Will Apple Kill Google's Surprise Android to iPhone AirDrop Interoperability?

[MacRumors]

Earlier today, Google made a surprise announcement that the Quick Share file transfer feature on Pixel 10 smartphones was able to work with AirDrop, enabling first-party file sharing between Android devices and Apple devices.

Typically, Apple and Google work together on cross-platform features, but it turns out that Apple had no involvement this time. Google created the Quick Share to AirDrop interoperability on its own, and apparently sprung it on Apple with a public announcement. From a statement Google provided to Android Authority:

We accomplished this through our own implementation. 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.

It's possible that Google gave Apple a heads up about its plan to devise an Android and iPhone file transfer solution, but Apple's total lack of participation in the announcement suggests that Apple wasn't interested in working with Google to develop it.

Google says that it is using its own implementation, and Apple's take on that is unclear. Apple has not historically supported third-party workarounds for interoperability between iPhone and Android devices, and it continually worked to put a stop to an iMessage for Android feature that Beeper attempted in 2023.

The Beeper situation does seem to have some parallels with Google's AirDrop move. Beeper reverse engineered Apple's iMessage protocols and encryption, using Apple's iMessage servers to allow Android users to send blue bubble messages to iPhone users. Apple was able to successfully shut down Beeper's messaging solution.

Google is a much bigger company than Beeper, and now that it has publicly announced and launched the Quick Share to AirDrop functionality, it would be harder for Apple to oppose it. Apple is also facing more intense regulatory pressure than it was even two years ago, so it might not want to kill the cross-platform file sharing feature.

File sharing was implemented with an interoperability layer between Quick Share and AirDrop that uses the Rust programming language, according to Google.

Google claims that it had a third-party pentest the security of the file sharing protocol, and that it worked to vet the solution with its own privacy and security teams. Google accompanied the announcement with a full blog post on the underlying security. Apple hasn't commented yet.

Apple and Google have previously worked together on several cross-platform features, including RCS messaging, unknown tracker identification and alerts, and SIM transfers.

Article Link: Will Apple Kill Google's Surprise Android to iPhone AirDrop Interoperability?

 

[Gengar]

Google has leverage now that Gemini is gonna be used for Siri.

 

[k1121j]

Next update it’s broken.

 

[mattopotamus]

Google has leverage now that Gemini is gonna be used for Siri.

First thing that came to my mind and no coincidence this "update" is now available.

 

[Remy149]

Google has leverage now that Gemini is gonna be used for Siri.

Is it leverage though when Google will benefit from being trained off Apple user queries and how Google lets Apple 20 billion a year to be the default search engine.

 

[Paddle1]

If they try to stop it I'm sure the EU will have something to say about it.

 

[germanbeer007]

good. break it.

 

[jz0309]

sure seems odd that Google chose this path

 

[miq]

Wouldn’t surprise me one bit, typical anticompetitive behaviour from A$$le

 

[Pupi]

Google also said "Like with RCS and unknown tracker alerts, we always welcome collaboration opportunities to address interoperability issues between iOS and Android.” so they are framing this a continuous collaboration effort. It doesn't matter if the code implementation on Android was entirely written and vetted by Google if Apple provided documentation and gave the greenlight. It's a technicality.

Stop the fake news narrative before getting embarrassed shortly.

 

[Astuces iOS]

TAKE IT DOWN AND IOS 9.3.7 PLEASE

 

[kalsta]

Of course, Apple will be asking questions. But… will they come from the security and user experience teams? Or the marketing and accounting teams?

 

[Futurix]

This interoperability is due to EU requirements. Apple won’t do anything about it.

 

[LightProtector]

I hope they keep it. This is awesome, just bought my mom a Pixel 10 Pro XL and now we can just airdrop pictures to each other.

 

[zorinlynx]

Why is anyone here *against* interoperability like this? I've so often wanted to AirDrop something to my Android friends and been frustrated that it's not possible. This is a GOOD thing with zero downside to us users.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

TAKE IT DOWN AND IOS 9.3.7 PLEASE

It doesn't hurt you. Why?

 

[ProbablyDylan]

Why is anyone here *against* interoperability like this? I've so often wanted to AirDrop something to my Android friends and been frustrated that it's not possible. This is a GOOD thing with zero downside to us users.

I cannot imagine why some people want their devices to be less convenient and less flexible.

 

[hieranonymous]

Given how much Google relies on Apple’s ecosystem to drive traffic to its services (ergo the massive $20 billion annuity), I’d be shocked if they pulled an “Epic” and just sprang this on Apple. The two companies are too intertwined for that kind of costly provocation (especially with Apple relying on a white-label version of Gemini for next year’s Siri overhaul). Anything’s possible, but why would Google publicly antagonize Apple like that? That kind of disinhibition is more redolent of a company run by Elon Musk.

 

[iZac]

Oh dear, reminds me of when Palm was trying to enable iTunes syncing with the Pre and the back-and-fourth with Apple trying to block it.

 

[j26]

Waiting for “AirDrop Pro” to be launched with new, more “effective”protocols…

 

[Radeon85]

No idea why so many are against it, this doesn't hurt iOS users in any way, it just allows you to easily share stuff. This is good for everyone.

 

[macduke]

I’m old enough to remember Palm reverse engineering iTunes to allow their devices to sync with it. Apple shut that down every time and they went back and forth for a while. I would expect them to do the same here, if not for all the regulatory pressure they’re under internationally. Should be interesting to see how this shakes out either way.

 

[I7guy]

Why is anyone here *against* interoperability like this? I've so often wanted to AirDrop something to my Android friends and been frustrated that it's not possible. This is a GOOD thing with zero downside to us users.

Because this is hacked? Because it’s uncertain and depending on Apple to keep it alive with no formal agreements in place?

 

[Kirkster]

Rust and security, two things not often associated with one another as untuba found.

 

[jordanlucero]

this is amazing for users and i can’t imagine it could be broken by apple without breaking airdrop backwards compatibility all the way to iOS 7 and Yosemite. but it does seem silly to think that somewhere down the line something isn’t going to inevitably break and we’ll all be back here taking sides.