Apple has limited to 10 minutes the time that phone owners can receive files via AirDrop from strangers; such a function was introduced in China, where posters against the government were distributed using the service. Reported by Bloomberg.
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Now owners of iPhones sold in China with iOS 16.1.1 will be able to choose between completely turning off AirDrop, allowing only contacts to share files, or making the phone visible to everyone, but only for 10 minutes.
According to Bloomberg, the reason for this update was that during the protests, the protesters used AirDrop to share posters against Xi Jinping and the government. Apple did not explain the reason why the novelty was first introduced in China, and added that the feature will be available to users worldwide next year. .jpg» class=»mz-publish-photo__image» data-type=»photo» data-slate-custom=»{«imgSrc»:»https://s3.zona.media/i/f9546f76d7756ddf4e20a2ac65309c0d»,» ;alt":""}» alt=»1″ />
Screenshot: Bloomberg
Earlier, protests took place in China against the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party Xi Jinping and his policies before the election of the head of the republic for the third term. As Vice wrote, during the days of the protests, one of the residents of Shanghai received an anti-government poster via AirDrop with the inscription «Against dictatorship, against totalitarianism, against autocracy.» The interlocutor of the publication noted that this is the first time he received information critical of the authorities.