Apparently, Google is working on bringing over Apple’s NameDrop feature to Android. At least according to an APK teardown from Android Authority. They’ve found strings about “Contact Exchange” in the latest version of Google Play Services.
This had already surfaced in an earlier version of Google Play Services as “Gesture Exchange”, but it appears that the name has changed – and now makes more sense. It’ll be using NFC to exchange your info, a lot like NameDrop does on iOS. Android Authority was able to enable one of the activities related to the Content Exchange Activity, to show what it looks like. Right now, it looks pretty plain, but it’ll likely get dressed up a bit more before the feature rolls out.
Contact Exchange will allow you to share your photo, mobile number and email. You can opt to share it, or receive only. And it should work pretty easily. The “receive only” button is essentially there to get the other person’s info, without sharing yours. In the very few times that you’d need that feature.
When could Google roll out this feature?
It’s tough to say when Google might want to roll out this new feature to Android. It could come in a future Android OS update, or as an Android feature drop. If it were coming in Android 17, I think it would be further along. Since we should be getting the first Android 17 developer preview later this month. However, since it appears to be tied to Google Play Services, that makes me think it’ll be part of the next Android Feature Drop.
Along with the Pixel Feature Drops, Google has also been doing feature drops for Android in general, which are mostly app updates. But the fact that Google can roll these features out for everyone at the same time is definitely really cool, and kind of gets rid of the issue of late updates from OEMs.
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