The future is already here, and when I say here, I mean Android and Windows, and when I say future… well, I mean that both operating systems finally have a tool that makes it easy to share files between the two platforms. Okay, I know it’s a bit futuristic, but since then Until now, it has been the fastest and most widely used option for sending files via e-mailno doubt an exciting giant step lies ahead.

Ok, I think I’ll leave the sarcasm aside for now and focus on what concerns us, which is none other than the expected arrival Close sharing, a new Android feature available from 2020 to transfer files between Android devices, and whose extension to Windows was announced (in advance) by Google last September. We have had no news of it since then, but thankfully the “drought” is over.

So as we can read on the official page of the operating system, a public beta has been opened for users to start testing Near Share (or Nearby Sharing, Google refers to this feature by both names) between Android and Windows. However, the scope of the said beta version is limited and it is not possible to access it from Spain at the moment. There is no exact information about it, but everything indicates that it is only accessible from the United States for now.

We’re talking about Android and Windows and file sharing, so the first thing that comes to many people’s minds is logically security. In this regard, and as we can read in the said publication, Google has taken several measures to try to prevent illegitimate use of Near Share. So for a start we will be able to choose who can detect the proximity of our device (everyone, our contacts, only our own device or no one) and also all file transfers will have to be confirmed before they are done. . This, added to works within a range of only five metersassumes (at least a priori) quite adequate protection.

The good news for many is that Near Share in its Windows version (which is the one that just started its public beta) it is compatible with both Windows 10 and Windows 11, instead of being restricted exclusively to the latest version of Microsoft’s operating system. Of course, it is not compatible with ARM-based systems and this is logical, for its use it is necessary to have both WiFi and Bluetooth activated.