WhatsApp may soon offer its own AirDrop-like file sharing feature

Anyone who likes to take and share a lot of photos will likely agree that AirDrop is a great feature, but its Apple-only status is limiting. Now, WhatsApp could give it a run for its money across all devices. The company is seemingly working on a new update that would allow users to share files with nearby devices, WABetaInfo reports.

WhatsApp’s new feature is currently under development (it hasn’t even reached Beta testing yet), so while we don’t know when it will be available, we do have a good idea of what it will look like. For starters, users will likely need to shake their device in order to activate a request and, of course, be in close proximity to the other person. The recipient then needs to open WhatsApp and also shake their device to see and accept the share request. We don’t know how close the pair will need to be, but AirDrop has a range of about 30 feet for context.

WhatsApp’s security measures extend to sharing as files (likely to be mostly photos and videos) will be end-to-end encrypted. The platform will also keep phone numbers private when users share files with anyone outside of their contacts. While much of this mirrors AirDrop, it’s unclear if files will automatically download to a user’s camera roll or work with Bluetooth alone. Currently, WhatsApp allows for 100 photos to be sent at one time over regular messaging, so we’ll have to wait and see how this feature differs.

Anyone who likes to take and share a lot of photos will likely agree that AirDrop is a great feature, but its Apple-only status is limiting. Now, WhatsApp could give it a run for its money across all devices. The company is seemingly working on a new update that would allow users to share files with nearby devices, WABetaInfo reports.

WhatsApp’s new feature is currently under development (it hasn’t even reached Beta testing yet), so while we don’t know when it will be available, we do have a good idea of what it will look like. For starters, users will likely need to shake their device in order to activate a request and, of course, be in close proximity to the other person. The recipient then needs to open WhatsApp and also shake their device to see and accept the share request. We don’t know how close the pair will need to be, but AirDrop has a range of about 30 feet for context.

WhatsApp’s security measures extend to sharing as files (likely to be mostly photos and videos) will be end-to-end encrypted. The platform will also keep phone numbers private when users share files with anyone outside of their contacts. While much of this mirrors AirDrop, it’s unclear if files will automatically download to a user’s camera roll or work with Bluetooth alone. Currently, WhatsApp allows for 100 photos to be sent at one time over regular messaging, so we’ll have to wait and see how this feature differs.