Back in 2023, Apple introduced NameDrop as part of iOS 17. This feature lets you share files with another person by simply bringing your iPhone close to theirs. NameDrop also supports sharing of contact information.
Now, more than two years later, Google seems to be working on a very similar feature for Android. This was discovered in a version of the Google Play Services under the name “Gesture Exchange”.
Android’s version of NameDrop
Gesture Exchange also contains an activity called Contact Exchange, and it uses NFC. And above you can see what Google’s NameDrop for Android will look like. The screenshot on the left shows the first screen that you’ll see when you initiate the functionality. That’s where you select what details you want to share – photo, phone number, email address. You can also choose Receive only to not share any info.
The screenshot on the right shows received information, which you can save with one tap. You can also directly initiate a video call or send a text using the buttons that are right there.
While NFC is definitely being used for this, it might just be for the initial handshake to establish a connection between the two phones. And for now the development is clearly contact sharing-oriented, but of course nothing is stopping Google from adding file sharing abilities as well at a later time.
The company might also pick a better sounding name for this feature than Gesture Exchange / Contact Exchange. We’ll have to wait and see. Development seems to be ongoing, but it could still take a while until this goes live.
