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.
Do you think Apple will try to block AirDrop on the Pixel 10? 1085 votes Of course. Apple still hasn't outgrown its "doesn't play well with others" phase. 32 % Yes, but it will frame it as a "security upgrade" that just happens to break Android support. 48 % Maybe, and it will depend on how Apple users react to the news. 11 % Nah. Apple's got more important things to care about than what Android's up to. 10 %
How Google went rogue, and why I love it
Joe Maring / Android Authority
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.
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.
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