Apple made sharing contacts and files effortless with the introduction of NameDrop in iOS 17 back in 2023. This handy feature allows users to quickly exchange contact information or files simply by bringing their iPhones close together.
Now, over two years later, Google appears to be creating a comparable experience for Android users. Hidden within a recent version of Google Play Services, a new feature called "Gesture Exchange" was discovered, indicating Google's interest in easy contact sharing via NFC technology.
Preview of Android's contact sharing interface
Gesture Exchange includes an activity named Contact Exchange and utilizes NFC for device connection. The left screenshot shows the initial screen where users select the details they want to share such as photo, phone number, or email address. There’s also a “Receive only” option for users who prefer not to share their info.
The right screenshot highlights the receiving interface, where users can save the shared contact with a single tap. Options to initiate a video call or send a text message directly from the screen further enhance the convenience of this feature.
While NFC likely facilitates the initial handshake between phones, subsequent data transfer might rely on other technologies. Currently, the feature focuses on contact sharing, but Google may expand it to include file sharing in the future.
Since this is still under active development, the final product might come under a different name than Gesture Exchange or Contact Exchange. It may take some time before this functionality becomes available to the public, but it signals a promising direction towards seamless sharing on Android devices.
