Android Q won’t have Android Beam

RIP Android Beam NFC – we increasingly hardly used ye

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Googleannounced a lot of exciting newAndroid Qfeatures atGoogle IO 2019, but there was also one it didn’t tell us about: a replacement for Android Beam.

Android Beam, the NFC sharing method where you put to phones back to back to transfer photos, videos, and other files, is nowhere to be found in the ongoing Android Q beta.

At Google IO, we found out that it’s not coming back, either, according to the reps we talked to who are working on Android updates. It’s in theAndroid Pieversion of ourGoogle Pixel 3aandGoogle Pixel 3a XLphones, but not on ourGoogle Pixel 3touting Android Q beta 2 – and upgrading to beta 3 won’t help.

The final version of Android Q (whatever it will be named) won’t see Beam support, so consumers waiting for the stabilized version of Q will see the feature taken away in early August, based on Google’s beta timeline and also the past history of Android updates.

RIP Android Beam – we need an AirDrop equivalent

Granted, the number of people who know about and actually use Android Beam is rather low. Third-party sharing apps like Send Anywhere fill our share menu – they’re okay but not seamless.Google Photosand Google Drive are alternatives, too, but require some extra steps for file transfers to someone nearby.

Nothing strikes a chord likeApple’s AirDrop, which lets you easily send photos and videos between nearby iOS and even Mac devices. It uses Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and the transfer of photos has been nearly flawless for us.

The Android Beam successor, if there is one, will hopefully work a lot like AirDrop. It may launch when Android Q drops, or perhaps it’ll be touted as a new feature when the rumoredGoogle Pixel 4gets announced in or around October.

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We’ve reached out to the Google Android team to get further clarification on what’s coming post-Android Beam to facilitate nearby peer-to-peer file transfers. We’ll update this page when they respond.

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