Question Nearby/Quick Share Requirements

[ghines]

Hi all,

Trying to use Nearby Share with Android and my W11 PC and have a couple of questions.

1. Can someone tell me if the devices need to be BT paired? Can it work without pairing and just BT turned ON on both devices?
2. Does it also require both devices to be connected to the same Wifi network?
3. Will it work with BT only if there is no WiFi network?

Sorry for the noob questions, just trying to understand how this works.

TIA

 

[Mooncatt]

1. Correct, you do not have to formally pair the Bluetooth devices. It only uses Bluetooth for identification to know which device to connect to.

2. Yes, they must be on the same network if pairing to a computer, but the computer could be connected via Wi-Fi or Ethernet

3. It will work with Bluetooth only, but not as Quick Share. It would fall back to a standard Bluetooth pairing and slow transfer.

This is assuming you are using the new Google Quick Share that they bought out from Samsung. From my understanding, the older Samsung specific version did not require a Bluetooth connection when sharing to a PC, but Google being Google decided to downgrade it by requiring what should be an unnecessary Bluetooth connection with the PC. I found that out the hard way (my PC doesn't have a Bluetooth chip).

 

[ghines]

1. Correct, you do not have to formally pair the Bluetooth devices. It only uses Bluetooth for identification to know which device to connect to.

2. Yes, they must be on the same network if pairing to a computer, but the computer could be connected via Wi-Fi or Ethernet

3. It will work with Bluetooth only, but not as Quick Share. It would fall back to a standard Bluetooth pairing and slow transfer.

This is assuming you are using the new Google Quick Share that they bought out from Samsung. From my understanding, the older Samsung specific version did not require a Bluetooth connection when sharing to a PC, but Google being Google decided to downgrade it by requiring what should be an unnecessary Bluetooth connection with the PC. I found that out the hard way (my PC doesn't have a Bluetooth chip).

Thank you for your great reply, most helpful.

Regarding point (3). Are you saying they would not need to be paired but would pair themselves somehow to do the transfer and then unpair? The reason for the question is I'm finding under these conditions, no WiFi, the phone cannot find the PC.

Thanks again.

 

[Mooncatt]

If there is no Wi-Fi connection, then you would have to manually pair the Bluetooth as you would pairing with any other device. Then you would initiate a send from your phone to the computer. The devices will remain paired after that.

If your phone isn't finding the PC Bluetooth, make sure your PC is in discovery mode for a standard Bluetooth connection.