After rolling out AirDrop support for the Quick Share app, it looks like Google is now working on borrowing yet another sharing feature from Apple.
For reference, iPhone users can tap their devices against one another to transmit contact information, images, videos, and more. Google is building an equivalent, and it is finally starting to take shape.
Google takes another cue from AirDrop to improve Quick Share
Tap to share contacts, files, and more
As of version 26.15.31 of Google Play Services, the updated app code, manually enabled by the folks over at Android Authority, points at a polished UI for the feature.
The UI screenshot clarifies a lot of details, including the fact that Tap to Share will not be limited to a single type of file sharing. Users will be able to transmit contact information, photos, videos, links, location, and more.
On iOS, you normally bump the top edges of your devices together. Google is taking a little different approach. Google explicitly directs users to overlap the tops of both phones until the screens “glow.”
Additionally, while not mentioned in the screenshot above, overlapping phones might not always work. In such cases, users will be able to hold their phones back-to-back to trigger the feature.
Here’s what the feature’s supposed “glow” will look like:
It’s worth noting that the feature still isn’t user-facing, which means you can not activate it without tinkering with Play Services’ code. It’s not entirely clear when Google will officially announce the feature, though Android 17’s stable release, expected sometime around June, could serve as the perfect stage for the feature’s grand debut.
