Nearby Share Has Gone Missing

[Fisher99]

My wife and I both have Pixel 4 XL phones running Android 11. A while back we both received "Nearby Share" and I did some testing, quite successfully, transferring photos from phone to phone. However, recently NS no longer shows as an option in Google Photos on my phone. I click the Share button on a photo and NS doesn't show on the list of options. I click "More" and it doesn't show there either. I can go to "Google", "Device Connections", and Nearby Share is there and is turned on. Device visibility is set to "All Contacts". "Data Usage" is set to "Data".

Nearby Share still shows as an option in Google Photos on my wife's phone. It's just mysteriously gone from mine. I have powered off/on with no affect. Any ideas how I can get it to show again in Google Photos?

 

[mustang7757]

Try clearing data/cache and force stop Google photos?

 

[Fisher99]

Thanks for the suggestion, but just tried it and still no "Nearby Share" in Google Photos...

 

[Fisher99]

I found a solution. Seems odd, but it worked for me. Opened Google Photos and selected a photo. Tapped "Share" and then tapped "Create Link". Waited until the link was created and then canceled out, back to the Google Photos album. Selected the photo again and tapped "Share". Presto! The Nearby Share option is back!

The other thing that changed is the way the sharing options are listed. Back when Nearby Share was working, the sharing options were on a single line and you swiped left to scroll along the line and select your sharing option. When Nearby Share quit working this changed. It only showed 3 or 4 options and then a "More" button. You tapped "More" and then you could scroll vertically, not horizontally, to see the rest of the list, and Nearby Share wasn't on that list. Now it is back to a single line that you scroll horizontally and Nearby Share is once again an option.

 

[Fisher99]

Here's an update, just in case anybody else is following this thread. The method I mentioned in my above post is turning out to be a workaround rather than a fix. Nearby Share worked yesterday but was broken again today. Doing the "Create Link" trick brought it back, but I now have no anticipation that is permanent. Simply a workaround that will likely have to be done many times until Google actually fixes the problem. But it's better to have a workaround than no solution at all.

 

[mustang7757]

Here's an update, just in case anybody else is following this thread. The method I mentioned in my above post is turning out to be a workaround rather than a fix. Nearby Share worked yesterday but was broken again today. Doing the "Create Link" trick brought it back, but I now have no anticipation that is permanent. Simply a workaround that will likely have to be done many times until Google actually fixes the problem. But it's better to have a workaround than no solution at all.

Glad you found a work around