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Last year, Google introduced Nearby Share on Chrome OS as a way to make transferring files between your different devices easier. The feature itself works pretty well, but is not as seamless as something like Apple’s AirDrop. Luckily, Google recognized this and has already confirmed plans to make your phone and Chromebooks work better together.
At CES 2022, Google announced a slew of new features that are coming to Chomebooks, smartwatches, Android, and even Windows PCs to improve usability. One such feature is improving Nearby Share, but it seems that we’re in store for a rebranding of sorts as discovered by Chrome Story.
In addition to Nearby Share, a new Chromium Gerrit commit reveals that Google will also be introducing a feature called “Self Share”. The way that this works is pretty similar to AirDrop, but instead of being able to share files with anyone else who is using Nearby Share, it will only work with your own devices. According to one flag that was spotted, the feature is in the works and is described as such:
Nearby Sharing Self Share: Enables seamless sharing between a user’s own devices.
Since this is using the same technology as Nearby Share, it will use the same menu. However, once the feature arrives, you’ll see a new “Send to Your Devices” option appear in the menu, along with what is already available with Nearby Share.
Since this feature has appeared in Chromium Gerrit, we expect it to arrive on the Chrome Canary channel in the coming weeks. This appears to be the first step that Google is taking to provide a more cohesive ecosystem, and we can’t wait to get our hands on it. As is the case with these new features, it will likely take some time before they make their way into the stable build of Chrome OS. So those who don’t want to experiment with new features will likely be waiting for at least a few months, if not longer.
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