Sending files between Android and iOS could soon become easier (for some)

Smartphone OEMs are focusing heavily on ecosystems these days, but not everyone lives in platform bubbles. Many of us live across different product ecosystems, choosing products that work for us instead of being tied down to the ecosystem. However, this diversity in choice comes with drawbacks, as these ecosystems often don’t play nice with each other. However, changes are on the horizon, and one of them could soon make it easier to share files from an Android phone to an iPhone.

Before we dive into the upcoming feature, let’s back up a little to understand the problem. Sharing a file between iPhones or other Apple devices is easy, thanks to AirDrop. Sharing a file between Android devices, and even between Android devices and Windows PCs, is easy, thanks to Google’s Quick Share.

However, sharing files between an iPhone and an Android device is not as easy or straightforward. Most users rely on cloud storage solutions like iCloud, Google Drive, Dropbox, or WeTransfer to share files across these ecosystems. Several others turn to messaging apps like WhatsApp and Telegram for file sharing. Alternatively, you could use a USB OTG thumb drive to transfer large files. There are also more specialized and niche apps that let you transfer files wirelessly, but there are drawbacks across speed, size, and how much you have to pay for the privilege.

If you were looking for a more polished solution, there’s one coming soon from an Android OEM. Leaker Digital Chat Station has shared a purported screenshot from the upcoming Color OS 15 update (based on Android 15) from the forthcoming OnePlus 13 showing a file transfer between the Android flagship and an iPhone.

Here is the image that is attached to the post:

Per the screenshot and the comments on the Weibo post, OPPO/OnePlus has developed a solution that allows wirelessly sending files to and from an iPhone. This includes photos, videos, documents, and other content. Allegedly, this requires an app to be installed on the iPhone, but the solution is said to be baked into Color OS 15. This is also said to be different from the solutions developed under the Peer-to-Peer Transmission Alliance that was announced jointly by Xiaomi, OPPO, and vivo back in 2020.

Details aren’t clear at this stage as Color OS 15 is still some weeks away from launch. It is also not clear if the solution is intended for global markets. Note that OnePlus devices in China use Color OS, while OnePlus devices sold globally run on Oxygen OS (which shares a common codebase with Color OS).

We hope the feature comes to fruition and is rolled out globally, as making it easier to share files wirelessly between Android and iPhone would be a big win for consumers and their personal choices. There are apps that can achieve similar results over FTP and other solutions, but there’s always some monetization element involved. A baked-in solution on Color OS devices would save people from these headaches.