How to stop unwanted AirDrops on iPhone

1. 1Open Settings, tap General, then tap AirDrop.
2. 2Under Receiving, choose Contacts Only. People who are not in your Contacts then cannot send to you. Choose Receiving Off to block everyone, including friends, until you switch it back.

You can also change it faster from Control Center: touch and hold the card with the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth icons, tap AirDrop, and pick an option.

Receiving Off is the safest choice on a train, at a concert or in an airport, where many strangers are within range. Contacts Only is a good everyday setting.

Since iOS 16.2 the open option is called Everyone for 10 Minutes. Apple says that when the ten minutes are up it goes back to Contacts Only if you are signed in to your Apple Account. So you are not meant to be left open to everyone for long.

If requests from strangers still reach you, the usual reason is that you switched to Everyone for 10 Minutes to receive something from a person who is not in your Contacts, and the time had not yet run out. Set it back to Contacts Only once the transfer is done.

Contacts Only matches the sender against the contact details saved on their device, so it relies on the person being in your Contacts with the phone number or email address their iPhone uses. If a friend cannot send to you, add those details, or use Everyone for 10 Minutes briefly.

• Tap Decline. Nothing is saved to your phone unless you accept.
• Do not accept just to see what it is. A request from someone you do not know is not a reason to open it.
• Switch AirDrop to Contacts Only or Receiving Off straight afterwards, so the same person cannot try again.

If a request shows a picture you did not want to see, declining is enough: the content does not stay on your phone. If it is harassment, you may also want to keep the details and report it to the platform or local police, depending on where you live.

On iOS 17 and later there is a setting called Sensitive Content Warning. When it is on, your iPhone can detect nude photos and videos on the device and blur them before you see them, and AirDrop is one of the places it applies. You find it under Settings → Privacy & Security → Sensitive Content Warning. The analysis is done on the iPhone, not sent to Apple.

It is a safety net, not a replacement for Contacts Only. Settings and names differ by iOS version, so use the Search box at the top of Settings if you cannot find it.

Photos and videos you accept normally land in the Photos app. Other files depend on the type: they may open in an app you choose, or be saved to Files. Either way, anyone who opens your unlocked phone can see them there, and with iCloud Photos on, photos also sync to your other devices.

If someone AirDrops you a sensitive photo or a document, such as an ID scan or a signed contract, you can move it somewhere with its own lock and then delete the original. Lockboxy is an iPhone app that keeps photos, files and notes in an encrypted vault behind a passcode that is separate from your iPhone's.

• In Photos, select the item, tap Share and choose Lockboxy if it appears in the share sheet, or import it from inside the app's Media or Files area.
• Then delete the original in Photos and empty Recently Deleted, otherwise the copy stays there for a while. How to permanently delete photos on iPhone has the steps.
• Lockboxy encrypts what you add on the device, with no account and no server of ours in the middle. The free plan holds up to 30 photos or videos and 10 files; Premium removes those limits and the ads.

The app does not stop AirDrop requests. That is an iOS setting, covered above.

• A locked iPhone can still show notifications and offer some controls. What can someone do with your locked iPhone? lists them and how to switch each one off.
• Photos can reach you through Messages too. How to stop photos from Messages showing up in your iPhone Photos app covers that.
• If you also hand your phone to others, see how to lend your iPhone without exposing your photos.