Apple customers have been slowly figuring out the newest features from the iOS17 update — including one that has raised safety concerns.
Similar to AirDrop, the new-to-iPhone feature NameDrop allows users to quickly share their contact information with nearby iPhones or Apple Watches, rather than having to hand over their phone to a new person to exchange info.
To share from your iPhone, all you have to do is hold the display of your phone “a few centimeters” from the top of the other person’s device. A “glow” will emerge from both phones to signify a connection being made.
Continue to hold the two devices near each other until NameDrop appears on both screens and you can choose to share your contact card and receive the other person’s, or to only receive the other person’s.
Since the only options are to receive only or to share, if both users select only to receive the other’s information, neither user gets anything.
If you wish to cancel the connection, either move the devices away from each other or lock your iPhone before the transfer completes.
While the feature seems simple and convenient, many are taking to social media to warn against utilizing it.
“Dear iPhone users: How to turn NameDrop off after update. 1. Go to Settings 2. Tap ‘General’ 3. Tap ‘AirDrop’ 4. Toggle ‘Bringing Devices Together’ to off. You’re welcome,” one person wrote on X.
“The NameDrop feature aims to make sharing contacts easy but at a privacy cost,” another account warned. “Without knowing, you could be sharing your info with nearby iPhone users.”
“This means your iPhone could be oversharing without you realizing!” they added.
According to Forbes, multiple law enforcement agencies across America have even issued security warnings over the feature, warning people — particularly parents — that the feature could “share your contact information by being next to another iPhone” and implying that children could be in danger with this feature turned on.
But the outlet calls these warnings a “tenuous truth,” since the person receiving information would require physical access to the unlocked iPhone.
“The real truth is that, despite being defaulted to an on position, the NameDrop feature isn’t just going to throw your contact details at any passing person with an iPhone,” Forbes reported.
The iPhones with iOS 17 need to be physically touching at the very top of the phone in order for Near Field Communication (NFC) to work.
Additionally, the contact information being shared is contained within a self-created Contact Card, so the user is in complete control of what information gets shared.