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Android and iPhone users can now share files, starting with the Pixel 10

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Re: Android and iPhone users can now share files, starting with the Pixel 10

#421

Post by joshuaissac »

randunel wrote: post #101
Gys wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We used to be able to send files over Bluetooth before the iPhone came out. Cross platforms, really? So for example between a Blackberry and a Windows CE phone?

Yes, even "dumb" phones could share files with computers back then. Apple users have no idea how much harm their masters have done to society.

Is this really a problem with Apple?

Phones other than iPhones can still share files with each other and with computers using Bluetooth. But people instead use apps like WhatsApp or e-mail for file transfers, even in places where iPhone's market penetration is near zero.

Re: Android and iPhone users can now share files, starting with the Pixel 10

#422

Post by jamwil »

rsync wrote: post #260
keane wrote: post #184

Possibly relevant comment from a few years ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26893693 >AirDrop also shares your full name (seemingly the one associated with your Apple ID, not what you have set for yourself in your contacts), both by displaying it in the sharing interface on the involved devices and by attaching it as an extended attribute to uploaded files. >So if you AirDrop some files to your computer and…

"... then zip them up, anyone you send that zip to (a journalist, a public file-hosting site, w/e) will have your full legal name ..." A bit of a leap to assume that your Apple ID (or the name you give your iphone) is your full legal name ... or related to any name at all ... My apple ID is built specifically for just that phone and is jettisoned when I upgrade/change the phone. The apple ID is not related to my own…

So you repurchase your entire App Store library when you upgrade your phone?

Re: Android and iPhone users can now share files, starting with the Pixel 10

#423

Post by jamwil »

Lutzb wrote: post #383
kleiba wrote: post #363

It's amazing how seemingly trivial things turn out to be really hard to be in practice. Like: - sharing files between two phones - printing a page on that printer over there - getting the projector to display my screen (correctly, or at all) - getting my wife not to click on a link in a random email

I am still think that transfering state between devices is the next big thing(tm) waiting to happen. I am working on a file on my macbook, now I want to seamslessly move the whole application working on it to my nearby Windows machine and just continue. Seems impossible right now.

Apple has been iterating on Handover and Continuity for many years and it’s still not perfect (maybe it’s better on a newer stable of devices, I couldn’t say). But it’s clearly challenging even within a tightly coordinated ecosystem; I suspect crossing the platform divide reliably would be extremely hard.

Re: Android and iPhone users can now share files, starting with the Pixel 10

#424

Post by throawayonthe »

tempfile wrote: post #384
onlyhumans wrote: post #379

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Microsoft Zune had the ability to send music wirelessly to other Zunes, it was called squirting

That's appalling. "Yo let me squirt you"

squirt me bro

Re: Android and iPhone users can now share files, starting with the Pixel 10

#425

Post by leshenka »

hu3 wrote: post #399
dmitrygr wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

0, this is reverse engineered AirDrop protocol. Implementations have been around for a while, eg: https://github.com/seemoo-lab/opendrop

If implemntations have been around for a while but it only happened now, then it's 99% chance that's it's Apple backpedalling and trying to weasel their way around DMA. They got smoked in court, see ruling at https://ec.europa.eu/competition/digital_markets_act/cases/2... 5.4.8. Implementation timing (245) Apple should provide effective interoperability with the P2P Wi-Fi connection feature by implementing the measur…

opendrop works without asking Apple

Re: Android and iPhone users can now share files, starting with the Pixel 10

#426

Post by thiht »

sd9 wrote: post #416
kleiba wrote: post #363

It's amazing how seemingly trivial things turn out to be really hard to be in practice. Like: - sharing files between two phones - printing a page on that printer over there - getting the projector to display my screen (correctly, or at all) - getting my wife not to click on a link in a random email

I don’t understand why printing is still so difficult in 2025

It’s not if you pay the price. I have a Brother printer (inkjet) and it literally just works. I can go months without printing anything, then I just print a document from my phone or laptop and it just works.

This is something that should be normal but I’m still amazed every time I use it because I had an Epson before and the experience was… not the same.

Re: Android and iPhone users can now share files, starting with the Pixel 10

#428

Post by 63stack »

tencentshill wrote: post #152
rescbr wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember reading somewhere Apple had/has to make AirDrop interoperable due to EU's DMA.

So is Airdrop now less secure or private? I don't trust any standard Google had their hands in.

The walled garden is breached, run for the hills!

Re: Android and iPhone users can now share files, starting with the Pixel 10

#429

Post by quitit »

lathiat wrote: post #309
hoherd wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Using macOS 26 and iOS 26 I was unable to reproduce their findings. I airdropped a photo from my iOS device to my laptop, and nothing in `mdls`, `xattr -l`, `exiftool -s`, `rg -i` showed my name.

It wouldn't surprise if Apple had fixed this, it's the sortof thing they would fix, but it may be worth trying with 2 devices not from the same iCloud account. Wouldn't surprise me if the code paths were subtly different in that case.

They would seem to contain identifiers as law enforcement have been able to follow up on instances where there has been airdropping of perverse images, but as noted by others the files don't include names.

The problem with airdrop (and likely why the 10 minute setting now exists) is that it includes a preview image as part of the notification request.

So other than being able to subject someone to perverse images, preview images have also been used in state-sponsored zero-click attacks to infect the phones of their targets. While that vector seems to be muted for now, the 10 minute setting provides a layer of defence against both potential future zero-clicks and receiving unsolicited previews images.

Re: Android and iPhone users can now share files, starting with the Pixel 10

#430

Post by eviks »

wackget wrote: post #342

Incredible! In an astounding feat, it has only taken a mere two decades to enable the world's largest tech companies to provide the most basic levels of interopability. At this breakneck speed of technological development, one can only imagine what wonderful boons await consumers in the next few decades.

They're might have exhausted their centennial budget of cooperation on trivial things!
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