THERE are those who play Candy Crush to kill time on their commute and then there are those using their iPhones for a more depraved source of entertainment.

A new trend emerging in New York City has seen men using Apple’s Airdrop feature to send pictures of their penis to unsuspecting passengers on the same train.

Britta Carlson was recently a victim to the explicit prank after accepting an Airdrop when a mysterious message popped up on her smartphone.

“iPhone 1 would like to share a note with you,” the message read, reported The New York Post.

The 28-year-old said she hit accept and was horrified when the message opened and the picture appeared.

“It was just a huge close-up picture of a disgusting penis,” she said. “It really felt like someone had actually just flashed me.”

AirDrop was designed to allow people to easily transfer files to others in their vicinity without occupying storage space. It only works within a 99m Bluetooth range, so Ms Carlson quickly held the phone against her chest and searched the subway car for anyone looking suspicious, but had no luck.

The New Yorker reported her mistake was having the Airdrop setting on “Everyone,” instead of “Contacts Only” or “Receiving Off.”

“It never even crossed my mind that someone may use it to send stuff like that,” she said.

Frankie Navisch was close to falling victim when he was invitation to open “Eduardo’s picture”, but when the preview showed an image of a man’s penis, he knew not to open.

The 35-year-old said he was furious at the perverted act.

“I wanted to punch him in the mouth for carelessly buckshotting genitalia to phones that could potentially be owned by children,” he said.

“Was he looking for interaction, or is all he wanted was someone to look at his mini-monstrosity?”

The Airdrop feature was first reintroduced with Apple’s iOS 7 update.

“Just tap Share, then select the person you want to share with,’ Apple’s website explains.

“Airdrop does the rest using Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. No set up required. And transfers are encrypted, so what you share is highly secure.”

Sex-addiction therapist Brad Salzman said the security and anonymity of Airdrop was likely the reason behind the new trend.

“In the past, flashers would have to go out in public in a trench coat and risk getting arrested,” he said. “Now ... their minds can run wild.”

The news follows drastic moves taken by a women sick of receiving random d*** pics on Tinder.

Frustrated single woman Madi Kohn updated her bio on the dating application to make it clear that any unwanted snapshots of a man’s junk would be forwarded to their mums.

And when Ryan filled her inbox with a self-portrait, that’s exactly what she did.

After getting the X-rated picture sent to her Instagram — which was linked to her Tinder — she used some cyber sleuthing skills to track down his mother.

In the message, which included a screenshot of the surprise crotch selfie, she wrote: “I have never talked to or met (your son) but he has sent me this picture ... can you please tell him not to send unsolicited pictures to women?”

A day later, she received a reply — an apology in both English and Spanish from the shocked mum, promising to speak to her son.

Have you ever been victim to an unsolicited d*** pic? Continue the conversation in the comments below or with Matthew Dunn on Facebook and Twitter.

matthew.dunn2@news.com.au