How to use Android Beam

How to use Android Beam

Android Beam is an app by Google designed to make the most of NFC technology. Giving you the ability to share content directly from your device’s screen to another device by bringing the devices together – usually back to back. Android Beam is ideal for sharing content such as web pages, maps, videos, photos and more – with other people’s phones and tablets. Better yet, you can quickly transfer content between nearby devices without a long setup process.

1) Check for NFC Support

Firstly, you’ll need to check that both your device and the Android device you’d like to share to support NFC before attempting to transfer data. To do so, open your device’s Settings app and tap More under Wireless & Networks. Ensure both Android Beam & NFC are enabled. If the option for NFC doesn’t appear, your device is most likely not equipped with NFC hardware. However it’s also possible that your device is running an old version of Android, Android Beam was introduced in Android Ice Cream Sandwich and therefore will only work with devices running Android 4.0 and higher.

How to use Android Beam

2) Open the content you want to share

You’ll now need to navigate to the content you would like to share, for example open the web page in chrome, the photo in your gallery, the video in the YouTube app or location in Google Maps.

3) Beam the content

Before you beam your selected content, you’ll need to ensure that both devices are powered on and unlocked. You can then place them back-to-back. You should hear a sound or a vibrate when the NFC connection is established, and you will see a Touch to beam message appear on the screen along with an animated background. Tap the screen and a notification will say ‘Beaming…‘ once the beam is done, a notification will say “Beam Complete” and on the other device, a notification will show the shared content.

How to use Android Beam

Where to touch backs for Android Beam

With some devices, you may need to touch a specific part of your device to the other device.

  • For a Nexus 7, make sure that the other device touches its back near the “u” in “Nexus”.
  • For the HTC One Google Play edition, place the HTC logo against the lower part of the other device.

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