory documents, this post from cloud services company Ditto is a useful timeline of events written in plainer language.
The rulings required Apple to add support for the Wi-Fi Alliance’s Wi-Fi Aware standard instead of AWDL—and in fact required Apple to deprecate AWDL and to help add its features to Wi-Fi Aware so that any device could benefit from them. This wasn’t quite the imposition it sounded like; Wi-Fi Aware was developed with Apple’s help, based on the work Apple had already done on AWDL. But it meant that Apple could no longer keep other companies out of AirDrop by using a functionally similar but private communication protocol instead of the standardized version.
Andrew Cunningham
I didn’t pay much attention to the initial reports about this – AirDrop always struck me as the type of feature Apple fanboys incessantly fawn about while everyone else shrugs off because there are many alternatives to share files between people that aren’t confined to Apple devices – but this angle of reporting is certainly intriguing. This would not be the first time Apple was compelled by regulation to relax its tight control on its devices and users, the most famous being the forced adoption of USB-C on iPhones.
What I find quite interesting is that none of the other tech sites reported on this regulatory aspect of the feature – another sign, if you needed one, that tech journalism usually amounts to nothing more than glorified press releases for tech companies. Although, with the Trump administration vilifying EU regulations as this supposedly huge threat to US business interests, perhaps it’s better not to draw too much attention to their positive outcomes for consumers.
Apple’s silence on the matter is also conspicuous, after aggressively targeting any attempt to pierce their walled garden in the past. This makes the regulatory explanation more compelling: as Apple probably already accepted this degree of interoperability, they can’t put up guardrails against Google doing this. Another possibility would be that it’s a small price to pay (or part of the larger price to pay) for integrating Google Gemini into Siri and the iPhone, a deal in progress that has been reported last month as well. Google denied that this feature was built in collaboration with Apple, but that doesn't mean they didn’t have tacit approval…
Post a Comment