Police in the US say Apple’s NameDrop feature is dangerous, but it’s not
In the United States, the police and some media outlets have begun to actively spread the word that Apple’s new NameDrop feature could be dangerous, but in fact it is not.
According to MacRumors, police departments across the US have started spreading information that NameDrop is supposed to work by simply bringing two smartphones close together, which could result in someone accidentally sharing their contact information. This, of course, was picked up by the local media.
Posts with similar appeals on social media have gained a lot of shares and views, but they are far from the truth and the threat that has been so actively reported is not real.
To use NameDrop, both users must have an iPhone updated to iOS 17.1 or an Apple Watch with watchOS 10.1, the devices must be unlocked and very close to each other, and to confirm the data transfer, users must additionally agree to it via a special notification.
Of course, there is a minimal possibility that this will happen by accident, but it’s more likely to be just an annoying notification that accidentally appears when one iPhone is placed close to another than a real threat of accidentally sharing your data with others.