iPhone Users Can Now AirDrop Files to Android Devices

[Unregistered 4U]

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.

Complaints by Apple are current and accurate. A LEGISLATION for a port is a bad idea and blocks progress on the next big thing. microUSB was a memorandum of understanding which meant that including an adapter in box was sufficient for anyone delivering devices to the EU. That option DOES NOT EXIST with USB-C.

The timing of the legislation actually supports my idea as we all know Apple works on iPhones YEARS in advance. There is literally no way that starting working on a USB-C iPhone in 2022 would lead to a USB-C iPhone in 2023. They’d have to have the SoC, with its USB-C compatible features, nailed down by at least 2019 or 2020 to allow time for testing, iterating, production and ready for manufacture. All of that indicates an Apple that was working to meet their self imposed goal of 10 years to put the port they had been working with the industry on over that time.

The EU is well known for their regulations having “unintended consequences” and this will play out over the coming years as no one can ship a device that charges via a wire without having USB-C on it even if a better solution could be created.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

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.

Your emails send images heavily compressed?!? Text messages? (speaking as someone that receives text messages from Android users regularly) iCloud links? (which point to the original unaltered file) and Social media DM’s (which, if you’re texting from the bathroom, does the recipient need to be able to zoom in to the level of pores? it’ll be compressed, but I doubt the recipient will have a problem figuring out what it’s an image of)

 

[Ctrlos]

iOS 26.3 changelog:

- Corrected a flaw in AirDrop that allowed unauthorised phones to send files to an Apple device.

 

[MilaM]

The timing of the legislation actually supports my idea as we all know Apple works on iPhones YEARS in advance. There is literally no way that starting working on a USB-C iPhone in 2022 would lead to a USB-C iPhone in 2023. They’d have to have the SoC, with its USB-C compatible features, nailed down by at least 2019 or 2020 to allow time for testing, iterating, production and ready for manufacture.

Not really. The old connector already supported USB 2. The switch to USB-C was not trivial, but also not a huge engineering challenge.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Just say no to more subscriptions.

And why would anyone PAY for an iMessage subscription when WhatsApp is free and used worldwide (instead of just in the US)?

 

[Frantisekj]

I didn't see this one coming. Thanks, EU?

I would bet more on Apple Google AI cooperation that leads to some frenemies results like this. You see it is not general Aindroid feature but Pixel one.

 

[germanbeer007]

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.

that's not a hard piece of evidence.

 

[attohs]

iOS 26.3 changelog:

- Corrected a flaw in AirDrop that allowed unauthorised phones to send files to an Apple device.

I remember the Apple vs Palm battle to prevent the Palm Pre from pretending to be an iPod and syncing music via iTunes. Constant iTunes updates focused on kicking out Palm.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Not really. The old connector already supported USB 2. The switch to USB-C was not trivial, but also not a huge engineering challenge.

So, your thinking is that Apple, that has said they work on iPhones years in advance, were lying, AND they can wait until September and knock out an update with no problem and be ready to produce over 100 million, including packaging and shipping in 12 months. Which is fine, people are free to believe what they like.

 

[jent]

Is there a minimum OS version requirement on either side?

 

[MilaM]

Your emails send images heavily compressed?!? Text messages? (speaking as someone that receives text messages from Android users regularly) iCloud links? (which point to the original unaltered file) and Social media DM’s (which, if you’re texting from the bathroom, does the recipient need to be able to zoom in to the level of pores? it’ll be compressed, but I doubt the recipient will have a problem figuring out what it’s an image of)

Yes, the default in Mail.app is to send them downsized and compressed.
What do you mean by text messages, maybe MMS ? 😂
iCloud Links are a possibility. But it's surprisingly complicated to do, and I doubt casual iPhone users even know how to do this.

I agree, that in many cases a compressed image is enough. But very often what you want is the best quality possible. And that has been really complicated to accomplish between iOS and Android.

 

[Pupi]

A welcome glass of ice water in the desert for Android users. Thanks Apple.

 

[MilaM]

So, your thinking is that Apple, that has said they work on iPhones years in advance, were lying, AND they can wait until September and knock out an update with no problem and be ready to produce over 100 million, including packaging and shipping in 12 months. Which is fine, people are free to believe what they like.

Follow the money. Apple had a nice extra revenue stream from the proprietary Lightning connector. There are no licensing fees for USB-C. My bet is that they wanted to milk this cow a couple more years, before finally retiring the old connector. Anyway. It's not super productive to argue about this. We now have USB-C, and I'm mostly happy with it. Compared to every other system out there it still is the most versatile and capable.

 

[Rendergroup]

Use Blip

 

[snow755]

Apple now just needs to offer a subscription service for iMessage on Android.

All we need now is Apple Messages released on Android.

if you want iMessage then buy a iphone or get it on a installement plan

 

[bluecoast]

Yeah it’s called RCS!

But Apple haven't yet released the encrypted version of RCS.

 

[bluecoast]

iOS 26.3 changelog:

- Corrected a flaw in AirDrop that allowed unauthorised phones to send files to an Apple device.

Don't give them ideas!

 

[ChrisMac47]

iOS 26.3 changelog:

- Corrected a flaw in AirDrop that allowed unauthorised phones to send files to an Apple device.

Don't joke about it! It would be just like Apple to do this!

 

[germanbeer007]

Not really. The old connector already supported USB 2. The switch to USB-C was not trivial, but also not a huge engineering challenge.

Design + engineering the iPhone generally take at least 2 years, even if it's easy to do.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

A welcome glass of ice water in the desert for Android users. Thanks Apple.

Google is the one that did this. Apple had no part in it.

...and I expect Apple to patch it, ASAP.

From: https://www.theverge.com/news/825228/iphone-airdrop-android-quick-share-pixel-10

"When we asked Google whether it developed this feature with or without Apple’s involvement, Moriconi confirmed it was not a collab. “We accomplished this through our own implementation,” he tells The Verge. “Our implementation was thoroughly vetted by our own privacy and security teams, and we also engaged a third party security firm to pentest the solution.”"

 

[germanbeer007]

I would bet more on Apple Google AI cooperation that leads to some frenemies results like this. You see it is not general Aindroid feature but Pixel one.

It doesn't look like Apple collaborated with Google on this.

 

[Nekomichi]

My immediate reaction:

 

[MilaM]

Design + engineering the iPhone generally take at least 2 years, even if it's easy to do.

And? The Common Charger Directive was passed in October 2022 and went into effect two years later. More than enough time to adjust I would say.

 

[platinumaqua]

There’s a LOT of massively insecure tech that, thankfully, wasn’t brought forward.

OBEX runs on top of the Bluetooth stack, so it's just as secure as any other Bluetooth usage like audio/mouse/keyboard/phone calls

 

[DMG35]

if you want iMessage then buy a iphone or get it on a installement plan

Gee, thank you for the wisdom here. Some people don't want an iPhone but would like to have the convenience of iMessage.