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

[SpotOnT]

100% agree, yet it’s hilarious that they think that iPhones are somehow elite or exclusive. You can pick up one at wal-mart for $200 out the door with no payments, or on mint, etc.

Got the latest iPhone SE for $80 from Walmart. They had the iPhone 14 for $120. And that doesn’t even count all the random deals from cable companies, membership clubs, etc. that will just give you an unlocked iPhone for free for using/signing up for their services.

People who think iPhones are for rich people are completely out of touch. Especially when Samsung, Huawei, etc. sell phones that are even more expensive than anything Apple sells.

 

[AppliedMicro]

What data will Google be collecting when I AirDrop files to a friend with an Android device?

None, according to them.

And how can I be reasonably assured of that answer, when Google is a company that cannot be trusted (despite their motto).

Strong government oversight and regulation - with hefty financial (or criminal) penalties for non-compliance.

 

[robvalentine]

Will be very interesting to see what will happen. Looks unlikely that other Android phones will be getting the feature at least in the near future.

I imagine it's Pixel 10 only at the moment to drive sales, it won'tbe hard for google to release it to other phones, Samsung, nothing for example through a Google Play Services update, like they did when they replaced their old file sharing protocol with Samsung's

 

[Velli]

Ars Technica has an excellent article on what made this technically possible, if anyone is interested.

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

Thanks. Anyone here should read that article before posting anything.

The way I understand it:

EU made this possible. Apple updated their protocol to use the more open Wi-Fi Aware standard, mandated by EU.

Google reverse engineered the protocol as best they could - they did not “hack” anything. It is not similar to the Beeper situation.

It only works with a specific setting on the iPhone side, so support is limited

It only works on Pixel phones, even if other phones have Wi-Fi Aware and the latest Android version, it doesn’t work.

Google went out of their way to point out that they implemented it in a safe way.

That last part is important to me, in several ways. It implies that to be safe, this solution had to be implemented in a specific way by Google. If others follow, it may not be as safe. This is key, because Apple may be in trouble if they allow Google to do it, but not i.e. Samsung. However, whether they can do something about it depends on whether they can do it inside the EU mandate.

It also highlights one of the major downsides of the Android ecosystem vs iOS. Android is not just Android. When you buy the lates Pixel and your wife buys the latest Samsung, you don’t have the same featureset.

 

[SpotOnT]

Nobody is forcing you to use AirDrop with an Android. You have to explicitly enable AirDrop in Settings and also turn on the "Everyone for 10 Minutes" option.

Not relevant to the conversation. Maybe you missed the comment I was replying to.

 

[SpotOnT]

Strong government oversight and regulation - with hefty financial (or criminal) penalties for non-compliance.

Unfortunately, when it comes to consumer protection, we don’t have that in the USA.

 

[MilaM]

I imagine it's Pixel 10 only at the moment to drive sales, it won'tbe hard for google to release it to other phones, Samsung, nothing for example through a Google Play Services update, like they did when they replaced their old file sharing protocol with Samsung's

It won't be easy to roll this out on all Android devices. To make AirDrop work you have to add some low-level features to the firmware of Wifi/Bluetooth subsystem. Not all manufacturers will be motivated to put in the extra effort. Especially since Wifi-Aware is about to take off, which is an open interoperable standard that will most likely replace AirDrop altogether.

 

[Velli]

I'm so tired of the gatekeeping. Just make a better, open product.

A big part of what allows Apple to make a better ecosystem where things “just work”, is BECAUSE it is not open.

If you don’t like it, there are plenty of open products on the market. If open products could be made just as good as Apple’s, why not ask the open suppliers to make their stuff better, instead of asking Apple to open their product up?

 

[Velli]

As a user of a Mac, an iPad and an Android phone, this will be great for me.
I have a Oneplus 15 on order, and part of what motivated me to get that is that Oppo and Oneplus have an app to make communicating with macs and ios/ipad os devices easier. Hopefully this feature will also come to Oneplus.

It's frankly ridiculous that I can't Bluetooth or Wifi-Direct a file to or from my phone in this day and age.

This feature won’t work for the Mac.

May I ask what motivated you to get a Oneplus instead of iPhone?

 

[Velli]

It won't be easy to roll this out on all Android devices. To make AirDrop work you have to add some low-level features to the firmware of Wifi/Bluetooth subsystem. Not all manufacturers will be motivated to put in the extra effort. Especially since Wifi-Aware is about to take off, which is an open interoperable standard that will most likely replace AirDrop altogether.

Read the Arstechnica article linked above. iOS already has Wi-Fi Aware, which is why Google were able to implement this.

I’m not an expert on that, but sounds to me like yet another “open” standard where the individual features in the standard is voluntary, meaning that two products supporting the same standard may not support the same features. Negating the benefits of having an open standard in the first place.

 

[laptech]

Apple will block it with the excuse 'we are protecting the safety and security of our users'. Then Apple will do some coding so it will work from Apple's side but they will say user's will have to pay for the feature because it uses Apples API(s).

 

[Matsamoto]

Considering Tim Cook’s comment a coupe of years ago when he said to the interviewer to “buy your mom an iPhone”, (can’t remember the question), Apple will 110% kill this.

 

[Velli]

Apple will block it with the excuse 'we are protecting the safety and security of our users'. Then Apple will do some coding so it will work from Apple's side but they will say user's will have to pay for the feature because it uses Apples API(s).

Show me an example of Apple doing this.

 

[Velli]

Considering Tim Cook’s comment a coupe of years ago when he said to the interviewer to “buy your mom an iPhone”, (can’t remember the question), Apple will 110% kill this.

I don’t always support Tim, but I support him on that one.

 

[turbineseaplane]

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.

The same reason folks end up against municipal broadband.

They get convinced by mega-corps with vested interests that what's good for them (the user) is actually "bad for them".

 

[l0ken]

I was using localsend anyways but its janky sometimes.

 

[UliBaer]

I was using localsend anyways but its janky sometimes.

...just like Airdrop is sometimes janky. It's just made that way to "feel home"! 🤣

 

[SmugMaverick]

Man, threads like these always show up the saddest people.

The ones who want this taken down clearly put their whole character and social status into what phone they own.

Grow up.

 

[hagar]

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.

Who says google will have access to user queries (from Siri to Gemini)?
I think this has been explicitly stated as not being the case.

 

[I7guy]

“Hacked” because Apple did not want to share its airdrop API. So Google said f it. This is great! I don’t see how you can view this as a negative as a consumer. This forces Apple to implement it properly.

Hacking a protocol/handshake will not force Apple to do anything except tighten it down.

It’s amazing people think this is a good thing.

 

[Astuces iOS]

It doesn't hurt you. Why?

When airdrop is activated for everyone... those android users will just spam sending things to Apple users !

 

[mcled53]

I recent went on a tour od Australia. I could very easily share photots with other iPhone users. But to share with Android users we had to pass the photos using WhatsApp. ... which was a pita. Having airdrop to with my Android friends is a big plus for me. I wish there was a way of iMessaging to them without using our phone no.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

When airdrop is activated for everyone... those android users will just spam sending things to Apple users !

It's only on for 10 mins at a time, maximum.

..when it was it possible to keep it on all the time, I got spammed by other iPhone users several times when at busy airports...LAX, mainly. That time has passed.

 

[ProbablyDylan]

Hacking a protocol/handshake will not force Apple to do anything except tighten it down.

It’s amazing people think this is a good thing.

How is being able to directly and locally send files to more people a bad thing?

 

[cardfan]

Jobs didn’t tolerate palm hooking into iTunes with webos and pre. Don’t see em being happy about this either.