While the rest of the world has lifted many restrictions around the coronavirus, China stuck to its “zero” policy and has maintained draconian measures to try to contain the spread of the virus.
In recent weeks, protests have erupted across China against the country’s zero COVID policy.
Protests intensified in China after a fire in a residential building in the western city of Urumqi killed 10 people. Videos suggest that fire victims were locked in their apartments and that first responders were unable to access them due to the COVID shutdown.
However, citizens will no longer be able to take full advantage of the AirDrop file-sharing feature on their iPhones, which has been used frequently in the country to circumvent censorship and disseminate information about protests.
After the latest software update, iOS 16.1.1, iPhone owners in China can only use AirDrop to receive files, images and videos from other people other than contacts for 10 minutes.
After those 10 minutes, AirDrop automatically switches back to contact only.
Chinese protesters often use AirDrop to disseminate information to nearby citizens and avoid severe censorship on social media and other public places.
Bloomberg reports that the company is planning to roll out the 10-minute time restriction to iPhones worldwide next year.