Q: Air Drop between iMac and iphone5 not working?

You don't have to use it, it is in addition to the other services.

I know I don't have to use it.  I don't.  Why would I, or anyone else really?  It's a half-baked idea poorly executed.  They could have spent that deveopment time and money on any number of other features that would actually be useful.  Or at least they could have spent some of their time making this one useful. 

If by 'they' you mean Apple why not tell them?

Apple.com/Feedback

I've submitted feedback several of times about things that need to be addressed.  Guess how many of these things they've fixed.

When enough complaint is received things tend to get fixed, clearly there has not been sufficient yet.

Seriously?  How can this NOT be possible??  Feedback submitted. 

PS:  I went back and forth on how to label the feedback, could have been just about any category: Enhancement, Bug, Ease of Use, Efficiency, Compatibility, Connectivity...  Its all of these, but I settled on "Connectivity/Interoperability"

Airdrop between Mac's is using Wi-Fi network, and the Wi-Fi card in your Mac must also supports simultanous networking between adhoc and infrastructure mode.

However, Airdrop between iOS devices is using Bluetooth.

This is why the two system won't talk to each other.

Maybe oneday, the WiFi module on iOS device can support simultanous dual network mode, but until then we are stuck in this situation.

Airdrop between IOS devices uses WiFi or Bluetooth, not Bluetooth only

What micah said.

I hope they fix this soon, I don't think Steve (RIP) would have been "OK" with how it is now.

Being unable to use a unique Mac application between two Apple products, both of which utilize the app, is just about as un-Mac as they come.

I definitely feel like Mac is becoming the "new" windows. Everything has become so unintuitive even though it is supposed to be simplified. I'll still stick with Mac but Apple needs to get back to basics and make life easier for their customers, even if that means making their product less simplistic.

You nailed it, Apple is the new Microsoft:   A company that's become so powerful that they push changes on the users that the users neither want or need, and if you don't like it who cares?  Suck it up peon, this is APPLE we're talking about, if something they do is ridiculous it's not them that's the problem... it's YOU.

But with Microsoft the problem was always that they added too many features to their software, making it a maze of features you couldn't navigate without nearly professional help.  Apple has gone the opposite direction to achieve the same confusion:  They uneremoniously strip away features people have relied on for years, leaving no option but to adopt a new way of doing things when the previous way was just fine already.  Why?

Ltsgosrfn wrote:

 

I definitely feel like Mac is becoming the "new" windows. Everything has become so unintuitive even though it is supposed to be simplified. I'll still stick with Mac but Apple needs to get back to basics and make life easier for their customers, even if that means making their product less simplistic.

But Micah, your complaint doesn't apply to this thread, since AirDrop is a great app and we're waiting on Apple to ADD to it the feature that obviously should have been included from the app's release. My complaint has to do with the sort of oversight that I've always expected from Microsoft, not Apple.

Hey all, I don't know if someone has suggested this already, as I have not read all the posts on this thread. I have an iPhone 5s and an old iMac 27", so Airdrop won't work between them. Use iMessage - I have just messaged 4 pics I took earlier of my new car I took delivery of via wifi from the iPhone to the iMac. Just iMessage to yourself (email address) that is registered with iMessage on the iMac. You get it twice, one on the iPhone then on the iMac, It works a treat and takes seconds to transmit. No extra software required.