Nearby Share is Google’s answer to Apple’s AirDrop. It’s a convenient way for Android and Chrome OS users to share files with other devices. The feature uses Bluetooth and Wi-Fi to send photos, video, links, and other files between Android and Chromebooks, and it works both offline and online. Currently, when you share a file with someone using Nearby Share, the other person has to approve the share request. But soon, you’ll be able to quickly share files without needing to approve the share.
The whole point of giving you the option to Accept or Deny a Nearby Share is to protect you from potential malicious attacks, as attackers could easily push malicious files or exploits to your device without you doing anything. However, when you’re sharing files between your own devices, this approval step feels redundant and slows down the sharing experience. But soon, Nearby Share will let you quickly share files (via Mishaal Rahman) across your devices signed into the same Google accounts without having to approve the share using the new “Self Share” mode.
Nearby Share’s “self-share” mode will let you quickly share files to other devices signed into the same Google account without needing to approve the share.
This hasn’t rolled out yet from what I can see, but it’s present in the latest version of Google Play Services. pic.twitter.com/wdtxoiE2oz
— Mishaal Rahman (@MishaalRahman) April 19, 2022
Under “Device visibility” in Nearby Sharing settings, users will see a new option called “Your devices.” When selected, users will be able to seamlessly share files between their devices (signed into the same Google accounts). Files will be downloaded automatically on the other device — you won’t have to approve the transfer. Nearby Share’s new Self Share mode is present in the latest version of Google Play Services, but it’s not accessible to the public yet. We don’t know when Google plans to flip the switch on the feature. We’ll keep an eye out and let you know when it starts rolling out to users.
We first spotted Nearby Share’s Self Share feature earlier in January. At the time, the merged commits on the Chromium Gerrit revealed how the feature would enable seamless file sharing between Chrome OS and Android devices logged into the same Google account.
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