iOS 14.5.1 broke AirDrop to MacOS 10.15.7 but iPadOS 14.5.1 still works with the same MacOS

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iOS 14.5.1 broke AirDrop to MacOS 10.15.7 but iPadOS 14.5.1 still works with the same MacOS

Hi everyone,

Has anyone observed the same thing as me -- iOS 14.5.1 broke AirDrop to MacOS 10.15.7 but iPadOS 14.5.1 still works with to the same MacOS?

Prior to 14.5.1 my iPhone 11 could AirDrop just fine with the MacBook Pro which is running the latest Catalina but as soon as I upgraded the iPhone - AirDrop stopped working.

The strange thing is that I also upgraded an iPad Pro to iPadOS 14.5.1 but that didn't brake AirDrop on the iPad, just the iPhone?

Thank you

Boyan

Posted on May 20, 2021 8:43 AM

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Answer 1

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SravanKrA

Community+ 2024

Level 10

410,544 points

May 20, 2021 9:42 AM in response to bubba198

lease 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

bubba198 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 2, 2021 12:00 PM in response to bubba198

So the fix was to log-off on the MacBook Pro, and log back in; which is a hassle as it messes up with all things including FaceTime; the "use your cellular carrier" thing for phone calls, etc but it just takes time to reset these things back once you login again with the same iCloud account which is used to login to the iOS device. Then AirDrop started working again! To be clear, AirDrop always worked with "foreign" devices meaning devices where the same iCloud account was not used to login. It only didn't work with a device where the same iCloud account was logged into; just as the 2018 case mentioned above.

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Answer 3

bubba198 Author

Level 1

8 points

May 22, 2021 8:43 AM in response to SravanKrA

Thank you, I do appreciate the effort, however the reason for the post is an engineering defect rather than end user education; anything and everything obvious - isn't it; of course it's unlikely Apple will respond as that would constitute admission of the defect so I am hoping for someone in an identical alignment of devices to share their experience, iOS and MacOS that is...

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Answer 4

bubba198 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 2, 2021 11:03 AM in response to bubba198

My issue is identical to below except the poster never shared how they fixed it:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8599836

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iOS 14.5.1 broke AirDrop to MacOS 10.15.7 but iPadOS 14.5.1 still works with the same MacOS

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