Q: Handoff and AirDrop not working in El Capitan

Indeed something is wrong, and there are Macs with different hardware configurations so not all users are affected by this problem .

Hello,

Spoke with Apple care today they acknowledge that some models are facing so they are gonna release os x 10.11.5 to ensure working of airdrop and other problems.  Let's wait for the update.

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.

Please check time zone for both mac and iPhone are the same.

set  time and date format to be same exactly on both devices.

Restart both devices.

Hope this could help. I try many ways to solve all the problem with airdrop, handoff and FaceTime.

This one works find for me.

My IOS is 9.3.1

My Mac is 10.11.4 Capitan

Please check time zone for both mac and iPhone are the same.

set  time and date format to be same exactly on both devices.

Restart both devices.

Hope this could help. I try many ways to solve all the problem with airdrop, handoff and FaceTime.

This one works find for me.

My IOS is 9.3.1

My Mac is 10.11.4 Capitan

I found the real solution for this long discussion about handoff and airdrop problem.

 > System Preferences > Security and Privacy > Firewall

Check if your firewall if its turn on then turn it off.

Handoff and Airdrop will works perfectly.

TIA.

Thank you for your comment but this is a software issue not a settings matter, in fact even in a Clean install with the firewall off airdrop doesn't work.

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

Ah ok , but I'm sure it is a software problem , I already tried with two different router , the strange thing is that with "El Capitan" Airdrop doesn't work with any of the routers, but with Yosemite and the same routers Airdrop works well , so this tells me that the problem is not the router itself.

   In my iphone 5s with iOS version 9.3.1 and OS X El Capitan version 10.11.4 it works fine handoff and airdrop.

   Base on my observation its kinda slow to recognize both device to detect airdrop. hmmm maybe software issue.

    Here's the screen shot below:

THANK YOU SO MUCH!

I have been struggling with this for months...

airplay would also be affected by the same things that run airdrop, right?

after the update to 10.11.4, my apple TV does not show up (airplay) in the sound preferences, preventing me from playing any music, like a streaming or Spotify output through, Apple TV...ironically, the Apple tv sees iTunes...

so whats the deal?

Great! Thanks! Simple solution. This should be on the first page!

I have tried every solution suggested, and have spent hours on phone with Apple Technical Support. AirDrop will simply not work with my MacBookAir running El Cap.  Hoping that the El Capitan update is fast tracked and will solve the issue!

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