With the family gathered around for the holidays, you can now share photos, videos, and other memories easily right from your smartphone.
For years iPhone owners have used AirDrop to quickly and easily share files, photos, videos, and links with other nearby iPhones. Using AirDrop, you don’t have to fuss with texting a photo, compressing it and ruining its overall quality, or clog up your text or iMessage thread with random links and files.
You can use AirDrop to share files with your friends and family who also have an Apple device and are within range (about 30 feet). It uses Bluetooth to create a WiFi network between two devices. Both devices will also need Bluetooth and WiFi turned on and AirDrop enabled.
To turn on AirDrop on an iPhone, open the Control Center by swiping up on older models or swiping down from the top-right corner on an iPhone X or later. Then tap and hold the WiFi button, select AirDrop, and choose who can send files to your iPhone.
If you select Contacts Only, you will only receive files from people in your Contacts list. If you choose Everyone, any Apple device in range can transfer files to your device. You can turn AirDrop off at any time by selecting Receiving Off.
Android phones are finally getting Google’s version of AirDrop, called Nearby Share, letting you easily share, send and receive files between Android devices. However, Google is slowly rolling out Nearby Share, so it may take some time before it will show up on your phone.
Open the Settings app and select Google > Device connections > Nearby share to see if it’s available on your device. If Nearby Share isn’t listed as an option, you don’t have the feature yet, and you’ll need to keep checking sporadically.
On your phone, open the Settings app and select Google > Device connections > Nearby share.
If Nearby Share isn’t listed as an option, you don’t have the feature yet, and you’ll need to keep checking sporadically. There isn’t an update you need to install or anything you can do on your end at all. It will simply appear when it’s added to your device.
Invite AirDrop and Nearby Share to join your family gatherings. Along with the gifts and leftovers, they’ll help you send everyone home with great memories this holiday season with just a few clicks on your phone.
My favorite holiday memories is spend Christmas with my family in joy food n great music and memories with them. I hope can win smartphone capture the memories still.
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Hi Susie, thanks for your post. If you have any questions about using a phone, give us a call at 800-686-4460 or chat with one of our agents here for further assistance with the phone. You can also visit our website here for the manual of a phone and how-to videos as well.
Would love a new update phone .
Hi Susie, thanks for your post! If you like to order a new phone, we’d be happy to help with that process. Give us a call at 800-686-4460 for assistance with placing an order, otherwise, you can also order a new smartphone by going to your account here as well.