Will Airdrop feature come to GOS?

pizzadequeso

Google has made it possible to use apple's airdrop feature on pixel 10 series phones. Soon to older pixels as well. Will this come to GOS in the near future?

de0u

pizzadequeso Will this come to GOS in the near future?

I am unaware of information that would suggest this is likely.

vividsquirrel

pizzadequeso Unfortunately probably not. Most of these types of features are not part of AOSP and are implemented in a proprietary form in Google Play Services. It is possible they would work on GOS through Sandboxed Google Play, but it will almost certainly not be a part of the OS itself.

akc3n

pizzadequeso Google has made it possible to use apple's airdrop feature on pixel 10 series phones. Soon to older pixels as well. Will this come to GOS in the near future?

As of November 21, 2025, an issue was opened on this subject with refs and minutes later the feature type was added, see: https://github.com/GrapheneOS/os-issue-tracker/issues/6550 for more details details and subscribe to get notified if you are a GitHub user. No priority label was added, so I can't imagine it being anytime in the "near future".

Murcielago

Currently the ability to share with iPhones is working only on Pixel 10 series devices with StockOS.

It probably will be rolled out to other devices:

We’re looking forward to improving the experience and expanding it to more Android devices.

source: https://blog.google/products/android/quick-share-airdrop/

The feature appears to be an addition to Quick Share:

To enable, Pixel 10 owners have to go to: Settings app > tap their name at the top for Google services > All services > Privacy & security > System services. Update “Quick Share Extension” and reboot your phone.

source: https://9to5google.com/2025/11/20/android-quick-share-airdrop-pixel-10/

So if it comes to GrapheneOS, it seems to require at least Sandboxed Google Play.

Another question is also whether Google would like to use the feature exclusively to gain a unique selling point or whether it would like to roll it out to other manufacturers as well. The above-quoted phrase “...and expanding it to more Android devices” suggests the latter.

DeletedUser622

What are other ways to exchange files between two [Pixel] devices without involving third party services or registration, except Bluetooth?

manugraph

DeletedUser622

You can use https://localsend.org

Open source cross-platform application for local-only data transfer. It also works in the Browser (although I have not tested that yet)

beep-boop

I used intel-unison before, but it's intel's EULA :D

Yeah, I really like quick-sharing stuff between my work pixel and work macbook, it's exactly what we all wanted from airdrop/quickshare for years.

pizzadequeso

any update on this? P9 phones are getting airdrop soonish.

de0u

pizzadequeso any update on this? P9 phones are getting airdrop soonish.

Google rolling the feature out to various Pixel models running their closed-source OS doesn't make it more likely that GrapheneOS will get the feature. So if in two months they roll it out to Pixel 8 devices running their OS, that will have no bearing on GrapheneOS.

It remains to be seen whether Google will share the code with some or all of their OEM partners (e.g., Samsung, Sony) and also whether Google will contribute the code to AOSP. If the code ends up in AOSP it is likely that GrapheneOS will ship it quickly. If the code never ends up in AOSP it still might happen that the GrapheneOS project might find a way to make it available, or maybe not, but probably not soon.

Short answer: no update now, probably no update for months to come, unlikely there will be any update for GrapheneOS before the feature is on Samsung devices, and maybe not even then.

Please note that I don't speak for the GrapheneOS project.

raccoondad

pizzadequeso any update on this?

GOS doesn't usually add features like that. If its apart of ASOP, it will be apart of GOS most likely. If it isn't, it probably won't be.

Drum1973

https://9to5google.com/2026/03/04/airdrop-android-quick-share-oppo/

In an MWC press release sent to 9to5Google around the MediaTek chips used inside of Oppo’s latest smartphones (namely the Find X9 series), the company also shared that it plans to bring AirDrop over Quick Share support to its Android phones starting later in March.

It’s a notable expansion, and with evidence of Samsung also preparing support for AirDrop over Quick Share on the Galaxy S26 series having also recently surfaced, it seems possible that a broader rollout is on the horizon. That’s only speculation on our part, though.

So Oppo and Samsung are preparing to integrate AirDrop support. Hopefully we can also get it in some way in GrapheneOS.