There are plenty of reasons to own an Android phone instead of an iPhone, from the much larger range of handsets from several different manufacturers, with prices, features and designs to suit every need and budget. But one very handy thing Apple gadget owners have is AirDrop, which until recently only worked between Apple devices.

AirDrop uses Bluetooth and Wi-Fi to send and receive files between iPhones, iPads and Macs, and is a very useful tool. If you use a Mac for work, moving files between it and your iPhone with the press of a button is a very handy quality of life thing to have.

But you might have a Mac and an Android phone, or you and your family have a mix of Android and iPhone. This means there’s no quick way to send photos, videos and other media between devices without having to dive into an email app or WhatsApp to send it, which is also harder on a Mac or iPad.

But late last year, Google figured out how to make AirDrop work with Android. On the Pixel 10, 10 Pro, 10 Pro XL and 10 Pro Fold, you can use AirDrop alongside Android’s built-in Quick Share tool and the two will talk to each other and work. It doesn’t require the Apple or Android side to install an app to make it work, it just works.

Google claims it has worked out how to do this without Apple’s help, and so far, Apple has not complained. Google also recently expanded compatibility to the Pixel 9 series, as per Trusted Reviews.

Now, as reported by Android Authority, this very handy cross-platform file sharing tech could be coming to more Android phones this year.

“Last year, we launched AirDrop interoperability. In 2026, we’re going to be expanding it to a lot more devices,” Eric Kay, Eric Kay, Vice President of Engineering for Android said during a press briefing.

“We spent a lot of time and energy to make sure that we could build something that was compatible not only with iPhone but iPads and MacBooks. Now that we’ve proven it out, we’re working with our partners to expand it into the rest of the ecosystem, and you should see some exciting announcements coming very soon.”

Unless Kay is implying that this AirDrop compatibility is only coming to more, older Pixel phones, we could be about to see AirDop work with other Android phones from other brands. The number one suspect here would surely be Samsung, the bestselling phone maker in the world, which also has very close ties to Google.

Android Authority also reports that Google is working to make transferring data from an old iPhone to a new Android phone easier. In iOS 26.3, the latest version, Apple introduced an improved file transfer tool that lets you move to Android without having to install an additional app.