Nearby Share No Longer Needs Authentication To Send

Nearby Share is a really quick and easy way to send files to one or more Android/ChromeOS devices. You’re literally a few taps away from sending a file to another person; however, Google wants to further cut down on those taps. According to Android Police, you’ll be able to send files via Nearby Share without the need for authentication, thanks to a new update.

If you don’t know what Nearby Share is, then you probably don’t share items with an Android device much. Using an Android phone released after June 2020, you’ll see an option while sharing called Nearby Share. It’s Google’s answer to Apple’s AirDrop, and it works similarly to that feature.

Now, Google wants to eliminate the need for authentication with Nearby Share

While Nearby Share is already a pretty quick and easy process, a new update to Google Play Services just streamlined the process even more. When you’re sending a file to another person, you would need the receiving end to authenticate the transaction. When you tap on the phone you want to send it to, the other person will get a popup on their phone to verify that they want to receive the file.

This is a really sensible security measure, as you don’t want to randomly receive files out of nowhere without consent. However, most of the time, when you’re sending a file, it’s to a consenting party. It’d be nice to just send the file to the person without needing them to verify it.

Another good reason for this (something that I can vouch for) is if you’re sending files between your own phones. People who own more than one phone typically send files between them. Instead of having to go and verify the file on the second phone, they can just send the file using the first phone and be done with it.

In order to send files using Nearby Share without authentication, all you have to do is make sure you’re logged into the same Google account on both phones. That, admittedly, will rule out some transactions, as you won’t typically have your Google account on your friend’s phone. Regardless, this is still a nice feature to have.