How to change the appearance of my Macs on AirDrop

Hey there dizzyheights,

We understand you're wondering how to change the name that appears on AirDrop. We'd be happy to provide information about how to do this.

Changing the computer name is related the local hostname. Use the steps here to change it:

Change your computer’s name or local hostname on Mac - Apple Support

Kind regards.

Go to  > System Settings > General > About. Change the computer name in the Name field.

On one of the Macs go to the System/General/Sharing settings pane and edit the local host name. You can add a -2 to whatever it is currently.

Or go to the Mac's icon on the Desktop and try to change it's name like you would any file:

It is using the name in your Contacts. Are you seeing the same name from an iPhone when trying to AirDrop to one of your Macs?

Are both Macs using the same Apple ID?

You may be able to assign a different Contact to each Mac, or if you delete a Contact for one of your Macs, it may resort back to the Computer Name you changed.

Keep us posted on whether it is related to the name assigned to your Mac in Contacts.

I can't stop thinking about a solution for your problem for 2 reasons:

1. It is a simple and clear problem that should have a resolution
2. I have a similar setup with a Mac and iPhone(1) that share the same Apple ID and another iPhone(2) with a different ID. I am not seeing the same problem.

When I Airdrop from iPhone(1) to Mac that has the same Apple ID, the name that comes up for my Mac is the name at General > About > Name on the Mac.

When I Airdrop from iPhone(2) that has a different ID, I only see 1 location and the name is the name I have in my Contacts for the Apple ID of the Mac and other iPhone. I can change the name in Contacts and the name is changed for Airdrop. I do get the accept notifications on both the Mac and iPhone(1) and can accept it on either device.

When I Airdrop from Mac, iPhone(2) shows the name I have in Contacts on the Mac. iPhone(1) shows my wife's first and last name, which I cannot figure out how it got that combination, since just her first name is stored in Contacts and only her first name is on iPhone(1).

I think part of the problem is that iOS and MacOS may use a different way of getting the Airdrop name to create a unique identifier. Do you have a Contact setup on your phone that has the Apple ID of your Mac set as its email?

I have searched extensively for how the Airdrop name is created, as I know you have too, and even tried using Bard. The answers were Contact name, Computer name (at  > System Settings > General > Name), Sharing name (at  > System Settings > General > Sharing > Local Hostname which I have not been able to confirm), and the Home Folder / real name combination that you are seeing.

Since our setup is similar with 2 devices having the same ID with just the difference of my devices that share the ID are the Mac and iPhone, there must be a solution. I do not see the Home Folder / real name combination anywhere, so that must be unique to your scenario with 2 Macs sharing the ID. My situation seems to rely heavily on the name I have in my Contacts with the email entry being the Apple ID of he device.

Hello @dizzyheights — did you find a solution to this?

I have exactly the same problem. When airdropping from my iPhone the computer names of my two Macs (a Mac Pro 2008 and a MacBook Air 2015) are shown, but in Finder/Airdrop my name and profile icon from Contacts.app are shown with the device in faint grey below.

Hi there dizzyheightsm

If you're able to complete those steps, and aren't seeing the change reflected, connect with Apple Support for additional assistance: Get Support

Take care!