AirDrop Support Rolling Out to Samsung Galaxy S26 Devices This Week

[Nekronos]

Apple will not be able to block this if the EU forced them to use an open standard for Apple devices which is why Google and Samsung are now able to integrate the AirDrop functionality that some/most android users are envious of.

There are still some Apple-exclusive features that cannot be replicated by its competition.

You realize android's quickshare is the airdrop equivalent right? It can and has been replicated, for years now.

 

[pigeonguy]

Wish Apple just helped developing open standards, or at least established a reasonable period of exclusive usage of their technology and then let others in or adopt an open standard if it has caught up with their own.
I mean, the EU had to force them to drop their silly connector.

Such a misinformed response.

They have helped develop many open standards.

Additionally, they dropped lightning (which was ahead of its time at release) on most of their devices other than the iPhone and peripherals without being forced to do so.

 

[pigeonguy]

It is funny you say Android users are envious of. I had been an iPhone user from the 3G to the 16 Pro. I might have used air drop twice in all those years. Facetime maybe 3-4 times on purpose and always at the behest of one of my kids.

I moved to the Pixel 10 pro XL last year and it has Quick Share which now supports Airdrop and I yet to use it with any platform.

I do remember all of the possible security issues with air play and stories of people getting random dik pics on planes etc.

It is great that the EU forces Apple into things they really should have done because it is the right thing to do.

Random explicit images haven't been an issue for many years since Apple removed the "Show to everybody" option for AirDrop visibility.

 

[con2apple]

Wish Apple just helped developing open standards, or at least established a reasonable period of exclusive usage of their technology and then let others in or adopt an open standard if it has caught up with their own.

And how is Apple supposed to convince its customers to buy all its other products and get their relatives to buy Apple products too?
The only way to do that is with a honey spoon whose pot is kept behind a locked fence. With a fly-trap door.

Tim Cook said it himself: “Your mom doesn’t have an iPhone to chat with you? Then buy her one.”

Watch Tim Cook's famous 'Buy your mom an iPhone' quip that caught the attention of the Justice Department

Tim Cook told someone to "Buy your mom an iPhone" in response to complaints about green messages and sending videos to Android users.

www.businessinsider.com

 

[S.B.G]

That's nice I guess. I wish AirDrop was reliable on iOS devices first. I have two iPhones and everything is setup correctly but they don't always see one another.

 

[Jamie0003]

Apple will not be able to block this if the EU forced them to use an open standard for Apple devices which is why Google and Samsung are now able to integrate the AirDrop functionality that some/most android users are envious of.

There are still some Apple-exclusive features that cannot be replicated by its competition.

Matter casting. Apple and others should implement this so we finally get a universal casting standard

Next I would like a way to backup my iPhone to a NAS. At the moment the only way is manually via iTunes, or using iCloud which is obvious monopolistic behaviour on apples part

 

[Jamie0003]

This is disgusting. Absolutely disgusting. This isn't a win for consumers, this sort of nonsense will actually discourage Apple from innovating. Whats the point if your technology is going to be stolen and copied anyway?

Lmao hello Mr Tim Apple

 

[darthbane2k]

Lmao hello Mr Tim Apple

Good morning!

 

[HouseLannister]

Additionally, they dropped lightning (which was ahead of its time at release) on most of their devices other than the iPhone and peripherals without being forced to do so.

Wrong. EU approved a Common Charger Directive in 2022 and Apple switched in 2023.

EU common charger rules: Power all your devices with a single charger

The EU has implemented a universal charger for electronic devices to reduce waste. All new devices sold in the EU must now support USB-C charging.

commission.europa.eu

 

[cicalinarrot]

Such a misinformed response.

They have helped develop many open standards.

Additionally, they dropped lightning (which was ahead of its time at release) on most of their devices other than the iPhone and peripherals without being forced to do so.

Ahem... no. You appear to be able to read but not to understand what you read without distorting it.
Nowhere in my post I've said Apple doesn't also do that. You pulled that out of your... nose.
I know they also do that, but not always. I love when they do that (as I've said in other comments).
I just wish that would always be the case.

