iOS 16.1.1, the new version of the iPhone operating system that is now available globally, has a small modification for the Asian market, and more specifically, for China. Apple is restricting the use of air dropyour file transfer technology between your devicesjust 10 minutes when users in the country activate the ‘Everyone’ optionwhich allows sharing and receiving items, such as images, even to any nearby user.
AirDrop, let’s remember, has two options for users to receive and share files instantly. ‘Only contacts’, in particular, allows the reception or sending of files from only those people who are added to the agenda. ‘Everyone’, on the other hand, offers the possibility to share or receive, for example, images, to anyone who also has this option activated and is at a maximum distance of about 10 or 15 meters. This last option is the one that Apple has begun to limit on all iPhones in China.
The users they can only have it activated for 10 minutes. After that period, the ‘Everyone’ option in AirDrop will be automatically disabled and will either switch to ‘Contacts Only’ or disable the feature.
But, Why would Apple activate such a limitation only in China? The objective, clearly, is none other than to prevent citizens from sharing content among other users in an unlimited way. It is also an order of the country’s government, and not a decision of Apple itself. The Chinese Communist Party, specifically (and according to 9to5Mac), aims to prevent protesters from airdropping propaganda against President Xi Jinping and your government through this service.
Apple could limit the use of AirDrop worldwide
Apple also could expand the AirDrop limitation that has started to activate in China to the whole worldas revealed Bloomberg. And it is that, in reality, the possibility of making users only have 10 minutes to share files between any person who also has the option activated, goes far beyond preventing protesters from campaigning against the current Chinese government. .
It is also a function that can offer extra privacy and security to the user, as it can prevent other people from sharing obscene content to those third-party iPhones that are less than 20 meters away. Meanwhile, 10 minutes is enough time to, for example, share a file by AirDrop between two people who for whatever reason are not saved in contacts.
AirDrop, mind you, is not the only feature that is limited in China. At the request of the government, Apple has also removed the Taiwanese flag emoji from devices that are marketed in the country. In Japan, for example, the company keeps the camera shutter sound activated even when the device is silent, as a way to avoid harassment and so that any user knows that they are being photographed. In some European countries, Apple also limits the maximum volume level.