iOS 17 brought a significant upgrade to the way you share contact information between iPhone users. NameDrop is the name of the new iPhone trick. It lets you initiate the process after you unlock the phone and finish it by tapping the other person’s handset.
Contrary to what some not-so-smart cops who started spreading panic about the dangers of people stealing contact information via NameDrop, the process is secure. Strangers will not obtain your contact information by simply being in your presence.
The good news is that Apple is ready to expand on the NameDrop functionality to other types of data you’d want to share between iPhones. After the iOS 17.2 update arrives, you can select items from your Wallet app, like boarding passes, movie tickets, and other passes you might store, and share them with your friends and family.
Before police stations start putting up notices about how others might steal your passes this way, I’ll tell you the whole thing is safe, and you’ll have to initiate the process yourself. Not only that, but I can’t wait to use the feature when sharing Wallet content with others.
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You can already share passes and tickets from the Wallet app with others. AirDrop is always a possibility without using the NameDrop gesture.
iOS 17.2 will just make the process look cooler by letting you perform the NameDrop-like gesture. Again, it won’t be called NameDrop because you’re not sharing contact data. But the feature will transfer data similarly.
Sharing contact information (NameDrop) via AirDrop between iPhone and Apple Watch. Image source: Apple Inc.
Here’s how Apple describes it in the release notes of iOS 17.2: “AirDrop improvements including expanded contact sharing options and the ability to share boarding passes, movie tickets, and other eligible passes by bringing two iPhones together.”
As MacRumors explains, you’ll have to go into the Wallet app to use the app. Select the pass you want to share and hold your iPhone next to the iPhone you want to share the pass with. A Share button will appear on your phone. You will have to tap it so you can share your pass with your friend or family member.
That’s all it takes. It’s private, it’s secure, and nobody can steal passes from you because you’d have to initiate the sharing process.
You can still share your passes and tickets via the old ways, but the NameDrop-like functionality might be faster. You’ll just have to tap a phone and then the Share button rather than scrolling to pick a contact from a list. It’ll be up to you to choose how you share. I know I’ll have the feature enabled on my iPhone, just as I have the NameDrop contact-sharing feature turned on.
The NameDrop-like feature will only work on iPhones and only if both of them run the iOS 17.2 release. The software is still in beta but should be released widely next week.