Adrian70437

Q: AirDrop Between iPad and MAC

I have AirDrop working great between my 2 MAC's now that I have them in close proximity - thanks to some great help here.

 

According to posts that I've read here, AirDrop should work fine between a MAC and an iPad 4 running IOS 7.  I must be doing something wrong.

 

On my MAC, I open Finder and click on AirDrop in the left menu. This opens the normal window on the right that shows an icon for the MAC and the icon to the left of The menu AirDrop is revolving. I guess this indicates that the MAC is searching for another AirDrop device.

 

On my iPad, I open a photo. In the bottom left corner, I tap on the Share icon. The normal Share icons come up along with one for AirDrop.

 

Neither the MAC nor the iPad can be recognized by the other device.

 

Is there something else I need to set on or off on my iPad to get this to work?

 

Thanks a lot.

 

Adrian

iPad

Posted on Sep 20, 2013 10:41 AM

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Q: AirDrop Between iPad and MAC

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  • by Sepoe,

    Sepoe Sepoe Dec 9, 2013 2:41 AM in response to Adrian70437
    Level 2 (168 points)
    Notebooks
    Dec 9, 2013 2:41 AM in response to Adrian70437

    Hi there

     

    I think it is a huge disatvantage that apple does not manage to make Airdrop work between Mac and iOs - and even more so since it is called the same. If this is really not supposed to work cross-platform, then it should at least be called clearly different!!!

    Apple is doing many things right in terms of design but this is in my opinion a really bad mistake.

     

    Subsequent passage is a bit of philosophy:

    This to me is like using the word "Serial Connector" instead of Firewire or USB and use the exact same word for both - imagine you go out and buy two devices that are equipped with "Serial Connectors" and as you try to hook them up, you find out that they use completely different cables because one is in fact USB and the other one is Firewire!!! You would run to the store and hardly complain to the guy that sold this devices to you!

     

    As a quick fix (not a free one though) you can use an app called instashare. It does what AirDrop should do and is able to work also on older devices like iPhone 4 (which AirDrop is not..). Seems to work really great between OS X and iOS - at least during my short tests...

     

    Cheeers

     

    Sepoe

  • by Retty,

    Retty Retty Jan 5, 2014 10:10 AM in response to Sepoe
    Level 1 (12 points)
    Windows Software
    Jan 5, 2014 10:10 AM in response to Sepoe

    This feature will not be implemented.

     

    If Apple provides an AirDrop to Mac feature the protocol will be easily hacked and opened up to Windows PCs.

  • by TherapeuticINDX,

    TherapeuticINDX TherapeuticINDX Jan 17, 2014 11:48 PM in response to Adrian70437
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 17, 2014 11:48 PM in response to Adrian70437

    To be fair, it is kind of silly to call the feature the same thing in both OSX and iOS but it's not like there aren't plenty of work arounds. For a start, there's no end of apps that allow you to transfer files through the ether and you can initiate the transfer from either device depending on your needs. (If you,re desperate,.... You could always email the file although this is probably less satisfying.

     

    Dropbox is essentialy a shared drive that you can access from anywhere. You'd upload the file to your Dropbox folder and the recipient will use their Dropbox app to get the file (or even a browser)

     

    If you are using the thing at home and want to initiate file transfer from your sofa/couch (while your desktop Mac is in the other room, on the same network) then Documents by Readdle will allow you to log in to your computer (without waking it) and even browse the file directory!!! You can even open the file in other apps once it is in your 'Documents' (Itself having a file management.

     

    AirDrop is nothing but a shared folder really.

  • by enrico_cucuta,

    enrico_cucuta enrico_cucuta Feb 7, 2014 6:25 AM in response to Adrian70437
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 7, 2014 6:25 AM in response to Adrian70437

    Well this is an Apple huge fault not allow to communicate between all of his own devices with his own tech (AirDrop) but there is a workaround using "Messages" so u can send any doc from-to Mac / IOS once messages is configured just send the required doc to yourself with Messages.

     

    Hope in the future Apple will allow full Aidrop connection wirh anything (including other OS) They should lose more market share and this will convince them to change things like this, or Apple risk to go back at the late '90

  • by Kilgore-Trout,

    Kilgore-Trout Kilgore-Trout Feb 7, 2014 6:52 AM in response to enrico_cucuta
    Level 7 (32,657 points)
    iPad
    Feb 7, 2014 6:52 AM in response to enrico_cucuta

    There are far more easily implemented workaround than just iMessage. An no, Apple isn't losing marketshare over this. Tempest in a teacup.

  • by kgsdish,

    kgsdish kgsdish Feb 11, 2014 12:12 PM in response to pjl123
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 11, 2014 12:12 PM in response to pjl123

    PJ, thanks so much! Photsync is amazing and super fast. Well worth the $2.99.

  • by agodfrin,

    agodfrin agodfrin Jun 29, 2014 2:20 AM in response to Adrian70437
    Level 1 (13 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 29, 2014 2:20 AM in response to Adrian70437

    Another fail by Apple. AirDrop on Mac has nothing to do with AirDrop for IOS ? I also assumed that AirDrop was AirDrop on all devices and platforms. But no, Apple decided otherwise, while maintaining the confusion and misconception that it is the same everywhere! Mother Apple knows best what is good for you.

     

    Alternate cloud-based solutions (Dropbox, Google Drive, even iCloud) are not the same: they involve uploading to a shared server somewhere then sharing that with the individuals you want to involve. They also require an internet connection ... AirDrop is fully local and direct, device to device, also using BlueTooth.

     

    Hopefully the new continuity features in Yosemite will be groundwork to implement cross-platform Airdrop.

     

    Albert

  • by King_Penguin,

    King_Penguin King_Penguin Jun 29, 2014 2:38 AM in response to agodfrin
    Level 10 (134,019 points)
    iTunes
    Jun 29, 2014 2:38 AM in response to agodfrin

    AirDrop should work with Yosemite and iOS 8 : http://www.apple.com/osx/preview/apps/

    And now it works between Mac and iOS, too. So with just a few clicks on your Mac, you can take a file from any folder and use AirDrop to send it to a nearby Mac or iOS device.
  • by RPC cat,

    RPC cat RPC cat Jun 29, 2014 10:12 AM in response to Adrian70437
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 29, 2014 10:12 AM in response to Adrian70437

    Airdrop between iOS and Mac OS X is coming with iOS 8 and Mac OS X Yosemite this fall, but is not currently available

  • by bess.camilla,

    bess.camilla bess.camilla Jan 14, 2016 6:14 PM in response to Adrian70437
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 14, 2016 6:14 PM in response to Adrian70437

    If you want to AirDrop between iPad and Mac, one method is using iTunes to sync, which is for free. In addition to this free way, here I has a smart sharing assistant, called AirDrop. AirDrop was designed to share data between iPad and Mac. It is noting that there are also some limitation for using AirDrop to share files between Mac and iPad. For the sake of working out the puzzle of the questioner, follow the steps below to AirDrop from Mac to iPad Mini/iPad Air.

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