Sharing your contact information and more with people will get easier with new AirDrop functionality in iOS 17. A new feature called NameDrop makes it about as simple as knocking iPhones together.
“Today, you either hand your phone to them, or one of you dictates your information while the other types it. Now there’s a better way,” said Apple SVP of Software Engineering Craig Federighi during Monday’s WWDC23 keynote. “Now you can just bring your phones close together.”
AirDrop’s NameDrop feature helps you easily share information between iPhones and Apple Watch
Federighi pointed out that AirDrop already makes it quick and easy to share items like files and photos with people. The new NameDrop feature in the upcoming iOS 17 will make sharing contact info super-simple.
Here’s how Apple described the new NameDrop feature of AirPlay:
With iOS 17, AirDrop gets new ways to share. NameDrop allows users to easily share contact information by simply bringing their iPhones together, or by bringing an iPhone and Apple Watch together. With the same gesture, users can also share content or start SharePlay to listen to music, watch a movie, or play a game while in close proximity between iPhone devices.
When you bring your iPhone and someone else’s close together — or even their Apple Watch — your Contact Poster with information and image will come up. (Contact Posters, another new feature coming in iOS 17, let users present a personalized image of themselves that shows up in calls and messages. “Users can customize how they appear, bringing a completely new look to incoming calls, and choose beautiful treatments for photos or Memoji, as well as eye-catching typography and font colors,” Apple said.)
“You’ll see the same Contact Poster we talked about for phone calls, and you can easily choose the phone numbers and email addresses you want to share along with it and share them just like that,” Federighi said. “And to make exchanging contacts even more convenient, you can use NameDrop with an iPhone and an Apple Watch, too.”
Share other AirPlay content
Photo: Apple
He also mentioned bringing two iPhones together can share other AirDrop content.
“We’re also using this same gesture to make it easier than ever to AirDrop content and even kick off shared experiences,” he said, giving the example of sharing new photos from a recent trip. “Just bring your phones close together. It’s that simple.”
And he referred to big content transfers that take time, like a huge batch of photos. The new functionality will allow transfer via internet even if your gadget doesn’t stay near the other person’s throughout the exchange.
“You can now leave AirDrop range and your content will continue to send securely in full quality over the internet,” he said.
Enjoy SharePlay experiences together
Photo: Apple
The function also extends to shared activities over SharePlay when you bring iPhones close together.
“You can also bring your devices together to instantly kick off a shared activity using SharePlay. Like when you’re going for a run and want to share some music to stay on the same beat,” Federighi said.
“And for developers, this will work automatically for apps that support SharePlay, so you can bring your phones together to watch the same live stream on Twitch or jump into a coding game together with imagi. It’s never been easier to share.”
