Google Pixel 9 phones are officially getting a killer free upgrade

There’s evidence that Google’s Pixel 9 phones will soon be receiving AirDrop support, enabling seamless file sharing with Apple’s iPhone range.

Back in November we brought you the news of a fascinating announcement from Google, claiming that it would be adding interoperability between Android’s Quick Share function and iOS AirDrop. This would allow you to quickly share files between the two rival platforms when the phones are in close proximity.

This convenient feature initially rolled out to Google Pixel 10 phones, and now it seems to be the turn of older Pixel devices. Or it will be soon, at any rate.

Android Authority has spotted files pertaining to the cross-platform sharing system in the latest Android Canary build – that’s Google’s early development release of its mobile OS – specifically for Google Pixel 9 phones. The Pixel 9a doesn’t seem to be included, unfortunately.

There were no such files present in previous Android Canary builds, and there still aren’t any for the Pixel 8 series and older. Google is evidently pursuing an incremental rollout of this handy feature.

Pixel AirDrop availability

There’s no indication of whether this feature is in any way functional on Pixel 9 phones as yet, nor when the feature might be activated in the publicly available version of Android.

The next major Android feature drop, Android 16 QPR3, is expected to arrive in March, so it could form part of that package. Alternatively, there’s always Android 17, which should appear some time in the middle of 2026.

While it might sound as if Google and Apple have made cosy to get this feature rolling, comments made back in November suggest that this is all on Google.

Indeed, it’s believed that Apple has been forced to allow access to its proprietary file sharing system by EU regulation.