Quick Share for Windows gets a major upgrade, no more Wi-Fi hassle

Who doesn’t love a good productivity hack, especially when it comes without an official announcement? According to Android Authority, Google’s Quick Share for Windows has just received an upgrade that’s fixing its biggest bottleneck. You can now transfer files between your Android phone and Windows PC at impressive speeds, without needing both devices to be on the same Wi-Fi network. This quiet update might just make Quick Share a go-to for file transfers on the go.

Previously, if your Windows PC wasn’t connected to the same Wi-Fi network as your Android device, Quick Share would drop down to Bluetooth speeds — which, to put it kindly, were painful. We’re talking a snail-paced 60KB per second on larger files. A single transfer could take hours, maybe even a whole day, just to get a video from your phone to your laptop.

But now, those frustratingly slow transfers are a thing of the past. With the new update, all your PC needs is Wi-Fi turned on, even if it isn’t connected to a network. Quick Share now automatically links up your Android device and Windows PC at high speeds, using what appears to be some form of Wi-Fi Direct or hotspot-like connection. It’s fast, reliable, and ready whenever you are — no more network gymnastics required.

With this upgrade, Quick Share becomes a seriously handy tool for anyone frequently moving files between their phone and PC. Out and about without Wi-Fi? No problem. Google has essentially removed the requirement of shared networks, so you’re free to share files quickly wherever you are. In Mishaal Rahman’s tests, transfer speeds reached a cool 30-40MB/s, even spiking up to 90-110MB/s under the right conditions. It’s a far cry from the sluggish Bluetooth rates, making Quick Share more like a mini power tool for your files.

When you start a transfer, Quick Share kicks off using Bluetooth, but it quickly jumps to a faster connection. After a few seconds, your phone seems to create a Wi-Fi hotspot, marked with a “DIRECT-XXXXX” network name, which speeds things up to Wi-Fi levels. This appears to leverage some new tech Google hasn’t publicly clarified, and it’s still somewhat of a mystery. Wi-Fi Direct doesn’t officially support Nearby Share on Windows, so it’s possible Google is using an innovative workaround here. Whatever it is, it’s working impressively well.

Quick Share’s transformation into a top-tier file-sharing app still has one hiccup for ARM users. Currently, ARM-based PCs can technically run Quick Share, but the installer isn’t optimized, meaning you’ll need to transfer installation files from an x64 device. This comes at a time when the tension between ARM and Qualcomm over chip design licenses continues to heat up, keeping ARM-focused updates in uncertain territory. While this isn’t ideal, the current speed boost more than makes up for it for most users, and who knows? An ARM-compatible update could be just around the corner.

While Google has been hush-hush about the update, Android and Windows users should be celebrating this unannounced fix. Quick Share now makes it possible to share your files effortlessly across devices, regardless of your network situation. In a world where file transfers are too often a frustrating, patience-testing experience, this new Quick Share upgrade should feel like a breath of fresh air.