Handoff and AirDrop not working in El Capitan

After upgrading to OS X 10.11 El Capitan, my Handoff and AirDrop stopped working between iOS 9.0.2 on iPhone 5S and my MacBook Pro Late 13. I've tried logging out of iCloud account on both devices numerous times, it didn't help.


For my friend with MacBook Air and iPhone 5S with same iOS version it works flawlessly.


Did anyone encounter similar issue, and if so, how did you solve it?

MacBook Pro with Retina display, iOS 9.0.2, plus iPhone 5S with iOS 9.0.2

Posted on Oct 1, 2015 6:18 AM

Reply
316 replies

Apr 5, 2016 7:35 AM in response to jillusmart95

That would be nice. After outgoing Handoff worked on mine, I had an episode, where Mail and Contacts started crashing, contacts lost groups and entries (restored from iCloud after restart,) and oddly some preferences for other apps were lost. I restarted, had to log back into iCloud for some reason, and all Handoff function was lost after that.


My three other systems have no problems in this regard.

Apr 5, 2016 11:22 AM in response to JosueK

I'm afraid that is not a pure software matter :

When I'm at home my computer works with airdrop and handoff and my airport base connected to a router

In another location , same computer, same settings but different router and no airport

doesn't work. At my sister's no airport and a different router it works.

Three different locations, different routers, three different results


Airdrop works between computers only if they are in a very close range

With Maverick it was working from a longer distance, two rooms away

not now with ElCapitan.

My Firewall is on

Apr 20, 2016 3:18 AM in response to AlexWoodblock

This is what worked for me.


I was having Handoff issues in that Mac to Phone was working fine but Phone to Mac wasn't. So clearly, some form of oneway comms was being undertaken. Having tried all the previous solutions, well those listed on the first 4 pages anyway, I wondered if it was an issue with permissions. Following a quick First Aid & tweak of the permissions on my home folder all is well in the land of Apple.


  1. Run First Aid
  2. Within finder, select your home folder from the sidebar and either press command+I, select File, Get Info or right click and then select Get Info.
  3. Within Sharing & Permissions, select your Name (make sure your privilege is Read & Write) and in the settings wheel select Apply to enclosed items....


Immediately Handoff started working for me. It must be noted that at the high level my permissions were set to read & write but lower down in the hierarchy something may have been remiss. Additionally I didn't check Handoff between running First Aid on my HD and changing the permissions but neither will do any harm. Not saying that this is what's causing other peoples problems as everyones system/config is unique but worth a try if you're still having issues.


Cheers


Paul

Apr 22, 2016 9:09 AM in response to Namo_2554

Actually, all I did was go to date & time settings on the macbook pro and check the setting. I didn't even change anything. Next thing I know, now my iphone SE can see the macbook for air drop purposes.


To clarify my situation:

I could air drop from Macbook Pro to Iphone SE, but not from Iphone SE to Macbook Pro. The airdrop button on the iphone SE simply did not see the Macbook.


Now it sees it. Go figure.

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Handoff and AirDrop not working in El Capitan

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