How to AirDrop From Mac to iPhone (and Back)

AirDrop is still the fastest way to move a file between a Mac and an iPhone — no cable, no cloud upload, full quality. It needs three things on both devices: Wi-Fi on, Bluetooth on, and visibility that allows the other device. Get those right and the transfer itself is a drag or two taps.

The 30-second setup check

1. On the Mac: click Control Center in the menu bar and confirm Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are on, then click AirDrop and pick Contacts Only or Everyone.
2. On the iPhone: Settings → General → AirDrop, and choose Contacts Only or Everyone for 10 Minutes. Turn off Personal Hotspot if it’s active — it blocks AirDrop.
3. Keep both devices awake, unlocked, and within a few meters. If you’re sending between your own devices, sign both into the same Apple Account and everything below gets even smoother — transfers are accepted automatically, with no prompt.

Three ways to send from the Mac

• The AirDrop window (best for several files): in Finder, choose Go → AirDrop or press Shift+Cmd+R. Wait a moment for the iPhone’s icon to appear, then drag files — or a whole selection — onto it. The ring around the icon fills as the transfer runs.
• The Share menu (best from inside apps): select files in Finder and right-click → Share → AirDrop, or click the Share button in Safari, Preview, Photos, or Notes and choose AirDrop. Pick the iPhone in the panel that opens.
• Drag onto the sidebar: AirDrop also appears in the Finder sidebar (enable it under Finder → Settings → Sidebar if it’s missing). Drag files onto AirDrop there, and the device picker opens.

On the iPhone, photos and videos arrive in the Photos app; PDFs and other documents either open a “choose an app” sheet or land in Files. From your own Mac, there’s no prompt at all — images go straight to Photos, documents to Files.

Sending from iPhone to Mac

1. Open the item on the iPhone — a photo in Photos, a PDF in Files, a page in Safari — and tap the Share button.
2. Tap AirDrop, then tap your Mac’s name when it appears.
3. On the Mac, accept the incoming prompt if it’s from someone else’s device; transfers from your own devices are saved without asking. Everything lands in ~/Downloads — the location is fixed (see where AirDrop files go on Mac).

If the Mac doesn’t show up on the iPhone’s share sheet, open the Finder AirDrop window (Shift+Cmd+R) on the Mac and leave it in front — the Mac advertises itself most reliably with that window open. Check “Allow me to be discovered by” at the bottom of the same window; on a locked-down Mac it’s often set to No One.

AirDrop preserves originals: a 48-megapixel photo arrives at full resolution, unlike most messaging apps. For very large videos, keep both devices close — AirDrop negotiates a direct Wi-Fi connection, and speed drops quickly with distance and walls.

If the two devices can’t see each other

• Toggle Wi-Fi and Bluetooth off and on — on both devices. This clears the majority of discovery stalls.
• Turn off Personal Hotspot on the iPhone; an active hotspot monopolizes the radio AirDrop needs.
• Switch both sides to Everyone temporarily. Contacts Only fails silently whenever the contact matching doesn’t line up.
• On the Mac, check System Settings → Network → Firewall → Options… and make sure Block all incoming connections is off.

The full checklist — including Focus modes, Screen Time restrictions, and the fixes for stubborn cases — is in AirDrop not working on Mac.