Google's Nearby Share is now officially available on Windows
Google has announced the full launch of its Nearby Share app on Windows, following a beta period that started back in March. Nearby Share has been a built-in feature on Android for many years, but until recently, you could only use it between Android phones. Essentially, it allows users to transfer files between devices over a local wireless connection, removing the need for an internet connection while delivering faster speeds than a standard Bluetooth transfer could achieve.
Along with the full launch of the app, Nearby Share on Windows is also getting a couple of new improvements today. First, when an image is shared via Nearby Share, you’ll now see a preview of that image when you receive the sharing notification, letting you make sure you’re getting the right file. Additionally, during the transfer itself, the app now shows an estimate for how long it will take for the file to finish transferring, taking some of the guesswork out of the experience.
Another major announcement is that Google is working with certain Windows OEMs to build the Nearby Share app into select Windows PCs, such as the recently-launched HP Dragonfly Pro (which, coincidentally, is also available in a Chromebook version). This should make the experience even more universally available, and it could become one of the most popular ways to share files between devices. According to Google, the beta version of the app already has more than 1.7 million downloads.
Interestingly, this is something of a blow against Microsoft’s own nearby sharing functionality, which is built into Windows 11 (and 10). While it’s been around for a few years, Microsoft has never really expanded it beyond Windows, making it essentially useless if you want to transfer files from your phone. Third-party apps on Android can offer this kind of functionality, but Microsoft never took up that job, and Google has now beat it to the punch. Partnering with Windows OEMs means it’s even less likely users will be touching Windows‘ nearby sharing feature, assuming others join HP in installing Google’s app by default.
If you’re interested in trying Nearby Share, you can download the app from the official website. On Android, the feature is baked in natively on most recent versions of the OS, so you don’t need to do anything.
