Dream - An institution supported by the Chinese government has found a way to identify who sends any file to others through Apple's AirDrop. This institution claims to have hacked the feature to discover the email address and phone number of the person sending files via AirDrop.

The police have used the AirDrop loophole to identify several suspects. However, the Beijing judiciary bureau has not said whether there have been any arrests as a result. "This approach improves the efficiency and accuracy of case resolution and prevents the spread of inappropriate comments and potential negative influence," according to the bureau quoted from Engadget.

As information, AirDrop is a feature that can be used by Mac, iPhone, or iPad users to send photos, videos, documents, contacts, and passwords to other nearby Apple devices. As noted by MacRumors, Apple has stated that AirDrop is a secure application because it uses Transport Layer Security encryption.

However, the Beijing City Judiciary Bureau claimed that an institution has found a way to crack the encryption. AirDrop itself has been used to distribute pro-democracy slogans during the demonstrations in Hong Kong in 2019.

In 2022, Apple launched a new restriction for AirDrop in China after protesters used this feature to share anti-government messages. The company limits the duration for users to receive files or messages through AirDrop from strangers to 10 minutes.

Apple then expanded this restriction to all iPhone users, reportedly in an effort to reduce spam in busy locations.