Also, stating that they chose USB C on devices that are way less relevant than iPhones doesn't help your case at all. They even declared that it would "harm consumers" to put USB C on iPhones. Even if they already started using it for other devices and pushed it hard as the only port on Macs.
This proves, 100%, no reasonable doubt, that they just wanted that sweet sweet money on those ridiculously overpriced, outdated and pretty fragile proprietary cables.

Also also, saying that Ligtning was ahead of its time when it first came out was part of my comment (I said they may adopt open standards when they catch up with their own. It's obvious they shouldn't even develop their own if there are open alternatives that works as well).
But to say it all, while releasing lighning, Apple was already among those who were working on the USB C standard. They knew they could have had an open alternative pretty soon. The 30 pin connector was ancient, fine, and they may have needed a quick replacement. But this is no excuse for not dropping it when it had become an absurd pain for their own customers.

 

[ifxf]

It is not full AirDrop since Contacts are not integrated. You need to open the drop to all.

 

[Saturn007]

Photo backup on a computer is still really, really bad. And it is because they want it to work poorly so that they can sell you iCloud (I don't feel like a conspiracy theorist, I've done this stuff for a living and there's basically no way to reliably transfer your photos to your Mac or PC without fighting to get it right. It makes no sense without considering iCloud).

I assume you mean wirelessly via Air Drop… or, as you mention, iCloud.

But no one has to use iCloud to “reliably transfer” photos.

Because “photo backup TO a computer is still really, really easy”!

Just connect your iPhone or iPad — or digital camera or memory card — to a Mac, open Photos, and import! Voila! ALL photos backed up from your device to the Mac.

From there, for another layer of backup, simply attach an external drive and copy the Mac's drive or the Photos Library to it.

Voila, again! Easy-peasy backup!

 

[H2SO4]

This is disgusting. Absolutely disgusting. This isn't a win for consumers, this sort of nonsense will actually discourage Apple from innovating. Whats the point if your technology is going to be stolen and copied anyway?

On the contrary, it's a win here. At my company we have both Apple and Android devices and this is a boost to our productivity.

 

[2low_tech]

EU didn't force something like that yet, google just reverse engineered it last year and I suppose they're sharing the achievement with Samsung.
Apple if wanted could just do some changes to again hinder google's efforts, but then surely wouldn't sit right with the EU and provoke a political movement to actually make it mandatory.

Also, there is no downside to allowing it. An Iphone user has to accept an Android phones request to send a file. I doubt any iPhone user is leaving ios because of airdrop.

 

[MrSnirf]

Apple if wanted could just do some changes to again hinder google's efforts, but then surely wouldn't sit right with the EU and provoke a political movement to actually make it mandatory.

They can't without breaking airdrop for millions of Apple users. That would require them to force update all Apple devices for the new protocol.

The EU made Apple adopt new Wi-Fi standards, and now Android can support AirDrop

Google's Pixel 10 works with AirDrop, and other phones should follow later.

arstechnica.com

The article is wrong. Airdrop does not use WIFI Aware. This is strictly Google reverse engineering AWDL which is Apple's proprietary protocol.

 

[schalkse]

Surprised Apple didn't block this yet over privacy concerns

Indeed. I hope they block it. Android user should not have this access. You want it? Buy an iPhone!

 

[cicalinarrot]

I assume you mean wirelessly via Air Drop… or, as you mention, iCloud.

But no one has to use iCloud to “reliably transfer” photos.

Because “photo backup TO a computer is still really, really easy”!

Just connect your iPhone or iPad — or digital camera or memory card — to a Mac, open Photos, and import! Voila! ALL photos backed up from your device to the Mac.

From there, for another layer of backup, simply attach an external drive and copy the Mac's drive or the Photos Library to it.

Voila, again! Easy-peasy backup!

Sorry in advance for the absurdly long post but this thing is my nemesis.

You may have done this for yourself, you may have been lucky, I've done it as a repairman until a couple years ago a few dozen times, if not a hundred or more, and I still do it pretty often for myself and people I know.
iPhone photo backup to a computer in general is an absolute nightmare, especially compared to how easy it is from and SD card of a proper camera and from competitors devices. One transfer may be relatively painless but it's not always the case at all. Words cannot express my frustration with the process.

