AirDrop Not Working? Here's How to Fix (iPhone & Mac) 

You forgot one very important thing that fixed my problem: The devices must share the same wifi. I have two (2.4 and 5) and my devices where not on the same. I switched both to the same, and the problem was gone. Otherwise, your video is I believe the most practically informative fix it yourself video by far. You cover all the what, how, where's.

I can't tell you how many times I tried fixing this issue and THIS finally fixed it! It was the firewall options. Thank YOU so much!

Thanks for the complete tutorial! I had my Mac and iphone all configured correctly and it still was not working. No files transferred. I then disabled my VPN running on the Mac and it worked. I wouldn't have figured that out if this tutorial did not cover the security settings. Cheers.

Excellent help video. Helped me with a frustrating airdrop malfunction. Simply turning off and on wifi and airdrop on both devices worked for me. This was surprising because apple devices usually don't need such basic troubleshooting, but could perhaps be because my mac is 7 years old.

This is one of the BEST informative and accurate videos available. Thanks OWC!

Excellent video! In less than 5 minutes, I was able to fix my AirDrop. Thank you😊

Thanks for this. I found an important video (son's solo in HS concert) in a text and was able to airdrop to my iMac. So happy; sharing it now and also keeping it safe for the future.

Thank you mate. Switching Airdrop and Bluetooth off and back on again on my iPhone 8 worked a treat. It now speaks to my old MacBook again. 👍🏻🇬🇧

Thank you so so so much for the tips! I was so confused why my airdrop wasn't working from my iPhone to my Mac... I thought it was my phone's problem until I got a new phone and it still wasn't working!! The problem was my Mac's firewall settings! Thank you so much!!!

Thank you so much for this! My AirDrop was turned off on my Mac. Subscribed!

On Mac you may reset the bluetooth module by CMD-Alt-Clicking the bluetooth icon and selecting reset, too.

It doesn't work on my MacBook Pro 2020. Whenever I hit share via Airdrop I see an icon of my device and it freezes once I click on it. Like nothing happens at all. No matter if you click once or 10 times. Tried multiple file types, multiple size files. Works probably 2 out 10 times if I'm lucky. Same thing when sharing to my iPad and iPhone. Turning off / on WiFi & Bluetooth doesn't help. Latest iOS installed. Although when sharing stuff from iPhone / iPad to Mac it normally works just fine...

Thank you for that! The turn off and on Bluetooth and wifi trick helped. All the best!

Fantastic Presentation - Quick and to the point. 🙏- My airdrop is still failing after i send, but this walkthrough was excellent.

If all else fails, press and hold home button and power button simultaneously until the screen goes blank and Apple icon reappears. (Usually about 10-12 seconds) worked on my 8th generation iPad. Great Video dude😎

Worked like a charm! All I had to do was pull up control center on my mac book to toggle airdrop >>> connect to everybody. Thanks for the help!

Thank you so much I wanted to airdrop something from my iPad to my iPhone but it wasn’t working but watching this make me realize I didn’t have Bluetooth enabled but after I enabled it it worked!

You are the best, I was struggling for 10 days in a row after reinstalling my laptop!

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!! The firewall settings was my issue.

Thank you kind sir!! The turning off wi-fi and Bluetooth worked for me!

THANK YOU! Firewall part did the trick for me. Thanks again:)

Thank you so much for this!! It was extremely helpful.

Thanks so much for this video. The apple support site was no help. You helped me solve my problem in under a minute!

Super helpful video! Yes, I first had problem connecting my Mac to my iPhone via Air Drop. The Mac just cannot locate my iphone 13. But then after I switch off the Personal Hotspot, it is working! As the video explains, very accurate! Thanks guys! 👍

You're a genius! I've been struggling with Airdrop issue for more than one month already. It comes out that I just had to turn off the wifi and bluetooth on my iphone AT THE SAME TIME! And then turn it on again. Everything worked. Thank you very much.

Thanks dude. It just took a restart!!!

So I’m trying to figure out why the Airdrop preview won’t pop up on my iPhone. When I airdrop my friend something the image pops up before she excepts it but when she airdrops me something I can’t see what it is until I accept it and it’s getting frustrating. I have the iPhone 12 and she has the iPhone 13. Do you know why it’s doing this?

Yep. Turning off both mac and iphone to airplane mode for 3 seconds worked perfectly. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Turning my wifi and bluetooth off and on again worked.

Thanks, I didn't know it worked with bluetooth. That on and off method worked for me.

Contacts only don’t work but if you put on everyone then it works for what ever reason. Contacts only use to work but when Big Sur got installed it hosed it and Monterey hasn’t corrected it

Oh my gosh, I can’t believe toggling the bluetooth and wi-fi worked, ha ha! I’ve been having trouble with my Airdrop for weeks, and didn’t think to even try this. Simple and easy fix. Thanks!

Very handy and so much more useful than all other references on the web. Especially more valuable than the always worthless "Apple Community" help. This will be my go to source for the common aggravating Imac Iphone problems.

thank you for the new information and knowledge..

Before resetting your device, try simply to go into Airplane mode, and then get out of it. I do this when the iPhone/iPad sees the target device but tapping on it does nothing or is stuck on “Waiting”. Going to Airplane mode and out of it fixes it 100% of the times.

Thanks, it help me. My issue was firewall was blocking incoming connections

I can send videos to my mac just fine but it won’t let me send back to my iPhone it says failed everytime???

Great video, well explained, however I tried all the troubleshooting steps and I'm still unable to simply airdrop one phot from my iphone 15 pro to my Macbook Pro 2021. Really frustrating.

