AirDrop Not Working Between iPhone and Mac? Here’s How to Fix It

Short answer: when AirDrop not working is the problem, it’s nearly always one of three things: the receiving device is set to Receiving Off or Contacts Only, Wi-Fi or Bluetooth is off on one side, or a VPN or firewall is blocking the connection. Check those first and most people are sorted in under two minutes.

Work through the fixes below in order. They’re sorted quickest and most likely first.

1. Wake both devices and bring them close

AirDrop only works over a short range (roughly 9 metres) and only to a device that’s awake. Unlock the iPhone, wake the Mac, and keep them within a few metres of each other. If the Mac lid is closed or the iPhone screen is off, it won’t show up.

2. Check who can find you

This is the number one cause. If the receiver is set to Contacts Only, the sender’s Apple Account email or phone number has to be in the receiver’s contact card for them, so it’s easy for this to silently fail.

• iPhone: Settings > General > AirDrop, then choose Everyone for 10 Minutes while you test.
• Mac: open a Finder window and choose Go > AirDrop, then set Allow me to be discovered by to Everyone. You can also find AirDrop in Control Centre, or in System Settings > General > AirDrop & Handoff.

Once it works, you can switch back to Contacts Only and add the missing details to the contact card.

3. Turn Wi-Fi and Bluetooth off and on

AirDrop uses Bluetooth to discover devices and a direct Wi-Fi link to transfer. Both need to be on, on both devices. You don’t need to be on the same Wi-Fi network, but you do need the radios on. Toggle each off, wait ten seconds, and turn them back on. On the iPhone, do this from Settings rather than Control Centre, because Control Centre only disconnects rather than switching the radio fully off.

4. Turn off Personal Hotspot and Internet Sharing

If the iPhone is sharing its connection, AirDrop can’t use the Wi-Fi radio. Turn off Settings > Personal Hotspot (if it’s on). On the Mac, check System Settings > General > Sharing and make sure Internet Sharing is off.

5. Check Focus, Do Not Disturb and Airplane Mode

A Focus mode on the receiving device can hide the incoming AirDrop prompt, and Airplane Mode kills it entirely. Turn Focus off on both devices while you test.

6. Disable your VPN and check the firewall

VPNs are a big, under-reported cause. Turn the VPN off in its own app or in System Settings > VPN on the Mac, and in Settings > VPN on the iPhone. Some VPNs also install network extensions that interfere even when “disconnected”; on the Mac you can find those under System Settings > General > Login Items & Extensions.

Next, open System Settings > Network > Firewall > Options on the Mac. If Block all incoming connections is ticked, untick it – that setting stops the Mac receiving AirDrop.

7. Restart both devices and update

A restart clears stuck Bluetooth and Wi-Fi daemons more reliably than toggling. While you’re there, install any pending updates (Settings > General > Software Update on iPhone, System Settings > General > Software Update on Mac). Apple regularly ships AirDrop fixes in point releases, and mismatched versions between iPhone and Mac can cause one-way failures.

8. Sign out and back in to your Apple Account

If the Mac can see the iPhone but not the other way round (or vice versa), the identity side of AirDrop may be confused. Sign out of your Apple Account on the problem device, restart, and sign back in. Be aware this can remove locally stored iCloud data from that device until it resyncs, so make sure everything has synced first.

If nothing worked

• Test with a third Apple device. If that works with your iPhone but not your Mac, the problem is on the Mac.
• On the Mac, Terminal’s sudo pkill bluetoothd restarts the Bluetooth daemon without a full reboot. It’s safe; macOS relaunches it automatically.
• If AirDrop is greyed out on an iPhone, check Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions > Allowed Apps & Features, or any work management profile, as both can disable it.
• As a fallback, send the file through iCloud Drive or Messages while you keep troubleshooting.

If other Continuity features are misbehaving too, see Universal Control stopped working? Here’s how to fix it – the same Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and Apple Account checks apply.

Why it happens

AirDrop is two systems glued together: Bluetooth Low Energy advertises that a device is nearby, then a peer-to-peer Wi-Fi link (Apple Wireless Direct Link) carries the file. Identity checks against your Apple Account and contacts decide whether a device appears at all. Anything that disturbs one of those layers – a radio that’s busy with a hotspot, a VPN rerouting traffic, a firewall rejecting incoming connections, or a contacts mismatch – and AirDrop simply shows an empty list, with no error message to tell you which layer broke.