Pixel 9 gains AirDrop-style Quick Share support in the latest Android Canary build

When Google announced Quick Share interoperability with Apple’s AirDrop late last year, the feature was introduced as a Pixel 10 exclusive. But new evidence suggests that exclusivity may not last very long. We’ve found signs that AirDrop-style sharing between Android and iPhone is now being prepared for older Pixel phones, starting with the Pixel 9 series.

While digging through the latest Android Canary build (ZP11.251212.007), we discovered that Google has added new system files required for Quick Share to send files from Android to iPhones for the Pixel 9 series, excluding the Pixel 9a. These files weren’t present in earlier firmware for the older Pixels.

Unfortunately, the new system files enabling AirDrop-style transfers aren’t yet available for all older Pixels just yet. We checked the firmware of the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro and couldn’t find the required files there. While we haven’t checked every Pixel release, this strongly suggests that the Pixel 6 and Pixel 7 series devices also lack the groundwork needed for the feature. That doesn’t mean they’ll never get the feature. It simply means that Google has probably not yet laid that foundation for them.

Google previously promised that support would be rolled out to more Pixel devices over time. However, it didn’t share any concrete timelines for when this would happen.

At this stage, we haven’t been able to test whether Quick Share actually works between a Pixel 9 and an iPhone. However, the inclusion of these system components in the latest Canary build is a strong signal that Google is actively working to expand AirDrop-style sharing beyond the Pixel 10 lineup.

It’s also unclear when the Pixel 9’s Quick Share (AirDrop) functionality will become available to everyone on a stable build. The feature could arrive as part of Android 16 QPR3, or Google might bundle it into Android 17. For now, all we know is that development is actively underway.