Apple’s tight grip on native wi-fi sharing is lastly loosening, even when reasonably reactively. With iOS 26, builders are getting a brand new API that enables third-party apps to find and join close by gadgets over Wi-Fi, with no need an web connection. Right here’s the way it’ll work.
Wi-Fi Conscious
As noticed by iHelpBR, the core of this information boils right down to Wi-Fi Conscious, which is able to permit close by gadgets to seek out one another and create a direct peer-to-peer connection over Wi-Fi, even once 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 possibly can unlock new experiences and permit your apps to seamlessly uncover and connect with close by gadgets. 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.
Throughout the WWDC25 session “Supercharge machine connectivity with Wi-Fi Conscious”, Saha confirmed the way it works in apply: you open an app on each gadgets, get a listing of close by friends, and faucet to provoke a connection. There’s even an optionally available affirmation code step, similar to with AirDrop, to be sure to’re connecting to the precise machine.
Not only for file transfers
Whereas quick native file sharing is the plain use case, Apple is pitching this API as a instrument for lots greater than that. Builders may use it for mainly something that advantages from a fast, native connection with no need the cloud, together with display sharing, streaming media between gadgets, and updating or configuring equipment like sensible glasses or drones.
And since Wi-Fi Conscious is an open customary, apps aren’t restricted to Apple-to-Apple transfers. Theoretically, a developer may construct one thing that works between iPhones and Android gadgets 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 stream.
Studying between the (regulatory) traces
Formally, Apple isn’t tying this transfer to regulatory calls for, however the timing can hardly be referred to 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 verify that field, however with out truly cracking open AirDrop itself.
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