AirDrop is one of Apple’s best features. I use it daily to share files between my various Apple devices, but it really shines when I’m sharing content with other people, or vice versa. It can be difficult to find a quick solution for sending larger files. Email has a file size limit that’s too low, chat apps can compress files, and cloud storage can fill up quickly, but AirDrop is simple, integrated, and reliable. It now even works with Android, but only with the Pixel 10.
If AirDrop has a flaw, it’s that it’s not particularly easy to use with strangers. Apple has changed how this side of AirDrop works over the years. For the longest time, you had two AirDrop settings: “Contacts Only,” which only lets your saved contacts find your device for AirDropping files, and “Everyone,” which leaves your AirDrop open for anyone with an iPhone to send you items. This was handy when you needed to share files with strangers, but impractical if you left it on: anyone with an iPhone could see your iPhone and send you messages. Nothing– like, say, a bomb threat on a plane. Not good.
Then Apple changed the latter feature to “Everyone for 10 minutes.” Since, if you want to open your AirDrop to people outside of your contacts, you need to manually enable this toggle, which will only stay open for 10 minutes. After that, it goes back to “Contacts Only”. This is an improvement in terms of security, but not in terms of convenience. If you’re ever in a situation where you need to AirDrop something to someone fairly frequently but you don’t want to add their contact to your iPhone, you’ll revert to “Everyone for 10 minutes” every 10 minutes.
iOS 26.2, Apple’s latest iPhone update as of this writing, introduces a solution: AirDrop Codes. This feature requires anyone not saved in your Contacts and wanting to share something with you via AirDrop to first request a one-time code. Once you share this code, that user is temporarily saved to your iPhone for 30 days, allowing you to AirDrop repeatedly without issue. Once those 30 days are up, the user leaves your iPhone and you don’t have to worry about deleting your Contacts app down the line. (This same feature also applies to AirDrop on iPadOS 26.2 and macOS 26.2.)
How to AirDrop with Strangers Using AirDrop Codes
Here’s how this new AirDrop experience will now work with strangers. Let’s say you’re at a conference and you meet someone who wants to send you relevant documents via AirDrop. You set your AirDrop settings to “Everyone for 10 minutes”, they see your contact and try to send you the file.
What do you think of it so far?
On your side, you see the request, with a “Continue” option: once you press it, you will see the AirDrop code on your iPhone, iPad or Mac. You can give the code to the sender, who can enter it on their device. If successful, the file will be shared like any other AirDrop interaction.
As noted above, this allows you to AirDrop with that contact for 30 days without having to worry about another AirDrop code. But if you’re definitely done sharing with the stranger, you can delete their temporary contact early. Head to the Contacts app, tap the Back button at the top left, if available, to access Liststhen choose Other known. Here you will see all temporary contacts generated from previous AirDrop sessions, which you can delete before this 30 day deadline. Otherwise, your device will take care of it after this time has passed.
