AirDrop now compatible with Google Pixel 10 phones
Today, we’re introducing a way for Quick Share to work with AirDrop. This makes file transfer easier between iPhones and Android devices, and starts rolling out today to the Pixel 10 family.
It’s currently only available on the Pixel 10 family, though Google says it is “expanding it to more Android devices.” It also requires you to set your AirDrop visibility to “Everyone for 10 minutes”, as it presumably has no visibility into your contacts.
Interestingly, there’s no indication that Apple did anything to make this possible. The provisions of the Digital Markets Act in the European Union do currently stipulate that Apple will have to allow for competing standards to AirDrop (which might very well include the Android Quick Share feature that Google is leveraging here) as well as bring interoperability to the feature. Of course, the company has made its disagreement with the DMA known, so it’s unclear if this development has any bearing on that. Apple hadn’t responded to my request for comment at the time this article was published.
While this feature is hardly seamless, it is nice to have a cross-platform file transfer system. It’s unclear whether or not Apple will (or can) alter AirDrop to block this. The most recent beta versions of Apple’s platforms do contain a new AirDrop feature for sharing temporarily with people via one-time codes but it’s unknown whether or even if that will interact with Google’s feature.