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> Apple blocked AirDrop in China Just to be clear, it's still possible to use AirDrop in China — the change was that you can't set your device to receive from

> Apple blocked AirDrop in China Just to be clear, it's still possible to use AirDrop in China — the change was that you can't set your device to receive from 'Everyone' indefinitely. It's now limited to 10 minutes. I don't support this change, but we shouldn't conflate it with blocking AirDrop entirely, which would be much worse.

neodypsis 4y ago
Nevertheless, - was this change in response to the protests? - was this change only for Chinese users?
- jaywalk 4y ago
  I'm sure it was in response to the protests. Apple said it's rolling out worldwide, but starting in China.
  - flappyeagle 4y ago
    I've received random dick picks often enough on airdrop that I have turned it to contacts only, and so has every female friend of mine that I know of. The primary usecase of allowing everyone to send at all times seems like mass organization
  - threeseed 4y ago
    The timeline doesn't match up with it being in response to the protests. Apple needs time to design, implement and test changes even small ones.
    - brookst 4y ago
      Yes, but they’re sure ;)
      - jaywalk 4y ago
        Despite your snark and the downvotes, I am still sure. It's a tiny change in the grand scheme, and it's pretty conveniently being rolled out in China first.
        brookst 4y ago
        And the fact that the timelines mean Apple must have retroactively pushed code into the past. . . That doesn’t bother you at all?
    - jaywalk 4y ago
      Judging by the bugginess of recent iOS releases, I'm not sure they take too much time for testing.
- dagmx 4y ago
  This change landed in iOS 16 which launched a few months ago so was not rushed for these protests.
  - quenix 4y ago
    More precisely, 16.1, a month before the protests. Suspicious that it was China-only.
    - neodypsis 4y ago
      Also: why don't give users both options? Is up to the user to decide which to use. Make it 10 minutes the default but leave the unlimited option available.
      - gambiting 4y ago
        That's not how apple works - they always pick one option(or a very small set of options) and basically tell the users these are the best options, if you don't like it you're welcome to leave.
        neodypsis 4y ago
        This would mostly make sense for hardware options, but less so in this specific case of a software feature that previously was available.
DelightOne 4y ago
Do They have access to who enables this setting frequently? If so, it does not seem harmless.
- neodypsis 4y ago
  It's debatable that it is totally harmless if the measure was taken in response to the protests. It could prevent the free-flow of otherwise censored information that could be relevant to keeping protesters safe.
kenjackson 4y ago
That distinction seems hugely important. This actually seems like a very reasonable feature change, even outside of China. The ability for the internet to overreact never ceases to amaze me.
tshaddox 4y ago
I support this change. It's a simple but significant improvement to the basic usability of AirDrop. It's conceivable that Apple came up with this simple usability improvement, publicly announced it, then rolled it out deliberately to hamper the efforts of protesters in China, but I think it's more likely to be a coincidence.
- gnicholas 4y ago
  How is it an improvement if it prevents users from doing what the service has allowed since day one? This is even worse than their disable-wifi setting, which (when toggled from the Control Center) only disables wifi until the end of the day. You have to go to the Settings app to disable wifi (and perhaps also Bluetooth?) permanently. But the AirDrop change makes it even worse. There is nowhere you can go to make this setting stick. There is no reason to remove this option.
  - tshaddox 4y ago
    I’m not saying there aren’t use cases for both options (permanently opening AirDrop to everyone and opening AirDrop to everyone for 10 minutes). I’m just saying that the temporary option is a huge usability improvement and a very reasonable default. And I think the exact same thing about the Wi-Fi setting. On the rare occasions that I want to turn Wi-Fi off I usually add a reminder to turn it back on when I get home.
brookst 4y ago
Yes it’s very odd that people keep characterizing this as “blocking Airdrop in China”. Is it really that hard to understand the actual change? Still fine to be angry at Apple about it, though this feels like the way it should always have worked. Remember all the “Apple is terrible because people airdrop unwanted nudes” articles decrying the previous setting?

neodypsis 4y ago

Nevertheless, - was this change in response to the protests? - was this change only for Chinese users?

jaywalk 4y ago
I'm sure it was in response to the protests. Apple said it's rolling out worldwide, but starting in China.
- flappyeagle 4y ago
  I've received random dick picks often enough on airdrop that I have turned it to contacts only, and so has every female friend of mine that I know of. The primary usecase of allowing everyone to send at all times seems like mass organization
- threeseed 4y ago
  The timeline doesn't match up with it being in response to the protests. Apple needs time to design, implement and test changes even small ones.
  - brookst 4y ago
    Yes, but they’re sure ;)
    - jaywalk 4y ago
      Despite your snark and the downvotes, I am still sure. It's a tiny change in the grand scheme, and it's pretty conveniently being rolled out in China first.
      - brookst 4y ago
        And the fact that the timelines mean Apple must have retroactively pushed code into the past. . . That doesn’t bother you at all?
  - jaywalk 4y ago
    Judging by the bugginess of recent iOS releases, I'm not sure they take too much time for testing.
dagmx 4y ago
This change landed in iOS 16 which launched a few months ago so was not rushed for these protests.
- quenix 4y ago
  More precisely, 16.1, a month before the protests. Suspicious that it was China-only.
  - neodypsis 4y ago
    Also: why don't give users both options? Is up to the user to decide which to use. Make it 10 minutes the default but leave the unlimited option available.
    - gambiting 4y ago
      That's not how apple works - they always pick one option(or a very small set of options) and basically tell the users these are the best options, if you don't like it you're welcome to leave.
      - neodypsis 4y ago
        This would mostly make sense for hardware options, but less so in this specific case of a software feature that previously was available.

DelightOne 4y ago

Do They have access to who enables this setting frequently? If so, it does not seem harmless.

neodypsis 4y ago
It's debatable that it is totally harmless if the measure was taken in response to the protests. It could prevent the free-flow of otherwise censored information that could be relevant to keeping protesters safe.

kenjackson 4y ago

That distinction seems hugely important. This actually seems like a very reasonable feature change, even outside of China. The ability for the internet to overreact never ceases to amaze me.

tshaddox 4y ago

I support this change. It's a simple but significant improvement to the basic usability of AirDrop. It's conceivable that Apple came up with this simple usability improvement, publicly announced it, then rolled it out deliberately to hamper the efforts of protesters in China, but I think it's more likely to be a coincidence.

gnicholas 4y ago
How is it an improvement if it prevents users from doing what the service has allowed since day one? This is even worse than their disable-wifi setting, which (when toggled from the Control Center) only disables wifi until the end of the day. You have to go to the Settings app to disable wifi (and perhaps also Bluetooth?) permanently. But the AirDrop change makes it even worse. There is nowhere you can go to make this setting stick. There is no reason to remove this option.
- tshaddox 4y ago
  I’m not saying there aren’t use cases for both options (permanently opening AirDrop to everyone and opening AirDrop to everyone for 10 minutes). I’m just saying that the temporary option is a huge usability improvement and a very reasonable default. And I think the exact same thing about the Wi-Fi setting. On the rare occasions that I want to turn Wi-Fi off I usually add a reminder to turn it back on when I get home.

brookst 4y ago

Yes it’s very odd that people keep characterizing this as “blocking Airdrop in China”. Is it really that hard to understand the actual change? Still fine to be angry at Apple about it, though this feels like the way it should always have worked. Remember all the “Apple is terrible because people airdrop unwanted nudes” articles decrying the previous setting?