Post Yosemite : Airdrop not working on Late 2011

"Legacy" AirDrop is apparently no longer supported (using Wi-Fi only). The new AirDrop requires Bluetooth 4.0, which is not available on older Macs (like my Late 2011 MBP).

The workaround is to enable File Sharing on one of the macs, and log in to it from the other.

That one is a bummer indeed! Apple should have indicated that on their site.

Newer Macs can either AirDrop to newer Macs and iOS devices, or drop back to legacy AirDrop in which case they can only talk to Macs via Wi-Fi like Mavericks AirDrop.

Unfortunately you have to select which on new Macs in their AirDrop Settings; AIrDrop cannot dynamically switch between the two.

I don't see any option to turn Legacy on, or any setting for airdrop at all.
Have a MBP 5.1 (late 2008) as beta machine with OS 10.10.1 (the beta seed of the update, didnt work before neither) and a 10.1 (mid 2012) with 10.9.5.

Transfer goes neither way, both appear, but when drag and drop, both say "waiting" and then "failed".

My conclusion:

Apple forces, like Microsoft, over incompatibility to buy new machines. Difference between windows and mac was that mac didn't force you to buy the newest product. I was proud of that, as a mac user for 18 years, and made me identify with the brand.
Because of two reasons:
a) IN THIRD WORLD we use have to use old stuff, hardware and software have still prices of first world, so what is cheap there is f... unavailable here!!!! IT ISN'T THE SAME ON THE WHOLE WORLD. Now Apple got also into the des-democratization of access to technology, magnifying the gap, what a pity (is somebody of Microsoft infiltrated to make it loose their public?). On the long term, I will have to use only Linux (right now the beta-machine has a parallel Ubuntu)
b) Macs were working machines. Now they are chatting machines. I can't afford a tablet, but if I would like iOs-funcionality, I would buy one instead of a MBP. And if, an Android, it is cheaper and I don't need as much quality when it isn't about work....
Sorry, off-topic.

I can confirm that I can Airdrop from Mavericks to Yosemite and vice versa - but I can't go from Yosemite to Yosemite. I have two MBA (mid 2011) and Mac Mini (mid 2011).

Summary: You don't need to replace the $80 bluetooth card in your computer. You can use a cheap USB dongle instead!

I wanted to use the Knock to Unlock app with my late '11 MBP 15" so I could tap my iPhone to unlock my Mac's screen, so I bought a USB bluetooth 4.0/BLE donglefor under $15 at a major online retailer (I don't see any bluetooth 4.1 dongles available and don't think it's a big deal since 4.1 is so new).

To use the dongle, plug it in and follow these directions. tl;dr: download the "Hardware IO Tools for Xcode" bundle, which requires free registration to access. Get the bundle here by searching for "bluetooth" on the downloads page. Install the "Bluetooth Explorer" app by dragging it to your applications folder and run it. Hit ⌘-k or select Tools>"HCI Controller Selector" from the menubar. Change the option to the listing that isn't Apple (often the name is Broadcom, a major bluetooth chipset designer) then hit the "Activate" button and you're done! Anytime you remove the dongle and reinsert it you will need to activate it again.

I expect this will also work just fine for AirDrop since you're setting the dongle as the the system bluetooth device.

Enjoy living the future again! 🙂

P.S. Did you know our machine unofficially supports up to 16GB of RAM (double the 8GB in the specs)?!

Thanks bubbawubba!! I also have a 15" late 2011 MacBook Pro. I wanted to be able to transfer files to and from my iPhone 6, so I started scouting eBay for a newer machine at a cheaper price (but you know how that goes...). It was either that or spend a few hundred on an SSD (because that was another reason I needed to upgrade). Your post just made my day! Time to get a dongle. I love saying the word "dongle". 🙂 And I might just upgrade the RAM too, now that you mention it (using 8 GB now).

Hmm, it seems that the USB dongle does not work with AirDrop. I can definitely see my iPhone on my MBP via bluetooth and vice versa, but I cannot connect to the network. Instead, I keep getting this error notification: "Network is unavailable. Make sure network access is enabled"

I went into the file sharing settings and tried a few things, but it still didn't work. The Knock to Unlock app works just fine (and I enjoy using it), but of course that app doesn't involve sharing files over a network. It says it uses "low energy" bluetooth, which I assume is different from normal bluetooth usage.

I found this thread on MacRumors that talks about installing a bluetooth card for handoff purposes: http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1747240

The correct card is BCM94331PCIEBT4CAX. I'm going to look into getting one of these, and I'll probably return my dongle so I can free up a USB port.

Any other thoughts?