Nearby Share for Windows: A Complete Guide.
During CES 2022, Google announced they are working on Nearby share for Windows. On March 31, 2023, we got our first beta for Nearby Share on Windows, and for most all PC and Android users it is a huge announcement because it allows you to send and receive files between your PC and Android device wirelessly, although there are some other solutions available, because it is straight from Google we do not need to use any third party apps on our Android devices and the experience is seamless.
Requirements to get Nearby Share on Windows
We need to understand a few things before we start using Nearby Share on Windows.
It is still in the beta stages and not completely stable and it might not work perfectly all the time. However, in my testing, everything works fine without any problems. To get started we need to download the installer directly from Android.com and more importantly you need to use a 64-bit version of Windows 10 or Windows 11. Unfortunately for now there is no support for Windows on Arm yet and you need to have Bluetooth and Wifi enabled on your computer (having both is important). And Google has also set the radius to 5 meters which is needed for an optimum transfer rate and good connection stability.
Installation and Setup
once you download the (.exe) file on your device you just need to launch it. All the setup will be installed on your system it should take a couple of seconds depending on your internet speed, once all is done you will be requested to sign in with your Google Account, you can sign in if you want to, and after that Nearby share will be disappeared to your system tray from where you can access it whenever you want to, you can click on the Nearby Share icon on the system tray to open it and a simple dialogue box will appear.
From this window, you can set your device visibility (who can send you data of files). If you choose to stay hidden you can only send files in one direction, to your smartphone, tablet, or your Chrome OS devices. You can also see there are small Material You design choices in the application which make it look really good as well.
Sending and Receiving Files
Sending files is really easy, you can select files or folders directly from this window you can also drag and drop them. Once done the app will start to look around for nearby devices to share the file. On the device where you want to receive the file you need to set the visibility of Nearby Share as either “Everyone” or as “Your Devices”. If done right you will be able to see your Mobile Device on your PC just like this.
from here you can send the file to your Android or Chrome OS device.
Receiving files is also as simple as sending them, for receiving files you just need to set your Windows PC visibility to either “Everyone” or “Your Devices” After this your Android phone will simply start looking for your PC and you will get a prompt like this if it finds your PC.
Once you hit Accept the file will be shared with you and it will be stored in your PC’s download folder. If you Decline no file will be shared with you. You can also choose to select where your files will be saved on your computer.
Few things you need to know before you start using Nearby Share
First of all, Nearby Share will keep running in the background and that might be a good thing because it does not really consume an insignificant amount of system resources which is always good for an old laptop or an old PC. Secondly, if you are transferring a huge amount of data you can just continue to do your work, and transfer progress will be shown in your notification panel.
Because Nearby Share is running in the background on your PC you will be able to see a “Send with Nearby Share option” whenever you right-click on a file.
Conclusion
I feel like if you are Andoid and a Windows user you must give it a try, with Nearby Share fused in Windows I can see people already fusing Nearby Share in their day-to-day lives with ease. It is overdue for a long time and Google finally made sharing between these two huge platforms so much easier. That aside it is still not available worldwide and there are a few countries that are still missing. You can find out the list of countries here.
You can also download Nearby Share from Android.com
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