butcherchamp

Q: Why can't I airdrop from ipad air or iphone 5 to my MacBook Pro? I must be doing something wrong

I can airdrop from my ipad air to my iphone 5s but not to my MacBook Pro....

Am I doing something wrong?

MacBook Pro (13-inch Early 2011), Mac OS X (10.7.2)

Posted on Feb 7, 2014 10:54 AM

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Q: Why can't I airdrop from ipad air or iphone 5 to my MacBook Pro? I must be doing something wrong

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  • by Dhiroj,

    Dhiroj Dhiroj Nov 3, 2014 8:24 AM in response to soxfan04
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 3, 2014 8:24 AM in response to soxfan04

    That worked for me, too. Thank you, soxfan04!

     

    It was enough to simply sign out of iCloud and turn off Bluetooth on both devices. I saw no way to sign out of Keychain Access on the Mac and couldn't find any mention of Handoff on either device. When I signed back in to iCloud on the Mac, it prompted me to upgrade iCloud Drive. I accepted the upgrade.

  • by harold caicedo,

    harold caicedo harold caicedo Nov 7, 2014 8:25 AM in response to atarmiga
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 7, 2014 8:25 AM in response to atarmiga

    HOLA COMO LO Hiciste, sí Nunca he podido Conectar, ni Transferir Entre MAC e Iphone

  • by matth3w303,

    matth3w303 matth3w303 Nov 9, 2014 5:02 AM in response to soxfan04
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 9, 2014 5:02 AM in response to soxfan04

    I have iOS 8.1 on iPhone 6 and Yosemite on MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2012)

     

    I did what soxfan04 recommended, but it still didn't work. I however followed what he said and did this:

    - Making sure to forget the the respectable device on your MBP and iPhone.

     

    - Turn "OFF" BLUETOOTH AND WIFI on each device then turn them "ON." Let the WIFI connect, but DO NOT let Bluetooth "PAIR"


    - Go to SYSTEM PREF -> Sharing -> check the BLUETOOTH SHARING box, turning it off then on.

     

    - Next I prepared the file (picture in my case) by selecting it and clicking the share button; make sure the screen stays on

    (the screen staying on is important.) At this point my MBP was still not showing up on my phone but my phone was showing on my MB.

     

    - I then opened my BLUETOOTH PREF on my MB, my is on the tool bar, and let it search for devices. As it did this my MBP became available on my iPhone, I was able to transfer the file at this point and it appeared in my DOWNLOADS folder. One thing I noticed is that when I opened up bluetooth pref my iPhone did not show up under devices and vice versa on my phone. From that point on whenever my MB isn't showing on my phones AirDrop I just opened Bluetooth Pref and it works as before.

     

    I am still upset that I have to continue doing this as I feel that spending $1000 on a laptop and $700 on a phone made by the same, reputable, company should insure that those devices work seamless without having to do this extra opening and closing of windows. I hope that Apple is working to improve the functionality between their devices and not just moving on to the next best thing.

  • by Karthix,

    Karthix Karthix Nov 18, 2014 11:58 PM in response to matth3w303
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 18, 2014 11:58 PM in response to matth3w303

    Facing the same issue..

    Through Airdrop I'm able to identify my iPhone 5s (iOS 8.1.1) in my MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2012) - OS X Yosemite 10.10.1, but I could not do it in the reverse way.

    While i'm trying to send pictures from my iPhone 5s to my MacBook Pro using Airdrop its not even identifying my Macbook (I've turned on airdrop, Wifi and Bluetooth in both devices). But Don't know why.

    In Iphone 5s Settings => Bluetooth => Under 'My Devices' It is displaying my Macbook Pro but It is in 'Not Connected' Status. While I'm trying to connect this it is displaying a Pop up "Connection Unsuccessful" - "Karthik's Macbook Pro is not Supported." and "Forget Device" button.

     

    (Even Device Pair Option didn't work)

     

    Then What is the use of OS X Yosemite and iOS 8.1.1 Airdrop feature and saying  that Airdrop now works between Mac and iOS Seamlessly ?

     

  • by babowa,

    babowa babowa Nov 19, 2014 8:46 AM in response to matth3w303
    Level 7 (32,127 points)
    iPad
    Nov 19, 2014 8:46 AM in response to matth3w303

    Using the Sharing Pane and Bluetooth is not the same as Airdrop; as far as I know, you've always been able to use the former. Bluetooth has nothing to do with Airdrop - Airdrop creates its own ad hoc network using your in home WiFi.

     

    http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT6510

     

    http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT5884

  • by matth3w303,

    matth3w303 matth3w303 Dec 1, 2014 2:36 PM in response to Karthix
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 1, 2014 2:36 PM in response to Karthix

    Did you follow my directions? I've helped 3 other people and it worked but you have to follow my posted directions to a "T." You're not going to let it connect to bluetooth, you just need to let it scan. Monitor your airdrop on your iPhone while your macbook is searching for bluetooth signals. Do not try to connect bluetooth, just let it scan for devices. Try airdropping one image at a time first.

