Its Smartphones Finally Share With AirDrop

After Google and Samsung, Xiaomi announces that its smartphones can now send files and photos to an iPhone via AirDrop. Sharing between Android and Apple is becoming almost commonplace. One question remains: for how long?

Anyone who has ever tried to send a simple photo from an Android smartphone to a loved one’s iPhone knows the hassle: no AirDrop, nor anything equivalent, just the detour via messaging or an extended link. This border has been crumbling for several months, and Xiaomi has just added its stone. On June 1, the manufacturer’s HyperOS account announced that its sharing system, Quick Share, knows now communicate with AirDrop to send files and photos to Apple devices.

AirDrop is now available on Quick Share.
Fast, seamless sharing of photos and files to Apple devices.#AirDropSupport #XiaomiHyperOS3 #Xiaomi pic.twitter.com/vqJ0w0QUbp

— Xiaomi HyperOS (@XiaomiHyperOS_) June 1, 2026

Quick Share to AirDrop: Xiaomi joins Google and Samsung

Concretely, Xiaomi promises rapid sharing of photos and files to Apple devices, directly from Quick Share. The manufacturer remains unclear on the models concerned (and the function probably requires an update of HyperOS, which may take time before reaching all devices). But the gesture counts as much as the technical detail: Xiaomi becomes the last in an already long series.

Because the credit for the first step goes to Google. In November 2025, the Mountain View firm opened Quick Share to AirDrop on its Pixel 10, before extending compatibility to the Pixel 9 in early 2026. Samsung followed with its Galaxy S26, presented in February. And the line doesn’t stop there: the Nothing brand and the founder Qualcomm have confirmed working on the subject, which suggests a generalization to a good number of Android smartphones. What was the exception reserved for Pixels is gradually becoming the norm.

For the record, the gap between the two worlds had lasted for years. AirDrop reigned supreme on the Apple side, whileAndroid stacked in-house solutions (remember the QR code patch to scan, which required going through Google servers) without ever offering the equivalent. The current shift therefore has all the makings of a small event for homes where the two brands coexist.

Why Apple can break this bridge whenever it wants

That’s the good news. The reverse is in a few words: Apple neither requested nor validated anything. To build this bridge, Google reverse-engineered Apple’s in-house protocol (called AWDL, for those curious), without any cooperation from Cupertino. In other words, the link works as long as Apple tolerates it. A simple change in an iOS update would be enough to bring it down, and the Apple firm has even committed, on the Android side, to continuously monitoring developments in the system to keep the gateway afloat. It’s a bit like a door pierced by a neighbor in a common wall: very practical, but at the mercy of the owner who can close it overnight.

On the Apple side, you have to set AirDrop to “Everyone for 10 minutes” for the Android device to notice it, which is not a permanent setting. And the mechanics are not perfect: on compatible Galaxy devices, sending a photo to an iPhone erases its geolocation data in the process, a defect that Samsung has recognized and said it is correcting.

In the background is the Digital Markets Act. Brussels ordered Apple, by a decision in March 2025, to open several of its in-house functions, including AirDrop, to competition, by forcing it to treat third-party devices as its own. Apple appealed, ruling that it was being forced to sell off its intellectual property. The nuance deserves to be raised: the current bridge is not the result of this regulatory pressure, but of the work of Google. The fact remains that the two movements go in the same direction, that of a walled garden ordered to open up, willingly or by force.