- On Mac, you have to import photos to their proprietary app. Then you have to export them to finder to actually have it in a normal form. It's already two steps instead of one, for some reason. Apple-to-Apple device is worse than on Windows! The probability of something going wrong is doubled. And before you can even start the first step, there's some loading time for the app to load the preview of photos. Every step is one more time you have to check the app. This is already bad enough for me.
- On PCs it appears to be simpler and you can drag and drop folders. The USB connection can be ridiculously unstable on Windows though. You drag and drop the folders and... it usually says it transferred everything but it almost surely hasn't. Tried it recently, the first try was a third of the total. Had to do it again in a few tries to transfer it all. I'd love to use something like TeraCopy to compensate but it's not possible.
- Both on Macs and PCs, sometimes there's random errors that just don't let you see your photos on your app or don't let you transfer. I always had alternatives, doing it as a job, but if you don't have a different OS laying around, you're out of luck. Sometimes I just had to try with third party apps like Wondershare stuff. Sometimes nothing could work.
- It's USB 2, except for recent Pro models. All relevant competitors have moved to USB 3 years ago, at least for all iPhone-priced models. So transfer is pretty slow on most devices. That also makes it easier for problems to occur in a longer time.
- The transfer stops very easily. Photos that the iPhone believe to be on its drive but are actually on iCloud only seem to make it lose its mind. It can stop, crash or just get stuck and you have to guess if it's stuck forever or you have to wait a little more. This takes time because you don't want to stop it if it may still be running. And even stopping it can be fidgetty! The button to cancel the transfer often doesn't work, the app can't be normally quit and I had to force quit Photos so many times. That's not something you should even ask to a regular user who wants the smooth Apple experience! It's never been a task I could leave there to the computer to do, I had to follow every step and check if I had to resume it manually. Active transferring time is already pretty long and it can get really really long if you don't check the app for errors pretty frequently and resume it when it stops.
- Making this on anything but the latest version of iOS and macOS will probably add pain of some kind. And make errors more likely to happen. I don't know about you but I can tell you most people don't need a backup when the phone is brand new and almost empty.
- Transferring a few photos is usually fine, but any amount in the tens of gigabytes (which is usually when people need a backup) make it very easy for errors to occur.

I cannot exactly quantify how often some weird thing (something that would rarely happen on Android and never while transferring photos from an SD card) happened to me but I'm pretty sure I've had an issue of some kind on at least 20 to 30% of attempts, and I'm being kind. As a professional, I found it frustrating and unreliable, I can't absolutely picture it as a procedure that's made for regular users to rely on. Even having issues on 10% of attemps would be absolutely inexcusable for me on a premium device.
And again, even when it worked, it was very slow, which is also inexcusable at that price point. Even on the 17e it feels like a very cheap move for what definitely isn't a budget phone.
I have tried way too many times in completely different scenarios to just consider myself unlucky. It is way, way worse than any other kind of photo transferring.

All of this is certainly to make iCloud (the method that makes them money) the best option.
Most of my customers just had iCloud on because it was there when configuring the phone. When the (perfectly useless) 5GB free trial version that they were tricked to use was over, so many people came panicking because they didn't understand what the terrorist alert "your cloud space is over" meant, and they thought they absolutely needed to pay Apple if they wanted to keep using their phones. Trivial to me and you, but most people who buy iPhones are not like us, talking on a specialised forum. Apple knows it and takes advantage of them.

(Congrats if you've read this whole thing that can be summed up as "Old man yells at iCloud")

 

[schalkse]

I suppose Apple could have tried to make this feature available only to android devices in the EU, but they likely decided it' wasn't a battle worth fighting, unlike third party app stores. 😏

European council are a bunch of dumb id*ots. Forcing companies and let other companies having access to options or hardware that is own to the brand should be illigal. I am european and ashamed of what is happening here and who runs the place.

 

[MrSnirf]

European council are a bunch of dumb id*ots. Forcing companies and let other companies having access to options or hardware that is own to the brand should be illigal. I am european and ashamed of what is happening here and who runs the place.

Explain how that is bad for consumers and end users.

 

[Gasu E.]

This is disgusting. Absolutely disgusting. This isn't a win for consumers, this sort of nonsense will actually discourage Apple from innovating. Whats the point if your technology is going to be stolen and copied anyway?

