airdrop not working (iOS8 and Yosemite)?

My understanding is that you need to at least have the Low Energy (LE) version of Bluetooth. This requirement was apparently decided on (or realized) late in the development cycle and many of the machines that meet their stated minimums are not capable of doing AirDrop. My mid-2012 Mac Pro seems to be one such machine.

You're implying I don't know how to read? The article I posted clearly states:

"In order to transfer files between a Mac and and [sic] an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, your iOS device needs iOS 7 or later installed and your Mac needs to be a 2012 or later model."

Further, if reading comprehension was a requirement of this thread, your post wouldn't exist, since what I posted had already been stated.

AIrdrop clearly is is not ready for prime time. Why must a Mac be 2012 or later to share with an iOS device? Even given that, Airdrop is horribly flaky between iOS devices running 8.1. I could not drop from my iPad Mini 2 to my daughter 's iPhone 6 (10 feet always). Sometimes my ITouch 5 sees the Mini, sometimes it doesn't. I haven't the time to sort out the glitch.

Establishing connectionsions is geekware involving flipping Bluetooth on and off and other obscure actions. It's just easier to use Dropbox or Google Drive.

I'm new here so I hope this'll be of help to some...

I have a mid-2012 Macbook Air (yosemite 10.10) and iPhone 5 (ios 8.1).

Similarly to others, the Mac would see the iPhone in airdrop, but the iPhone wouldn't see the Mac.

This solved the issue for me:

- Set firewall to "Automatically allow signed software to receive incoming connections" (from disabled),

- Activate bluetooth and airdrop on both devices,

- Go to "Bluetooth preferences" on the Mac and connect the devices.

For some reason, the iPhone sometimes only sees the Mac when "Bluetooth preferences" is open on the Mac. I just need to remember to open it if needed to airdrop from my iPhone to my Mac... it's not the most elegant, but it works for me.

MykeMayo's suggestion worked for me. Firewall turned off. Enabled Bluetooth sharing in system preferences. iPhone must be unlocked for device to appear in MBP AirDrop folder.

For all those who have incompatible Macs (mine is a mid 2011), try Instashare, works like a charm to ferry files between iPhone and iMac.

I can corroborate that having the Firewall on/off seems to make no difference.

I've recently experimented with my MBP 15" Retina (June 2012) and my iPhone 5s (Oct 2013), and I'm having the same issue as many others, where my MBP can see my iPhone but my iPhone CANNOT see the MBP (everything is always set to "Everyone").

I happened to discover the WEIRDEST 'workaround.' It's unlikely to be helpful for most but perhaps it'll mean something to someone: While troubleshooting, I activated the AirDrop folder on my wife's MBP 13" Retina (Oct 2013) to see if it would work on her computer - and it did, perfectly! My iPhone could see her MBP 13" Retina.

Here's the weird part though: The moment my iPhone saw her MBP 13" it was simultaneously able to see my MBP 15" !!! And I was able to transfer the file just as easily. But when I closed her MBP 13" and started the process over on my MBP 15", once again, no dice. I tried the experiment again and it worked just as before.

So in other words, my workaround is ... wait for it ... I need to open and activate the Airdrop folder on my wife's MBP 13" Retina so that my iPhone 5s can see my MBP 15" Retina. Weird, eh? :\

I really hope I don't need to do that for the rest of eternity.

Hi ... Just started looking at solving this problem, which you all have been discussing, for myself & came upon your discussion. Considering that AIRDROP has been around for awhile it would be nice if they got it working. ANYWAY ... MY iphone5s wouldn't see the MBP even if I could AIRDROP files to it. BUT I did find that if I went to BLUETOOTH settings in System Preferences on the MBP, the iPhone5s would magically see the MBP & could send a file back.

NOTE The connection between the 2 would work sporadically BUT usually required me getting to the point where I wanted to smash both of them!!! It is about time Apple got this working because I'm sick of emailing myself to transfer files, photo etc.

No love here...

Murph Sewall wrote:

AIrdrop clearly is is not ready for prime time. Why must a Mac be 2012 or later to share with an iOS device? Even given that, Airdrop is horribly flaky between iOS devices running 8.1. I could not drop from my iPad Mini 2 to my daughter 's iPhone 6 (10 feet always). Sometimes my ITouch 5 sees the Mini, sometimes it doesn't. I haven't the time to sort out the glitch.

That's not even the half of it. I have a brand new, top spec iMac 5K Retina, and an iPhone 6, and I still can't get Airdrop working reliably.

I found that enabling Bluetooth Sharing on the iMac seemed to kick it into life, but switching Bluetooth Sharing off again does not break it.

My biggest problems are:

1. when I send a file to my iMac, it never arrives, even though it's marked as "sent" on the iPhone

2. when I send a picture to my iPhone, there's no prompt to check whether I want to receive it - it's just added straight to my iPhoto iCloud Library.

I can't find any configuration settings on either device that control the above behaviour - the only option seems to be whether you want access restricted to nobody, people in your Address Book, or "everyone".

Whatever I do it is impossible to get Airdrop to work properly. Actually it is just an icon nothing else more.

I really miss the era of Jobs. Apple softwares are stealing more and more my time as they are not working they ment to be.

Though I have been a big fan of Apple I see that I have to change my mind and my computers in the near future, if Apple keeps growing its unfriendly apps.

Last word, Airdorp is just a crab. You can forget it.

iMac to 3 iOS 8.0 devices did not detect any. I rebooted all 3 devices including turning on/off bluetooth now all 3 are detected and transfer of files take place.

That is not true. I air Drop from my iPhone 6 Plus to my MacBook pro all of the time. That was until recent update. I am also running Yosemite.

Bluetooth and WiFi both have to be turned on on both devices in order for AirDrop to work.

i have done this in the past and have tried airdropping between macs and they both do not work