iPhone 6 does not recognize new iMac for Airdrop or bluetooth pairing

Question

Level 1

20 points

iPhone 6 does not recognize new iMac for Airdrop or bluetooth pairing

My iPhone 6 (with latest iOS) does not "recognize" my new iMac (with latest OS) when I try to use Airdrop, yet, my iMac does "recognize" the iPhone, and successfully Airdrops to it! I've tried to turn off the iPhone wifi and bluetooth, and restart. I've tried rebooting the iPhone. All to no avail. Are there any suggestions?

In the same vain, when I try to bluetooth pair the same iPhone and iMac, I receive an error message that they cannot pair. Yet, I did successfully pair the iMac with my iPad. Any suggestions in this regard?

Thanks!

iMac, OS X El Capitan (10.11.4), iPhone 6 / IOS9.3.1

Posted on May 14, 2016 10:04 AM

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Answer 1

Dec 1, 2017 10:26 AM in response to qa1zws2x

This is what finally worked for me after trying all the proposals of the support team, you solved it for me. Thanks!

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Answer 2

deggie

Level 10

167,549 points

May 14, 2016 10:13 AM in response to nschorr

How did you pair your iPad with your Mac and what did you do with them after you paired them?

Did you also turn BT off and back on on the Mac?

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Answer 3

nschorr Author

Level 1

20 points

May 14, 2016 10:39 AM in response to deggie

I paired the iPad by opening the iMac BT preferences and the BT setting on the iPhone. The iMac recognized the iPad and a pair button appeared. Clicked the pair button, and a message popped up on the iPad asking permission to pair. I clicked that, and it paired to the iMac. Really didn't do anything with it since. When I do the exact same thing with the iPhone, after I give permission to pair, each device appears in the BT list of the other device, as not connected. When I click the iMac listing on the iPad, it shows as connected. When I do the same on the iPhone, I get a message, "Connection Unsuccessful - iMac is not supported".

I did turn the BT off and back on again on the iMac. Very strange. It seems to relate to the iPhone. In the case of the Airdrop problem, it seems to work one way... I can Airdrop from the iMac to the iPhone, but not the other way around. In the case of the BT pairing, I can seem to pair an iPad but not the iPhone. Both have the latest iOS.

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Answer 4

deggie

Level 10

167,549 points

May 14, 2016 10:43 AM in response to nschorr

If you had tried to do anything at all with the iPad it would not have worked. Same goes for the iPhone which is why you are getting that message. If you are wanting to use the iPhone for tethering you do that through the personal hotspot you do not pair them.

What model iMac do you have? What else have you done on the iMac side to fix the problem?

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Answer 5

nschorr Author

Level 1

20 points

May 14, 2016 10:52 AM in response to deggie

Reggie--

This whole thing started because I wanted to Airdrop photos from my iPhone to the iMac. I wanted to avoid connecting with a cable. Once that didn't work I started through this whole BT thing. My main goal is to get Airdrop to work both ways.

I have a 27" Retina iMac (late 2015). I also tried going to Airdrop in Finder, and make sure it is set to let the iMac be discovered by everyone. I set the iPhone to the same. I also turned the BT on and off (as I mentioned before) and restarted the iMac.

Like I said, Airdrop works fine from the iMac to the iPhone. It just doesn't work from the iPhone to the iMac... the way I need it to.

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Answer 6

elcpu

Level 7

31,602 points

May 14, 2016 10:58 AM in response to nschorr

Have you tried resetting the Network Settings on the phone?

Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings. Rejoin the Network again.

(Please note that this will delete previous network data)

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Answer 7

nschorr Author

Level 1

20 points

May 15, 2016 9:30 AM in response to elcpu

elcpu-- OK... I took the plunge. I reset the Network Settings, but again, it didn't work.

Thanks for the suggestion.

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Answer 8

qa1zws2x

Level 1

4 points

Sep 6, 2016 2:22 PM in response to nschorr

on imac click on apple icon in top left corner, click system preferences, click security and privacy, click firewall, click firewall options, unclick block all incoming connections, then imac will be recognized by iphone and ipad.

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