Very helpful! Fixed my problem right away!

Thank you so much. You are so easy to follow and understand. Love You

Whenever I try to airdrop around maybe 70+ photos at once, it never works. It always just says ‘Error while sharing, please try again later.’ Please, if you have a solution, reply. I can only successfully airdrop 10 photos or under.

Thanks! The firewall solution worked. :)

Thanks I face same issue try to go your solution

Thank you so much! This video helped me fix my problem!!!

When people send me airdrops it never gives me the chance to accept or decline. I just a preview that says the airdrop was cancelled several seconds or minutes after someone attempts to airdrop. It makes no sense. It’s worse because it never used to be this bad.

I just bought new i-phone📱13 pro max. Airdrop to MacBook Air 💻 (using this since 2011) doesn’t work anymore ! Do I need to buy a new MacBook Air 💻? Do you know how to make it work ?

Hi! I hope u can help. How can i find or recover (if so) the files aidrop to Mac from my iphone, yes they are by default can be found in the downloads folder but, during and after the files are sent i have 2 options, Save to downloads or Open in Photos. I chose open in photos and after i close ryt after checking the files, the files are nowwhere to be found, they r not in downloads and in my photos, hope u can help. Thank u 🙏…i cant resend the files, they are permanently deleted on my phone with no back ups at all 😞

Thanks…you just saved my life☺️

Is Airdropping iBooks removed from iOS Monterey? I am sending from Mac to iPhone. The iBooks option no longer comes up on the iPhone.

Man thanks a lot I was seeing my I phone icon on my I Mac but it wasn’t working I turned on an off my wifi and Bluetooth on both my devices and it worked cool .

firewall was the one for me xD THANKS

Bluetooth off and on solved my issue! thank you.

Wow you solved my problem. Thanks.

My 700+ gigs seems to disagree with phone telling me insufficient storage phone reset several times and all the other basics

Very helpful, clearly explained, well illustrated, Thanks!

**EDIT: I FIXED THE PROBLEM!! It turns out that the problem was that I had "Blocked all incoming connections" in my Firewall Settings for a couple of processes that I was worried about giving access to in the past!! The processes that I Allowed Incoming Connections to, which finally allowed the Airdrop process from the iphone to the mac to work, were "mediasharingd", "netbiosD" and "sharingD". MESSAGE BEFORE EDIT: none of the steps in your video worked. Iphone sees mac, mac sees iphone on airport finder window, but when i try to send anything from iphone to mac NOTHING HAPPENS. Ever. On iphone it's just stuck on "Macbook Pro: Waiting...". Forever. I have restarted both mac and iphone, no difference. Any ideas of how to get this to... "just work"??... **IT WORKS FROM MAC TO IPHONE, BUT NOT FROM IPHONE TO MAC!! CRAZY!!

When trying to send from macbook to iphone, I can see my iphone but nothing happens when I click on it. I've tried everything

Thanks worked out great for me👍🏻

Thank you

It’s up and working! Great advice

thank youuuuuuu !!! helped me tremendously!!! :)

Man, you are too cool! Thanks so much.

After watching about 10 videos.. yours actually helped! thanks!

Mi hai aiutato, bravissimo, grazie mille

wow it worked!

Thank you for reminding me about the "allow me to be discovered by:...", totally forgot these simple basics lol

My previous iphone shows up not my new one. If I turn on Everyone then my new phone shows up. How do I delete the old phone?

You’re the best!!!! Thanks so muchhhhh

Any idea why my husband can Airdrop me but I can’t send to him? We’ve tried all troubleshooting options. Forums offer nothing new. Apple support offered nothing new. Help!

Thank you!!! Got it working.

It is still not working

Helpful thank you

Thank you! This helped.

My phone doesn't let you open a screen how you did my airdrop stoped working a few months back I can send fromlaptop to phone but not phone to laptop which is how i need it most. :/

Yay. You helped this non techie!

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Yep....firewall. Thank you.

Saved my bacon thank you!!

Yeah finally.. thanks mate ❤

What if it work only from my Mac to my iPhone but not the other way around?

I can never airdrop to my iMac. I can initiate the send from my iPhone which shows 'waiting' yet nothing triggers on the iMac. None of the suggestions here work for me.

Thank you!!! It works!!!

Very helpful thank you

Ventura completely ruined my computer. Can’t airdrop at all.

Thanks a lot

It works thank you

I solved it by turning off and on Bluetooth on my MacBook. Thanks!

Nothing works it’s worked before but for some reason it doesn’t work anymore it’s not showing up on my devise to AirDrop it to, even though it is set to everyone

thank you !!!!

Big thank you.

Hello, does anyone have any lags from the distribution? I have an iPad Pro 10.5+ Mac+iPhone 14 Pro Max. MacBook with iPad works fine in both directions, MacBook with iPhone works fine too. iPad with iPhone doesn’t work at all, it says “Rejected...” on the lower devices. Everything updated to iOS 17.0.2 and network settings reset.

usefull Video ! thanks

thanks

It helped thanks!

I put the 2 Mac books next to acc other and it worked..!!! crazy

Mine doesn’t show “allow me to be discovered by”

Here's what I've observed; if you have low power mode on your iPhone be sure to turn it off. For some reason low power mode seems to prevent airdrop from working as it should.

my mac shows up on my phone but my phone doesnt show up on my mac, help?

omg i cant click on airdrop at all. it just says receiving off. i pressed it several times but it wont switch on

No help. My devices talk to each other.....cannot import format.