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How does AirDrop work?
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HamSandwich
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Dec 31, 2015, 07:00 AM
 
Hello,

I have an iPad with iOS 9 and there is my mum's iMac with OS X 10.9. Can I use AirDrop to transfer images from the iMac to the iPad? How does it work?

I tried activating "AirDrop - for everyone" on the iPad, then opening AirDrop in the Finder on the iMac. Nothing happens. It just searches and goes on and on. Any other settings to activate?

Does it work this way at all? So my iPad is usually connected to my own iMac at home in a different city. Can I connect to a completely different Mac?

Greetings,
PeterParker
     
Thorzdad
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Dec 31, 2015, 10:44 AM
 
Originally Posted by PeterParker View Post
So my iPad is usually connected to my own iMac at home in a different city. Can I connect to a completely different Mac?
As long as they are both near each other, yes. In theory, you should be able to AirDrop to any other AirDrop-enabled device in the room. I've yet to get it to work between my iPad and my wife's iPhone, though. The iPad never sees the phone.
     
jamie2016
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Jan 1, 2016, 05:25 PM
 
Pre OS X 10.10, Airdrop didn't work between OS X and iOS. See
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AirDrop
     
ghporter
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Jan 1, 2016, 08:54 PM
 
I've had issues with Airdrop between iOS devices, and occasionally between my OS X 2015 MBP and iOS devices. Usually, it's the iOS device not "seeing" the sending device, though the sending device "sees" the intended receiving device. It seems that having both the devices set to "everyone" helps, though sometimes I've had to try more than once even with that. And we're talking me sitting right freakin' next to my wife while we both hold our iPads...

Airdrop's range is supposedly up to 30 feet or 9 meters. I haven't tried it anywhere near that far, but it does suggest some interesting testing.

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
pottymouth
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Jan 2, 2016, 04:57 PM
 
I've never gotten Airdrop to work between any of my Macs or iDevices and I've never tried to figure it out. The different requirements for sending between Macs and iDevices are kinda confusing. It may be that all my hardware is too old. Oh wells.

Maybe that's your problem, too?

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204144
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203106
     
mindwaves
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Jan 3, 2016, 12:53 AM
 
Airdrop works between my Mac and iOS devices, on average, 8/10 times. Lately has been 10/10, however.

Make sure BT is on and both connected to the same WIF network. Mine are on the same iCloud account also, but that shouldnt matter.
     
   
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