Google quietly fixed the biggest problem with Quick Share for Windows

One of the best tools for transferring files between your Android phone and Windows PC is Quick Share. It’s easy to set up, easy to use, and transfers files very quickly. However, a major problem with the Quick Share client for Windows is that it transfers files very slowly if your Windows PC is not on the same Wi-Fi network as your Android phone. At least that’s how things used to be, because Google silently fixed this issue a while ago.

When Google launched Quick Share for Windows in 2023, it emphasized that your Android phone and Windows PC should be connected to the same network in order to get the best file transfer speeds. Otherwise, Quick Share would transfer the files over a Bluetooth connection, which is considerably slower than a Wi-Fi connection. For example, when I tried to transfer a 5.4 GB file from my Android phone to my PC Windows via Bluetooth connection, the transfer rate hovered around 60 KB/s, meaning it would take almost a day to complete the transfer.

In contrast, when I tried to transfer the same file over a Wi-Fi connection, the transfer rate jumped to around 30MB/s on the low end, reducing the transfer time to just a few minutes.

In the screenshot I posted above, you’ll notice that my Windows PC isn’t connected to a Wi-Fi network at all, but it’s still receiving a file at around 30MB/s. I found this strange given that Google’s own support page and the Quick Share for Windows app itself still state that your Windows and Android devices should be connected to the same network for the best transfer speeds, but this is clearly no longer the case. I’m not sure exactly when this changed (version 1.0.1724.0 is the oldest I’ve tested), but I recently noticed that Quick Share for Windows can receive and send files at pretty decent speeds as long as your Windows PC has Wi-Fi. Fi turned on. In fact, your Windows PC doesn’t even need to be connected to a Wi-Fi network.

When transferring files from two of my phones (a Xiaomi 14T Pro and a OnePlus 12) to two of my Windows PCs, I noticed that my phones started transferring over Bluetooth before switching to a Wi-Fi connection after a few seconds. I knew this because the transfer rate was initially 60-80 KB/s, but then increased to 30-40 MB/s after my phones disconnected from my home Wi-Fi network and created a Wi-Fi hotspot. The hotspot my phones created was called something like “DIRECT-XXXXX”, which suggests the connection was via Wi-Fi Direct. However, I asked around and was told that the nearby library doesn’t yet support Wi-Fi Direct on Windows, so I’m not entirely sure what connection method they used.

Either way, this change fixes one of the biggest problems with Quick Share for Windows. When you’re on the go, it can be difficult to connect your Windows PC to the same Wi-Fi network as your Android phone, so Quick Share removing that requirement makes it usable just about anywhere. Exactly how quickly files actually transfer will depend on your exact environment and the quality of your devices’ Wi-Fi cards. A file transfer between my Xiaomi 14T Pro and my Samsung Galaxy Book5 Pro 360 reached upwards of 90-110 MB/s, although it generally hovered around the 30-40 MB/s mark I mentioned more early.

With this limitation now gone, the only other major problem with Quick Share for Windows is its lack of ARM compatibility. Interestingly, the Quick Share app itself actually works on ARM-based Copilot Plus PCs, but you currently have to manually transfer the installation files from an x64 PC because the installer crashes.