How to use NearDrop: set up Quick Share on a Mac

To use NearDrop, download it from its GitHub page, move it to Applications, and approve it the first time macOS blocks it. After that it sits in the menu bar. To receive, share a file from your Android phone with Quick Share and pick the Mac. To send, right-click a file in Finder, choose Share, then NearDrop, and scan the QR code it shows with the phone. Both devices must be on the same Wi-Fi network.

NearDrop is a free Mac app by an independent developer. Its README calls it "a partial implementation of Google's Nearby Share/Quick Share for macOS". Nothing is installed on the phone. The steps below are the README's, with Apple's and Google's pages filling in their own halves.

How do I install NearDrop?

1. Open the releases section of the NearDrop GitHub page and download the latest build. When we checked, that was v2.2.2, published on 19 September 2026, as a file named NearDrop.app.zip.
2. Unzip it and move NearDrop to the Applications folder.
3. Open it once. macOS will refuse, because the app is not notarized by Apple. The next section deals with that.

If you use Homebrew, the README gives this command, which installs the app and clears the quarantine flag in one go:

brew install grishka/grishka/neardrop && sudo xattr -r -d com.apple.quarantine "/Applications/NearDrop.app"

To have it start with the Mac, the README points to Apple's instructions for adding a login item.

How do I get past the "Apple cannot check it" warning?

The README offers two ways: right-click the app in Finder and select Open, or "open System Settings -> Privacy and security, scroll down and allow the app to run".

Apple's current Mac User Guide describes the second one. If right-clicking does not give you a way through on your version of macOS, use Apple's steps:

1. Try to open NearDrop, and dismiss the warning.
2. Choose Apple menu, System Settings, then Privacy & Security.
3. Go to Security and click Open Anyway. Apple says the button is available for about an hour after you try to open the app.
4. Enter your login password and click OK.

Apple says the app is then saved as an exception and opens normally from then on.

You should know what you are overriding. Apple's page says that overriding security settings to open an app "is the most common way that a Mac gets infected with malware". The developer's stated reason for not notarizing is that he does not want to pay Apple's $99 a year developer fee. The code is public on GitHub. Whether that is enough is your decision. If it is not, LocalSend is on the Mac App Store.

How do I receive a file from Android?

1. Make sure the phone and the Mac are on the same Wi-Fi network and NearDrop is running. Look for its icon in the menu bar.
2. On the phone, open the photo or file, tap Share, then Quick Share.
3. Pick the Mac from the list of nearby devices.
4. Accept the notification on the Mac.

The file lands in the Mac's Downloads folder. The README's summary: "The app lives in your menu bar and saves files to your downloads folder. It's that simple, really."

If the phone shows a PIN code and nothing happens on the Mac, the README says to make sure Do Not Disturb is off. It adds that the notification can occasionally land in Notification Center without popping up first, so look there.

How do I send a file from the Mac to Android?

This direction has an extra step. The README explains that Android only becomes visible when it hears a particular Bluetooth broadcast, "and macOS doesn't allow apps to send them". So you have to make the phone visible yourself.

1. In Finder, right-click the file, choose Share, then NearDrop.
2. NearDrop shows a QR code. Scan it with the phone. The README says that on all Android devices this makes "everything happen automatically". Google's Quick Share help page says you can scan a Quick Share QR code with the camera app in its default photo mode, and that if that fails on your phone you can try the QR code scanner in Quick Settings.
3. Accept the transfer on the phone. Google's page says received files go to the Files app, under Downloads, in a Quick Share folder.

What differs by phone:

How do I send a link?

From the app you are in, use the menu bar: File, Share, NearDrop. The README adds that Safari has a share button on its toolbar. The phone still has to be made visible as above.

What should I know before relying on it?

The README lists its own limits, and they matter in daily use.

• Wi-Fi on the same network only. Google's Quick Share can also use Bluetooth and Wi-Fi Direct. NearDrop cannot.
• Always visible. The Mac is "visible to everyone on your network at all times while the app is running". There is no contacts-only mode. On a shared network, quit NearDrop when you are not using it.
• Public networks may block it. The README says local network communication "may not work on some public networks", such as coffee shops and hotels.

If your phone never sees the Mac, the README's advice is to check that both devices are on the same Wi-Fi network and, on your own network, that the router is not blocking local devices from talking to each other. The longer checklist is in NearDrop not working.

Do I need NearDrop at all?

Check two things first.

Is your phone on Google's AirDrop list? Google's help page says a Pixel 8a or later, and certain phones from Samsung and other makers, can send through Quick Share straight to a Mac's AirDrop with nothing installed. The models are in AirDrop from Android to a Mac. If yours is listed, start there.

Do you want to send files, or browse them? NearDrop is a send-and-receive tool. Someone picks a file on one device and accepts it on the other. If you would rather sit at the Mac and pull files off the phone without touching it, that is a different kind of tool. The Relay's file transfer and browsing shows the phone's storage in a Mac window and lets you drag files either way over your local network. It also syncs the clipboard and shows texts, login codes, notifications, and calls on the Mac. It costs $19.99 once, and it does not use Quick Share, so it will not help you receive a file from someone else's phone. For that, and for the occasional photo from your own, NearDrop is free and enough.

Questions people ask

Is NearDrop free?

Yes. It is free and its code is published on GitHub under The Unlicense. It is not on the Mac App Store.

Does NearDrop need an app on my Android phone?

No. It uses the Quick Share feature already built into Android. For sending from the Mac to a non-Samsung phone, the README mentions the Quick Share button in the Google Files app as an alternative to the QR code.

Why does macOS say it cannot check NearDrop for malicious software?

Because the developer has not had the app notarized by Apple. You can allow it under System Settings, Privacy & Security, with Open Anyway. Read Apple's warning about doing that first.