AirDrop privacy on iPhone: who can send you files
AirDrop is at its safest when it only listens to people you know.
In short
In Settings › General › AirDrop, choose Receiving Off, Contacts Only or Everyone for 10 Minutes. Everyone for 10 Minutes switches back on its own — to Contacts Only if you are signed in to your Apple Account. You accept or decline every transfer from someone else, and Sensitive Content Warning can blur nude images before you see them.
Key takeaways
- Contacts Only is the sensible everyday setting.
- Everyone for 10 Minutes reverts automatically after 10 minutes.
- NameDrop shares only the contact fields you choose, and can be turned off.
The three receiving settings
- Receiving Off: nobody can send you anything by AirDrop.
- Contacts Only: only people in your contacts can send you items. For this to work, the contact card you have for them must include the email address or phone number of their Apple Account.
- Everyone for 10 Minutes: any nearby Apple device can send you a request. Since iOS 16.2, the setting changes back after 10 minutes, to Contacts Only if you are signed in to your Apple Account, or Receiving Off if you aren’t.
Change it in Settings › General › AirDrop, or open Control Center, touch and hold the top-left group of controls, then tap the AirDrop button.
Senders who aren’t in your contacts
With iOS 26.2 or later, someone who isn’t in your contacts must use an AirDrop code. If you choose to receive the item, your iPhone shows a code that you give to the sender, and they enter it on their device. They are then added to an Other Known list in Contacts for 30 days. To stop before then, open Contacts, find them in that list and choose Forget This Person.
Unwanted images
Nothing from another person arrives without your choice: each transfer waits for you to accept or decline it. Only items sent between devices signed in to the same Apple Account are accepted automatically.
For extra protection, turn on Sensitive Content Warning in Settings › Privacy & Security. Photos and videos received by AirDrop that appear to contain nudity are then blurred before you view them, with the analysis done on your iPhone. On a child’s device, Communication Safety does the same.
- In a crowded place, keep AirDrop on Contacts Only or Receiving Off.
- Use Everyone for 10 Minutes only when you are about to receive something, and let it expire.
NameDrop
NameDrop, part of AirDrop, exchanges contact details when you hold your iPhone close to another iPhone or an Apple Watch. It shares only your name, the phone number or email address you choose, and your Contact Poster — not your home address or birthday. You can share and receive, or only receive, and moving the devices apart or locking your iPhone before it finishes cancels the transfer.
NameDrop is on by default. To turn it off, go to Settings › General › AirDrop and turn off Bring Devices Together.
After you accept
A photo received by AirDrop from someone’s Photos app is saved straight into your Photos library, where it syncs and appears like any other picture. If it is private, move it into a vault such as Latent, then empty Recently Deleted so no copy remains in the library.