Key Takeaways
- Google has tried a few visual changes for the Quick Share UI since its rebranding from Nearby Share.
- We just spotted a new design featuring a percentage of completion in the center of the circular progress bar on the receiver’s device.
- It seems like a limited test for now, but could roll out to everyone eventually.
At the start of this year, Google joined forces with Samsung to announce the rebranding of Nearby Share to Quick Share. The new system retains the core functionality and privacy settings we loved, but has received its fair share of cosmetic updates in the months since. Now, Google seems to be testing a new UI with the percentage completion of the transfers quantified front and center, but there are caveats.
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Since donning the new Quick Share branding, the Android equivalent of Apple’s AirDrop has picked up Material Design 3 animations and also served as a testing ground for Google’s latest progress bar design. However, progress bars for inbound and outbound file transfers in this tool are more visual and stylistic than actually helpful. The Quick Share desktop client shows an estimate of the time remaining alongside the transfer speed.
The current receiver UI for Quick Share
On mobile, though, the main interface for both senders and receivers only shows a circular progress bar that fills up as the transfer progresses. Even the persistent notification for each transfer only has a simple linear progress bar. While a visual representation is easy to process, some users might prefer quantification. In July, an app researcher @AssembleDebug on X told Android Authority of a percentage value showing up in the UI, centered in the circular progress bar. At the time, the feature was hidden in the app code, and invisible to the average user.
Google is now testing the new UI actively
Testing usually precedes a stable launch
Percentage progress displayed while receiving a file using Quick Share
Google seems to have restarted testing recently, because I spotted the percentage value showing up today while receiving a few large files on my Nothing Phone 2a. I haven’t updated anything recently, and my Pixel 7 connected to the same Google account is still showing the old UI, which leads me to conclude this is a random A/B test that isn’t linked to your account, so it might show up only on some of your devices.
Moreover, Google stuck with the old progress bar design while including the percentage progress, which could indicate they are separate changes that aren’t interdependent. I then swapped roles and tried sending a file using the same device, but it appears senders will be stuck with the old circular progress bar design for now, although I suspect it could change when the feature becomes stable. The change isn’t massive, but knowing the exact percentage could help you better guesstimate the time remaining for the transfer.
We aren’t seeing public reports of this feature on other Android devices, but Google usually expands testing before making the change official. That said, it wouldn’t hurt to see even more details such as transfer speeds and completion time estimates like Quick Share’s desktop client, even if the details are hidden in the notification shade on Android.
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