WHATSAPP wants to launch its own version of Apple’s AirDrop that users need to shake to share photos.
Leaked screenshots suggest the Meta-owned app is building a new feature for people to send files with those nearby.
Sending photos and videos via Bluetooth tends to be quicker than uploading them online but it’s not quite clear what the benefit of WhatsApp‘s latest idea is compared to iPhone and Android‘s existing tools.
To activate it users will apparently have to shake their phones, according to WABetaInfo.
“It appears that it will be needed to shake the device to generate a share request, maintaining a controlled approach to file exchanges,” the site claims.
Early screenshots say: “Ask the other person to open WhatsApp and shake their device to see your share request.”
The feature will seemingly allow people to exchange files from contacts and non-contacts.
But your phone number won’t be revealed.
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They’ll also be end-to-end encrypted for security.
It’s not clear whether there will be a size limit too.
Samsung‘s current Quick Share app lets you send up to 1GB at a time and a maximum of 2GB per day.
Meanwhile Google‘s newly rebranded Quick Share for Android allows up to 500 files daily with no size limit.
And iPhone’s AirDrop has no size limit.
The new tool isn’t expected to arrive on WhatsApp just yet.
Even early beta testers who try out new features before anyone else haven’t received this sharing option yet.
