Airdrop is not working on my MacBook Pro

Bonaccia wrote:

• Airdrop does not work on my Mac.

The OS is up-to-date both on the Mac (BigSour 11.1) and on the iPhone (IOS 14.4) I want to airdrop from.

• Airdrop sharing is set on "everyone", Bluetooth is on and devices share the same network.

• The Mac does not see any device (i.e. no icon appear in the Airdrop finder). The iPhone can see the Mac (it shows the Mac icon) but airdrop does not work. I've tested the airdrop functionality of the iPhone with another device, and it works, thus the problem is with the Mac.

• I've done some troubleshooting: Restarted the Mac, turned firewall off, turned wifi and Bluetooth off and on again, deleted the "com.apple.Bluetooth.plist" to reset all Bluetooth connections, reset SMC

• But airdrop still does not work.

Any idea that can help me?

If you can't see the other device in AirDrop

Make sure that your devices meet these requirements:

• Both devices are within 30 feet (9 meters) of each other and have Wi-Fi and Bluetooth turned on.
• Each Mac was introduced in 2012 or later (excluding the 2012 Mac Pro) and is using OS X Yosemite or later. To find out, choose Apple menu  > About This Mac. 
• Each iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch is using iOS 7 or later, with Personal Hotspot turned off.

Use AirDrop on your Mac

Bonaccia wrote:

My devices are 1 foot apart

The MacBook Pro is 2017 and runs Big Sur 11.1

The iPhone is 12 Pro and runs IOS 14.4 with Hotspot turned off

Airdrop does not work and the Mac does not see the iPhone. The iPhone can see the Mac but when I try to airdrop nothing happens.

Other thoughts?

Try resetting the  SMC  https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295

Try resetting NVRAM/PRAM http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1379

Bonaccia wrote:

I've done some testing and found what is causing the issue: It's the VPN application I use.

When turned on, it interferes with Airdrop which does not function anymore.

With the VPN off, Airdrop works again

SOLVED!

Thanks Bonaccia for posting your resolve...

A true VPN tunnel, for example between you & your job, or a Bank server would be of value, otherwise might be time to re-think the general usage

see: Public VPN's are anything but private

https://gist.github.com/joepie91/5a9909939e6ce7d09e29

Bonaccia wrote:

Hi,

I've done both resets, but still no luck

Any additional thoughts?

Call Customer Support  (800) MY–APPLE (800–692–7753)

or on line  https://getsupport.apple.com/