In your iOS device, select the file you want to share with the Mac system.įrom the drop down menu, select AirDrop.’ To send files from iPhone to Mac via AirDrop, perform the following steps: Once you have set the two devices, you can start the process of files transferring. Here you will have two options Contacts Only and Everyone. It needs not has to be in front, but the window should remain open in the Finder. Inside the Finder, open the AirDrop window. Or you can select AirDrop from the Finders Go menu. With Airdrop, you can also share: Contacts, Photos, Safari Links, Podcasts, Music (Albums and Individual Songs) and Apps.īased on the minimum iOS level requirements, you can expect Airdrop to work on the following devices (generally those released after 2013): We’ve used Airdrop for files up to 5 GB without issues, and think it’s unlikely that portable devices (some with less than 16 GB of available memory) would need to handle files larger than this. In most cases, we’ve relied on the Bluetooth connections which are still a respectable 20 Mbps to 25 Mbps. Speeds are limited mainly by the Wi-Fi service. If all devices are on a common Wi-Fi network, it is very easy to transfer files from one device to multiple others (we’ve recently had up to 10 when sharing photos and music). Note that both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are automatically switched on when AirDrop is enabled as they are both utilized. The distance limitation comes from the Bluetooth identification process. The other caveat is that devices will need to be within about 30 feet of each other to successfully “find” each other and transfer files. Just make sure you are running iOS 8 (or later) on the iPhone, iPad and Yosemite (or later) on the Mac. This works on all combinations of iPhone, iPad, iPod and MacBook devices. The quickest way to transfer large (and small) files between local Apple iOS devices is to use the Airdrop function.

How to transfer files using airdrop