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One of the cooler new features that has made its way to the iPhone with iOS 17 is definitely NameDrop. The feature is an extension of AirDrop and allows you to bring your iPhone to another one and exchange your contact information. However, police departments across the country are now warning parents about this feature and urging everyone to turn it off.
It’s definitely a good idea to disable this on your child’s phone. As the Crenshar County Sheriff’s Office noted on Facebook this week, reviewing device settings is also a good idea. They also mention that you should have conversations with children and teenagers about the potential risks that are associated with a feature like NameDrop, as this could share a photo, phone number, and more.
It is worth noting that it’s highly unlikely that someone would accidentally trigger NameDrop. You do need to bump the phone with another device like an iPhone or Apple Watch even to start the transfer. Then you need to confirm it on your end actually to do the transfer. But with children, you can truly never be too safe.
The best way to prevent this from happening is to disable NameDrop on your iPhone.
How to disable NameDrop on iPhone
Firstly, NameDrop is only available on iPhones running iOS 17 or later. So, if you have an iPhone 8 or X that is running on iOS 16, this feature is not available, and thus, you cannot disable it.
To disable Namedrop, head over to the Settings app.
Now tap on General.
Now select AirDrop.
You’ll now see an option for “Bringing Devices Together.” You’ll want to toggle that off.
And that’s it, and NameDrop is now disabled on your iPhone. To enable it, repeat those steps, but turn the toggle on.
What is NameDrop?
NameDrop is a new feature in iOS 17 that is an extension of AirDrop. It’s pretty simple, giving you an easy way to exchange contact info with someone you’ve met or even family members. Now, you don’t need to ask for someone to tell you their number. Instead, you can just bump phones together to exchange that info. It makes it a whole lot simpler to exchange information.
Keep in mind that NameDrop is only supported on devices that run iOS 17 or later. So that includes iPhone SE (2nd and 3rd gen), iPhone XS and XS Max, iPhone XR, iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max, iPhone 12 and 12 mini, iPhone 12 Pro and Pro Max, iPhone 13 and 13 mini, iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max, and iPhone 14, Plus, Pro and Pro Max. It, of course, is also available on the iPhone 15, Plus, Pro, and Pro Max.
How does NameDrop put children at risk for predators and cybercriminals?
Law enforcement argues that if a stranger were to obtain a child’s contact information via NameDrop, the consequences could be pretty severe. As that would include unauthorized access to email addresses and phone numbers that could be exploited by those with malicious intent. That includes predators and cybercriminals.
This new feature from Apple does raise quite a few cybersecurity concerns, particularly with how easy it is to share this information. This also brings forward some new challenges for ensuring digital safety, especially for vulnerable groups like children.
Should you disable NameDrop?
Yes, you most certainly should disable this feature. If you’re in an instance where you do want to share your information with someone, it is easy enough to turn back on.
With all the recent attention that NameDrop has received, I would not be surprised to see Apple introduce some new safeguards for this feature – one thing that comes to mind is not having it as a feature for those who are under 18 years of age. Apple is big on privacy and security and knows that roughly 88% percent of teenagers in the US have an iPhone. So this is very important to them. I would not be surprised if some changes came ahead of iOS 18 either.