Police departments around the country have been advising people to turn off Apple iPhone's newest feature called "NameDrop."

It allows users to quickly share contact information with each other, simply by putting their phone next to another iPhone or Apple Watch.

But are these worries legit?

21 News spoke to Chester Wisniewski, chief technology officer at Sophos, who says these security risk concerns are a distraction.

"It's [NameDrop] only done with consent. So, it's a bit puzzling to me that this has gained so much traction, that sharing our number is apparently a risky behavior," Wisniewski said. 

Without user consent, information cannot be transferred between phones.

How to activate NameDrop: an iPhone user has to hold the top of their phone, as close as possible without touching, to another person's iPhone. A prompt will notify the users that the phone is ready to exchange contact information. After that, people can choose to share or receive contact information. 

How to deactivate NameDrop: settings> general> AirDrop> Bringing Devices Together> turn off.