AirDrop

AirDrop is a Bluetooth sharing feature introduced as part of iOS 7 in 2013. It is also supported by iPadOS and macOS.

iOS and iPadOS
AirDrop can be managed by accessing the Control Center. Upon clicking the AirDrop icon, 3 options will appear: Receiving Off, Contacts Only and Everyone. Receiving Off closes AirDrop completely. Contacts Only restricts AirDrop connectivity to users identified in Contacts. Some users found the Everyone option to be problematic as it could allow an unscrupulous user to send obscene images to unsuspecting Apple devices around them if the respective owners did not decline the incoming files.

With the release of iOS 16.1.1 in China, users discovered that the Everyone option had by default become time-limited to 10 minutes, so that it would automatically revert to Contacts Only after that period of time had passed. This change attracted criticism in the wake of protests in the country which were being organized via AirDrop to circumvent censorship. With the release of iOS 16.2, the 10-minute restriction was rolled out to users in other territories outside of China.

Mac OS X and macOS
In Mac OS X 10.7 or later, the AirDrop control window can be accessed by going to the Finder menu and selecting. It can also be accessed in a Finder Sidebar, if enabled.