Why doesn't Air Drop ever work?

[wallmaxx]

I use AirDrop every day at work. The only time it has not worked was when I came back from a trip and I had my firewall set on BLOCK ALL INCOMING. Once that was disabled I could receive files. And you need to be within close proximity. You said 10" so that should work.

I really grow tired of people who complain emotionally about technology especially to strangers on the Internet. Use it. Figure it out. Fix it.

Bitchin about it shows weakness. There are REAL world issues needing attention. Self-absorbed people with tech issues.....pfft.

I hope that didn't come off to harsh. It's how I "feel" about the topic and thought I should always be honest.

 

[tkermit]

"It just works" except when it doesn't. Unless I regularly restart my computer, Air Drop, Handoff as well as Instant Hotspot functionality will stop working at some point, requiring me to forcefully restart the bluetooth daemon. After that, everything starts working again. Here's my simple AppleScript for it:

do shell script "killall blued" with administrator privileges

 

[xtshabi]

I've noticed that it often fails to work for me too.

 

[Levo14]

Interesting. I would think setting the: "discovered by everyone" would make it possible without an iCloud account.

Windows 10 is what did it for my wife - thing crashed so much that going to Mac was a life saver. The difference in hardware quality alone was huge (10 hours of battery life vs 3-4 hours, build quality, application quality, no need for antivirus, etc...). Don't get me started on Windows bootup times on a 7200rpm vs Mac SSD (instant on when opening lid). Weight reduction was very noticeable along with size. Being able to iMessage from her iPhone on her Air was huge too.

But hey, each to his/her own .

Fair comparison..

 

[AFEPPL]

Lol so true...
Cheap hardware been compared to a top end mac and spinning rust vs SSD.. Not really a fight that could ever be won is it or thats remotely comparable. Apples vs a cup.

 

[BigMcGuire]

Fair comparison..

Fair? $999 Samsung Ultrabook Series 5. $850 Macbook Air. Seems like the Macbook is the underdog pricewise. To get comparable hardware you'd have to spend well north of $1500. Then I'd have pro-Apple fans blasting me for comparing a $1500 Windows laptop to an $850 Air. I was trying to be as fair as possible pricewise.

Our Samsung "Ultrabook" was given away to a family member for free last year.
[doublepost=1464644445][/doublepost]

Lol so true...
Cheap hardware been compared to a top end mac and spinning rust vs SSD.. Not really a fight that could ever be won is it or thats remotely comparable. Apples vs a cup.

This is true, I've seen it. In my case, I was comparing my Samsung Ultrabook Series 5 to my Macbook Air - very close in price. Hardware wise they were generations apart and performance was terrible. The 7200rpm hybrid drive never lived up to claims... battery barely lasted 4 hours. It took FOREVER to boot and process windows updates. I could count on both hands the minutes it took to open Visual Studio 2013. I guess a Series 9 would be more comparable to an Air, but then you'd get to 2x the price (2014-2015).

 

[steve62388]

I really grow tired of people who complain emotionally about technology especially to strangers on the Internet. Use it. Figure it out. Fix it.

Bitchin about it shows weakness. There are REAL world issues needing attention. Self-absorbed people with tech issues.....pfft.

I hope that didn't come off to harsh. It's how I "feel" about the topic and thought I should always be honest

Complaining about people complaining is even worse. We're on an Apple users site, what do you expect people to be talking about? If you want to put the world's wrongs to rights then go post your messages on a do-gooders website.

It's not a zero sum game. People can have problems with their Mac and still spread joy and happiness across the planet.

I hope that didn't come off too harsh, but some people are so self righteous they need to be told to get off their high horse.

 

[nightlong]

I use AirDrop every day at work. The only time it has not worked was when I came back from a trip and I had my firewall set on BLOCK ALL INCOMING. Once that was disabled I could receive files. And you need to be within close proximity. You said 10" so that should work.

I really grow tired of people who complain emotionally about technology especially to strangers on the Internet. Use it. Figure it out. Fix it.

Bitchin about it shows weakness. There are REAL world issues needing attention. Self-absorbed people with tech issues.....pfft.

I hope that didn't come off to harsh. It's how I "feel" about the topic and thought I should always be honest.

Seems to me people are speaking technically rather than emotionally about real problems they are having with Apple hardware and software. I've spent a lot of money on my Apple gear and it is crucial to my work that it works! seems to me this is the place to do that. Your comment is ridiculous ... This is an Apple forum, not a "REAL WORLD" issues forum. "Self absorbed people with tech issues" ... come to this forum to solve tech issues and problems and to share ideas, better place to do that in my experience than with family and friends who have a low tech threshold!

 

[Jess13]

I use it regularly to AirDrop images to iPhone for wallpapers, also it has worked always OS X to OS X. My only complaint with AirDrop is that I cannot AirDrop from iPhone to OS X – that is so incredibly dumb. AirDrop uses Bluetooth, so go into System Preferences > Bluetooth and see if it is set to Off and causing the problem. I have irritating, separate Bluetooth issues, where it virtually never has worked for pairing devices. I would think my Bluetooth was completely broken if not for being able to AirDrop.

 

[wallmaxx]

Seems to me people are speaking technically rather than emotionally about real problems they are having with Apple hardware and software. I've spent a lot of money on my Apple gear and it is crucial to my work that it works! seems to me this is the place to do that. Your comment is ridiculous ... This is an Apple forum, not a "REAL WORLD" issues forum. "Self absorbed people with tech issues" ... come to this forum to solve tech issues and problems and to share ideas, better place to do that in my experience than with family and friends who have a low tech threshold!

Exactly.

Technical issues....presented "technically" not whiney.

The use of emotional hyperbole is distracting and does not help in rendering solutions. Glad you understand that.

 

[dumastudetto]

Airdrop has never once failed me, and rarely a day goes by when I don't use it.

 

[John Mcgregor]

"It just works" except when it doesn't. Unless I regularly restart my computer, Air Drop, Handoff as well as Instant Hotspot functionality will stop working at some point, requiring me to forcefully restart the bluetooth daemon. After that, everything starts working again. Here's my simple AppleScript for it:

do shell script "killall blued" with administrator privileges

I'm experiencing exactly the same issue. Only restarting Mac fixes issue and then later at some point these features will stop working again.