smartfilming

One of the things I really like about Apple’s ecosystem is the cross-platform integration of a functionality called “AirDrop” which lets you fast, wirelessly and offline transfer (big) files between Apple devices that are close to each other, be it Mac, iPhone or iPad. This is extremely helpful when transferring video files which as we all know can get pretty heavy these days, particularly if one records in UHD/4K. Shooting on an iPhone and then transferring the footage to an iPad for editing with a bigger screen is a pretty popular workflow. Android on the other hand had something called “WiFi Direct” relatively early in its career but it never got picked up consistently by phone makers which preferred to introduce their own proprietary file transfer solutions which of course only worked with phones/devices of the same brand. So for quite a while I resorted to third party apps like Feem and Send Anywhere that also worked cross-platform between mobile and desktop – Android, iOS, macOS and Windows. As for Android-to-Android device wireless file transfers, Google introduced an app called “Files Go” (today Files by Google) in late 2017 which was primarily a file explorer but also had the ability to share files offline to another device by creating a WiFi Direct connection. While the app ventured somewhat close towards becoming a system resource in that it came pre-installed on many new phones as part of Google’s app portfolio, it was hard to deny that Apple’s AirDrop was more easily accessible.

Google is finally giving Android proper wireless file sharing

Enter Nearby Share: Recently, Google started rolling out a new Android feature called “Nearby Share” that should soon be available on all Android devices that sport at least Android 6 Marshmallow (Android 6 was released in 2015, we’re now at Android 11). Nearby Share allows for fast wireless sharing of files to other nearby Android devices, even offline (that is without using an internet connection). The feature is distributed automatically via the Google Play Services app (which comes pre-installed on basically all Android devices) so you don’t need to download anything. Nearby Share is integrated into the Android system, it’s not a separate app. As of now, roughly 90% of my own Android devices (and believe me I own quite a few!) have already received Nearby Share.

Does your Android device have it already?

And here’s how to check if you have it: On your Android device, go into “Settings”, then select “Google” and then “Device connections”. You should now find an option called “Nearby Share” (not be confused with something called “Nearby”!). To use it, you need to activate it by switching the slider to “On”. If you have not yet activated Location and Bluetooth it will ask you to do so because that’s how it will look for and find other devices. There are also a couple of options: You can customize the name of your device (under which name it will be visible for other devices). You can select between three different  “Device visibility” settings (All contacts, Some contacts, Hidden) and you can choose by which means the transfers are achieved (Data, Wi-Fi only or Without Internet). Regarding the last bit, I personally always switch to “Without Internet” so it uses the fast peer-to-peer WiFi Direct protocol and doesn’t consume any mobile data when not connected to regular WiFi. Before actually initiating the first file transfers I suggest one more thing (it’s not really necessary though): You can add Nearby Share to your Quick Settings. Quick Settings is the bunch of settings directly accessible when pulling down the notification shade from the top of the screen. Now it’s not exactly the same on all Android devices, but there’s usually a small pen icon in the Quick Settings which allows to add or remove certain items to/from the Quick Settings. Scroll down do find two horizontal lines that are intertwined (Nearby Share) and drag the icon to the main Quick Settings. The reason I recommend doing this is because you can easily make your device visible to others for Nearby Share or turn the feature on when it’s off. Long pressing the Nearby Share icon will also take you straight into the settings for Nearby Share without clicking and scrolling through the general settings.

How does it work?

So how does a file transfer via Nearby Share actually work? Keep in mind that Nearby Share is for sharing to physically nearby devices, not to someone on the other side of the globe! 

1. Assuming you want to transfer one or multiple video files, locate the file(s) in your phone’s Gallery app (the native Gallery app or Google Photos). Select the one(s) you need and then tap the share button. 
2. Now look for the Nearby Share icon on the share sheet and select it. If you are using Google Photos as your Gallery app it will give you three options, select “Actual size”. Your sharing device will immediately start looking for devices that are close by and have Nearby Share activated (it usually doesn’t have to be opened).
3. On your receiving device you will get a prompt “Device nearby is sharing. Tap to become visible” (If it doesn’t, open Nearby Share from the Quick Settings on the receiving device). After doing so, your receiving device will pop up on the radar of the sharing device.
4. Select your receiving device and tap “Accept” on the receiving device itself. The file transfer will start and you are done. Your transferred files will be available in the “Download” folder of your Gallery app. 

Is it any good?

So far, Nearby Share worked really well for me and it makes transferring big files to other Android devices so much easier. It’s a bit of shame that unlike with phones, there aren’t too many powerful Android tablets out there to make a phone-tablet workflow a tempting proposition. It’s basically only Samsung that offers a tablet with flagship specs for video editing these days. The biggest shortcoming for me though is that it’s currently only available between Android devices and doesn’t build a bridge to desktop/laptop computers or iOS. This isn’t exactly a surprise. While Apple produces both mobile and desktop/laptop hardware with their own software, Google doesn’t really. “Laptops” is debatable because Google has Chromebook devices like the Pixelbook / Pixelbook Go and Nearby Share is supposed to roll out for their ChromeOS as well but I would assume most of us still associate “laptop” with devices running Windows, Linux or macOS. There’s actual hope though: Google is apparently planning to make Nearby Share part of its Chrome Browser and thereby opening up a whole new sharing world with the option to share to iOS, macOS, Windows and Linux. And even in its current state, Nearby Share can be very helpful in many situations, for instance when having multiple phoneographers in the field and you want to collect the footage on one device afterwards for editing or if as a journalist you talk to a person that filmed something interesting on his/her phone and wants to share it with you.

Does your Android device have Nearby Share? Have you used it already? How does it work for you? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on the Twitter @smartfilming. You might also want to have a look at Google’s own blog post about Nearby Share.  If you like this blog, please consider subscribing to my Telegram Newsletter. You will be notified about new blog posts and receive the monthly Ten Takeaways Telegram newsletter including 10 interesting things that happened in the world of mobile video in the last four weeks.

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