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Late last year, I decided it was time to move from my Huawei MediaPad tablet and get a new iPad. That wasn't my first foray into iOS/iPadOS — I'd previously had an iPod Touch and an iPad Mini — but it had been a few years since I'd last used Apple's mobile operating system. I was excited to discover what it offers and to explore all the big and small differences between it and Android. My journey uncovered some frustrating truths, but over the months, I've also come away with a newfound appreciation for features I'd taken for granted on Android, but that are either missing or aren't as good on iOS/iPad OS. Below is a list of eight of these.
It's time for Google to fix Android's share menu
Useless direct share targets and custom in-app share sheets are the bane of my existence
The share sheet is both the best and the worst thing to happen to Android. Theoretically, it's a powerful built-in feature that allows you to share content from one app to another and that should make it easy to send photos, files, videos, and links to your most precious contacts with just two or three taps. The reality is far from this ideal, though. Suggested contacts in the top "direct share" row rarely consist of people you regularly talk to, and far too many apps (including Google apps!) have started implementing their own custom share sheets that prevent any muscle memory from building up.
Android 12 will spell the end of third-party share sheet replacements
Google's latest attempt to hinder the sharing experience on Android
It's no secret that Google has struggled to implement a satisfactory share sheet in Android — you could say it's been one of the platform's weakest features. Even now, when I attempt to share something with a friend, I'm greeted by direct share targets of no use whatsoever. Either that or you get an app's custom sharing menu instead, with varying degrees of usefulness. Because of this inconsistent experience, many users like to replace the default share sheet using a third-party app like Sharedr. Unfortunately, as of Android 12, that's no longer going to be possible.
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Twitter recently brought a custom share sheet to its iOS client that replaced the operating system's native solution, causing some disgruntled reactions. Now the social network's Android app is in for a similar treatment, though the two variations of a new UI are just replacing the application's already existing custom share sheet — and the new ones are definitely an improvement.
YouTube Music is forcing Instagram and Snapchat stories icons into its share sheet for some users
Even if you don't have either of the apps installed
YouTube Music is one of many Google apps that use their own share sheet on Android. Instead of adopting the default one, they have a custom design (Photos, News, Maps, YouTube, Twitter) and can include whatever targets they want. That's why you can see your contacts in Photos, for example. But YouTube Music is taking this privilege a little far now by adding icons for Snapchat Stories and Instagram Stories among your apps.
Google Photos only recently got an improved custom share sheet, and Twitter is testing a better implementation of its solution as well. YouTube apparently didn't want to be left out as some people report that they're seeing a new share sheet in the app, too. In contrast to the other two, the video service's solution is a drastic regression in function, making me wonder if it's a bug that passed testing.
The wait for an Android Beam successor may finally be coming to a close. One of Google's developer-oriented videos for Android 11, published to YouTube today, clearly shows a "nearby" option in the share sheet. Though we're not familiar with the new icon, that name and its location in the sharing menu seem clearly related to the Nearby Sharing feature we've been anticipating for the last year.
Adobe tests inserting intrusive ads in Android's share sheet and ‘Open with’ popup
It’s likely testing the waters right now with a small user group
When you’re a developer with a massive portfolio of apps, you’re definitely going to want to encourage your users to try out as many as possible. About a year back we spotted Microsoft trying something along those lines by shadily sneaking app advertisements into Android’s share menu if the user had installed even one of its other apps. Following in Microsoft’s footsteps, Adobe has now started testing similar install suggestions for its own range of apps.
Pixels on Android 10 can now pin apps to the share menu, thanks to the March update
The share sheet has come a long way
Another Android 11 feature appears to have trickled down to Android 10. In addition to all the named features Google rolled out with the March update as part of its second Pixel Feature Drop, Pixels are also picking up the ability to pin apps and specific recipients to the share sheet/share menu.
You can pin apps again in Android's share menu (Updated)
It was gone in Android 10, now it's back with the March 2020 security patch
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With every new version of Android, you can bet on a few aspects of the OS being altered if not completely overhauled: DND, notification handling, permissions, and the share menu. There's no way Google could leave these alone, but at least the change it has introduced in the latest March 2020 security patch / Feature Drop is one we've all wanted: app pinning.
Android's story with the share menu is long, messy, and complicated. Things have gotten relatively better in Android 10, but that hasn't stopped some app developers from implementing a non-native share sheet. This is especially true for Google's own apps, like Photos, YouTube, Maps, and News. Chrome might soon join the fray with its own sharing hub.
Sharing on Android is kind of a whole big mess — different apps handle sharing in different ways, and none of them are great. The YouTube Android recently got a new share menu to replace its old custom UI — and rather than adopting Google's standard sharing interface, it's implemented yet another custom one.
The share sheet in Android 10 has seen many a change. It's supposedly faster, has new previews for links and images before sharing them, eight direct share targets, and four suggested apps on top, plus it uses a strict alphabetical order for apps. What we hadn't noticed, even though it's been there since Beta 3, is one other improvement: apps can no longer hijack the share sheet by naming their targets as "Add to."