iPhone XR Air Drop Issue

[calliex]

Air drop is not working on my wife's XR. I air drop word files from my 2012Mac running Sierra to my wife's iPhone XR and iPad Air. I have been doing this weekly since COVID. Yesterday I tried to do it and it failed, timed out. The file went to the iPad without issue. I checked the airdrop settings on the iPhone, blue tooth on, wifi on, etc. Unless their something wrong with the phone there may be another setting that is wrong. Any ideas?

 

[now i see it]

My experience with AirDrop is that I'm always surprised when it works.
Big files and multiple files usually cause havoc. Holding the devices right next to each other can help. Turning airdrop on & off and wifi/Bluetooth on & off on both devices sometimes helps. Setting Airdrop to "Everyone" can sometimes help.
I've often had to bail trying to use it and just upload the files to my internet server if big and download them again on the other device... Just like how I had to do it in 1993. So much for progress.

 

[EM2013]

I also always have issues with airdrop too. Restarting Mac and/or iPhone usually fixes it until it stops working again.

‘It just works.’

 

[calliex]

Wow, I must be lucky. I have never had any issues with it and my iPad and Mac are both 8 yrs old. The iPhone is the only current Apple hardware I have. I will try a hard reset on the iPhone thanx.

 

[cynics]

Wow, I must be lucky. I have never had any issues with it and my iPad and Mac are both 8 yrs old. The iPhone is the only current Apple hardware I have. I will try a hard reset on the iPhone thanx.

The first couple years AirDrop was very unreliable for me. Rarely worked. I got so accustomed to that even though I use it all the time I'm still surprised that it works. Now it works great for me.

Some other things you can try on both devices to narrow down the issue, reseting covers it all though. You can start with hers though.

Turn personal hotspot off (on both regardless).
Airdrop settings and set it to "Everyone" see if it pops up then set it back to "Contacts only" and see if its still there.
Turn off connected bluetooth devices
Toggle wifi off for 10 seconds and back on
Toggle bluetooth off for 10 seconds and back on
Make sure low power mode isn't on
Reset iPhone.

Airdrop uses bluetooth to make a secure wifi connection between the devices.