Mac Airdrop settings missing, works in safe mode only

Question

Level 1

8 points

Mac Airdrop settings missing, works in safe mode only

So recently my airdrop on my mac suddenly stopped working. It could not detect other devices nor be detected. On top of that, the settings options for "Allow me to be discovered by:" is completely missing (as shown in the picture).

After looking online I restarted my laptop in safe mode and everything was normal. Then, I restarted in the regular mode but the issue was still there. Apple suggests this might be caused by "incompatible login items." So I followed instructions to remove all login items too and restarted. However, the issue is still there even after all that. Does anyone have any idea of what's going on? Thanks!

Posted on Jan 2, 2019 6:25 PM

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Answer 1

raina_b22

Community Specialist

Jan 4, 2019 2:27 PM in response to atg_

Hello atg_,

Thank you for using Apple Support Communities!

I understand from your post that AirDrop is not working as expected. Testing in safe mode is very helpful as it eliminates any conflicts with third-party software that may be causing an issue. Since the issue persists even after restarting as normal and removing login items, testing the issue while in a new user account may prove even more helpful. It will determine if the issue is a user-account issue or systemwide issue.

How to test an issue in another user account on your Mac - Apple Support

Let us know how it goes so we can further assist if necessary.

Best Regards.

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Answer 2

Jan 25, 2019 6:44 AM in response to atg_

atg_,

Since the issue is not present in safe mode, but does when your Mac is started up as normal and you have already disabled the login items, the next step would be to repair the disk. The following information from the Disk Utility User Guide will provide you with the steps to repair a disk:

Repair a disk using Disk Utility on Mac - Apple Support

Regards.

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Answer 3

atg_ Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 13, 2019 4:14 PM in response to raina_b22

Hello!

Thank you for the response. I tried it in a new user and the issue still persists :/ Any advice on what I should do next?

Thanks!

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