Multipeer Connectivity alternatives that work with Android

Apple’s Multipeer Connectivity framework lets nearby Apple devices discover services on each other and communicate with them. It works in two phases. In the discovery phase, one app advertises that it is willing to join sessions of a given type and another browses for it, optionally through Apple’s standard picker. In the session phase, connected peers send messages, streams and files to each other. On iOS the framework chooses among infrastructure Wi-Fi, peer-to-peer Wi-Fi and Bluetooth personal area networks for the transport.

Its documentation lists iOS, iPadOS, Mac Catalyst, macOS, tvOS and visionOS, and nothing else. That is the whole reason this question comes up: an Android phone cannot join a Multipeer session, so an app with Android users needs something else. There is now a second reason to plan a move: Apple’s technote TN3213 says Xcode 27 deprecates the entire framework and points apps to the Network framework instead, as What is Apple Multipeer Connectivity? explains.

Google’s Nearby Connections API has nearly the same shape. Advertisers make themselves visible, discoverers find them and request a connection, and a symmetric authentication flow lets both sides accept or reject. Once connected, the link is full duplex and both sides can send three kinds of payload:

• Bytes, limited to 32k, for metadata and control messages.
• Files of any size.
• Streams of data generated on the fly, such as recorded audio.

Under the hood it combines Bluetooth, Bluetooth LE and Wi-Fi, and abstracts the differences between them. Google also publishes a Swift library for iOS, whose setup guide asks for Bluetooth, local network and location usage descriptions and, for high-speed transfer over a Wi-Fi hotspot, the Hotspot Configuration capability. Google’s guides do not state which mediums an iPhone and an Android phone share, so test the exact pairs before relying on it across platforms.

One difference: Google’s overview says that when apps use the Google Play services Nearby SDK, usage analytics such as discovery latency, device model and app package name are collected, and that users can allow or deny this in settings.

Wi-Fi Direct. Android’s Wi-Fi P2P API lets devices with the right hardware connect over Wi-Fi without an access point, when each device supports Wi-Fi P2P. It gives you discovery and a network link; sessions, framing and reconnection are yours to build. It is Android only. Wi-Fi Direct covers how groups form.

Wi-Fi Aware. Android supports Wi-Fi Aware, also called Neighbor Awareness Networking (NAN), on devices running Android 8.0 (API level 26) and higher. Devices form clusters with their neighbours, one app publishes a service and another subscribes to it, and the two can open a network connection without an access point. Not every Android phone has the hardware, so apps check for the feature first. Apple added its own Wi-Fi Aware framework in iOS 26, which pairs devices through DeviceDiscoveryUI or AccessorySetupKit. Because it is a shared Wi-Fi Alliance standard it is the Wi-Fi route to watch between the platforms, but test the specific iPhone and Android pairs you need.

Many teams look for a Multipeer alternative because their app runs on both platforms and the two sets of users need to reach each other. A wrapper with one API is not enough for that. expo-nearby-connections, for instance, gives React Native one interface that uses Nearby Connections on Android and Multipeer Connectivity on iOS, and its README states that cross-platform peer-to-peer between Android and iOS is not supported.

The cross-platform link with app APIs for both roles on both platforms is Bluetooth LE. Each phone advertises and scans, one hosts a GATT service, and both apps speak the same protocol on top. How do iPhone and Android phones message each other over Bluetooth? explains the mechanics and the background limits on iOS. You can write that layer yourself in native code, or use an SDK that ships both Bluetooth roles on iOS and Android; Offline Protocol’s React Native mesh SDK is one.

If every user is on Android, Nearby Connections is the natural replacement. If every user is on Apple devices, Multipeer Connectivity remains a reasonable choice. If both platforms must reach each other, start with Bluetooth LE and add a Wi-Fi path later where both phones support it. Can an iPhone and an Android phone connect directly without internet? goes through each radio.