Quick Share
Quick Share is a wireless peer-to-peer data transfer service for Android, ChromeOS and Windows; Originally developed by Samsung Electronics for its own devices, Google subsequently collaborated with Samsung and merged its own Nearby Share into Quick Share in 2024, distributing Quick Share to non-Galaxy Android devices through Google Play Services. Quick Share utilizes Bluetooth and Wi-Fi Direct to send files to nearby devices or through Samsung Cloud for non-Galaxy devices.
History
Quick Share debuted along with the Samsung Galaxy S20 and One UI 2.1, with rollout to other Galaxy smartphones and tablets later. Samsung claims the service was created to streamline the process of sending content, superseding a previous service named Link Sharing. Quick Share for Windows-based Samsung Galaxy Book notebooks only was launched in 2021, available from the Microsoft Store.In 2024 Google's Nearby Share was merged with and renamed Quick Share.
In November 2025, Google announced that Quick Share was now partially interoperable with AirDrop.
Usage
Users can send files to up to 8 nearby devices at a time, so long as they have the feature enabled and their screens are on. Quick Share can be toggled in the quick panel settings and the user can choose to receive content from anyone nearby, contacts only, your devices, or no one. Content transfer is made possible by choosing Quick Share, after which the sender chooses which nearby device to send to.Quick Share can upload files to Samsung Cloud and sharing via URL. The data uploaded to the Samsung Cloud can be downloaded by the user either by clicking the specified link or scanning the provided QR code.
Uploaded files are limited to 10 gigabytes in size, and can remain in Samsung Cloud for a maximum of two days.
The Quick Share app on Windows enables other Quick Share-enabled devices to share files with Windows devices.
When sharing with an Apple device running iOS, iPadOS, macOS, or visionOS, AirDrop must be set to allow receiving from everyone.
Availability
Quick Share is available on Android 6 and later, ChromeOS 91 and later, and 64-bit versions of Windows 10 and later.The Quick Share function is part of the Android and ChromeOS operating systems. A Windows program can be downloaded and installed, requiring both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi support.
Quick Share for Windows
A Quick Share program has been developed by, and is available from, Google for any non-Samsung computer running Microsoft Windows.A Quick Share program developed by Samsung, for Samsung Galaxy Book PCs running Microsoft Windows only, is available from the Microsoft Store.
Technology
Quick Share is built on a combination of short-range discovery and higher-bandwidth Wi-Fi transports. On Android devices, the service uses Bluetooth or Bluetooth Low Energy for initial discovery and authentication, then establishes a direct Wi-Fi link between devices for the actual data transfer, similar to the approach previously used by Nearby Share.Internally, Quick Share relies on standard Wi-Fi technologies such as Wi-Fi Direct and Wi-Fi Aware on devices and chipsets that support them, allowing devices to discover one another and exchange data without a traditional access point. Android added platform-level support for Wi-Fi Aware in Android 8.0 “Oreo”, and many newer devices expose these capabilities to applications through the Wi-Fi Aware APIs.
In January 2024, Google and Samsung announced that Samsung's existing Quick Share implementation would be unified with Google's Nearby Share under the Quick Share brand, with the goal of providing a single, system-level sharing experience across Android phones, ChromeOS devices, and compatible Windows PCs. In 2025, Google extended Quick Share to support interoperable sharing with Apple's AirDrop on devices running iOS 26 and macOS updates that implement EU Digital Markets Act interoperability requirements, starting with the Pixel 10 family of phones.