The latest version of Google Play Services gives us a preview of the Self Share feature which should be coming to Android devices soon.
It was there right before our eyes, but sometimes it’s the simplest changes that are the hardest to make. Nearby Share, the Android equivalent of Apple’s AirDrop technology, should soon fix a problem that has previously prevented its users from sending files between their devices without having to constantly approve them, using a new feature named Self Share.
A feature already glimpsed
We had already spotted this new feature at the start of the year when it was added to Chromium’s gerrit (collaborative code review tool). But according to the Twitter account of Mishaal RahmanAndroid specialist and notably ex-editor-in-chief of XDA, Google is said to be testing this new addition which will now allow you to skip the approval stage when you share files between your own devices if these are signed in to the same Google Account.
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
This feature, which uses Bluetooth and Wi-Fi to send files between devices, has always required the recipient’s approval to allow file sharing to avoid any risk of potential malicious attacks.
This novelty should therefore make file sharing much easier and more fluid on Android, as it is today on iOS, Apple already offering to share files between several devices without requesting approval when they are connected to the same iCloud account.
An upcoming deployment
This feature is present in the latest version of Google Play Services, but does not appear to have been rolled out yet. We also don’t know at this time when Google plans to launch this feature.
Google did not stop there for its alternative to AirDrop since the firm now allows its users to share applications from the Google Play Store with other users in order to benefit from faster downloading, but also from avoid consuming your data envelope. All you have to do is go to Files, then to the “Application” tab to be able to share and send an .apk file of the desired application.
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