This NameDrop controversy that took place on Facebook earlier this week is one of the most misunderstood technical issues I’ve seen in a long time.
Contrary to all of these posts from official sounding police-related Facebook pages, it’s not really a security risk.
NameDrop is useful if you want to share your phone number or email address with another iPhone user. It’s like exchanging business cards with them, just quicker.
NameDrop doesn’t broadcast your private information around the room for a nefarious hacker to intercept. Your phone has to be unlocked, within a few inches of the other phone, and you have to press an on-screen button to share anything.
Here’s a demonstration that Apple shared on YouTube, explaining the NameDrop feature in 45 seconds.
Note: I shared the gist of this post on Facebook on November 27.