Q: Handoff and AirDrop not working in El Capitan

I drove to a friend's house yesterday, while still at the parking, iPhone, iPad mini and Mac book picked up the wifi signal and Airdrop worked like it always does when connected to that wifi. Later I stopped at a point where there was no wifi. Data was off on my iPhone. Airdrop worked again!

Got back home, Airdrop doesn't work between the Mac and the iDevices event when the router is turned off and there is no connection to the network although in a similar situation a couple of hours ago worked OK!
Airdrop between iPhone and iPad mini always work!

Doesn't make any sense! Because I don't delete any files don't change any settings and in one case at my friend's house works but in my house when connected to the internet using an identical router same settings firmware everything like my friend's with the same internet company it doesn't work!

Reading other posts I don't know what to assume about what is causing it...

FYI to everyone interested.  I had the same issue.  There is another root cause for this if you are using OS X Server on your Mac.   I tried probably every other solution and nothing would show up on my AirDrop screen, and the problem Mac would not show up on any other AirDrop screen.  Solution:  Under the Server app's setting, under 'Access', make sure the Default Network Access option includes 'all networks'.  Once I did this, AirDrop sees and works with all Macs and iOS devices.

Good luck!  This was one annoying problem!

I have tried everything imaginable and listed here. I finally installed El Cap freshly on another disk. Handoff worked on that. So I backed up my main disk, wiped it, and CopyCloned the fresh installation. Handoff still worked! I migrated all the apps and moved my document files. Handoff worked once more.

After a reboot, it stopped.

Very frustrating. none of my other systems have the issue.

I did the following and it worked with MBP Retina 2014 El Capitan and iPhone 6 iOS 9.2:

- Logged out of iCloud on both devices

- Turned off the firewall

- Turned on BT/Airdrop on both devices

And I was able to transfer photos from either device.

Much thanks to all the previous threads.

For what it's worth, I find Continuity to be extremely frustrating and buggy. It never seems to quite work properly.

That said, I've just encountered a problem with Handoff not recognizing a Pages document on my iPad that is open on my iMac (IOS 9 / El Capitan).  I turned bluetooth on/off on the iPad (still nothing), then I turned the iPad off completely and back on.  That did the trick.

I imagine a lot of us have realized that Apple finally has an update for El Capitan that is supposed to address Airdrop & handoff.

I haven't tried it yet, but have hope.......

It did not help me even after reinstalling the system!

where is the update? none of previous update till date have resolved the issue?  are you aware of any such update coming? pl. share

Once, just once, would I like to have an update where everything works perfectly afterwards!

Nothing on here has worked and I'm getting really fed up =/

After the update, I went to Finder, Preferences, and noticed that AirDrop  is now in the "show these items in the sidebar" list.  It has to be checked.

It was easy for the computer to see the phone, I had to use "Everyone", and it took a while, but my phone finally saw my computer.

Well, as I had said in previous posts in my house AirDrop never worked between my MacBook and my iPhone 5s/ iPad mini no matter what I have tried. Between iPhone and iPad it always works.
When I go to a friend's house Airdrop always works without changing any settings. Just turn on the AirDrop and it works. During Christmas my friend had left and disconnected the router. I went over the house to check it and test a couple of things with AirDrop. Turned on the router but no AirDrop!
I dropped by my friend after he got back and Airdrop was working again. The only difference was the router was on for about 24 hours.

What I did, Ι left Airdrop on so I could see my iPhone on the Mac, prevented MacBook and iPhone going to sleep and returned home.
Airdrop was working at my house.

AirDrop was not working though between my iPad mini and my MacBook + iPhone!

I was not expecting this to last and it didn't. It lasted 1-2 days. I checked AirDrop and iPhone and MacBook don't see each other anymore, but Airdrop between iPad and iPhone started working again.

What I intend to do is use a router I have which is the same with my friend's. Model, firmware, settings - everything and let it run.
I had done this test again but I never let it run for more than a couple of hours as Airdrop was not working.

If I get lucky I will post back.

Another strange thing I want to report is that my Macbook could see the iPhone on the AirDrop page even it the Airdrop on the Mac was set not to be found by anyone which up to now I was translating it to Airdrop off!

P.S. I noticed that my Macbook has the mura issue. Depending how apple responds to that as it is under warranty until 26/1 I will decide if I continue purchasing apple products. We pay a lot for not having things work as the meant to be.

Did you try turn "Handoff" on?

• Make sure that Wi-Fi is on in Settings > Wi-Fi.
• Make sure that your iOS devices are on the same network: On each device, go to Settings > Wi-Fi and compare the network names.
• Make sure that Bluetooth is on in Settings > Bluetooth.
• Go to Settings > General > Handoff & Suggested Apps. Make sure that Handoff is on.

To follow this fix, I need to turn off bluetooth, however on my imac, the key and track pads will be disabled. Is there another way to fix?

I solved the problem by very simple steps.

All activated as should be, but no AirDrop between iPhone and Mac.

1. Turn off Wi-fi on Mac

2. Go to AirDrop on Finder

3. See button "Turn Wi-fi on" in the middle of the Finder

4. Press the button

5. Wait 30 seconds

6. AirDrop is working fine!

I've just installed the new updates on my phone as well as my macbook and still nothing. I've tried deleting /Library/Preferences/com.apple.Bluetooth.plist and restarting it - that doesn't work either.
Any other ideas on what to do? I'm about to travel abroad and would really need AirDrop to work so I can transfer pictures from laptop to phone without much of a hassle =/