OnePlus ditches File Dash file transfer feature for Google's Nearby Share

XDA

OnePlus ditches its own File Dash file transfer feature for Google's Nearby Share

By Brandon Russell

Published Apr 8, 2021

OnePlus has confirmed that it has ditched its own File Dash feature in the OnePlus 9 series for Google's Nearby Share. Here's why.

New phone releases typically come with a few surprise features the manufacturer didn't talk about. In the case of the OnePlus 9 series, some users have noticed that a feature is actually missing.

A couple of days ago, users on Reddit noticed that the File Dash feature was missing from the OnePlus File Manager app on the OnePlus 9 series. At the time, it was unclear why the feature was removed, but after reaching out to OnePlus, we now have clarification.

Here is the full statement from OnePlus:

"In order to provide more seamless file transfer experience among Android devices, we have replaced "File Dash" feature with "Nearby Share" feature provided by Google. Users can go to Settings, click "Google," and then click "Device Connections." Users can then click "Nearby Share" to transfer files. If the other device does not support Nearby Share, users can transfer files via Bluetooth or other third-party applications."

File Dash is a peer-to-peer fast wireless transfer solution that lets users quickly transfer files to one another using the built-in File Manager app. It doesn't require a Google account and you didn't need a OnePlus device to receive files shared from FileDash. It was introduced with OxygenOS 3.5.5 for the OnePlus 3 back in late 2016 and is still available for OnePlus File Manager users on the OnePlus 8T as of the latest update available from Google Play (2.6.4.0). However, the feature is now missing on the OnePlus 9 series with version 2.6.4.5 of the app.

Unless you regularly use OnePlus’ File Dash, you probably wouldn’t have noticed the feature was missing. But as OnePlus said in its statement, File Dash is being replaced by Nearby Share in order to provide users with a more seamless file sharing experience.

Google has continued to improve the functionality of Nearby Share, and we recently discovered the company is preparing to add group transfer support. If you do decide to use Nearby Share, you can share file transfers simply by tapping two phones together.

Thanks to XDA Member Some_Random_Username for the tip!