AirDrop works great. It’s a fast and convenient way to send all sorts of data directly between Apple devices–contacts, photos, videos, web links, you name it. Once the initial connection is established, data can be sent over Wi-Fi directly between devices using a peer to peer connection.
By default, AirDrop is set to allow incoming connection requests from Contacts Only, but that setting can be changed to Everyone–popular among protesters and teens alike. Beginning with iOS 16.1.1, users in China will find that the “Everyone” option has changed to “Everyone for 10 minutes.” Apple won’t admit why this change is being made in China, but the peer-to-peer nature of AirDrop has made it popular for spreading anti-government protest material, and hopping into your settings every 10 minutes to re-enable the ability to receive AirDrop from strangers makes it a lot less useful for that.
Importantly, this is not a China-only change. Apple confirmed to Bloomberg’s Mark GurmanIn an effort to decrease spam and abuse of AirDrop, the change will be implemented globally next year. Having your AirDrop settings set to Everyone doesn’t mean anyone can send you anything–you have to confirm each transfer, after all. However, anyone can see your name and contacts images. It also shows you a preview before you accept the transfer.
