Google has revealed some surprising and exciting news: owners of Pixel 10 devices can now share files with Apple products via AirDrop. Remarkably, this interoperability was developed without Apple’s participation. According to Google, the feature works across iPhone, iPad, and macOS devices, covering the entire Pixel 10 lineup. Although currently limited to the Pixel 10 series, Google spokesperson Alex Moriconi confirmed, “We’re introducing this new experience on Pixel 10 first, with plans to expand it to other devices later.”
In order to send a file from a Pixel 10 phone over AirDrop, the owner of the Apple device will need to change their settings to make their device discoverable to anyone — there’s an option to do this with an automatic limit of 10 minutes. Then, the Pixel 10 owner should be able to see the device using Quick Share and send it. On the other side, it seems that it’ll look just like any other AirDrop request that the user can approve to start the transfer.
Image: Google
According to support documentation, it goes the other way, too. Likewise, the Pixel 10 device will need to be discoverable to anyone or in receive mode. Then the Apple device owner starts an AirDrop transfer, the Pixel owner accepts, and voila: cross-platform sharing.
A post on Google’s security blog goes into greater detail about how it’s implemented, claiming “This feature does not use a workaround; the connection is direct and peer-to-peer, meaning your data is never routed through a server, shared content is never logged, and no extra data is shared.”
Notably, this isn’t an Android feature yet — it’s currently limited to Google’s own phones, and the latest generation at that. Still, it’s kind of huge news for Android users. Seamless sharing between Apple devices with AirDrop is one of those extremely helpful features that’s been kept inside the walled garden until now. With RCS now widely in use on iPhones, making cross-platform messaging easier, it seems like another meaningful step forward to lowering those garden walls.