Android’s Quick Share feature has gone through a number of changes since it was first introduced. But perhaps the most monumental change was allowing Quick Share to communicate and transfer files with Apple products. When this feature was announced, it left many people stunned, and for good reason.
It’s not every day that you get news of Android and iOS interoperability. With that said, there’s always room for improvement, and it looks like Quick Share is now getting a new update that will make the feature safer to use. The change was spotted by the folks at 9to5Google, sharing that the “Everyone” mode is now being changed, removing the option to keep it on indefinitely.
A small but welcome change
While this might be a change that’s inconvenient for some, it’s a privacy and safety enhancement that we can really get behind. By having Quick Share open to everyone, it leaves the device open to unwanted connections and file transfers. That’s probably the reason why iOS devices no longer have this available as an option with AirDrop.
And while there are a lot of security features in place to prevent bad things from happening on Android and iOS, we’ve seen frequent reports of unwanted file transfers taking place when the feature is open to everyone. By limiting the “Everyone” setting to just 10 minutes, it still provides some flexibility when needed.
If you need to have a constant connection and want a more seamless transfer experience, you can always switch the setting to always accept transfers from those in your Contacts list. As far as how this is rolling out, 9to5Google reports that this appears to be a server-side change that is available for a public release.
However, it also noted that this appears to be a change that’s not yet widely available. So, for the time being, you’re going to just have to update anything and everything that you can, and see if the change pops up. If not, just be patient. With that said, there are alternative solutions to Quick Share, which we highly recommend giving a try.
Local Share is one that we covered, providing easy data transfer with support for multiple operating systems like Android, iOS, Windows, Linux, and macOS. Some folks also swear by alternatives like Blip or KDE Connect, although I haven’t personally used them. But if you feel the most comfortable with Quick Share, then that is going to be a solid option since it’s already built in.
