Apple’s tight grip on native wi-fi sharing is lastly loosening, even when fairly reactively. With iOS 26, builders are getting a brand new API that permits third-party apps to find and join close by units over Wi-Fi, without having an web connection. Right here’s the way it’ll work.
Wi-Fi Conscious
As noticed by iHelpBR, the core of this information boils all the way down to Wi-Fi Conscious, which is able to enable close by units to search out one another and create a direct peer-to-peer connection over Wi-Fi, even after they’re not on the identical community.
That’s the identical underlying idea Apple’s personal AirDrop has used for years, besides now, it’s being opened as much as everybody else. Right here’s Apple’s Swetank Saha on the brand new function:
With Wi-Fi Conscious, you’ll be able to unlock new experiences and permit your apps to seamlessly uncover and connect with close by units. Some examples embody: media streaming, high-speed file switch, accent management, display sharing, and if wanted, you are able to do all of those concurrently.
Through the WWDC25 session “Supercharge gadget connectivity with Wi-Fi Conscious”, Saha confirmed the way it works in apply: you open an app on each units, get a listing of close by friends, and faucet to provoke a connection. There’s even an optionally available affirmation code step, identical to with AirDrop, to ensure you’re connecting to the fitting gadget.
Not only for file transfers
Whereas quick native file sharing is the apparent use case, Apple is pitching this API as a software for lots greater than that. Builders might use it for principally something that advantages from a fast, native connection without having the cloud, together with display sharing, streaming media between units, and updating or configuring equipment like sensible glasses or drones.
And since Wi-Fi Conscious is an open normal, apps aren’t restricted to Apple-to-Apple transfers. Theoretically, a developer might construct one thing that works between iPhones and Android units operating the identical app. It’s not AirDrop for Android, however it’s the closest Apple’s come to permitting that form of cross-platform circulate.
Studying between the (regulatory) strains
Formally, Apple isn’t tying this transfer to regulatory calls for, however the timing can hardly be known as a coincidence. The European Union has been pushing Apple to make iOS extra interoperable with third-party {hardware} and companies, and particularly flagged native sharing as an space that should open up.
This API lets Apple examine that field, however with out truly cracking open AirDrop itself.
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