Currently, for various reasons, Apple has set AirDrop to only receive content sent by contacts by default. When users manually turn it on, they can also receive content sent by strangers within 10 minutes. If it exceeds 10 minutes, it will be turned off again to only allow content sent by contacts.
This method does reduce the probability of using AirDrop to send inappropriate content in public places, such as some prank content, but it also makes it more troublesome for users to transmit content with other users, so Apple added PIN pairing in the iOS 26.2 beta.
When users initiate a connection, they can manually confirm the PIN code and enter it for pairing. Within 30 days after pairing, the two devices can connect to each other without additional verification. In this case, both users do not need to add each other as their contacts first.
Therefore, it is very suitable to use PIN code pairing and then avoid verification for 30 days in some situations, which can reduce the trouble of users transmitting content. However, this feature is still in the code stage, at least in iOS 26.2 beta 3, there is no place to generate a PIN code.
It is still some time before the official version of iOS 26.2 is released. It is estimated that Apple will be able to complete the development by the time the official version is released. By then, it will be much more convenient for users to transfer content with colleagues or other acquaintances.