Women in China text on their iPhones in front of an Apple ad
(Picture: AP Photo/Andy Wong)Apple has imposed new limits on the use of its AirDrop wireless file-sharing feature on iPhones in China after it was used by protestors to spread anti-state messages, according to a Bloomberg report.
AirDrop allows users to rapidly share and receive information, including photos, documents, and even locations, with Apple devices in close range over Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. On Wednesday (November 9), Apple effectively capped the amount of time in which users can receive files from non-contacts at 10 minutes. After the 10-minute limit ends, the iPhone returns to the mode where it can only receive files from contacts. Apple told Bloomberg that it plans to implement the restriction globally in the coming year.
Previously, there was no time limit on interactions through the file-sharing service. Users could set AirDrop to receive files from everyone, those in their contacts, or turn it off completely. The change was made in China through an iPhone update ( iOS 16.1.1) released Wednesday. Some in China have seized upon the feature to circulate posters in opposition to Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s authoritarian rule amid growing unrest over China’s zero-Covid policy, among other protests.
While Apple did not explicitly state why it chose to introduce the update in China, it reportedly said that the change is aimed at curbing the spread of unwanted messages on AirDrop. The contentious feature has previously been lambasted in the UK after pupils used it to share nudes. Women have also complained of receiving unsolicited explicit images from strangers through AirDrop.
Apple has previously come under fire for clamping down on its services in China. In the past few years alone, the company has been accused of kowtowing to Chinese censors by removing a podcast app, thousands of mobile games, and a map app used by Hong Kong’s pro-democracy campaigners.
