Google just went rogue with AirDrop, and I’m loving it!

Thank you, thank you so very much, Google! If there was one feature I was truly manifesting for my Pixel 10 Pro (or any Android phone for that matter), it was proper AirDrop support between iPhones, Android devices, Macs, and iPads. As someone who works for an Android website yet also nibbles on the forbidden fruit, I have shed actual tears trying to move files between my Android phone, MacBook, and iPhone. I’m WhatsApping images to myself like it’s 2015, emailing documents like it’s 2007, digging out cables like I’m on a treasure hunt, all for something as basic as transferring files.

If it were up to Apple, I and many others like me might never have seen this day. But thanks to Google going delightfully rogue and doing one of the coolest things for Android this year, my hacky file-transfer misery might finally be behind me… at least until Apple decides this tiny moment of cross-platform joy has gone on long enough.

Google has won me over completely. Not only is the move to make Android and Apple devices play nice with each other for AirDrop-style file transfers a massive win for users on both sides of the ecosystem wall, but doing it without any help whatsoever from Apple is the kind of gutsy throwback energy I was missing from Google’s “don’t be evil” era. It smells oh so delightfully of consumer-choice freedom.

What makes the whole thing even better is that Google didn’t sneak this in through some hacky loophole or backdoor. No, the company marched up to the wall Apple built around AirDrop, found the door that says “Everyone for 10 minutes,” and just opened it. The result is a totally legit, fully supported solution that allows Android and iOS devices to beam files to each other directly, wirelessly, and securely.

Google’s security blog post reads like a love letter to interoperability and cross-platform file transfer, with a subtle dig at Apple’s walled-garden mentality. “Technology should bring people closer together, not create walls,” Google wrote. I’m reading this as: “We’re tired of waiting for Apple to realize that mixed-device households actually exist in reality.” Because I am proof that people can love Android phones and iPhones at the same time. It’s not a crime.

Google built this entire AirDrop bridge on its own terms, without Apple’s help. The company told Android Authority in a statement that it accomplished this through its own implementation, wrapped it in layers of security, and tested it with independent experts. And it works seamlessly. It’s a clean, peer-to-peer, device-to-device handshake that doesn’t break any rules and still gives users what they want.

This is Google going above and beyond, the Google I sorely missed. Not only did they build the bridge without telling anyone, but they also ensured it was solid. Apple will surely have a hard time convincing anyone that this isn’t exactly what consumers deserve or need.

Google openly says this is “just the first step,” and that it “welcomes the opportunity” for Apple to collaborate on supporting “Contacts Only” AirDrop mode someday. It’s Google’s polite way of saying it has done its part and that the onus is now on Apple to make file transfer between Android and Apple devices painless. Will Apple oblige? That’s a whole different story.

If all of this feels like deja vu, you’re not imagining it. We’ve been here before. First with unknown tracker alerts to a certain extent, then with USB-C, followed by RCS, and now, somehow, with AirDrop. Every time Apple insists on its my-way-or-highway approach, the universe, and usually, Google and the European Union, step in.

The European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) has been quietly reshaping the smartphone industry over the past few years. It’s the same regulation that pushed Apple towards a more open App Store, more flexible browser rules, and more interoperable messaging and connectivity. So it’s impossible to talk about this new Quick Share-AirDrop crossover without acknowledging the EU’s role in it all.

And that’s what makes the timing so interesting. Google didn’t say that the EU forced its hand to make Quick Share and AirDrop play nice with each other. In fact, Google doesn’t even mention the DMA at all in its announcement.

Still, when you zoom out and see the bigger picture, you’ll understand why this is only happening now. The DMA has been steadily pulling down Apple’s guarded ecosystems in consumer interest, and file sharing was always going to be next on the list. We don’t know if Google was nudged by the same forces, but this moment in tech history is very much part of a larger shift that was already underway.

Apple’s beloved proprietary tech that powers AirDrop — AWDL (Apple Wireless Direct Link) — soon won’t be the only protocol used by iPhones for nearby sharing. Under the DMA, Apple is being forced to adopt the industry-standard Wi-Fi Aware protocol instead of, or on top of, AWDL. It could keep AirDrop proprietary, which is our understanding of what happened, but it has to support the more universal protocol, too.

The EU’s interoperability roadmap states that Apple must support Wi-Fi Aware 4.0 by iOS 19 (now called iOS 26) and Wi-Fi Aware 5.0 shortly after. In fact, Wi-Fi Aware was also developed with significant input from Apple and is actually built on the idea of AWDL, even if the two are not interoperable. Since Apple can’t make Wi-Fi Aware exclusive, iPhones and Android devices will speak the same language for proximity-based file sharing sooner or later.

That means that, Quick Share or not, the AWDL protocol that had kept AirDrop exclusive so far may not matter soon enough because other solutions using Wi-Fi Aware would spring in its place. It looks like Google just seized the moment while Apple was being pushed toward cross-platform file transfer by the EU anyway and decided to slip into AirDrop’s backdoor without asking nicely.

We don’t know how Cupertino will react to Google’s coup. The Apple camp is eerily and uncomfortably silent right now. But I, and many people like me, couldn’t be happier that Android phones have started sharing sweet nothings with iPhones and vice versa. Google has certainly jumped ahead of the curve. It’s now Apple’s turn to extend a hand in good faith and to do what’s right for its users.