AirDrop support for older Galaxy S devices is getting closer

Android makers never quite managed to make a local file sharing solution that is as good as Apple’s AirDrop – and they tried. So, as the saying goes, if you can’t beat them, join them. The Samsung Galaxy S26 series (S26, S26+, S26 Ultra), the only phones that run stable One UI 8.5 at the moment, already have official AirDrop support via the Quick Share feature. And soon, older models will get it too.

A number of people are reporting that their Quick Share settings screen has a new “Share with Apple devices” toggle. However, while the feature is visible, it doesn’t actually work for everyone. You can check in your Quick Share settings to see if you have it – but check for updates via the Samsung Store app.

Support for AirDrop appears on several older Galaxy S models

The reports are from owners of older Galaxy S devices, ones from the S25, S24, S23 and S22 generations. Most of them are running One UI 8.5 beta, but some are still on One UI 8.0. It’s not clear what’s going on, but presumably this is just a test rollout – Samsung may be waiting for the stable One UI 8.5 release before properly enabling this feature.

Last year, the EU put pressure on Apple to open up certain iOS features like the notification system, background execution privileges and, yes, AirDrop. This got the ball rolling and Google launched AirDrop support on the Pixel 10 series last year and, since February, on the Pixel 9 series as well. Oppo has also announced that it is bringing AirDrop support to its phones, starting with the Find X9 series.

Source 1 | Source 2 | Via