NameDrop is a big timesaver for iPhone users
This is a big timesaver when you are meeting a fellow iPhone user for the first time and want to exchange contact information. If you start the exchange while in AirDrop range and walk out of range, the rest of the information is swapped securely over the internet. A user can decide whether he wants to swap Contact Posters with another iPhone user or just receive the other person’s information without giving out his own.
With NameDrop, Near Field Communications (NFC), the same technology that allows you to tap on a point-of-sale terminal and use Apple Pay. is used to make the initial handshake between the two iPhone units and signals both phones that the users want to share information. Once that is done, AirDrop takes over the next step and using the combination of Bluetooth and Wi-Fi for discovery and transfer respectively, the Contact Posters are swapped. So, we can say that when it comes to NameDrop, NFC starts the process, and AirDrop finishes it off.
- Photograph
- Mobile phone number
- Email address
The user can decide to send any combination of these three data points to the other Android wielding party. Tapping the “Receive only” button will allow the user to get the other party’s information without sharing his own. The other party’s information comes in the form of a page that says, “Contact received.” Hit the Save button and this new information becomes a new contact on your phone. There are a couple of icons on this card that allow the user to start a video chat or send a text to the Android user whose info he received.
