iOS 7.1 Still Slated for March, Could Include Mobile Device Management Improvements

[Parasprite]

I suppose it would depend on hardware limitations. As far as I remember, Airdrop on OS X also requires specific hardware for the WiFi connection, only found in 2008+ Macs. It could be that a similar connection is possible between Macs and iOS devices, again, supposing that the hardware allows it. Even if that would not be possible, is it then not possible to find a workaround using WiFi? You can already sync your iOS device over WiFi with your Mac, so it should be possible at least indirectly. Regardless, this is Apple's problem to solve, since they are the ones creating the confusion in the first place.

Considering the variability of my luck with getting this to work, I'd imagine using Airdrop would be unbearable.

 

[OmniDragon]

totally. if I want to quickly send something from A to B, the easiest option is still sending it by email :-D

Or Messages

 

[baryon]

How about making Photo Stream actually send photos you take on your iPhone to your Mac, instead of, well, only sending a select few of them from time to time, and only if you're lucky?

Also, I'm tired of having to email files to myself from my iPhone in order to get them on my Mac, when it would be far faster if there was a way to use the WiFi network they're both connected to! I mean why the hell isn't there a way to do this? 2 iPhones can use Airdrop, two Macs can use Airdrop, why can't a Mac and an iPhone use... Airdrop???????!

 

[Tyler23]

How about making Photo Stream actually send photos you take on your iPhone to your Mac, instead of, well, only sending a select few of them from time to time, and only if you're lucky?

Also, I'm tired of having to email files to myself from my iPhone in order to get them on my Mac, when it would be far faster if there was a way to use the WiFi network they're both connected to! I mean why the hell isn't there a way to do this? 2 iPhones can use Airdrop, two Macs can use Airdrop, why can't a Mac and an iPhone use... Airdrop???????!

The iPhone only adds photos to photostream when connected to wifi. The Macbook only downloads said photos from photostream when connected to wifi.

 

[Cougarcat]

What files would you want to transfer and where?

I suppose from an iOS device to a Mac, there are some options. Certain files, like a photo, or an iWork document could conceivably be transferred from iOS device to the Desktop of Mac. WHY you'd want to do that is beyond me, considering this is exactly what iCloud is for, and does better.

So let's assume its not your Mac, and doesn't have your iCloud account attached to it. Let's also assume that even though its not your Mac, and you're standing next to it, that you're also on the same WiFi network as that Mac. In this unbelievably rare case, it would be unnecessary to build in AirDrop support. At this point, just email the file. It would almost always be faster than AirDrop anyway and doesn't require interaction on both devices at the same time to send / approve / receive.

As bad as that was, there is even less sense in transferring from Mac to iOS device, as there is no 'Desktop' to drop the file on to. You've have to be transferring a file into a corresponding App that is meant to handle it, and odds are you don't need to, because iCloud has already done it.

So again...what is this mythical need for AirDrop across Mac and iOS?

It doesn't matter that there's no Desktop on iOS. Transfer a file, and iOS could prompt you as to which compatible app to load the file in.

I don't get your other complaints. iCloud doesn't obviate the need for Airdrop, otherwise it wouldn't exist at all. AirDrop is for other users, iCloud is for yourself.

 

[gnasher729]

Probably because that alone isn't just a stupid education feature but a fairly large hole in enterprise deployment as well, which is quite big and important (even if personal consumers might not be affected by it). That, plus there's plenty more likely that's still getting refined and is just not specifically being called out.

What's important for Apple is that Mobile Device Management helps selling huge numbers of devices to enterprises (and to schools). Nobody outside MacRumors cares if an app crashes occasionally. Plus, a lot of crashes reported here are not crashes at all, but people reading log files and mis-interpreting what they read (many memory related "crashes").

----------

Have you actually used Windows 8? I'd hardly call it a mistake. Like iOS 7, it just needs a few refinements (primarily, eliminating the tiled Start screen and restoring the Start menu)

Windows 8 is obviously not a mistake. It's fully intentional. It's just that users hate it. As a Mac user, I don't like Windows much, but if I really had to, Windows XP or Windows 7 would be sufferable. Windows 8 isn't. I tried it, and the bastards intentionally broke usability in many areas. In my experience, experienced or unexperienced Windows users have no problems using a Mac. I had to use Google (and figuring out how to use it was difficult) to do simple things on Windows 8.

 

[KALLT]

No no, there should be no hardware issue at all. Wifi-direct and bluetooth should be all that's needed to make it work with any iOS device and any Mac that already support AirDrop.

I meant software. iOS devices and Macs both have completely different ways to doing AirDrop. Everyone seems to ask for this feature, but no one has any idea how it would work.

What files would you want to transfer and where?

I suppose from an iOS device to a Mac, there are some options. Certain files, like a photo, or an iWork document could conceivably be transferred from iOS device to the Desktop of Mac. WHY you'd want to do that is beyond me, considering this is exactly what iCloud is for, and does better.

So let's assume its not your Mac, and doesn't have your iCloud account attached to it. Let's also assume that even though its not your Mac, and you're standing next to it, that you're also on the same WiFi network as that Mac. In this unbelievably rare case, it would be unnecessary to build in AirDrop support. At this point, just email the file. It would almost always be faster than AirDrop anyway and doesn't require interaction on both devices at the same time to send / approve / receive.

I think you should disregard iCloud in this context, because not everyone may use it and it is for personal use only. The advantage of AirDrop is that you can share a file to any device in proximity without having to know each other's e-mail addresses or phone numbers or any form of authentication. It is fully device-based and merely requires an offer and an acceptance.

From a functional and user standpoint, I actually think that both OS X and iOS AirDrop already work in a similar way. It works on a basis of an ad-hoc connection, either because the device is in proximity or on the same network. OS X simply requires that the receiving Mac has opened the AirDrop menu in Finder, whereas in iOS you need to accept AirDrops from all devices.

I can imagine sending a picture or PDF document to a friend's device, without having to go through the hassle of sending an e-mail. Of course the question remains whether an indirect WiFi connection is an adequate substitute and whether there are enough file types to share. OS X AirDrop could be limited in that it only allows only particular file types to be sent to iOS devices.

Again, I think one of the reasons why people may be confused is that both OS X and iOS AirDrop are already so much alike. Why should it not be possible to simply send a picture from my iPhone to a friend's Mac? This is the kind of stuff Apple products should be capable of doing.

 

[baryon]

The iPhone only adds photos to photostream when connected to wifi. The Macbook only downloads said photos from photostream when connected to wifi.

Yeah in theory. I do know all that. It doesn't always work. I took about 20 photos the other day and only about 7 of them ended up on my Mac. Even though I spent a lot of time at home, at which point both devices are on WiFi, on the same WiFi. The other 13 images never made it into Photostream, and no one knows why! And this happens, like, all the time.