  • by ddstran14,

    ddstran14 ddstran14 Dec 3, 2014 9:40 AM in response to Karthix
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 3, 2014 9:40 AM in response to Karthix

    I have this exact same scenario.  My iPhone 5s (iOS 8.1.1) does not detect my macbook pro (15" mid-2012 - yosemite).  I can send files From my macbook to my phone, but not reverse.  The iPhone does NOT detect the macbook.  Very frustrating.  I have tried all the suggestions and nothing works.

  • by Wells1956,

    Wells1956 Wells1956 Dec 7, 2014 12:48 PM in response to butcherchamp
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 7, 2014 12:48 PM in response to butcherchamp

    Just for anyone reading this trying to make Airdrop work, I have a late 2010 MacBook Air and also some almost new iPad Airs and another new MacBook Air.  I can say with 99% confidence that my 2010 MacBook Air cannot find  devices, it's that simple.  It can be found by a newer MacBook Air when you "Find older Macbooks" but it can't find anything on its own.  This is after a couple of hours with Apple support.  They claim my 2010 Macbook Air "should be able to find"  devices, but to me it's very clear that it can't, there is something technically missing from this 2010 model that later models have.  Very disappionting.  It does not seem that Apple has ironed this all out yet themselves.

  • by Alex2Carmen,

    Alex2Carmen Alex2Carmen Dec 8, 2014 12:47 PM in response to judysings
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 8, 2014 12:47 PM in response to judysings

    i'm able to transfer files via airdrop between my iPhone 6 plus and Macbook pro 2014, but not between my iMac (late 2011) and iPhone 6 plus. according to the apple support the iMacs early 2009 and later should support airdrop. unless this model only supports airdrop file transfer between computers. but definitely it does work with my iPhone and macbook pro 2014. it'd strange phenomena for sure. and one that does not make a sense at all.

  • by Lucasheaton6,

    Lucasheaton6 Lucasheaton6 Dec 8, 2014 1:39 PM in response to butcherchamp
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 8, 2014 1:39 PM in response to butcherchamp

    I found the answer. I used my iPhone as a hotspot for my macbook once and so I paired the two devices via bluetooth and reading the posts all i had to do to fix this issue was go into mac bluetooth preferences and find the IOS device then click the X next to it to un-pair the two devices. i didn't have to turn wifi or bluetooth off or anything. thats all i did and it worked for me almost instantly afterwards.

     

    Hope this helps

     

    (iphone 5 IOS 8.1.1, Macbook pro mid 2012 Yosemite OS X Version 10.10.1)

  • by jmikulski,

    jmikulski jmikulski Dec 9, 2014 6:31 PM in response to butcherchamp
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 9, 2014 6:31 PM in response to butcherchamp

    Just had the same issue with my iPhone 6 running iOS 8.1.1 and 15" rMBP (Late 2013). I could see my iDevices from AirDrop on my Mac but not the other way around. I tried turning off Bluetooth, Handoff, etc on both devices and was totally out of ideas. Then I decided to reset my SMC and it worked! AirDrop working again and I Handoff was finally functional! I can't believe it actually...refer to Apple Support here for instructions.

  • by mrradke,

    mrradke mrradke Jan 13, 2015 8:47 AM in response to butcherchamp
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 13, 2015 8:47 AM in response to butcherchamp

    It now works both ways with yosemite & iOS8 but I also had to reset my SMC to get the iPhone to see my Mac.

    Intel-based Macs: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC) - Apple Support

  • by PaulCalifornia,

    PaulCalifornia PaulCalifornia Jan 17, 2015 3:42 AM in response to butcherchamp
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 17, 2015 3:42 AM in response to butcherchamp

    Hi,  Just wanted to interject--> You can use Airdrop just fine from iOS Air+ and Macs with Yosemite. That said, there are ways to make Airdrop work on older models thanks to the great community of Apple. I hope it helps.

  • by Nitti74,

    Nitti74 Nitti74 Feb 13, 2015 2:29 PM in response to soxfan04
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 13, 2015 2:29 PM in response to soxfan04

    Signing out of iCloud, Bluetooth, Keychain and Handoff from both my Mac and my iPhone worked. After I re-logged in to everything, I could see both iPhone and Mac airdrop icons. Cheers

  • by dm10003,

    dm10003 dm10003 Apr 30, 2015 6:27 AM in response to butcherchamp
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 30, 2015 6:27 AM in response to butcherchamp

       To solve the problem simply but indirectly: backup iOS devices to the iCloud and access photos through iPhoto or the new Photos. Dropbox for photos and documents.

     

    this doesn't solve why itnter-device sharing shouldn't be as automatic as between device and printers is already.

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