AirDrop and using iOS devices as a data transporter

[Wingsley]

MY CURRENT HARDWARE SITUATION:

iPhone SE 2022 (running iOS 15)
iPad Mini 2 (running iOS 12)
M1 Mac Mini (running MacOS Monterey)
late-2013 MacBook Pro 13", core i5 (running MacOS Mojave)
late-2013 iMac 21.5", core i5(running MacOS Mojave)
AirPort Extreme

I recently bought the "new" M1 Mac Mini. At the same time, I upgraded both of the Core i5 machines from MacOS 10.12 Sierra to MacOS 10.14 Mojave.

Since all that happened, AirDrop hasn't worked as well as it did before. It is not as reliable and sending files like the morning newspaper from one room to another doesn't work like it used to. The Core i5 Macs were rock-solid reliable under MacOS Sierra when sending files from one room to another. Not anymore.

The only way to make AirDrop easy and reliable is to bring one machine into the room with another for the file transfer.

I gave up trying to figure this out. Here's my (proposed) work-around: I want to transfer the file(s) from a computer to an iOS device (usually there's more than one file, nested in a folder, so I just transfer the folder) and then carry the iOS device to the other room and AirDrop the file(s) to the other computer.

Can this be made to work? Would it be hard? How hard is it to delete the files on the iOS device after the transfer is done?

 

[Slartibart]

for your current set up, what means […AirDrop hasn't worked as well as it did before…]?
You do not see the other devices when trying to airdrop? or the file isn’t transfered? Or you do not find the file on the destination/target device after Airdrop finished? Only some of the selected files are transferred? You checked the settings on each device?

EDIT: looking at your hardware/OS park and taking in account that all are on the same network setting up shared folders might be another option. Or you use SendAnywhere or Snapdrop.

In any case it is easy to delete the transferred files on an iPhone - where a file is saved on iOS depends though.

 

[Wingsley]

With the arrival of the new

for your current set up, what means […AirDrop hasn't worked as well as it did before…]?
You do not see the other devices when trying to airdrop? or the file isn’t transfered? Or you do not find the file on the destination/target device after Airdrop finished? Only some of the selected files are transferred? You checked the settings on each device?

EDIT: looking at your hardware/OS park and taking in account that all are on the same network setting up shared folders might be another option. Or you use SendAnywhere or Snapdrop.

In any case it is easy to delete the transferred files on an iPhone - where a file is saved on iOS depends though.

With the arrival of the new M1 Mac Mini and the simultaneous updating from MacOS Sierra to Mojave for the older i5 hardware, reliability for AirDrop suddenly took a nosedive. Prior to the new hardware and updates, I used to be able to send files via AirDrop from the iMac to the MacBook Pro in separate rooms on adjoining floors (maybe 10 to 15 feet apart) with ease. It was rock-solid reliable every time.

After the new hardware and updates, maybe the MacBook Pro appears in my iMac's AirDrop window, but most of the time it does not unless I bother to go get the MBP, carry it downstairs and set it up in the same room. AirDrop seems to have become reliable only on a same-room basis since that time. I checked the settings, and nothing I do seems to make any difference.

 

[now i see it]

Another way is to create a folder on your iCloud Drive via the Files App as your transfer folder. Then just upload your files to it then download them from your other device - assuming both are using iCloud.
It’s not as fast as AirDrop but for smaller files it’s fine.
After they’ve been transferred, delete them off of iCloud.