Airdrop refuses to see other Macs

I too have the same problem. On a 2011 and 2012 Mac Mini each running Mavericks. However, I can still use Screen Sharing between the two. So I can transfer fliles like that if need be. AirDrop would be way better though.

I know it shouldn't matter, but is your WiFi network SSID hidden? Mine is and I am wondering if that is a common ground for us.

KOT

You're right. That's why I said that it shouldn't matter. But I just wanted to make sure. I kinda wish that I had kept my other Mac on Mt Lion for testing stuff such as this. lol

Just like you, I've checked all of my settings that I can think of. I am glad that you are able to reboot the Macs and it works. However, it didn't work for me. Maybe there is a certain procedure to do it. I left both Finders on AirDrop and rebooted both Macs with the "reopen windows" box checked. Still no dice.

KOT

Same problem here. I updated two Macbook Pros to Mavericks and now they don't "see" each other in Airdrop on same home network. Rebooted both machines several times and also updated Airport to latest firmware. Still no luck. Same computers had no problems with Airdrop prior to the update. Definitely something broken in Mavericks.

I think that I might of found a little cheat.

Turn off WiFi. Then select AirDrop in Finder. There will be a button that wants you to turn WiFi back on. Click it, wait for it to connect. Then the other Mac(s) should show up. That is if of course they are on AirDrop as well.

I played around with it, and so far it has worked and I only needed to turn wifi off on one computer.

Try that, and see if that works for ya'll.

I will have my g/f bring her 2009 MBP over, which has Mt Lion still and see what happens.

KOT

Having the same problem except I can see other macs but none of them can see me.

I've tried all the steps above and it didn't work.

Called apple a few times and they couldn't solve the problem.

I'm starting to get the feeling it's a permanant bug (been with me since lion and now mavericks)

I have been having the same problem on Mac OS X Yosemite, but just found a solution that may help with yours.

Turns out that AirDrop is not backwards compatible between newer and older versions of Mac OS X. On Yosemite there is a label in the bottom right of the AirDrop main view that says "Don't see what you're looking for?". Clicking on that label brings up a popover that has some information about Wi-fi on other computers of the like and it has a button that says "Search for Older Macs". Clicking this button immediately made the other Macs (running Mavericks) I was looking for appear and made me (running Yosemite) become immediately visible to them as well.

I think this has something to do with the AirDrop permissions, even setting the selector to "Everyone" doesn't seem to work so I'm guessing the two are not immediately compatible without following these steps.

Hope this helps!

ThuggishNuggets wrote:

I have been having the same problem on Mac OS X Yosemite, but just found a solution that may help with yours.

Turns out that AirDrop is not backwards compatible between newer and older versions of Mac OS X. On Yosemite there is a label in the bottom right of the AirDrop main view that says "Don't see what you're looking for?". Clicking on that label brings up a popover that has some information about Wi-fi on other computers of the like and it has a button that says "Search for Older Macs". Clicking this button immediately made the other Macs (running Mavericks) I was looking for appear and made me (running Yosemite) become immediately visible to them as well.

I think this has something to do with the AirDrop permissions, even setting the selector to "Everyone" doesn't seem to work so I'm guessing the two are not immediately compatible without following these steps.

Hope this helps!

When AirDrop for Macs was introduced many years ago. It would "handshake" between Macs and do the actual transfer of files via WiFi only.

Then AirDrop was introduced for iOS devices... Everybody was happy... Except for the fact that it would not work between Mac and iOS. This is because the "handshake" for iOS was done via BlueTooth, but the actual transfer was done via WiFi.

Now that Yosemite is out, both Mac and iOS devices do the "handshake" via BlueTooth. Then transfers the file via WiFi.

What I mean by "handshake", is that that's how the devices sees each other. Once the transfer of file starts, it's switched over to WiFi for a faster transference of the file.

KOT

Your suggestion worked for me, thanks!

I have a new Mac Laptop and an older iMac. Airdrop used to work fine until I installed Yosemite on both machines.

The problem is somewhat OS related. Also, I think it's the older hardware that doesn't seem to be directly compatible with newer machines.

For all the wonderful design work Apple does, sometimes they really make you crazy with issues like this.

Fortunately, clicking on the "Don't see who you're looking for?" link at the bottom of the AirDrop screen on the new laptop allowed me to see and connect to the older iMac.

Thanks again for your solution.

I have 2 macbook Air 2014 and 2015 models. both are on El Capitan. I can't see other Mac machines in airdrop. Both machines are on the same network.

Well have similar problem under 10.7.5 and 10.8.5 i guess its some wi-fi glitch coz after i turn off and than turn on wi-fi i was able to see device.