This is great news and hopefully the start of more interchangeability between iOS and Android. Both Android and iOS operate prisons, but it would be nice for the prisoners in Android and those of us in the Apple prison can communicate with each other.
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iPhone Users Can Now AirDrop Files to Android Devices
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And everyone should be thanking the EU for this. The duopoly didn’t suddenly decide to cooperate on their own, after all.
Plus an article from 2024:
TokyoKiller
macrumors 6502
Based on how this article is framed, it sounds like this is a Google Pixel exclusive feature and not an Android global feature.
And everyone should be thanking the EU for this. The duopoly didn’t suddenly decide to cooperate on their own, after all.
Plus an article from 2024:
Uh no. If that were true, it would only be available in EU just like a bunch of things Apple segregated for iOS in EU and it would be available on Windows and a bunch of Samsung android phones.
Yeah, should really be “Pixel devices” because it remains to be seen if any other OEM thinks this is worth implementing.
For those wanting the “most secure” Android experience, Google is it. I wouldn’t be surprised if those “most secure” features will remain a feature on the “most secure” Android phones indefinitely. But “Android devices” gets clicks. 🙂
Sometimes you’re correct, but there are many other cases in which EU regulations led to changes worldwide. It’s known as the Brussels Effect.
USB-C, Apple suddenly allowing emulators on their App Store, etc, etc. And now this.
Is this officially sanctioned or is this reverse engineered. Latter means it's a matter of time before it breaks again.
And, it appears to be effort that Google put in to get it to work. They say they didn’t work with Apple on it.
There are hard pieces of evidence that Apple changed iPhone to USB-C connector. There is no evidence that this was due to EU.
IrDA and Bluetooth OBEX was the standard for file transfer in the old days. Apple refused to implement Bluetooth OBEX on iPhones (even though the Bluetooth stack it's based on supports it on Mac OS X) so here we are...
Except for the conveniently timed piece of EU regulation that went into effect right before the change, and the incessant complaints by Apple themselves at the time.
USB-C was not the EU. Apple had said 10 years previously that Lightning would be the connector for a decade in 2012 and, for some reason, as that 10 years came up, folks were thinking that Apple would NOT use the connector [i[that they helped develop and implemented across multiple devices[/i] for the prior 10 years. All the EU did is look at what everyone was implementing anyway and say,”That thing you’ve all standardized on? Yeah, we REQUIRE you do do what you’ve already done! We’re so wise. (Please ignore all that stuff about microUSB)”
ProbablyDylan
macrumors 68040
It's Google. Expect to have this feature rolled out to you in the next 7-10 weeks excluding the week of Thanksgiving, Christmas and the new year.
Glacial staged rollouts are a big reason I left Google long ago.
There’s a LOT of massively insecure tech that, thankfully, wasn’t brought forward. 🙂
The regulation was for the end of 2024. Apple’s change was at the end of 2023 which they had predicted at least 8 years prior to the EU legislation.
And, Apple’s still complaining because tech was able to work on and create USB-C because no one was STUPID enough to define microUSB or any connector as a REQUIREMENT. Now that “unintended consequences” EU HAS defined USB-C as a requirement, future improvements are at a pause because no company wants to make something that has to have two ports for the EU or just not be sold in the EU.
I’m sure that there are people that think that USB-C is the perfect port and nothing better will ever come along, but history shows that technology can always come up with something better. And, just like with USB-C, companies COULD be working on that better technology if not handcuffed by the EU.
Is it REALLY a big deal? With the phone in my hand, I’ve got at least 4 other ways to send files. Those other ways don’t become less useful due to this. And, those other ways work with ALL Android phones, today, not just Pixel phones.
The timing of the regulation and complaints by Apple about said regulation says otherwise.
Also, the micro-USB regulation was equally effective for its time, eliminating dozens of proprietary chargers. It was a nightmare back then, before that regulation. As much as I hated micro-USB as a connector, that was also an excellent piece of regulation, and successfully solved a significant problem.
And the successive regulations to enforce USB-C have been equally effective. Despite baseless worries that we’d be stuck with micro-USB forever back then, and current similar (and similarly baseless) complaints about being stuck with USB-C forever now.
MathersMahmood
macrumors 65816
Oh you could have been…
1. Emailing
2. Text messaging
3. Sending an iCould link
4. DMing her socials
from the bathroom for years now! Does she have a Pixel phone? Then, you can do those TODAY. 😀
RSmith2023
macrumors 65816
Wonder how long before (if) they’ll open it up to Android devices other than the latest pixel phones.
attohs
macrumors 6502
I never said there was anything wrong. I’m trying to figure out why the article is calling it a collaboration, but the Google page doesn’t mention Apple at all.
tbayrgs
macrumors 604
More important question, and more likely to happen first is how long until Apple blocks this with a .1 update?
Except most of the methods you mention will only allow you to send heavily compressed versions of your media files. This is fine for many use cases. But sometimes what you want is the original unaltered file.