5 new AirDrop features coming with iOS 17. With iOS 17, apple improves AirDrop and adds exciting new sharing features. Here are all the details.
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Since its arrival with iOS 7, AirDrop has become iPhone users’ favorite way to instantly share photos, videos, documents, and more to nearby Apple devices. Given its popularity, the feature hasn’t changed much over the years. But this year, Apple is bringing several new features to AirDrop that make it even more powerful.
The following five features are coming with iOS 17, which is expected to be finally released this fall.
- NameDrop
NameDrop is a major new feature of AirDrop with iOS 17. Rather than typing in someone’s number to call or sending an SMS/WhatsApp to exchange info, NameDrop allows you to simply hold your iPhone close to the other person’s iPhone to exchange contact details.
When two iPhones are held close to each other, each person’s Contact Poster is displayed (a photo of you that you can customize and edit, new in iOS 17). Users can then select the numbers and email addresses in their contact card that they want to share.
NameDrop also works between an iPhone and an Apple Watch running a version of watchOS 10 that Apple says will arrive later this year.
- New AirDrop gestures for sharing content
The same iPhone-to-iPhone proximity feature that works for NameDrop allows users to share content like photos and files as well.
Simply bringing the two phones close together initiates the AirDrop transfer, thus eliminating the need to manually select the person via the share tab.
- AirDrop over the Internet
With the version of AirDrop up to iOS 16, you must be in close proximity to the other person’s device to complete any transfer: if you walk away, the transfer fails and the content isn’t shared. This can be especially frustrating when you’re sending or receiving several large files such as video content.
With iOS 17, the content you’re trying to share with someone continues to be sent securely and in full quality over your Internet connection. The only requirement is that both you and the recipient are signed in to iCloud.
- SharePlay over AirDrop
Holding two iPhones close together can also be used to start a shared activity via SharePlay. This allows the two people to listen to music or watch a movie together.
And thanks to a new SharePlay API, third-party developers can make their apps support this feature, letting you play the same game together or watch the same streaming service on two separate devices.
- Blur explicit images
iOS only allows anyone to share a photo or document on your device if you agree to share. A long-standing problem with AirDrop, however, is that a preview of content that another person wants to share is shown on your device screen, whether or not you actually want to see it.
This type of preview has led to quite a few problems, with people starting to share unsolicited nude or explicit images. To avoid this, Apple introduces a new opt-in feature in iOS 17 designed to automatically blur images sent via AirDrop that may contain sensitive content such as nudity. The content is blocked, but can be viewed by tapping the “Show” button.