My Mac does not see my iPhone in Airdrop unless I pick up the phone and the screen lights. If I don't unlock the phone with Face ID, it promptly disappears from Airdrop.
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Can't even add a video to my phone from my desktop?!
- Thread starter mrk123
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A 62Mb video is nothing. I have photos that are larger!
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
Yes, small files like 62Mb will sync quickly. Now try a 10GB movie video (or better, a video playlist of maybe 10 or 20 movies ahead of a trip)... and then delete it and try the sync method described in #18... even include the time #18 takes to back up the iDevice, sync new photos & videos shot on the iDevice since last sync, sync music, etc to bias the head-to-head timing AGAINST a wired sync.
Maybe someone on a super-fast broadband (fiber?) system using wifi for both upload & download has a chance... but I find Cloud itself is the speed bottleneck... regardless of the speed of connection to it. Wired connection to iPhone is going to transfer at the speed of the wired protocol.
OPs gripe in #1 is only about a 62Mb file THIS time. So it should transfer up & down quickly... unless, as guessed in #24- which I suspect too- OP has their Mac and their iPhone set up with different Apple IDs (a common issue). But even if that is the case, the sync method in #18 with Mac will still work for OP... as it is about a direct relationship between Mac & iDevice- no iCloud or Apple ID processing required... basically bypassing the middlemen entirely and being much closer to OPs want of "Drag, Drop, Done."
That shared though: to use the cloud method, OP might log out of iCloud on that phone then log back in using the same Apple ID used for iCloud login on Mac... or BOTH if OP is unsure... so that both are definitely using the same Apple ID. Then what OP uploads to Files on Mac should soon appear in Files on their phone... and vice versa. Only 62MB will be fast up & down but bigger video files will be commensurately slower.
Maybe someone on a super-fast broadband (fiber?) system using wifi for both upload & download has a chance... but I find Cloud itself is the speed bottleneck... regardless of the speed of connection to it. Wired connection to iPhone is going to transfer at the speed of the wired protocol.
OPs gripe in #1 is only about a 62Mb file THIS time. So it should transfer up & down quickly... unless, as guessed in #24- which I suspect too- OP has their Mac and their iPhone set up with different Apple IDs (a common issue). But even if that is the case, the sync method in #18 with Mac will still work for OP... as it is about a direct relationship between Mac & iDevice- no iCloud or Apple ID processing required... basically bypassing the middlemen entirely and being much closer to OPs want of "Drag, Drop, Done."
That shared though: to use the cloud method, OP might log out of iCloud on that phone then log back in using the same Apple ID used for iCloud login on Mac... or BOTH if OP is unsure... so that both are definitely using the same Apple ID. Then what OP uploads to Files on Mac should soon appear in Files on their phone... and vice versa. Only 62MB will be fast up & down but bigger video files will be commensurately slower.
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Dude, your lack of knowledge does not make it a bad system.
Drag and drop is too complicated of a system to me. You should have initially saved the video to iCloud Drive and it would have just appeared on your phone. No dragging. No dropping. No iTunes- really?!? iTunes!?!?
AirDrop should have worked. But who knows. Maybe there was a glitch. But all the same, being mad that you can’t add a video in a specific outdated mode because that’s all you know is a bit harsh. There are plenty of things Apple makes difficult. This is not one of them.
I’ve had to do this so many times…
It sounds like from your AirDrop issues and iCloud Drive not syncing, maybe you are logged into two different iCloud accounts?
btw I transfer photos using iMessage all the time off my corporate phone because the profile disables AirDrop.
You also *can* drag and drop using Finder, I use it regularly. If you plug your phone into your Mac, your iPhone should appear in the sidebar. You can go to the Files tab and drag and drop individual files into apps that support it. You may have to make a compromise while doing this, such as using VLC. See https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210598
btw I transfer photos using iMessage all the time off my corporate phone because the profile disables AirDrop.
You also *can* drag and drop using Finder, I use it regularly. If you plug your phone into your Mac, your iPhone should appear in the sidebar. You can go to the Files tab and drag and drop individual files into apps that support it. You may have to make a compromise while doing this, such as using VLC. See https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210598
I use SnapDrop when AirDrop isn't working, or to "AirDrop" to other non-Apple devices. Works pretty slick. (Yes, it's a site you pull up in your browser, but your data does not go through the internet. It uses a local P2P connection.)
snapdrop.net
Snapdrop
Instantly share images, videos, PDFs, and links with people nearby. Peer2Peer and Open Source. No Setup, No Signup.
snapdrop.net
I personally just plug an “i” device to my Mac with a cable and drag anything into a respective “Files” section in the Finder > Device. So videos get dropped into the VLC line, etc.
