Apple iOS 17 New NameDrop Feature; How it Works
Apple announced the iOS 17 update for all eligible iPhones in September. The new iPhone update was introduced with several new features, including the NameDrop feature, which allowed users to share their contacts with each other by simply bringing their devices together. However, the feature created chaos in Pennsylvania and raised security concerns, forcing the police department to warn users about this iOS 17 feature. Learn if the iPhone's NameDrop feature is really worrying.
Apple iOS 17 NameDrop feature: How it works
iOS 17 Name Drop feature lets users to AirDrop contacts to each other by bringing their iPhones together. However, recently the City of Chester Police Department warned iPhone users not to use this feature and to disable NameDrop immediately from their iPhones. The police department shared a privacy warning on its Facebook page that read: “If you have an iPhone and have done the recent iOS 17 update, they have set a new feature called NameDrop defaulted to ON. This feature allows the sharing of your contact info just by bringing your phones close together. To shut this off go to Settings, General, AirDrop, and Bringing Devices Together. Change to OFF.” Forbes reported.
However, the hype over the NameDrop feature was just a misunderstanding and not a serious concern, as Apple has worked on user security concerns. For the NameDrop feature to work, both iPhones must be unlocked and the iPhone user must first give permission to share contacts when using this feature of iOS 17. Therefore, users do not have to worry about security as the data Contact details are not shared until users accept permission. Therefore, there is no need to really worry about using the NameDrop feature of the iPhone.
Also, if you don't want to use the NameDrop feature, you can always turn it off by going to iPhone settings and then "General." Now, go to “AirDrop” and then “Bringing Devices Together”. Now, simply turn off the switch and the feature will be disabled.