The future is already here, and when I say here I mean Android and Windows, and when I say future… well, I mean that both operating systems finally have a tool that makes it easy to share files between both platforms. Okay, I know it’s a bit futuristic, but since Until now, the fastest and most used option was to send the files by emailwithout a doubt we are facing an exciting giant step.
Ok, I think I’m going to leave the sarcasm aside for the moment, to focus on what concerns us, which is nothing more than the expected arrival of Close Share, a new Android feature available since 2020 for file transfers between Android devices, and whose expansion to Windows was announced (in advance) by Google in September of last year. Since then we have not had any news about it, but fortunately the “drought” is over.
Thus, as we can read on the official page of the operating system, a public beta has been opened so that users can start testing Near Share (or Nearby Share, Google refers to this feature by both names) between Android and Windows. However, the scope of said beta is limited and, at the moment, it is not possible to access it from Spain. There is no precise information about it, but everything indicates that, for the moment, it is only accessible from the United States.
We are talking about Android and Windows and sharing files, so the first thing that will come to mind for many people, logically, is security. In this regard, and as we can read in said publication, Google has taken several measures to try to prevent the illegitimate use of Near Share. Thus, to begin with, we will be able to select who can detect the proximity of our device (everyone, our contacts, only our own devices or no one), and also, all file transfers will have to be confirmed before being carried out. This, added to works in a range of only five meterssupposes (at least a priori) a fairly adequate protection.
Good news for many is that Near Share, in its version for Windows (which is the one that has just started its public beta) is compatible with both Windows 10 and Windows 11, instead of being limited exclusively to the most current version of Microsoft’s operating system. Of course, it is not compatible with ARM-based systems and, this is logical, to use it it is essential to have both WiFi and Bluetooth activated.
