Google’s Nearby Share feature, already available on Android phones and Chromebooks, has now been extended to Windows PC in a beta version. The feature, which works like Apple’s Airdrop, will sync Android phones and other Android devices to Windows PCs to make file sharing seamless and quick. The app is available to download from Google’s Android website. It is compatible with PCs running the 64-bit version of Windows 10 and up.
To use the Nearby Share feature, both the devices sharing and receiving the file need to be logged into with one Google account to automatically accept file transfers.
“Nearby Share Beta works with your Windows PC whether the app is open on the desktop or running in the background. Sending a photo, video or document from your PC to a nearby Android device is as easy as dragging and dropping it into the app, or by selecting ‘Send with Nearby Share’ in the right-click menu. Just select which Android devices you want to share with from the list that pops up,” said an official blog posted by Google.
Google first introduced the Nearby Share feature in 2020. Earlier, the feature allowed Android users to share files and links with their contacts (on an Android device) only. With a later update, users were allowed to simultaneously transfer files with multiple Android users around them.
It is only now that the beta version of the feature is being launched for Windows PCs.
For now, this Beta is rolling out only in select regions including Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Donbass, Estonia, Finland, France, and Germany among others.
India is not on the list for now.
Google, meanwhile, has said that it will continue to expand official support to share content with other Google ecosystem devices in the times to come.