AirDrop says "waiting" but never connects

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AirDrop says "waiting" but never connects

My wife and I both have iPhone 11's. Airdrop has never worked. We've tried all of the troubleshooting suggestions. Both phones show each other as available to Airdrop, but it always says "waiting" and just spins. The receiving phone never a gets a message to accept an AirDrop. My AirDrop has never worked with another iPhone, my wife's phone doesn't have any issue with other phones. Any suggestions?

(Bluetooth is on, Wi-fi is on and connected w/ excellent signal, Hotspot is off, and we are sitting next to each other)

iPhone 11, iOS 14

Posted on Nov 15, 2020 7:09 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

SravanKrA

Community+ 2025

Level 10

430,718 points

Nov 15, 2020 7:11 AM in response to GdGuy

Please check your Screen Time restrictions on your iPhone.

Screen Time

Settings > Screen Time > Content and Privacy Restrictions > Allowed Apps > AirDrop [Enable]

Watch the GIF below

If you have Contacts Only turned On then please add Apple ID of the sending device to your list of contacts on the receiving device. See the pic at the bottom of this post for better clarity

Before you begin

Make sure that the person you're sending to is nearby and within Bluetooth and Wi-Fi range.
Check that you and the person you're sending to have Wi-Fi and Bluetooth turned on. If either of you have Personal Hotspot on, turn it off.
Check if the person you're sending to has their AirDrop set to receive from Contacts Only. If they do, and you’re in their Contacts, they need to have your email address or mobile number in your contact card for AirDrop to work.
If you're not in their Contacts, have them set their AirDrop receiving setting to Everyone in order to receive the file.

You can put your AirDrop receiving setting to Contacts Only or Receiving Off at any time to control who can see your device and send you content in AirDrop.

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Answer 2

GdGuy Author

Level 1

30 points

Nov 15, 2020 7:39 AM in response to SravanKrA

Thank you. First time I've seen this troubleshoot. I did not have screen time turned on, so now Content & Privacy Restrictions are enabled. However, that did not immediately fix the issue. I asked my wife to add my email/appleID to my contact information on her phone. That allowed me to send a message via AirDrop to her, so thanks! But... she was unable to find my contact when she tried to AirDrop. Turns out her appleID was an old email, so she updated it to her current email and matches the info in my contacts ... and AirDrop is now working for both phones. The appleID (email address) clearly was the missing link. Thanks!

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AirDrop says "waiting" but never connects

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