It works with any iOS device running iOS 7 or newer and any Mac running OS X Yosemite or newer. You don't even need the latest iPhone 14 Pro or a 16-inch MacBook Pro with an M2 Max chip to use AirDrop. If you have an Android phone, Google has its own version of AirDrop called Nearby Share, which does something similar.

(Sorry, Android and PC users.) When AirDrop came out in 2012, it was one of the features that separated the iPhone from Android phones. AirDrop lets you share photos, documents, videos, audio recordings, contact cards, web links and notes (among other things) quickly between Apple devices.ĪirDrop is limited to iOS and MacOS. Whether you have an iPhone 14, an iPad Mini or a new M2 MacBook Pro, AirDrop is a convenient way to transfer files and content from one Apple device to another. If you're still emailing photos to nearby friends or using a USB thumb drive to transfer a few Mac files, stop. Solution Perform the following to disable AirDrop: Graphical Method: Open Finder Select Go Select AirDrop Set Allow me to be discovered by: No One Terminal Method: Run the following commands to disable AirDrop: $ sudo -u defaults write DisableAirDrop -bool true example: $ sudo -u seconduser defaults write is a fast and easy way to share photos, files and links between your iPhone, iPad and Mac. Impact: Disabling AirDrop can limit the ability to move files quickly over the network without using file shares. Contacts Only limits may expose personal information to devices in the same area. Rationale: AirDrop can allow malicious files to be downloaded from unknown sources. For that reason, AirDrop should be disabled, and should only be enabled when needed and disabled afterwards. While there are positives to AirDrop, there are privacy concerns that could expose personal information. The file transfer is done over a TLS encrypted session, does not require any open ports that are required for file sharing, does not leave file copies on email servers or within cloud storage, and allows for the service to be mitigated so that only people already trusted and added to contacts can interact with you.

In many ways this technology is far superior to the alternatives. Depending on the setting it allows everyone or only Contacts to share files when they are nearby to each other. It uses Bluetooth LE for discovery that limits connectivity to Mac or iOS users that are in close proximity. Information AirDrop is Apple's built-in on demand ad hoc file exchange system that is compatible with both macOS and iOS.

Airdrop mac download