The Truth About iPhone Technology Warnings from Local Police

Over the holiday weekend, a generic post from law enforcement around the country ignited new panic among those that own iPhones.

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Law enforcement issues warning

The generic post reads:

**IPHONE USERS**

IMPORTANT PRIVACY UPDATE:

If you have an iPhone and have done the recent iOS 17 update, they have set a new feature called NameDrop defaulted to ON. This feature allows the sharing of your contact info just by bringing your phones close together. To shut this off go to Settings, General, AirDrop, Bringing Devices Together. Change to OFF.

PARENTS: Don’t forget to change these settings after the update on your children’s phones, also, to help keep them safe as well!

Across Facebook and Reddit, and anywhere that iPhone users frequent, reaction has been mixed, from some users thanking law enforcement for keeping criminal paws off their phones, to others calling it another scare hoax or clickbait news. Others simply replied: "ok boomer".

Tech nerds say there's no need to panic

In general, there's no need to panic about this relatively new feature, and it seems that there's a whole lot of misinformation on the topic out in the universe. Apparently, this feature only works when both phones are unlocked and are almost touching. This is an example of NFC, or near-field communication. Devices need to be within 4cm of each other for it to work. Within the iPhone you have to take steps to allow your info to be disseminated this way. At that point, the feature is only available for 10 minutes until it shuts back off. Essentially, nothing will happen automatically, people walking down the street or near your home in any proximity to your phone will have the ability to steal any of your info.

You control what happens with your phone, not anyone else.

Here is a link to Apple's support page on the topic.