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Airdrop M1 and intel Macs not seeing each other

Karlos Fandango

Karlos Fandango

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 8, 2020
8
0
=====AIREDROP=====
• My new M1 MBA [Monterey] sees my iPhone 8+ in Airdrop and the iPhone sees the M1... all works great.
• My 2011 MBA [High Sierra] sees my iMac 2011 [High Sierra] in Airdrop and my iMac 2011 sees my MBA 2011... all works fine.

However, my M1 MBA doesn't see either 2011 Macs in AirDrop and the M1 MBA doesn't see them in Airdrop either.

=====NETWORK (Command + K)=====
• They all see my headless, tailess Mac-mini I use as a 2TB NAS drive.
• And the M1 sees the two 2011 Macs but with some issues, showing it in the sidebar with a question mark as the icon but I have access.
• The two 2011 models see the M1 but with a question mark as an icon though I have access.

=====Issue=====
So my main issue is Airdrop.
Some Youtube videos advise resetting bluetooth by clicking on the bluetooth icon while holding option+Shift and then hitting 'reset', but that option no longer appears after the latest OSX update, others advise I use a terminal command which I can't find right now and am unsure if a reset on a machine that was only delivered yesterday is really needed.

Might the problem be that I encrypted my drive at setup?
Is my M1 version of bluetooth incompatible with the version on my 2011 macs?

Bluetooth is on
Airdrop is on and set to 'Everyone'

Weird thing is, which I click on the bluetooth icon while holding option+shift... the first thing I see are the words "Discoverable: off" when in settings it tells be it is discoverable.

I really would like them to talk to each other, yes I can transfer files through the network but it's not so convenient, any ideas?
 
Karlos Fandango said:
Thanks for the link but I've tried all that, currently when clicking on the bluetooth icon in the menu bar on all my Macs, they say they are connected but I can't see their icon in Airdrop... but I'm inching forward.
Click to expand...
ok, FWIW, I have successfully exchanged files vi airdrop between my M MBA (Venture PB) and my 2017 iMac (latest Monterey). Obviously different OSs but that is where the issue might be, OS compatibility issues...
 
I assume besides Bluetooth, Wi-Fi is activated on all machines too? Or all devices are connected via LAN? Check the firewalls wether you allow all incoming communications.
 
Slartibart said:
I assume besides Bluetooth, Wi-Fi is activated on all machines too? Or all devices are connected via LAN? Check the firewalls wether you allow all incoming communications.
Click to expand...
I've been sharing files via Airdrop between my 2011 macs for years, I've tried it with all firewalls off but it makes no difference the M1 join refuses to join in, I've read allot about people are having issues with Bluetooth on Monterey but nothing obvious has come up yet.
 
I can't find anything that says that it shouldn't still work, so I'd recommend calling Apple Support to see what they can tell you.
 
One thing to keep in mind is that there are two versions of AirDrop, the old Mac-to-Mac version and the newer universal version that came out with iOS 7 and later OS X El Capitan. Could it be that your older Macs aren’t compatible with the newer version of AirDrop?
 
That would make sense though I've not heard of anyone else complaining about Airdrop issues with their M2... yet.
 
My 2011 imac on High Sierra and new 16” M1 MBP don’t see each other either. But honestly airdrop never really worked well on the imac, and it’s hard to miss what you never really had. That is, until I started airdropping files from iPhone to MBP and vice versa. It would be nice to airdrop between the two computers, but like yours, mine don’t see each other.
 
I have two MacBooks one is a 2012, the other an M1. Curiously the 2012 can see and send files to the M1. When sending the M1 can see the 2012. As soon as the send is complete, the M1 is blind to the 2012.
Just a bit silly really!
 
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