How To Turn Off Nearby Sharing On Windows 10
Nearby sharing is a new feature coming to Windows 10 with the Spring Creators Update which is dropping today. You’re going to have to wait a while before it rolls out to everyone but the update is officially rolling out. Nearby sharing isĀ the Windows 10 version of AirDrop. It’s a little different than AirDrop in execution but it is essentially the same thing. Nearby Sharing allows you to share, send and receive, files from Windows 10 devices that are on the same WiFi network as you. You can limit the feature so that it can only send files between your own devices, or you can turn off nearby sharing completely.
Turn Off Nearby Sharing
Nearby Sharing is a Windows 10 Spring Creators Update feature. If you aren’t running Windows 10 build 1803, you will not see this feature nor the option to disable it. Check your Windows 10 build and version number before you go looking for this option.
Open the Settings app and go to the System group of settings. Select the Shared Experiences tab. Here, you will see a switch that can turn off nearby sharing.
Nearby sharing is a useful feature and Microsoft has implemented it so that random people cannot send you files unless you accept them. That said, if you do not want to allow everyone nearby to send you files via Nearby sharing but you find the feature is useful for moving files between your own devices without using email, a cloud drive, or a USB thumb drive, you can limit Nearby sharing to just your devices.
To limit Nearby Sharing to your devices, open the ‘I can share or receive content from’ dropdown, and select the ‘My devices only’ option.
My Devices
Your devices are all Windows 10 devices that you’re signed into with your Microsoft account. To check which devices you’re signed into, and to revoke access to some of them, visit this link and sign in with your Microsoft account.
You can see at a glance how many devices are connected to your Microsoft account, and you can edit, i.e., remove them by clicking the Manage button.
If you have a company provided laptop, it’s a good idea to not add it to your trusted devices via your personal Microsoft account. Nearby Sharing might be handy but you might be violating company rules regarding the use and distribution of information set by your employer by using it with a personal account.
If you want to send files between a work and personal PC using Nearby sharing, you should set the feature to accept files from everyone. You can turn it off when you don’t need it. There’s a useful little toggle in the Action Center that you can use to turn it on or off on the fly.
This new feature doesn’t even work