Pixel 10 phones are now compatible with AirDrop

Google just announced some unexpected and welcome news: Pixel 10 owners can now send and receive files using Apple devices via AirDrop. According to Google, this works with iPhone, iPad, and macOS, and applies to the entire Pixel 10 series. It’s limited to Google’s latest phones for now, but Google spokesperson Alex Moriconi says: “We’re bringing this new experience to the Pixel 10 first before expanding to other devices.”

To send a file from a Pixel 10 via AirDrop, an Apple device owner will need to change their settings to make their device discoverable to anyone — there’s an option to do this with an automatic 10-minute limit. After that, the Pixel 10 owner should be able to see the device using Quick Share and send it. On the other hand, it looks like it will look just like any other AirDrop request that a user can approve to initiate the transfer.

According to supporting documents, it goes the other way as well. Likewise, the Pixel 10 should be discoverable to anyone or in receiving mode. Then, the Apple device owner initiates the transfer via AirDrop, the Pixel owner agrees, and voila: cross-platform sharing.

A post on Google’s security blog goes into more detail about how it’s implemented, claiming that “this feature uses no workaround; the connection is direct and peer-to-peer, meaning your data is never routed through a server, shared content is never logged, and no additional data is shared.”

However, what he didn’t mention was that it was added with any input from Apple – just that “we would welcome the opportunity to work with Apple to enable ‘Contacts Only’ mode in the future.” The blog post details Google’s reasoning for why this implementation is secure, along with pointing to an independent security assessment from NetSPI (pdf), which preemptively steps back from the reasons Apple might cite for preventing compatibility. We’ve reached out to Apple for comment on this announcement, and will update if we hear anything.

It is worth noting that this is not Android The feature so far — it’s currently limited to Google’s own phones, and the latest generation ones. However, it’s huge news for Android users. Seamless sharing between Apple devices using AirDrop is one of those extremely useful features that has been kept within the walled garden until now. With RCS now widely used on iPhones, making cross-platform messaging easier, it seems like another meaningful step forward to lower those garden walls.