Google offers Quick Share (previously known as Nearby Share), a nearby file-sharing app/feature, on Android, ChromeOS, and Windows. When you use Quick Share between two Android devices, they connect with each other directly over the Wi-Fi Direct network, which doesn’t require an intermediate device, such as a Wi-Fi router, and offers the highest possible data transfer speed for the quickest file transfer time.
However, when you use Quick Share between two ChromeOS devices or between a ChromeOS and an Android device, files get transferred over Wi-Fi rather than Wi-Fi Direct. It not only requires the two devices to be connected to a Wi-Fi router but also offers slower file transfer speeds. One of the main reasons Quick Share resorts to this method is because ChromeOS doesn’t support Wi-Fi Direct. Well, that’s about to change.
Google is adding support for Wi-Fi Direct to ChromeOS
According to a new report from Mishaal Rahman on Android Authority, Google is working on adding support for Wi-Fi Direct to ChromeOS. The latest change was revealed through Chromium Gerrit. Once Google enables Wi-Fi Direct in ChromeOS, Quick Share on the platform can use that to directly connect to another ChromeOS or Android device, eliminating the need for the two devices to connect to a Wi-Fi router and increasing the file transfer speeds for quicker file transfer time.
At the moment, there’s no information about when Google will start rolling out support for Wi-Fi Direct to ChromeOS and when it will update Quick Share on ChromeOS to start using the new connectivity option. However, going by feature rollout history, expect the feature to become available in the Dev and Beta channels in the next couple of months, and then arrive in the stable version of the operating system.
