AirDropping penis pics is the latest horrifying subway trend
Britta Carlson holds up a photo of a penis that she received via AirDrop.
archive.fo/6GmmD
Britta Carlson, 28, was riding the uptown 6 train to a concert on July 27 when a mysterious message popped up on her smartphone. “iPhone 1 would like to share a note with you,” read the note sent at 6:51 p.m. She hit “Accept” and was horrified by what she saw. “It was just a huge close-up picture of a disgusting penis,” said Carlson, of Bushwick, Brooklyn. The message was titled “Straw” and was sent by an anonymous stranger. “It really felt like someone had actually just flashed me.” Carlson clutched the phone to her chest and frantically scanned the subway car for the pervert but couldn’t place him.
There’s a new iPhone craze on the subway, and it’s not the latest Candy Crush update. New York women have discovered that creepy men are using the iPhone AirDrop app to send them photos of their privates while on the same train. Since more straphangers using the MTA are carrying advanced iPhones and awareness of the AirDrop app has increased, local straphangers have started noticing a troubling trend first reported in London in 2015.
In order for pervs to send lewd photos, iPhone owners must have their AirDrop setting on “Everyone,” instead of “Contacts Only” or “Receiving Off.” The app, which was released for iPhones in 2013, uses “Contacts Only” as the default setting and doesn’t work with Androids or Windows phones. The victim must also be within Bluetooth range, which is approximately 328 feet. People often forget to switch the setting off from “Everyone,” or don’t realize they have turned it on.
Carlson had her AirDrop switched to “Everyone” because she used it to send photos at work. “It never even crossed my mind that someone may use it to send stuff like that,” she admitted. Frankie Navisch, 35, had just gotten off a train at Penn Station when an invitation to open “Eduardo’s picture” — with a preview photo of a man’s junk — popped up on his screen. “I wanted to punch him in the mouth for carelessly buckshotting genitalia to phones that could potentially be owned by children,” seethed Navisch, of Harlem. “Was he looking for interaction, or is all he wanted was someone to look at his mini-monstrosity?” Serial exhibitionists are likely attracted to using AirDrop to trap victims because of the anonymity. “In the past, flashers would have to go out in public in a trench coat and risk getting arrested,” said Brad Salzman, a sex-addiction therapist. “Now . . . their minds can run wild.”
Apple declined to comment.