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How many of you have ever wished you could share files and your favourite snaps with your friends who have an iPhone (or any Apple device), or vice versa, without being gatekept by AirDrop? Probably everyone who has ever been in a mixed-friend group. Well, Google has done something that might genuinely make you say "wait... WHAT?" They've basically crashed Apple's exclusive party. Starting with Pixel 10 phones, you can now share files directly with iPhones, iPads, and Macs using AirDrop and Quick Share. And no, this isn't some clunky workaround where everyone needs to download a random app. This is the real deal. Now, let's dive into this article for more details.
Android to iPhone file sharing Overview
No, Google didn't ask for Permission
The little spicy thing about this whole development is the fact that Apple had absolutely nothing to do with this. Google didn't partner with them, didn't get their blessing, and apparently didn't even give them much of a heads-up before announcing it to the world on November 20th. They just built their own way in. A Google spokesperson confirmed they "accomplished this through their own implementation." Basically, Google saw a locked door and decided to pick the lock rather than wait for someone to hand over a key.
The feature is built using Rust, which is known for being rock-solid on security, and Google brought in a third-party security firm to make sure everything was airtight before rolling it out.
So how does this actually work?
If you're sending from Pixel to iPhone
Your iPhone-owning friend just needs to flip their AirDrop settings to "Everyone for 10 minutes" (a setting Apple already has built in). Once they do that, their iPhone just shows up in your Quick Share menu like any other device. Tap it, send your stuff, and they accept it on their end like they would any normal AirDrop. Done.
If you're sending from an iPhone to a Pixel
It works the other way too. The Pixel owner sets their Quick Share to "Everyone for 10 minutes" or enters receive mode, and boom, the iPhone can see the Android phone and send files over. The transfer happens almost instantly, peer-to-peer. No cloud servers in the middle, nothing gets logged anywhere.
Comptability
This is exclusively a Pixel 10 thing right now. So if you've got a Pixel 10, Pixel 10 Pro, Pixel 10 Pro XL, or Pixel 10 Pro Fold, you're in. Everyone else on Android is stuck waiting. On the Apple side, it works with pretty much everything: iPhones, iPads, and Macs.
Re: Security
Google clearly anticipated that people would have questions about security, so they went pretty hard on the safeguards. The whole thing uses direct peer-to-peer connections, so your files never touch any external server. Both devices show each other's names before you accept anything, so you know who you're actually getting files from. And you have to actively consent to receive such that nothing gets pushed to you without permission. They also had an independent security firm run penetration tests on the whole system, and apparently, it came back with a clean bill of health.
Right now, there's one limitation that's worth mentioning. It only works when AirDrop is set to "Everyone for 10 minutes." That means your iPhone friend has to briefly open up their device to receive files from anyone nearby, not just you specifically. It's not a huge deal since the window closes automatically, but it's not quite as seamless as sharing between two Apple devices, where you can set it to "Contacts Only." Google has said they'd love to work with Apple to enable that Contacts Only mode in the future.
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What happens next?
Okay, this is like the biggest question everyone is asking, and perhaps, the 'Apple question' has provoked a bigger debate than the product itself. So, will Apple try to shut this down? They haven't commented publicly yet, and it's unclear whether they're okay with Google essentially hacking their way into AirDrop or if they're quietly plotting a software update that breaks the whole thing.
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Google says it wants to expand this feature beyond just Pixel phones eventually, though there's no timeline on when that might happen. They've positioned this as part of their broader push for cross-platform compatibility, the same thinking that brought RCS messaging to iPhones and enabled those unknown tracker alerts that work across both platforms.
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