AirDrop on all Androids, Google confirms it will arrive “very soon”

For years, the communication between the two most widely used mobile operating systems in the world has been hindered by an invisible but frustrating barrier: the impossibility of transferring files quickly and without loss of quality between an Android device and an iPhone.

Until last year, this function seemed like a mirage, a closely guarded exclusive within the respective ecosystems.

However, with the launch of the Pixel 10 series in August 2025, Google has shown that interoperability is possible, integrating the support for the AirDrop protocol directly within Quick Share.

Now, what seemed to be a feature reserved for Mountain View hardware is about to become a standard for the entire Android world.

AirDrop on all Androids very soon, the Taipei announcement

The official confirmation came directly from the company’s technical leadership. During a recent meeting with the specialized press and some influencers at Google’s offices in Taipei, Eric Kay, Vice President of Engineering for the Android team, outlined the near-term future of the platform.

Kay revealed that the temporal exclusivity enjoyed by Pixel 10 owners has come to an end. The company plans to expand the AirDrop support via Quick Share to a wide range of Android smartphones from other manufacturers during 2026.

According to reports, the engineer explained that the initial phase was used to “test” the technology. Google has invested substantial time and energy to build a stable bridge not only to iPhones but also to the entire Apple ecosystem, including iPad and MacBook.

Now that the system’s stability and effectiveness have been verified in the field with the company’s own devices, the search giant is ready to work with its partners to roll out the feature on a large scale.

Timelines and other steps against closed ecosystems

Although no exact global release date has been provided, the expression used by Kay leaves room for hope: official announcements will arrive “very soon”. This time frame has immediately sparked speculation regarding the next major events in the tech sector.

With Samsung’s Unpacked event and the Mobile World Congress (MWC) now just around the corner, it is plausible to suppose that Google could leverage one of these international showcases to officially announce the expansion.

Samsung, being the leading Android smartphone manufacturer, would represent the ideal partner to demonstrate the widespread adoption of this technology.

Kay’s remarks were not limited to file sharing alone. The executive hinted at a broader strategy aimed at reducing friction for users who want to migrate from iOS to Android.

Google is working to make the transfer of personal data extremely simple and complete for those who decide to change operating systems, ensuring that nothing is lost in the transition from the old phone to the new one.

Although details on this front are still scarce, it is evident that the company is aiming for an ever smoother and more interconnected user experience, eliminating those technical obstacles that for too long have complicated users’ digital lives.

The integration of AirDrop on all Androids represents, in this sense, a fundamental step toward a more open and less fragmented mobile computing.