Cross-Platform Collaboration Enhanced: Share Files From Android to Windows Easily

Nearby Share has been available on Android devices and Chromebooks for a few years now, serving as an equivalent to Apple’s AirDrop . Google has now released a Nearby Share app for Windows.

Google has released Nearby Share Beta for Windows, which allows Windows PCs to wirelessly send and receive files from any other device that supports Nearby Share. That includes phones and tablets with Android 6.0 or higher, Chromebooks, and other Windows PCs with the beta application installed. That’s not to be confused with Microsoft’s Nearby Share , which is a similar file sending service that only works between Windows PCs.

The new app supports sending files, images, videos, and other data between Windows, Android, and ChromeOS, including entire folders. The Windows app supports drag-and-drop, or you can right-click a file in Explorer and select “Send with Nearby Share.” Google says that all Nearby Share transfers are protected by end-to-end encryption.

Google

Nearby Share for Windows is limited to Windows 10 PCs with 64-bit x86 processors – ARM devices (like the 5G Surface Pro 9 ) are not supported, at least for now. There’s also still no equivalent app for Mac and Linux computers. If you have an Android device with a Linux PC, Warpinator and its unofficial Android app might still be the best option. There are also many other options for Windows and Android file transfers, like Microsoft’s Link to Windows and Intel Unison .

You can download Nearby Share for Windows from the official Android site. Thankfully, it’s a separate application – Google isn’t baking it into Chrome like it does with other unrelated services.

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