I use SnapDrop when AirDrop isn't working, or to "AirDrop" to other non-Apple devices. Works pretty slick. (Yes, it's a site you pull up in your browser, but your data does not go through the internet. It uses a local P2P connection.)
Snapdrop
Instantly share images, videos, PDFs, and links with people nearby. Peer2Peer and Open Source. No Setup, No Signup.
Yep, but it still takes a while to copy large files over, compared to the wired solutions.
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Strange. I make a video and just save it to my desktop on my computer, and it's magically just there on my iPhone in the same place. I must be using some crazy new fangled magic syncing technology invented sometime in the last 10 years...
This is probably OPs best solution for what they want and something I do myself.
AirDrop should be the easiest bet but OP is having trouble with that, could be cause both machines need a restart too tho
I never use VLC, it’s not that complicated even for my files more than 1 GB. Not just Apple eco system/AirDrop but I use OneDrive from Microsoft for some of my clients. I have all synced on my Mac/ipad Pro and iPhone.
The people that reacted negatively to the OP just proved that they never used Apple products of yore where you could accomplish a task such as this just by taking a guess at what the logical process would be.
Because old Apple was much much more user friendly than new Apple.
Yet more proof that modern Apple is well out to lunch.
Because old Apple was much much more user friendly than new Apple.
Yet more proof that modern Apple is well out to lunch.
I wouldn’t be using Apple if they stayed in the past. Apple almost died in the 90s being stuck. It’s a connected world, and I am not going to stuck on Mac Finder window. I do what Op exactly asked to do, Op needs to give more info to see what’s wrong with his setup.
Apple got out of death in the late 2000s by offering products that were so intuitive you didn’t need to read the manual.
Now I have to spend time googling to figure out how to change the FREAKING WALLPAPER or operate the basic functions of an Apple TV.
They’ve turned their backs on the very qualities that gave them power to begin with.
This exactly. I don't know why OP started there, iTunes isn't a file transfer system, it's a database.
To send files, use AirDrop. iCloud. Google and other services.
To do it over a wire instead of over the air, import the movie to Movies or Photos, then plug in the iPhone to the Mac and sync, making sure the file(s) you want to add to the phone are selected.
The fact that you don't know how to do something (how do you even use iTunes in 2024?) does not mean that Apple is cornering you in any way. You had several ways to accomplish your task.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
I presumed OP is on a PC which, until TWO days ago, still leaned on iTunes for synching files to iPhone.
Else, OP may be using an OLD Mac with a version of macOS that still leaned on iTunes instead of the split-apart Music, TV, Finder apps & functionality.
I totally get your frustration with the limitations of transferring files to an iPhone, even the newer models like the iPhone 15 with USB-C. It's baffling that in an era where drag-and-drop should be a basic feature, we're still stuck navigating through the hoops of "syncing." It's somewhat ironic that you can easily drag and drop photos from your iPhone to your Mac using Image Capture, yet there's no straightforward way to do the reverse via Finder without resorting to iCloud, iTunes syncing options.
Then there's AirDrop, it's a hit or miss for me as well. When it's operational, it's super. But then there are those moments when it inexplicably fails to work, leaving the age-old solution of toggling it off and on as the go-to fix. It's such a peculiar thing that never seems to have a clear explanation.
This aspect of Apple devices, where they heavily lean towards automated processes rather than allowing for manual control, is indeed a source of irritation for many. It seems to be a fundamental part of the Apple ecosystem's design philosophy. Over time, I guess it becomes something of an acquired tolerance. You learn to navigate these quirks, but it doesn't make them any less annoying when you're trying to perform what should be a simple task.
Then there's AirDrop, it's a hit or miss for me as well. When it's operational, it's super. But then there are those moments when it inexplicably fails to work, leaving the age-old solution of toggling it off and on as the go-to fix. It's such a peculiar thing that never seems to have a clear explanation.
This aspect of Apple devices, where they heavily lean towards automated processes rather than allowing for manual control, is indeed a source of irritation for many. It seems to be a fundamental part of the Apple ecosystem's design philosophy. Over time, I guess it becomes something of an acquired tolerance. You learn to navigate these quirks, but it doesn't make them any less annoying when you're trying to perform what should be a simple task.
