What you need to know
- Google’s Quick Share for Windows appears to be on the way to Windows on Arm PCs.
- Quick Share is a feature that allows you to share photos, videos, and files across Android and Windows devices.
- The website for Quick Share mentioned support for Windows on Arm briefly, though it has since been reverted to say Windows on Arm is not supported.
- It seems likely that Windows on Arm support is on the way but not ready at this time.
Windows on Arm PCs should soon get a boost in the form of Quick Share. That app allows you to share photos, videos, and files across Android devices and PCs, but at the moment it does not support PCs powered by Arm processors. That means many of the best AI PCs running on chips like the Snapdragon X Elite cannot use Quick Share.
A Google website dedicated to the Quick Share feature mentioned Windows on Arm support briefly, but the page has since been changed back to its previous state. 9to5Google spotted the change.
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Google appears to have jumped the gun when it comes to updating its website. Here’s what the site said earlier today, as saved by the Wayback Machine:
“Windows computers (i.e. desktops and laptops) running a 64-bit version of Windows 10 and up (or Windows 11 and up for ARM-based devices). Download Quick Share and ensure Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are enabled on your Windows PC.”
In contrast, here’s what the website says now:
“Windows computers (i.e. desktops and laptops) running a 64-bit version of Windows 10 and up – ARM devices not supported. Download Quick Share and ensure that Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are enabled on your Windows PC.”
I think it’s safe to assume that Google did not roll out Windows on Arm support and then pull that support within a few hours. Instead, the company probably pushed an update to its site a bit early and Windows on Arm support is around the corner.
What is Quick Share?
Quick Share is a feature that allows you to send photos, videos, and documents to and from supported Android devices. Quick Share also works with some Windows PCs if you install the Quick Share app (which is free).
Google’s sharing feature used to be called Nearby Share, but Google renamed the feature to Quick Share earlier this year. That rename came alongside a partnership that saw Google and Samsung work together to create a unified sharing solution.
It took a long time to get a unified sharing solution that worked across Android devices made by different manufacturers as well as with Windows PCs. There are now a few competing solutions with overlapping feature sets, such as Phone Link and Quick Share. Connecting a PC and an Android device isn’t as seamless as using multiple devices within the Apple ecosystem, but features like Quick Share close the gap a sizeable amount.
