Your iPhone has a ton of features that many people don’t know about or only have a passing familiarity with.
The AirDrop option on the device is one thing that falls into this category.
It’s an incredibly useful way to share files, especially large files, very quickly.
But if you are concerned about receiving files from people you don’t know, then our tutorial below on how to set up your iPhone 13 so that you only receive AirDrops from contacts can help you out.
How to Switch the AirDrop Setting to Contacts Only on an iPhone
- Open Control Center.
- Touch and hold the WiFi icon.
- Tap AirDrop.
- Select Contacts Only.
Our guide continues below with additional information on how to set your iPhone 13 so that you can only receive AirDrop from contacts, including pictures of these steps.
There are a lot of different ways that you can share files with people all over the world.
Email and text messaging are good solutions, and the popularity of social media apps provides yet another way to communicate ideas and media with your friends and family.
If someone is in the same house as you or is close by, then you also have the option to send files from your iPhone with something called AirDrop.
Our tutorial below will show you how to change the AirDrop setting on your iPhone 13 so that only people who are stored as contacts on your iPhone will be able ot send you files in this manner.
Related Guide: Our guide on how to turn off AirDrop on an iPhone will show you another way that you can change the AirDrop setting on your device.
How to Only Let Contacts Send Your AirDrops (Guide with Pictures)
The steps in this article were performed on an iPhone 13 in the iOS 16 operating system, but will also work on other iPhone models using recent versions of iOS.
Step 1: Swipe down from the top-right corner of the screen to open your Control Center.
Step 2: Find the Wi-Fi icon at the top-left of the menu, then tap and hold on to it.
Step 3: Touch the AirDrop button.
Step 4: Choose the Contacts Only option from the list of Airdrop options.
Now that you know how to set your iPhone 13 to only receive AirDrops from contacts, you won’t need to worry that you or your child are going to get random file drops from nearby strangers.
The different AirDrop settings on the iPhone include:
- Receiving Off
- Contacts Only
- Everyone
If you have turned off the AirDrop feature on your iPhone and someone needs to send you some files, they can always email them or text them.
Many online cloud storage providers also offer several GB of data for free, and you can also use those for sile sharing features as well. These services include things like Google Drive or Dropbox.
If you want to use AirDrop to send something to someone, you simply need to touch the Share icon at the bottom of the screen when you have the file open (such as a picture in the Photos app), then choose the Airdrop option and select the contact with whom you wish to share the file.
Matthew Burleigh has been writing technology how-to articles and tutorials for over a decade. He has extensive experience in information technology both in small business and as a consultant.
His articles have appeared on dozens of websites and been read millions of times.
He covers many different topics concerning technology, but focuses primarily on smartphones, consumer software, and consumer electronics.
You can read his full bio here.