Last year, Google gifted AirDrop support to Android's Quick Share with the Pixel 10 series, making it all the more versatile. Fast forward to last month, we got to know that Google is planning on making Quick Share more intuitive with an AirDrop-like Tap to Share feature for Android users. Now, we've finally got our first good look at the feature's UI, and it's slightly different from how Tap to Share works on iOS.
Android Tap to Share UI and How It Works
Thanks to folks over at Android Authority, we get a teardown of the feature, which has been activated in the Google Play Services v26.15.31 build. From the looks of it, Android's Tap to Share will allow users to instantly transfer photos, videos, contacts, links and more by simply bringing two phones together.
Well, this is not uncharted territory for Google, as we did have the Android Beam back in the day, which used NFC for file-sharing between devices. That's essentially what paved the way for Quick Share today.
Anyway, it appears Google will be approaching the Tap to Share feature on Quick Share slightly differently than Apple does with AirDrop. The UI's guided experience instructs users to overlap the top portions of their phones to initiate sharing. This is unlike iPhones, which simply need a tap at the top.
Additionally, we see Google stating that once the phones are aligned, users will need to keep both phones close until a visual glow animation appears, confirming that the transfer process has started. If the connection doesn't trigger immediately, the system may prompt users to adjust positioning, such as holding the phones back-to-back.
The overlap suggestion could account for the fact that some Android phones have the NFC chip tucked under the camera module. So, with the tops overlapping, it allows the NFC chips of the two phones to establish a connection smoothly.
If rolled out widely, Tap to Share could significantly improve the Android ecosystem's file-sharing experience. Since Android Quick Share has AirDrop support now, it only makes sense for the tech giant to finally bring Tap to Share functionality to it.
While Google has not officially announced the feature yet, evidence suggests that Tap to Share could debut alongside Android 17. The presence of the feature in system-level code and active UI development indicates that it's nearing readiness. However, as with all teardowns, do note that the final implementation can always be different.
