Parental Advice on Apple AirDrop
Apple phones have a facility called Air Drop which (much like Bluetooth) allows one phone to send photos to another phone (or multiple phones) without incurring a cost.
We have recently had a couple of situations where students have received inappropriate images through AirDrop. With AirDrop enabled images can be received by everyone within a nine metre radius.
AirDrop has the facility to be turned off completely, or can be limited so that only one’s contacts can send an image or (as seems to have been the case in these incidents) has a setting called ‘everyone’ meaning that the phone or ipad will accept an image from anyone who is sending it.
If AirDrop is set to ‘everyone’ then children may be exposed to images that are not appropriate for their age or maturity and may cause them distress.
If your child owns an Apple device then please talk to them about their AirDrop settings and how to stay safe with their mobile device and on the internet.
The Think You Know website: www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents offers lots of support and advice for parents to help keep children safe online. The NSPCC helpline: 0808 800 5000 is also an excellent resource for parents who need support or advice about parenting in today’s world.
Mr O Marner
Assistant Principal
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