- Samsung updates Quick Share
- The wireless file and photo sharing feature will now support iPhone’s AirDrop
- Only the Galaxy S26 series right now
Samsung just broke through a major platform barrier, and one that’s sure to excite iPhone and Samsung Galaxy owners alike: Its version of Quick Share will soon support Apple’s AirDrop.
Quick Share and AirDrop perform essentially the same function, but on distinctly separate platforms (Android and iOS, respectively). Each lets you quickly transfer files, photos and videos wirelessly from one phone to another. Both use Bluetooth and Wi-Fi to establish the ad-hoc connection. None of them have worked across iPhone and Galaxy phones until now, but that’s about to change.
Starting March 23 in South Korea and the following week in the US, Quick Share will receive an update that lets Galaxy phones share files to iPhones via AirDrop. The caveat – and it’s a big one – is that it will only work with Samsung Galaxy S26 phones. Samsung says it will add more devices “at a later date.”
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It should be easy to activate the function. On your Galaxy S26 device, open the Quick Panel and select Connected Devices, then Quick Share. Then select the new “Share with Apple devices”. After that, you’ll have the option to select an iPhone nearby, provided it’s open to everyone (or contacts, we suppose).
Following Pixel’s trail
Samsung’s update follows Google’s local sharing technology update that also added AirDrop support to Quick Share on Pixel devices late last year. Quick Share on Pixel 10 devices shares the same architecture as Quick Share on Galaxy phones, so it’s not too surprising that S26 phones now have AirDrop capabilities.
At the moment, it’s not clear if the S26’s version of Quick Share will follow the Pixel 10’s lead and also allow iPhones to AirDrop files to Galaxy S26 phones. It’s easy to do on the Pixel 10, and if Samsung misses out on that feature, this Quick Share update would only be half a solution. Still, since this is likely based on Google’s technology, there’s good reason to believe it will work both ways.
This expanded AirDrop support can only mean good things for future Android devices from all sorts of manufacturers, as this support is clearly coming at the platform level.
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