Out of nowhere, Google brought cross-platform AirDrop support to the Pixel 10 this week, allowing the company’s latest lineup of flagships to safely and securely send photos, files, and more to the iPhone. While it initially seemed like this was a rogue move made by Google to coerce Apple into another boundary-breaking decision, it might actually be part of the repercussions that also led to USB-C on iPhone and the adoption of RCS.
If you’ve been scratching your head trying to figure out just how — not to mention why — Google was able to get this up and running, the answer might be a little more simple than you could think. While this certainly brought back memories of, say, Beeper’s attempt at getting iMessage up and running on Android two years ago, as well as Palm’s war of attrition on iTunes support in the earliest days of the Pre, it sounds like this particular example was far less hostile towards Apple than any of its predecessors, all thanks to some of the changes made by the EU.
As reported by Ars Technica, the answer to this week’s mysterious Quick Share upgrade lies in the EU’s interoperability requirements designed for the DMA. The ruling out of the European Commission pushed Apple to begin supporting interoperable wireless standards beginning with this year’s set of OS upgrades, replacing the previous proprietary standard the company used to power its various Continuity features. That forced Apple to add support for the Wi-Fi Alliance’s Wi-Fi Aware standard of multi-directional file sharing, at the cost of completely phasing out its previous walled-in protocol.
So yes, while Apple wasn’t officially involved with opening up AirDrop clients to Android, it’s a little unfair to paint this company as having no involvement at all. Thanks to actions Apple was required to make under the DMA in Europe, Pixel 10 users — and soon, Android users at large — now have effectively native AirPlay support through Quick Share without any sacrifice to security, so long as the hardware has proper support for Wi-Fi Aware.
Still, just because this isn’t the quiet workaround some of us might’ve assumed Google was relying on doesn’t mean you should expect Apple to join in on the fun any time soon. As Ars Technica points out in its report, Europe has been rethinking its heavy-handed approach to tech firms, specifically in reaction to the absence of AI-centric firms in the region — and Apple, for its part, still wants the DMA revoked. Try out AirDrop while your phone still supports it, Pixel 10 owners. While it seems unlikely, you never know if this could disappear overnight.
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