Google Partners With Samsung, Rebrands Nearby Share to Quick Share

In Short

Google has rebranded Nearby Share to Quick Share in partnership with Samsung.
The Quick Share SDK will now host Nearby Share SDK, thereby adding support for Nearby Share support to the Quick Share protocol.
The rollout of the new Quick Share should begin in a few months.

A few weeks ago, there were reports of Google potentially partnering with Samsung to merge Nearby Share and Quick Share, and rebranding the former to the latter. It turns out all the reports were true as Google has officially announced the merger, and Nearby Share is now called Quick Share. Here’s everything you need to know about Quick Share on Android.

For those unaware, Nearby Share has been a part of Android for almost four years now, and it’s used to transfer files from one Android device to another over Wi-Fi, i.e. if they both support the protocol. Nearby Share is available on all relatively modern devices, including Samsung phones. However, Samsung phones also support “Quick Share,” which was Samsung’s own implementation of file sharing that only works with other Samsung devices.

Merging Nearby Share and Quick Share would allow Android users, regardless of their device make, to share files without any hiccups, making the experience more cohesive.

According to Mishaal Rahman, Samsung’s Quick Share SDK now runs Google’s Nearby Share SDK together to allow all Nearby Share-enabled devices to appear in the Quick Share menu.

The rumors were true: Google is rebranding Nearby Share to “Quick Share” to better align with Samsung’s P2P file sharing service of the same name. Google collaborated with Samsung to integrate the experiences and bring “the best of [their] sharing solutions together into a… pic.twitter.com/izfW1ZDF6m— Mishaal Rahman (@MishaalRahman) January 9, 2024

Among other things, Google also announced Fast Pair support for Chromecasts with Google TV and is reportedly also working on a “Cast to Devices Nearby” feature, showcased at CES 2023. It would allow you to seamlessly transfer media playback from Pixel Pro phones to the Pixel Tablet when the latter is docked.

It looks like Google’s going big on ecosystem features, something that Android has lacked for years. Google also added they’re working with PC manufacturers such as LG to bundle their Quick Share Windows client into their devices.

What are your thoughts about the Nearby Share rebrand? Do let us know in the comments section below.

Abubakar Mohammed

Abubakar covers Tech on Beebom. Hailing from a Computer Science background, the start of his love for Tech dates back to 2011, when he was gifted a Dell Inspiron 5100. When he's not covering Tech, you'll find him binge-watching anime and Tech content on YouTube, hunting heads in competitive FPS games, or exploring Teyvat in Genshin Impact. He has previously worked for leading publications such as Fossbytes, How-To Geek, and Android Police.

Comments 0