Google may integrate Nearby Share with Samsung’s Quick Share feature

Samsung and Google have collaborated on many things over the past few years. After co-developing Wear OS 3 two years ago, the two companies jointly developed IAMF to compete with the Dolby Atmos standard in the spatial audio sector. It looks like Google is now merging the Nearby Share feature with Samsung’s Quick Share feature.

A new report claims that Google has started renaming the Nearby Share feature to Quick Share. Android developer Camila Wojciechowska spotted The Nearby Share feature has been renamed to Quick Share after installing the GMS (Google Mobile Services) update to version 23.50.13. The notice introducing the new name also states, “Find your new name and icon to share with nearby devices.Google has reportedly refreshed the branding across the Android UI, and the new icon looks like something in between the Nearby Share and Quick Share designs.

Users can keep Quick Share open to everyone or limit it to your devices or to devices owned by your contacts. If you choose the Contacts option, the data will be synced with the contacts in your Google account and open file sharing with those contacts. The pop-up menu shows all your devices (devices signed in with your Google account) in the first section and nearby devices in a separate section. So it’s easier to discover and choose your own devices. You can also limit the visibility of a quick share to just ten minutes for more privacy.

Google has already brought Nearby Share to Windows, and if the Quick Share rebranding is final, it may rename Nearby Share for Windows to Quick Share. The only thing left for Google to do is bring Quick Share to macOS. The move helps both Google and Samsung, as their devices and the entire Android ecosystem can work well with Windows and potentially Apple’s ecosystem.