5 Ways to Share Photos Easily: AirDrop, Quick Share & More

As families and friends gather during the holiday season, many want to capture those special moments with photos, often using their smartphones.

Often, the desire extends beyond keeping photos for oneself – people want to easily share those images with others. Here are 5 options for quickly sharing photos:

AirDrop and Quick Share

iPhones have long offered AirDrop, a straightforward way to share large files between two iOS devices using a combination of Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.

To use the feature, select a photo in the iPhone Photos app and tap the “Share” icon in the lower-left corner. This brings up the AirDrop option. Next, choose a device to send the photos to. If the desired person or their device isn’t in your contacts, you’ll need to click the AirDrop icon in the Control Center of the receiving device and activate “Everyone” for 10 minutes, allowing anyone to send files during that time.

Android users have increasingly adopted Quick Share as their go-to method. To send photos, swipe down from the top of the smartphone screen to access Quick Settings, where Quick Share should appear. If it’s not visible, swipe to the next page or search for it in the settings. Like AirDrop, you can specify which devices are allowed to send or receive. Select a file, tap the “Share” icon, and then tap Quick Share to see available devices.

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But what if you need to share between iOS and Android? Good news: Quick Share is now compatible with AirDrop on certain devices, enabling seamless file sharing between iOS and Android.

To enable this, activate “Everyone” for 10 minutes on both the iPhone and Android smartphone, select the desired device, and send. The first Android smartphones to support this functionality are those in the Pixel 8 family. It’s currently unknown when other Android smartphones will receive the expanded Quick Share feature.

A key benefit of AirDrop and Quick Share is that files are transferred directly between devices, without routing through company servers.

SwissTransfer and WeTransfer

Services like WeTransfer and its European alternative, SwissTransfer, allow you to share large amounts of data without registration. SwissTransfer offers up to 50 GB of free storage.

To use the service, visit swisstransfer.com and accept the terms of use. You can then upload files and either send them via email or create a link – though you’ll need to verify your email address first. The link can then be shared in a family WhatsApp group without compromising image quality. While downloads are limited to 3 days with the free version of WeTransfer, SwissTransfer allows up to 30 days. SwissTransfer also offers the option to password-protect content for free.

iCloud or Google Drive Link

Another option is to upload the photos to a cloud service and share a link. This can be done through iCloud for iOS or the Google Drive app. Both clouds allow downloads to different devices. In the Photos app, select a photo, tap the “Share” icon, and then choose “Copy iCloud Link.” When others click the link, they can easily download the photos.

To share photos via Google Drive, you’ll need a Google account, which most Android users already have. All users receive 15 GB of free storage. In Google Drive, upload a photo and then click the three dots under the image or folder. You can then share the link in a WhatsApp group, giving everyone access to the photos.

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Scroll to Upload Quality and select HD Quality. However, this will increase the sending time and data usage.