IS THIS CAUSED BY INCOMPATIBLE BLUETOOTH CHIPS OR SOFTWARE?
I've done a bit of experimentation.
iPhone 6 + and iPhone 6 both on iOS 9.0.1 and an iPad 3, on iOS 8.4. All can Airdrop to each other, no problem. The iPhones sometimes see the Mac (MB Pro on Yosemite) for a brief moment. If I try to send a file when it is actually visible all I get is the 'waiting' message. It never connects.
The iPad 3 connects without problem both ways. What is curious is that if I go to "Finder > Go > Airdrop" it doesn't see the iPhones at all, but, if the iPad is then activated, all the devices miraculously appear. However Mac will only "talk" to the iPad.
I'm not convinced that this is just an iOS problem, in that I had pretty much the same connection issues with both phones when they were on iOS 8x and the Mac was running Mavericks and then Yosemite.
I've have just updated the iPad 3 to ios 9.0.1. and it still connects to the MacBook and all iPhones flawlessly.
To conclude, my particular MacBookPro, late 2013 Retina, has 4.0 Bluetooth as does the iPad 3. They "talk". iPhones have 4.2 Bluetooth and they can talk to the iPad, so what's stopping the MacBook communicating? Is it software or hardware?
Anyone with a bluetooth enabled sound or telephone system in their car knows how bad Apple's bluetooth can be. Anyone got other, maybe newer Apple devices that are/are not working?
Thoughts please?