Police in NJ Warning Parents About New iPhone Update

Have you updated your iPhone recently to iOS 17? If the answer is yes, there's something you need to be aware of.

News 12 New Jersey is reporting that police departments in New Jersey, and throughout the country, are warning everyone that you may be sharing your contact information, unknowingly.

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The new feature is called "NameDrop" and it enables iPhone and Apple Watch users to share their contact information just by bringing their devices close to each other.

This could be convenient if you want to share your information, but, if you don't want to share your information, uh-oh.

The problem is, that the feature is automatically set to "on" and most people are unaware of this.

To turn it off, go to your Settings, then General, then AirDrop, then turn off the Bringing Devices Together tab.

The News 12 New Jersey article quoted the President of Atlas Security, Barry Dynkin, as saying, "Even a properly managed smartphone, is definitely a risk for younger children. Particularly for features like these which are not essential for children. It's prudent for parents to lock down settings as high as possible and turn these sorts of features off."

Check your iPhones and turn the setting off so you don't become a possible victim of idenity theft.