There’s a bevy of file manager apps to choose from on an Android phone. However, many OEMs prefer bundling in the Google Files app, or its lightweight equivalent, Files Go. Both apps offer a simple, Material You-themed UI that organizes your files neatly and makes it easy to find what you’re looking for. After locating a file, we usually open or share it, and Files helpfully has a Nearby Share tab baked into the bottom bar. Google is currently redesigning the UI to make this your go-to tab for file sharing.
In March this year, we spotted Google making a few minor adjustments to the Nearby Share tab in the Files app, equalizing the Send and Receive button sizes and adding in an elaborate feature description. Now, Nail Sadykov of the Google News channel on Telegram has spotted a major UI change in the works for this Nearby Share page. Google has divided the page into three main sections.
The first, titled Receive files, gets its own card with a neat feature description and a button to turn on Nearby Share. This makes your Android device temporarily visible to devices using Nearby Share in your vicinity. The next section is titled Share to nearby devices, and it actively scans for devices around you ready to receive files with Nearby Share turned on. If you tap one of the listed devices, the Files app conveniently prompts you to select the file you want to share.
The last section labeled Sharing suggestions is an amalgamation of all your recent files Google thinks you might want to share with devices you. You can scroll through a carousel of file thumbnails horizontally and pick one, or use the View all button to open a full-screen view to choose a file. Each file thumbnail in the carousel has a Send shortcut as well.
This redesign is presently in development, because some buttons seen in the UI aren’t functional. However, the level of detail and functionality incorporated into this tab suggests it could soon be a part of an upcoming update. When it goes public, this will be a pleasant change for Regular Google Files users, and may even convince people using third-party apps and the Android share sheet to reconsider their choices.
Nearby Share is now way more versatile with recently added support for Windows PCs. With the new UI on Android, the Files app could easily become your go-to solution for sending files between devices.
