Enabling Nearby Sharing on Samsung Galaxy Note 20

Samsung Galaxy Note 20 and Galaxy Note 20 Ultra are new premium flagships that combine various features to make the most of excellent hardware. Besides, it brings together many new and interesting features such as One UI skin, S Pen gestures, Periscope camera and Pro Video mode, which is optimized for Galaxy Note series. Another new feature to join this series is Nearby Sharing.

Nearby Sharing is a sharing platform for Android phones, and Samsung Galaxy Note 20 and Galaxy Note 20 Ultra and Google Pixel are the first phones to get this feature.

If you are a long-time smartphone user, you must already know that it is time for the Android ecosystem to have an ubiquitous sharing system, regardless of the brand of phone or operating system.

Fortunately, now is the time and the feature has finally arrived on your Galaxy Note 20 and other Samsung phones like Galaxy S20 (check Galaxy S20 tips and tricks), Galaxy S10 Lite and more.

Let’s check how to enable it.

What is Nearby?

As mentioned earlier, it is a sharing platform for you to share files, links, map locations, documents, photos from one Android phone (in this case your Galaxy Note 20) to another. It is similar to Apple’s AirDrop that makes file sharing easy and effortless.

It works over Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy, WebRTC, or peer-to-peer Wi-Fi and even works when you’re connected to the Internet. The good thing is that it’s much faster than regular Bluetooth transfers and doesn’t have the hassle of opening sharing apps.

When enabled, you can see all devices around you (depending on the device’s privacy settings).

Nearby Share is similar to Apple’s AirDrop and makes file sharing easy and effortless

You don’t need to download any additional apps as it is a native feature. It only requires a one-time installation and that’s it.

Now, problem solved, let’s take a quick look to set it up on your Galaxy Note 20.

How to Set Up and Share Nearby Sharing on Samsung Galaxy Note 20

Stage 1: Pull down the Quick Settings menu and briefly tap the Share Nearby button to go to Settings. Once inside, tap the Open button to activate it.

Don’t forget to turn on or enable Wi-Fi, Location or Bluetooth on your phone.

Step 2: Once enabled, you can change the device name. It’s usually the name of your Google account (see the best Google account security tips).

Sending and sharing files is easy after you set it up. Open the gallery to share an image file for sharing.

In the Share menu, tap Share with Nearby and wait for the device to start searching.

Stage 3: Enable Nearby Sharing on the recipient’s phone and keep the phone unlocked.

If both phones are close, you’ll see a notification popup for Share with Nearby.

Tap to activate.

Step 4: As soon as the recipient taps the prompt, you will see the Google avatar in the share tray. Since both my phones are signed in with the same ID, both the recipient and sender avatars look similar.

Tap the avatar to start the transfer.

step 5: Like any other transfer procedure, the recipient must tap the Accept button for the transfer to begin. Once done, the sharing process completes in a few seconds.

The process may seem cumbersome the first time you do it, but I can assure you it is simple and easy. And it’s lightning fast, and that’s the best thing about it.

We transferred 30 weird photos and it took no more than 5-10 seconds. The same was true for the 2 minutes of 8K video captured on the Galaxy Note 20.

Privacy settings

So who can share content with you? Can anyone stream random content to your phone? Yes and no.

If you leave the privacy settings for Share with Nearby like this, almost anyone with the Nearby Share connection turned on can discover your device, as can Bluetooth.

You can choose from everyone in your contact list or some people selected from your contact list. Or you can just choose to hide. That way, no one can see your device to send something. However, you will be able to send them links, photos, files and even locations from Google Maps.

To edit this setting open Nearby Sharing settings and select Device Visibility and you will see all device visibility options. Simple, see.

Nearby Share works equally well on Chromebooks, but we haven’t tested it on one yet. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work on Mac, Apple iPhones or even Windows machines.

Bonus Trick: Windows Connection

If you have a Windows 10 machine, you will be happy to know that your Samsung Galaxy Note 20 can connect wirelessly to your Windows laptop or desktop.

So what’s the point of connecting? For starters, you can see messages and photos of your phone from the comfort of your laptop/PC. And that too wirelessly!

This feature can be a distraction, but the good news is that you will be able to easily access some information on your phone. Obviously, you will need to sign in using your Microsoft account on your PC and phone. You also need to install Microsoft’s Your Phone app on your PC.

To set it up, go to Quick Settings on your phone and tap the Connect to Windows button. Activate it and tap the Add device button and your phone will walk you through the rest.

Don’t worry, it’s an easy process and doesn’t take much time to set up.

Sharing is caring

This is how you can share contacts, files and photos with your contacts, family and friends via the Share Nearby feature on your Samsung Galaxy Note 20.

Which Galaxy Note 20 feature do you find most useful? I would use the new S Pen gestures and improved handwriting recognition when you take handwritten notes in the Samsung Notes app. What about you?