What happened? A few weeks ago we heard that Android was developing its own version of Apple’s NameDrop feature, which would allow two phones to exchange contact details by bringing them close to each other. New leaks spotted by Android Authority suggest that the feature will now include an animated interface designed to guide both users through the contact exchange.
- The custom animation will appear around the frame when two phones are brought together.
- However, the actual contact transfer is not yet active, which is why no pop-ups appear after the animation.
This is important because: iPhone users have long had this contact sharing method called NamedDrop, which works by bringing two iPhones close together and exchanging information instantly. This convenience and simplicity seems to be what Android is trying to achieve.
- Android Authority was able to trigger the new animation between a POCO F6 and a Pixel using the latest Google Play Services update (v25.49.31 beta).
- Although it’s clear from the code that NFC will be used to detect when the phones touch each other, it’s not yet confirmed whether NFC will handle all the transmission or just act as a short-distance trigger before handing off the task to Bluetooth or Wi-Fi.
- This feature requires the NFC antennas of both phones to be aligned. However, Android devices place their antennas in different places, unlike iPhones where they stay at the top. This might make it a bit difficult to connect two Android phones together in real-world use.
- Currently, the animation only appears when the phones are tapped together, and no contact card is actually transferred, suggesting that Google is still working on this feature and is not close to releasing it publicly.
Why should I care? Previously, sharing contact information on Android often meant scanning a QR code, manually entering a number, or browsing sharing menus. This NameDrop-style method would make sharing details far smoother, especially in social settings where you just want to touch the phones and move on. Google is also testing new tools to make sharing contact information more private on Android, showing that the company is rethinking the way people share information across devices.
