AirDrop Keeps Failing? Try this!
Today is one of those days AirDrop simply won’t work. You know exactly what I mean: you’re trying to move a file between devices and, for unknown reasons, it just stops. Luckily, there’s an alternative.
The AirDrop problem
I tried to AirDrop a folder from my Mac to my iPhone. I clicked my iPhone and nothing happened. It just sat there like I’m the idiot not pushing the buttons right. But it saw my iPad and sent it there fine. Why? No idea.
You can try turning Wi-Fi and Bluetooth off and on, airplane mode, rebooting the Mac, the phone, or both. Maybe it works, maybe not. And it’s not just AirDrop, it’s all of Apple’s Continuity features: Universal Clipboard, Universal Control, Handoff, and Sidecar sometimes just won’t connect.
Blip
Blip is a free app for iPhone, iPad, Mac and Android, with Windows coming. I’ve used it for a couple of months, and it’s been far more reliable and faster than AirDrop has ever been for me.
Setup: sign in with your email, enter the code they send, and turn on notifications, so if Blip isn’t open when someone sends you a file, you’re prompted to accept it. On iPhone and iPad, choose where to save photos and videos (the Photos app by default). You’ll see all your devices, and like AirDrop, you can send to other people.
On the Mac there’s a menu bar icon showing your devices; drag files onto them. Settings let you choose where received files go, auto-accept files from your own devices, and launch at login.
Side by side
- A single photo from my iPhone to my Mac: AirDrop sat there pulsing “Waiting.” Blip got it there instantly.
- A few files from iPad to Mac: AirDrop actually worked that time, in a few seconds. Blip was even faster, with a nice transfer window at the bottom.
- A 467 MB file: Blip shows a progress bar with speed, almost 300 Mb/s.
CalDigit sponsored this video, with its TS4 Thunderbolt dock.
Off Wi-Fi and to other people
Start a big transfer, then turn off Wi-Fi as if you’re walking away: it pauses, reconnects over LTE or 5G, and resumes. It’ll be slower than Wi-Fi, but it continues.
To send to someone else with Blip, type their email address. I sent a file from my iPad to my other account on an Android phone; it got a notification, I accepted, and it came over at about 200 Mb/s. Transfers are encrypted in transit. I won’t vouch for it 100%, but I don’t have concerns for how I’m using it. (Some addresses show up partly obscured in suggestions, which probably isn’t great for privacy.)
Why Blip?
- AirDrop is sometimes a maddening piece of garbage that won’t work and can’t be fixed; you wait until it spontaneously starts again.
- Unlike iCloud Drive, Dropbox or Google Drive, it’s a direct device-to-device transfer with no uploading then downloading, so it can be quicker.
- No size limits, 99 GB, 100 GB, whatever, as long as both devices are online. It even handles Final Cut Pro libraries and Photos libraries, which cloud storage sometimes doesn’t.
I still default to AirDrop out of muscle memory, but the second it fails, I switch to Blip and it just works. I often snap a photo and send it straight to my Mac; when AirDrop fails, Blip goes fast every time. It’s been incredibly reliable, and it’s still free.
Links
- CalDigit’s docks and hubs (sponsored)
- CalDigit TS4
- Blip
- Working on Vision Pro
- CalDigit is my dock partner
- https://www.threads.net/@jerryschulzeonyt
- My iPhone Art
- Grovemade Desk Mat and Knife (save 10% JERRY10)
- UNLIMITED Cloud Backup for your Mac with Backblaze
In this video
Some links in this post are affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I may receive a small commission. See my ethics statement.
