AirDrop is a service from Apple. It allows you to send and receive files from other people with an iOS smart device. But this can also be abused. How do you avoid receiving unsolicited photos?
People who were about to start a plane trip got the shock of their lives. A man sent a photo of a plane crash via AirDrop to all nearby iOS devices.
And this is not the first time. For example, women who used the New York subway reported that they suddenly received nude photos of strange men. That’s because AirDrop allows anyone to find nearby devices via Bluetooth. Anyone can then bombard iPhone, Mac, and iPad owners with unsolicited photos, as long as they’re no more than nine feet away.
This is how you prevent it
You can set AirDrop so that only people in your contact list can send you something. All you need to do is go to your device’s settings menu.
You choose ‘AirDrop’ under ‘General’ in the menu. Set the app to ‘Contacts only’ and you will be protected from photos from strangers. On a Mac, you can find this setting simply by clicking AirDrop in Finder. Then you will see ‘I may be found by’ at the bottom. Then change the privacy setting.
If you want to get rid of AirDrop completely, you can also simply turn off the app.
