How to quickly share contact or business card info with NameDrop on Apple Watch or iPhone

Apple Watch and iPhone NameDrop

Apple’s added a new, super convenient AirDrop function, NameDrop (available in iOS17+ and watchOS 10+), which lets you quickly and easily exchange contact information device-to-device with new friends, co-workers, business clients, and just about anyone else using an iPhone or Apple Watch.

With NameDrop, you closely place the iPhones or an iPhone and Apple Watch together and tap on the Share button or the My Card complication. It works just like ApplePay and is a really useful feature for folks on the go or replacing business cards!

And coming soon, it will also work between two Apple Watches as well! Just tap the Share button in the Contacts app My Card or tap the My Card watch face complication, and then bring the Apple Watches together so they are face-to-face.

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Retire your business cards with NameDrop iOS 17+ NameDrop for iPhone

One of the best uses of NameDrop is exchanging your professional contact information with prospective clients and other people you meet.

NameDrop allows you to exchange each other’s information or just receive someone else’s contact info.

Since you choose which information to share (i.e., which phone number(s) and which email addresses,) you have control over what you share and don’t share with that person.

Plus, with iOS 17+, you can even create multiple Contact Posters in the Contacts app and have one for your professional life, one for your personal life, and so forth.

So no more lost cards or stacks of endless business cards that you can’t sort through. And no more trying to take snapshots of someone’s card so you can actually read it. 

With NameDrop, you quickly capture that person’s information, and Apple stores it in your contacts app. One and done!

Swap contact info with NameDrop on your iPhone and Apple Watch

Since NameDrop uses AirDrop to share information, first make sure both devices turn on Bluetooth and/or WiFi and allow AirDrop access to everyone.

Change your AirDrop access via your iPhone’s Control Center or the Settings app.

  • In Control Center, tap the network settings card, press and hold the AirDrop icon, and select the option to share to Everyone for 10 Minutes. Control Center AirDrop options for iPhone
  • Go to Settings > General > AirDrop, then choose to share to Everyone for 10 Minutes. iPhone Settings app for AirDrop

When you choose Everyone for 10 Minutes, all nearby Apple devices using AirDrop can see your iPhone for the next 10 minutes. After that time, AirDrop reverts to the default of Contacts Only.

If you can’t change AirDrop’s settings, go to Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions > Allowed Apps, and turn on AirDrop. Screen Time settings for allowed apps on iPhone

How to NameDrop contact info using your iPhone

Once AirDrop is ready and your devices have Bluetooth and/or WiFi on, sharing contact info via NameDrop is super quick!

  1. Place your iPhones (or an iPhone and an Apple Watch) near each other, with the top edges overlapping. iPhone NameDrop using NFC and AirDrop
  2. You choose to Just Receive or Share contact information.
    1. With the Share button, you choose the phone numbers and email addresses you want to share with that person along with your Contact Poster.
    2. With Just Receive, you don’t share your information but get the other person’s contact info.

How does NameDrop work?

Like AirDrop, NameDrop uses Bluetooth and/or WiFi, and the NFC sensor to quickly transfer each person’s contact information between devices when you bring the devices together. 

For NameDrop to work, make sure that both iPhones or watches have Bluetooth and WiFi on.

And for those concerned about people pirating your contact information or accidental exchanges, NameDrop is intentional. You must unlock your iPhone’s lock screen, bring the devices close together (within a few inches) and tap the Share button for NameDrop to work

What iPhones and Apple Watches support NameDrop?

NameDrop requires iOS 17 and watchOS 10. 

Any iPhone that you can update to iOS17+ supports NameDrop. That includes iPhone XR models and above and the iPhone SE (2nd generation+.)

For Apple Watch, NameDrop works on select models that support watchOS 10+ with Apple Watch Ultra, SE models, and Series 6 and later and lanches in an update later this year.

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A. Beth Whittenberger
I started my love affair with computers way back in elementary school with the Apple II. Since then, I've worked with technology in my career as a media educator and videomaker. I have an MFA in media making from Temple University, where I also taught undergrads as an adjunct faculty member. Additionally, I was a writer, content producer, and editor on the popular tech blog AppleToolBox. So I know a thing or two about teaching others and creating how-to guides! After a cancer diagnosis, I turned to mobile technology like my Apple Watch to help me monitor my health throughout my chemotherapy treatment and later, to regain my wellness once in remission. I love sharing how to understand and use mobile tech, like smartwatches and phones, as a tool for empowerment to live our best and healthiest lives! Connect with me on LinkedIn!

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