Google is oddly rebranding Nearby Share for some untold reason

It’s funny, just the other day I found myself remarking just how good Nearby Share has become. Since its humble beginnings on Android devices, this service has expanded to Chromebooks and Windows PCs to give users a simple, easy way to get files from one device to another. As a late but competent answer to Apple’s AirDrop, Nearby Share has become a useful, simple, and reliable part of my daily workflow.

Where the early iterations of the service were pretty janky and unreliable on ChromeOS, I can’t actually remember the last time I had an issue with Nearby Share when I needed it. The interface is simpler, the file transfers are faster, and overall, I find very little to complain about with Nearby Share. And that includes the name.

The term “Nearby Share” is pretty apt for what it does: allow users to move files to other devices in the vicinity. And while Apple is good at hypnotizing people to regurgitate its oft-times-silly marketing terms for things (Retina Display, Dynamic Island, Magic Trackpad, Magic Mouse, etc.), Google isn’t nearly as prolific when it comes to naming its services. And in that light, I think Nearby Share was a fine name for a blue-collar service that does its job well and is quite clearly defined by that.

Nearby Share will soon become “Quick Share”

In what feels a bit like an attempt to coin a cooler, more creative name for Nearby Share, it seems Google is set to rebrand the entire thing to “Quick Share” pretty soon. Check out this find by noted leaker Kamila Wojciechowska over on X:

Yeah, so this isn’t just a little thing that is perhaps in the works: it looks like a fully-cooked done deal. There are toasts that signify the change, a new icon, some tweaks to the UI, and even a new icon in the notifications. Quick Share is coming to replace Nearby Share, but it definitely seems that the core functionality of the service will remain unchanged.

Is Samsung somehow involved?

The bigger question here revolves around Samsung’s potential involvement. They already offer their own, in-house version of AirDrop/Nearby Share called – you guessed it – Quick Share. I’m hoping beyond hope that this isn’t some massive oversight and that in some way, shape or form Google and Samsung are working together to enhance and combine Nearby Share and Quick Share for an Android-wide service.

Just look at the icons. On the left is Samsung’s Quick Share, on the right is Google’s new Quick Share. While not identical, they bear a massive similarity, and it’s enough to make me think that we’ll hear something official about this partnership in the coming days or weeks. If Google ripped off both the name and logo of something already in Samsung’s ecosystem, this would be a catastrophe of embarrassment. Surely that’s not the case. Right?