In August this year, Google finally released a unified file sharing service for Android phones dubbed Nearby Share. If you’ve already been using Nearby Share a lot lately, an upcoming update to the service is about to make your experience even better with P2P app sharing.
According to Google’s blog post, you will soon be able to send and receive apps from Google Play Store, thanks to Nearby Share.
Once available, you can simply visit Google Play Store and head to the “Share Apps” menu in the “My Apps & Games” section. From the Share Apps menu, you can choose the apps you would like to share with the recipient. After choosing them, you can tap on the nearby device’s icon and share the apps with your friend. The receiver will now have to accept the incoming app share request.
With Nearby Share, you can send and receive apps without Wi-Fi or mobile network connectivity. The best part is that you no longer have to worry if the recipient has the file transfer app you use since Google has enabled Nearby Share on Android phones running Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) and later. As the company has not specified any requirements for app sharing, it is safe to assume that app sharing via Play Store will work with all devices that currently support Nearby Share.
Unfortunately, Nearby Share-based app sharing is not available on Android just yet. However, Google promises to add the capability to Google Play Store in the coming weeks. We will keep an eye out and update you when the rollout begins, so stay tuned for more information.