Apple helped develop the new interoperability standard that’s used for this. The only thing the EU did here was speed up the timetable for deprecating their old proprietary protocol. It’s following the same pattern as lightning and usb-c. Apple develops something proprietary to give them a time to market advantage, then works with others to develop the open solution that will eventually replace it. There are so many advantages to this: Apple gets a competitive advantage for several years; Apple has a disproportionate say in the eventual standard; and the timeline to get to the eventual standard is reduced, because there will be real world experience from how Apples first Gen model operates.

 

[MrSnirf]

Apple helped develop the new interoperability standard that’s used for this. The only thing the EU did here was speed up the timetable for deprecating their old proprietary protocol.

Airdrop does not use WIFI Aware, this is google reverse engineering AWDL.

 

[Mr. Nice]

They have helped develop open standards. They helped with the development of USB-C, literally pioneered the acceptance of Wi-Fi, took part in creating the Matter smart home standard...

They supported standards whenever it benefited them.
We have the EU’s pressure to thank for many of the changes that have come about.
Hello USB-C 🙋🏻‍♂️

For example, the ability to use an iPhone with a smartwatch from Garmin and others.
Without Apple intentionally hindering the competition or limiting features, like replying to a message directly on the watch. (With iOS 26.4?)

All of this was done by Apple solely to make their Apple Watch look better.

It’s just crazy that Apple and Google were able to do whatever they wanted for so long.

Bluetooth and Wi-Fi have been standard for so long, yet we as Android/iOS users weren’t allowed to send pictures or files directly from smartphone to smartphone.
It was just ridiculous.

The EU should have forced manufacturers to do this back in 2010.

 

[coolfactor]

I said "just". I know very well they very often helped open standards grow and thrive. HTML5 over Flash is the best thing they've done to the world. I just wish that was their go-to solution. And that, when they decided that they have to get their own thing instead, it wasn't so heavily closed for so long.

But also, transferring files is not a feature of convenience at all, it's a fundamental feature of a multi-purpose electronic device. A very snappy and painless wireless method of transfer is a nice addition but... they've spend years making all alternatives absurdly painful.
It used to be the easiest thing on PCs and it's been artificially made very complicated on Apple devices because of how closed their environment is. Airplay feels like magic when it works but also like hell when it doesn't. And, again, until they've been forced to use USB-C, you needed a proprietary adapter to even use something like a USB pendrive. Which also was possible thanks to upgrades to get a half-decent internal memory browser.
Photo backup on a computer is still really, really bad. And it is because they want it to work poorly so that they can sell you iCloud (I don't feel like a conspiracy theorist, I've done this stuff for a living and there's basically no way to reliably transfer your photos to your Mac or PC without fighting to get it right. It makes no sense without considering iCloud).

I know they act differently with different features and I wish they had a standard. I don't want to find myself using for years something they developed as unique and cool but that grew old with time and locked me out of industry standards, as it happened with stuff like Lightning and Siri.

Apple takes a careful, calculated approach. USB-C is what it is *because* of Apple's design of the Lightning connector. Prior to that, all USB connectors were not reversible.

Siri might be a black eye right now, but it also established the consumer expectation... a helpful always-on digital assistant, and it still meets that need today for many use cases. The ability for Siri to generate content would've been irresponsible while the AI industry was still getting established. Look at all of the misfires that have happened with the big labs. Generative AI wasn't ready for Siri adoption.

Not sure where you're going with the photo backup solution. It's not a difficult problem.

 

[HouseLannister]

Apple takes a careful, calculated approach. USB-C is what it is *because* of Apple's design of the Lightning connector. Prior to that, all USB connectors were not reversible.

Actually, Apple kind of took a rushed approach here. Lightning and USB-C were both made in 2012, it just took USB-C longer to come to market because it was a standard and those things move slow. USB-C was not finalized until 2014 and it really wasn't until 2015-16 that you could get devices with it included. But it took zero inspiration or borrowing from Lightning. (That's like saying Apple stole the iPhone Air design from Samsung because Samsung put out the Edge first. 🤣 ) USB-C was always going to be reversible. Apple just got to market first because there was a huge advantage in rushing the product out. Doesn't make them a pioneer.

 

[dba415]

Surprised Apple didn't block this yet over privacy concerns

there are no privacy concerns. Android is using the exact same security protocol. This is no less secure than a random iphone sending you an airdrop.