I normally use Nearby Share to share files between my Android devices, but sadly, it doesn't have a fallback mechanism that supports iPhones.

TIL though that Samsung's Quick Share can upload files to the Internet as a fallback so any device can grab the files, even iPhones.

This is something that would be great to have in Nearby Share! I would honestly consider using Samsung Quick Share more often because of this, but sadly, I'd rather share files locally first since it's faster. However, Quick Share only works locally between Samsung devices.

Google's Nearby library (which powers Nearby Share) is open source, though, so theoretically, Samsung could make Quick Share interoperable with Nearby Share so that Nearby Share targets can appear in the Quick Share UI.

It's necessary right now for a lot of OEMs to maintain an alternative to Nearby Share because Nearby Share is bundled with Play Services which isn't available on China market devices.

Google has been working to integrate the Nearby library into AOSP since Android 13, though, so hopefully in the future, all OEM alternatives to Nearby Share will be interoperable. Provided, of course, the OEMs implement support for it into their services.

Earlier, I mentioned that Android 14 Beta 4 introduces a bunch of new profile picture images, as shown in the attached image.

However, these images are exclusive to Pixel and thus won't appear on all Android 14 devices. It's up to OEMs to add their own. Here's how they'd do that.

All they need to do is create a Runtime Resource Overlay (RRO) that overrides the resource array avatar_images with a list of bitmap drawables. Images referenced in this array are shown to the user in the profile picture picker activity as preselected avatar images.

In addition, content denoscriptions for each of the images have to be specified in the avatar_images array.

The preselected avatar images that Google made for its Pixel devices running Android 14 can be found in the SystemUIGoogle__auto_generated_rro_product APK.

Obviously, this isn't a major change, but I often get asked about whether a certain feature is Pixel exclusive. Often changes people see in Android betas are assumed to be available in the base OS, but that's not always the case. I'll of course try to mention where they aren't!

Pixels don't run stock Android.

The strapline of my Nothing OS 2.0 review mentions "stock Android", but to this day there's still no universal agreement on what "stock Android" actually is.

Here's the definition I'm using: Stock Android = AOSP + (core) GMS.

Google hasn't given the software on its Pixel phones an official name, and it's unlikely that'll ever change. To most people, Pixels run "stock Android", but it's not accurate or even useful to say they do.

"Stock Android" should simply refer to the base OS + apps that ALL devices running Android have. That's also why I'm not calling AOSP "stock Android", as there's no ambiguity around AOSP and it's missing the core components that the vast majority of devices have (GMS).

Google Mobile Services, of course, is not a singular bundle of apps. There are a LOT of optional apps & features, many of which I talked about in my Nothing OS 2.0 review, so I limited my definition of "stock Android" to AOSP + the base, core GMS bundle.

So when you see me talk about "stock Android", I'm talking about AOSP + core GMS. Anything added on top is custom and needs a different name.

Nothing OS 2.0 is AOSP + core GMS + many optional GMS apps + Nothing's changes. Pixel's doesn't have a name, but you get the idea.

...If you're still confused or unsure by what I mean, the GSI + GMS packages that Google publishes meet my definition of "stock Android". So highlighted above is "stock Android 13 [QPR3]" and "stock Android 14 [Beta 4]".

Two features that are missing on Pixel but are present in stock Android:

1) The ability to control the volume of speaker groups while casting.

2) The ability to expand streams to more cast devices from the media output switcher (stream expansion).

Both can be enabled, though!

Let me explain each issue in more detail before I show the fix.

1) You can't adjust a speaker group's volume while casting. Both the volume button & slider only control your phone's media volume unless you're in the app that's casting. Other phones like the Nothing Phone 2 can.

If you don't have root access, your only workaround is to adjust the individual volumes through the media output switcher, which to be fair is pretty easy. The workaround for #2, though, is more annoying.

2) When you cast music to any speaker and then open the media output switcher, you should be able to select additional devices to cast to. eg. on my Z Fold 5 and Nothing Phone 2, I'm already casting to two Cast devices, but I can select a third to cast to: My Bose Soundbar 700.

You're unable to do this on Pixel. I asked around and checked numerous Pixels on Android 13 and 14, and none of them can do this. So the only workaround on Pixel would be to create speaker groups ahead of time rather than on demand.

Both features are intentionally disabled on Pixels likely as a result of the Sonos lawsuit. This article talks about the cast volume changes, while this article talks about stream expansion.

If you have root access, you can enable both of these features on your Pixel phone!

For #1, install this Magisk Module I made a while back. It overrides the value of config_volumeAdjustmentForRemoteGroupSessions.

For #2, you'll need to override the DynamicSession__enable_stream_expansion_transfer_for_allowlisted_groups and DynamicSession__enable_stream_expansion_transfer_for_audio_app Phenotype flags under com.google.android.gms.cast.