HomeFixiPhone & iPadAirDrop not Working on iPhone or Mac: 4 Steps to Fix
- How Do I Make My Mac Discoverable For Airdrop Ipad
- How Do I Make My Mac Discoverable For Airdrop Windows 10
- How Do I Make My Mac Discoverable For Airdrop Windows 10
In this article, I’m going to show you what to do If AirDrop isn’t working on your iPhone or Mac computer.
AirDrop is a very useful feature that many iOS users use to send data back and forth from other devices, so, it can be a pain when it decides not to work.
By the end of this article, you should have fixed the problems you were having with AirDrop.
Those of us who regularly use AirDrop on the iPhone or iPad and leave the function frequently turned on for share requests may want to take a moment to adjust a simple privacy setting for the feature, allowing your iOS device to be only discoverable by Contacts. This prevents AirDrop requests coming.
The issues you may be experiencing with AirDrop is that it’s not sending your files from your Mac to your iPhone vice versa.
The other issue you may have is that your devices aren’t discovering each other.
This is a big problem because you may want to send over some important files, but the wireless technology isn’t allowing you to do this.
Down below are some troubleshooting steps you need to take in order to fix the problem.
Why Isn’t AirDrop Working?
The main reason why you’re going to experience problems with AirDrop is that there’s a software problem going on in your iPhone or Mac.
You can also use AirDrop on your iPad and iPod, so these steps will also apply to you if you have these devices.
If you’re experiencing a software glitch or a software bug, it means that there’s a failure in the OS that your iPhone is running on.
This can cause a number of issues and in this case, it’s AirDrop.
Software bugs are easy to fix so you shouldn’t have any issues following the steps down below.
They just take a few troubleshooting steps to try and solve but they can be fixed.
Requirements you need to Have for AirDrop to Work
There are a few requirements you need to have in order for the AirDrop transfer to work.
You already may have followed these steps but it’s important I mention it to you before you can conclude that AirDrop isn’t working.
You need to make sure that Bluetooth is on for both devices and you need to make sure that both devices are discoverable.
If Bluetooth isn’t turned on for both devices and they can’t be discovered by each other, you’re going to experience problems with AirDrop.
How Do I Make My Mac Discoverable For Airdrop Ipad
How Do I Know if My Devices are Discoverable?
It’s pretty easy to make your device discoverable so anyone can send you files.
Discoverable means that other devices can notice that your AirDrop is on and they can send you files vice versa.
When I use AirDrop, I make my iPhone discoverable to anyone just to make sure It works smoothly, and I don’t encounter any issues.
When you’re using AirDrop, you can choose who can discover your device.
To make sure that you can send and receive files smoothly, I would recommend choosing Everyone and not Contacts Only.
When you click on Contacts Only, this means that you can only send and receive files from your contacts.
You may also choose this option but, choosing Everyone means that your iPhone, iPad or Mac isn’t going to disregard other devices when it sees that their AirDrop is on.
How to Fix AirDrop not Working
When you’re experiencing the problem with AirDrop, your device may not be able to discover other devices, or you just can’t send or receive files from other devices.
The steps down below are going to show you what to do in both situations and after following them, you should have fixed the problem with AirDrop.
Restart your iPhone or iPad & Mac
The first thing you need to do in this situation is to restart your iPhone and Mac.
If you are experiencing a software issue, this could help get rid of it.
A bug could be a serious problem on your device or it could be a very minor problem.
If you’re experiencing a minor bug such as a software glitch, this problem could be fixed by restarting your iPhone and Mac.
To Restart your Mac:
- Press the power button (or press Control+Eject) and, when a dialogue box appears, click the Restart button
- Choose the Apple key and then click Restart
- Press Control+Command+Eject (or Control+Command+Power button)
After you restarted your Mac, it’s time to do the same with your iPhone.
To Restart your iPhone:
- Hold the power button
- Swipe right on the power button to turn the device off
- After the device has turned off, hold the power button again
- When you hold the power button, wait for the Apple logo to come up
After you’ve followed these steps, you should try the AirDropping process again.
If you were experiencing a very minor software glitch, restarting both devices should have fixed the problem.
Restart Bluetooth
If you’ve restarted both devices and you’re still having problems with AirDrop, the next thing you need to do is restart Bluetooth on both your iPhone and Mac.
Since it’s your Bluetooth that allows the wireless connection, it would be ideal to turn it off from both devices then turn it back on again.
To turn off Bluetooth on your Mac:
- Look at the top left of the screen and look for the Bluetooth icon
- Click on the Bluetooth icon to open the menu
- Click on ‘Turn Bluetooth off’ and wait for a few seconds for it to fully disconnect
- Click on ‘Turn Bluetooth on’ and wait for a few seconds for Bluetooth to fully connect again
To restart Bluetooth on your iPhone:
- Swipe up from the Control Centre
- Turn off WI-FI and make sure the button goes from blue to grey
- Turn off Bluetooth and wait for it to fully disconnect
- Turn on WI-FI again and wait for a few seconds
- Turn on Bluetooth and wait for a few seconds
After you’ve done both, you need to try AirDropping the files from either device and check if it works.
If it doesn’t work, congratulations, carry on using AirDrop.
If it doesn’t, go to the next step.
Hard Reset your iPhone and Mac
The next thing to do in this situation is to hard reset your iPhone and the other iOS device.
If there is a major bug on both devices, you’ll need to hard reset them in order to get rid of the bug.
Hard resetting is a popular troubleshooting step and it can fix the problem you’re experiencing.
Hard resetting on an iPhone or iPad has more complicated steps whereas hard resetting your Mac is very easy.
Hard resetting your Mac only involves you unplugging the plug from the wall or socket.
This is essentially what hard resetting means.
When you hard reset your iPhone or iPad, you can’t unplug it from a switch, but it has the same effect.
You can read this article to find out how to hard reset your device specifically.
After you’ve followed these steps, you should try AirDropping the files from your iPhone to your Mac or vice versa.
This should work after you’ve hard reset both devices.
Reset Network Settings
If the steps above didn’t work, the next thing to do is to reset network settings.
Since you’re experiencing connectivity problems (you can’t send files), your Bluetooth is responsible for this because the Bluetooth allows for the wireless connection between the two devices.
When you reset your network settings, it wipes all the settings that relate to your network, including Bluetooth.
This is going to wipe any setting that’s stopping AirDrop from working.
To wipe network settings:
- Go to the Settings app
- Tap on General
- Scroll down to Reset
- Click on Reset Network Settings and confirm with your password
Your device is now going to restart and wipe your network settings.
After this is done, you’ll need to turn on Bluetooth and make your device discoverable.
After they’re discoverable, you can try sending the files again.
Bottom Line
That was everything you need to do when your iPhone and Mac are experiencing problems with AirDrop.
After following these steps, you should have fixed the problem.
How Do I Make My Mac Discoverable For Airdrop Windows 10
If you’re still having issues, comment down below.
How Do I Make My Mac Discoverable For Airdrop Windows 10
If you liked this article, subscribe to the email newsletter where you can reply back to the emails with issues you’re having and I’ll give you a solution.