[13] The technical details of AirDrop and the proprietary peer-to-peer Wi-Fi protocol called Apple Wireless Direct Link (AWDL) have been reverse engineered[14] and the resulting open source implementations published as OWL[15] and OpenDrop.

A rainbow table correlating phone numbers and email accounts was created during investigation, and has "effectively assisted the police in identifying several suspects" involved in such cases.

[18][19][20] Researchers at the Technische Universität Darmstadt stated that Apple knew that AirDrop users could be identified and tracked as early as 2019 and did not implement a proposed fix in 2021.

[27] There have been numerous reported cases where iOS device users with AirDrop privacy set to "Everyone" have received unwanted files from nearby strangers; the phenomenon has been termed "cyber-flashing.

"[28][29] As of iOS 16.1.1, Apple has silently replaced the "Everyone" mode with "Everyone for 10 minutes" for users in China at first, which automatically reverts back to contacts only after time elapses.

[33] In May 2022, an AnadoluJet flight between Israel and Turkey was deboarded after Israeli users used AirDrop to share pictures of a Turkish airline crash, leading to at least one injury to a passenger.

As the crew was informed and the captain asked for police intervention, the flight left with a two-hour delay and the young man was charged with procuring an alarm.

[35] In late August 2022, a man on an airplane that was taxiing for take off, airdropped nude photos of himself to others on the Southwest Airlines flight from Houston to Cabo San Lucas.