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Developers and enthusiasts are currently digging through the iOS 27 preview. As a result, they keep uncovering features and improvements that Apple never mentioned during its keynote. The latest discovery is a dramatic jump in AirDrop transfer speed. For example, a 3.5GB video file that once took 2 minutes and 11 seconds now transfers in just 41 seconds, a speed increase of roughly 220 percent.
The Speed Boost Only Applies Between iOS 27 Devices
The discovery comes from a video shared by The Apple Design, an unofficial Apple-focused account on X. According to the test, sending a 3.5GB video file from iOS 27 to an iOS 26 device took 2 minutes and 11 seconds. That works out to a transfer rate of 26.72MB per second, or 213.74Mbps. However, sending the exact same file from iOS 27 to another iOS 27 device took only 41 seconds. That equals 85.37MB per second, or 682.93Mbps.
In raw terms, AirDrop on iOS 27 transfers data at roughly 3.2 times the speed of iOS 26, marking a 220 percent increase. Since Apple did not announce this change during its keynote, the exact optimizations behind it remain unclear. Nevertheless, the improvement should make a noticeable difference for everyday users. This is especially true when sharing large video files between Apple devices.
How AirDrop Actually Works
Devices within the Apple ecosystem typically stay connected through built-in wireless features. AirDrop first uses Bluetooth to discover nearby devices. Then, it switches to a fast peer-to-peer Wi-Fi connection to handle the actual file transfer. This switch matters because Bluetooth alone is too slow and unreliable for large files.
To make this seamless connectivity possible, Apple built a proprietary protocol called Apple Wireless Direct Link, or AWDL. This protocol manages the direct connection and data transfer between devices. Because AWDL is not an open standard, other companies cannot build compatible AirDrop-style features using their own technology.
Google Is Building a Bridge for Android
Meanwhile, Google has been developing its own sharing technology for Android that aims to work with Apple’s AirDrop. This feature would let Android and iOS devices exchange files directly with each other. Once it rolls out to supported Android devices, users will be able to share files between Android and iOS quickly. Furthermore, they will no longer need internet-based transfer tools to do so.
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