AirDrop not working from iPhone to Mac

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Level 1

5 points

AirDrop not working from iPhone to Mac

I'm trying to airdrop photos from my iPhone 17 pro to my Mac mini M4 (MacOS 15.6.1) and it doesn't work. I've tried restarting both units, killing and relaunching Finder, no results. Wi-Fi and blue-tooth both turned on, although my computer is accessing the internet via ethernet. In a previous post, someone suggested checking the firewall, but I don't know what settings I should be using in Firewall. My Firewall is turned on, however.

Thanks for any further advice.

iPhone 17

Posted on Dec 11, 2025 2:12 PM

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Answer 1

MartinR

Level 7

24,131 points

Dec 11, 2025 5:09 PM in response to frogonoboe

frogonoboe wrote:

I'm trying to airdrop photos from my iPhone 17 pro to my Mac mini M4 (MacOS 15.6.1) and it doesn't work.

When attempting to Airdrop the photos, at what point does it not work? In the Airdrop dialog on your iPhone, do you see your Mac on your iPhone's display? Did you select it there? Does the iPhone show progress as the photos are being transferred? Do the photos appear to be transferred but you can't find them on your Mac? Something else?

Wi-Fi and blue-tooth both turned on, although my computer is accessing the internet via ethernet.

That's a bit unclear. Is WiFi enabled on your Mac or not? WiFi & BT need to be enabled on both devices for Airdrop to work.

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Answer 2

Dec 11, 2025 11:19 PM in response to frogonoboe

Check the Airdrop preference in both devices:

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Answer 3

frogonoboe Author

Level 1

5 points

Dec 11, 2025 6:44 PM in response to MartinR

It looks like the first part of my query may have been truncated. Yes, both Bluetooth and Wi_Fi are turned on (enabled on both my Mac (computer) and my phone.(iPhone 17 Pro) I see the Mac on my phone and when I touch it to send, I get the little wheel spinning until the message comes back to phone that says the drop failed. I was trying to send four photos of "large" size, but I've never had this trouble before (I was using an older phone the last time I tried this.)

When I check system preferences on my Mac, it shows BT is on, but my phone doesn't show up. My BT keyboard shows up properly, so I don't know why my phones doesn't show up. Thanks for your input.

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