New Phone Feature Puts Illinois Residents’ Privacy At Risk

Illinois authorities warn that the latest iPhone operating system update automatically turns on a feature that shares contacts and photos with other phones that are close by.

If you are the kind of iPhone user who sets their phone to update automatically, you may have no idea about this new feature. You may also not like that the new feature is switched to "ON".

New Apple iOS 17 Update

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I never want my phone to automatically update because I know my memory and I will absolutely forget to check out everything that changed with the new update.

This new NameDrop feature is exactly the kind of feature you want to know everything about before activating it.

Apple's recent iOS 17 update contains a new contact-sharing feature called NameDrop. The default setting of that new feature is why law enforcement agencies across the country have been sharing warnings like the one below from the Stephenson County Sheriff's Office.

IMPORTANT PRIVACY UPDATE

 

IMPORTANT PRIVACY UPDATE

 

If you have an iPhone and have done the recent iOS 17 update, they’ve installed a feature called NameDrop. This feature allows you to easily share contact information and photos to another iPhone by just holding the phones close together. This feature is defaulted to ‘ON’.

 

To shut this feature off, go to Settings, General, AirDrop, Bringing Devices Together and change to ‘OFF’.

 

PARENTS: Don’t forget to change these settings on your child’s phone to help keep them safe as well!

I haven't downloaded iOS 17 yet, so I'm not 100% sure this isn't already something that could happen through another iOS feature that has been around for years, AirDrop.

While nothing is automatic through AirDrop, meaning you still have to physically push "send", I don't know if your contacts could automatically be sent to someone (or be seen by soomeone else) without having to physically tap something on your phone.

I'm sure I am not the only iPhone user who waits to download iOS updates until Apple forces me to download it. Some days, it's just too irritating to be forced to change some of the features I'm used to.