Although I prefer Android in my personal life, I have had the opportunity to work within the Apple ecosystem. One of the coolest features I’ve come to rely on is AirDrop, which makes it easy to transfer content from mobile to desktop and vice versa. Fortunately, Android now has a counterpart.
After moving away from similar functionality (Android Beam), Google has taken steps to close the compatibility gap between devices with Nearby Share, released in mid-2020, which lets you share files between Android devices and Chromebooks.
Android 13 brings a handy update to Neighborhood Sharing that makes it even easier to share content between devices. The new capability allows you to copy anything to your Android 13 device, whether it’s an image, file, text or anything else, quickly share it with Neighborhood Sharing, and paste it right where you want it on the receiving device. device running Android 6 or later.
And since September, Google has been rolling out another feature that automatically accepts requests on receiving devices signed into the same Google account as the sending device for a better experience.
Nearby Share isn’t just for devices running stock Android. It also works great on other devices like Samsung Galaxy models.
Step 1: Make sure Neighborhood Sharing is turned on
Ambient Sharing may be disabled on your Android phone, but you can turn it on by going to Settings -> Google -> Devices & Sharing -> Ambient Sharing -> Ambient Sharing. You can also change your device name here if you want something more than the usual “phone [your name]”.
If you have an Ambient Sharing tile added to your device’s Quick Settings, you can also press and hold it to navigate to the same Ambient Sharing settings to enable this feature. The Quick Settings tile also gives you quick access to whether everyone, contacts, or no one can see your device with the Share with Neighborhood feature.
Step 2: Copy or Share Content on a Shared Device
In Android 12 and earlier, when you want to share something, you find and tap the Share button, then select Share with Neighborhood in the sharing options. For example, when you highlight text on a web page, you select “Share”from the context menu that appears to bring up sharing options.
This still works on Android 13, but you have another technique: the “Copy”button. Whenever you highlight something and hit copy, you’ll see a thumbnail preview with a share button next to it. Click that Share button and click the Near button on the sheet that appears.
If you want to change the text before you share it, tap the preview and the system text editor will pop up where you can tweak things and hit “done”to return to the “Share”button.
The implementation of copied text in Android 13 is similar to how it works for screenshots on Android 6 and later. When you take a screenshot, its thumbnail appears next to the Share button – tap it and then Near.
Step 3: Choose a receiving device
After you open the Share with Environment menu, select the device where you want to paste the content. (If the device is not showing up, make sure “Share with Neighborhood”is turned on in the quick settings panel.)
Step 4: Accept the request on the receiving device
On the receiving device, click “Accept”to proceed with the transaction. After the content has moved, select “Copy”or “Copy to Clipboard”to complete the transfer.
If you received the latest update, the receiving device should automatically accept the trade request. For example, if you share a photo, the receiving device can download it even if it’s locked, and then you can view it in your downloads folder or open it in an app from a notification.
Step 5: Insert text or images on the receiving device
If you are sharing copied content, open the app on the receiving device where you want to paste the content.
On the receiving device, open the app where you want to paste the content. For text, press and hold in the text box and choose “Paste”from the pop-up menu. You may need to open the keyboard’s clipboard to paste images into a document or application. If your receiving device is a Chromebook, just press Control-V for text or images at the same time.
