Did a proximity AirDrop animation accidentally share my local files?

No. Touching two iPhones together can trigger NameDrop, which shares contact information only after the relevant choices are confirmed. It does not give the other person access to your Photos library or Files app.

For AirDrop, someone must deliberately choose the items to send from their device. Receiving a file does not send anything back, and the proximity animation cannot automatically upload or expose your local files or photos.

No, this is not possible. With the animation, it only shows that you’re ready to receive files and that you can share your contact cards with eachother. If you didn’t send anything, the files are not on your friends phone. And they cannot have access to it, unless they have your apple account password

Okay, since you asked for “Is there any possible way”, sure, exploits are absolutely conceivable. iPhone security is quite good, but there have been and likely still are mercenary exploits.

Based on available information, these exploits are rare and targeted. And we don’t know (and don’t want to know) if you’re a potential target.

Given that (very remote) possibility is seemingly concerning to you, what are you doing about your data security, independent of this case involving very-likely-didn’t-actually-transfer-any-files NameDrop?

This review might include local encryption for instance, and the simple expedient of not having the files locally until and unless specifically necessary. Backups are also involved in this review, though those too can be either local and encrypted, or iCloud and encrypted. This review can also involve advanced data protection where available, and maybe hardware tokens and a recovery key, too.

Given you seemingly also believe yourself just one tap away from data disclosure, your data security practices may have some room for improvement, too.

Some reading:

• Better Securing Your Data, and Apple Acco… - Apple Community
• Personal Safety User Guide - Apple Support
• Apple Platform Security - Apple Support

etc…

So can you ask this “friend” if they received anything from you? Do you trust this “friend”?

Since you refuse to accept the truth you must assume your “friend” now has all those highly sensitive files and documents you are paranoid about.

So what’s your next move? Please tell is how you plan to handle this catastrophe. Will you wind up in prison?

Or accept what you’ve been told and ,move on with your life knowing you’re worried about nothing.

Your choice.