AirDrop not working between Mac mini M4 and iPhone 16 Pro and iPad (3rd Gen)

I have been using AirDrop for years to copy photos from my iPhones to my iMacs. I have a new Mac mini M4 and discovered that AirDrop has problems.

AirDrop is not working between the Mac mini (macOS 26.5.1) and my iPhone 16 Pro (iOS 26.5.2) and my iPad Air (Third Generation) (iPadOS 26.5.2), I get the “No People Found” message. This happens in both directions.

However, AirDrop does work between the Mac mini and my iPod Touch, iPhone 8; MacBook and iMac (2017). The iPhone 16 Pro and iPad AirDrop also works with these last four devices.

I have tried various solutions which have been suggested on the web (though none of the problem posts had my specific problem), none of them worked.

The nearest that I have come to getting a solution was to re-set network settings (a web suggestion), this worked for one batch of photos (it’s a bit annoying that one has to enter an AirDrop code), one batch only. To enter another batch I had to again re-set network settings. I also had to re-set Wifi.

A workaround is to AirDrop photos from the iPhone 16 Pro to either the iPod Touch or iPhone 8 and then AirDrop from these to the Mac mini - a bit of a daft solution. Of course I can always connect the iPhone and iPad to the Mac mini using a cable - this works, but this isn’t as convenient as using AirDrop.