Once you’ve tapped the Share icon, the other steps are the same. For example, in iCloud Drive, you can tap on a document, then tap the Share icon and follow the steps. For this example, we’ll show how to AirDrop photos from an iPhone to Mac. You could also AirDrop from iPhone to iPhone, or to iPad, whether yours or someone else’s that’s nearby. Your Mac must be running at least OS X Yosemite or later, and your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch must be updated to iOS 8 or later. I do hope, though, that you’re not still running iOS 8!
AirDrop uses Bluetooth to create a peer-to-peer Wi-Fi network between the devices. That means you don’t need to be connected to your router or even the internet in order to have an AirDrop connection. You do have to have Wi-Fi and Bluetooth turned on, however. You can share between different operating systems (iOS to macOS, for example) or between devices using the same operating system (iOS to iOS, for instance). It uses Bluetooth and Wi-Fi to transmit the files via a proprietary, close-range wireless communication process.
If the person you’re sharing content with is in your Contacts, you’ll see an image most liquid crypto exchanges with their name. If they’re not in your Contacts, you’ll see just their name without an image. Instructions apply to devices running iOS 7 and later, iPadOS, and OS X Mountain Lion (10.7) and up.
How To Change Your AirDrop Settings:
Our experts obsessively test each tip, guide, and video we release to ensure you get all the hidden steps you won’t find anywhere else. Even if you select Everyone, you can choose to reject an AirDrop you don’t want to receive when it’s sent to you. If you AirDrop something to yourself, like a photo from your iPhone to your Mac, you won’t see an option to Accept or Decline—it’ll automatically get sent to your device. Just make sure that both devices are signed in with the same Apple ID.
Apple’s AirDrop is a hugely convenient feature for transferring photos, videos, documents, and other files between the company’s devices, including iPhones, iPads, and Macs. You can easily send something to a friend — or use AirDrop as a handy way of transferring files between your own products. Anytime you start to Share something (document, picture, etc.) on your iPhone, you’ll see the option to AirDrop it at the top of the Share menu.
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AirDrop is Apple’s file transfer technology that allows iPhone, iPad, and Mac users to wirelessly send files to other iOS devices or Mac users within 30 feet of each other. If you tap Accept, the file is saved to your device and opened in the appropriate app. For example, accepting a transfer of images over AirDrop saves the photos to your phone and opens the images in the Photos app, URLs launch in the Safari browser, and so on. After you send the content over AirDrop, wait for the other user to accept or decline the transfer. A Waiting message displays as the file is sending, a Sending message displays during the transfer, and a Sent message appears after the file is accepted and delivered.
Transfer between a Mac and an iOS device
When someone’s sharing with you, your device will alert you and give you the opportunity to accept or decline the file. On some older Macs, you may have to open an AirDrop window if you’re receiving files, or you may need to search for an older Mac using the “Don’t see who you are looking for? Remember the old days, when it took seemingly eons to text one photo or video to your friend’s device?
In other words, you can basically use AirDrop anywhere, although there’s a few tricks to mastering the wizardry—here’s how. While the convenience of AirDrop is nice, AirDrop has become a favorite tool of sickos like harassers. It’s popular with them because AirDrop does not tell you the actual name of the person sending you the file–only the name of their device–which they can change to anything. NBC News has both a harrowing and completely horrible story about how harassers are using iOS’ AirDrop technology to send threatening and sexually inappropriate messages to strangers in public.
If you’re not signed in with your Apple ID on your device, this setting reverts to Receiving Off after 10 minutes. Since incidents like these the 10 best places to buy bitcoin in 2021 revealed! several years ago Apple has now removed the “everyone” setting and replaced it with “everyone for 10 minutes”. This means that after 10 minutes have expired, not just anyone can send you an AirDrop. While AirDrop can be used to download photos from your iPhone to your Mac, there are better ways to do it.
In the AirDrop window, the same settings options are accessed through the link at the bottom left. You can use it to transfer almost anything that you can share. For example, you can AirDrop a website from your iPad to your friend’s phone, which is great if they want to bookmark it are blockchain limitations stifling arbitrage opportunities to read later. However, it’s up to developers to include AirDrop support in their apps, so not everything you download from the App Store works with AirDrop. If you tap Decline, the transfer is canceled, and the other user is notified that you declined the request. At iPhone Life, we use our 35 years of experience as a tech publisher to help millions of people master their Apple devices.
- At its most basic, it allows you to send files between your devices–or to your friends, without needing an internet connection.
- And some Android devices use a combination of Near Field Communications (NFC) and Bluetooth to share files.
- With AirDrop, Apple creates a peer-to-peer Wi-Fi connection between the two devices in an AirDrop exchange.
- Now, by default, Apple makes sure AirDrop is only set to receive file transfer requests from people in your contacts–so by default, you’ll know who an AirDrop transfer is coming from.
- One advantage to AirDrop is the use of Wi-Fi to make the connection.
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Those can be text, image, or other types of files, such as playlists and locations. Tap the person/device you want to share with, and the file will send. Finally, if you’re transferring to another person, make sure they’re at least within about 30 feet, which is Bluetooth’s range.
Often when you want to share photos with someone, you’ll either text it or email it. While that will work, it can be much faster to just use AirDrop to send the picture(s) to them. The only requirements are that both devices are from Apple and the devices are in close proximity to one another.