About wireless sharing

What you can share

You can share your photos and videos, a GIF you drew, contacts, screenshots, and downloaded files.

When sharing photos and videos

When deciding how to share your photos or videos, consider these factors:

  • Resolution (high versus low) of the photo or video; high resolution uses more data
  • Number of photos to share (one photo or a few or an entire vacation album)
  • Whether you want to share on the internet or from device-to-device
  • Length of availability for sharing

Ways to share

Choosing how to share depends on the type and amount of content you're sharing, and how widely you want to share it.

Quick Share

Good for:

  • Sharing securely with nearby devices
  • Sharing a link, a contact, one or a few photos
  • Fast, immediate sharing

Things to consider:

  • The other device must be within 1 foot (30 cm).
  • Can't be used to share with iPhones.
  • No Wi-Fi or cellular data connection required.

Learn more.

Bluetooth

Good for:

  • Sharing from phone-to-phone or other connected device
  • Fast sharing

Things to consider:

NFC

Good for:

  • Quickly sharing with a nearby phone, tablet, or computer
  • No need for pairing devices (Simply touch them back-to-back.)

Things to consider:

  • Devices you share with must have NFC.
  • Both your phone and the other device must be on and unlocked.

Learn how

Message (MMS)

Good for:

  • Sharing one photo or a low-resolution video
  • Sharing with a friend or group
  • Sharing immediately, as an event is happening

Things to consider:

  • You and your recipients must have cellular data plans to receive multimedia text messages.
  • Sending high resolution photos via text message uses more more data.
  • Photos and video remain available until the recipient deletes the message.
  • High quality videos are too large and cannot be shared in text messages.

Learn how

Email

Good for:

  • Sharing one or a few photos
  • Sharing with a friend or group

Things to consider:

  • Some email providers limit attachment sizes. For large files, upload the file to a cloud storage and email the link instead of the file.
  • Email attachments remain available for download until the recipient deletes the email.

Learn how

Cloud

Good for:

  • Sharing high resolution photos, multiple photos, entire albums, and videos
  • Controlling sharing via links
  • Controlling how long you share something (You can easily delete it or turn off sharing privileges.)

Things to consider:

  • Many cloud services offer free storage with a basic account.
  • Cloud storage services are fairly secure, but not completely free from security breaches, so upload wisely.
  • Upload over Wi-Fi to prevent cellular data charges.

Learn how

Social app

Good for:

  • Sharing publicly, with large groups of friends, followers, and subscribers
  • Sharing one photo at a time, or many photos, albums, or videos
  • Controlling how long you share something (You can easily delete it or turn off sharing.)

Things to consider:

  • Understand social network privacy and sharing policies before you post.
  • Review updates to social network privacy and sharing policies often.
  • Requires a Wi-Fi or cellular data connection.