Is iPhone AirDrop Feature 'NameDrop' Dangerous, as Facebook Posts Claim? | Snopes.com

Claim: An Apple iPhone AirDrop feature called NameDrop poses a threat to users’ privacy and security. Rating: In late November 2023, Facebook users shared variations of a viral warning about a relatively new iPhone feature called NameDrop, also known as “Bringing Devices Together.” The posts hinted that NameDrop, dubbed by Apple as “a new AirDrop experience,” was dangerous, and said that users needed to take action to protect their privacy and security. Multiple U.S. police department Facebook pages also shared the warnings, which perhaps was one of the reasons that we received so many reader emails about this rumor. The Viral Warnings on Facebook We reviewed multiple versions of the same warning about NameDrop on iPhone devices. One such warning read as follows: IMPORTANT PRIVACY UPDATE: 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. While you do need to accept the transfer, if you would prefer to shut this off go to: Settings, General, AirDrop, Bringing Devices Together. Change to OFF. PARENTS: You may consider changing these settings
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