132 MACWORLD JUNE 2019
HELPDESK MAC 911A number of people
have reported receiving
unwanted files, often
obscene in nature, when
they leave AirDrop set to
Everyone and are in public
places, like subway stations.
Even if you sometimes need to switch to
Everyone, I recommend switching back
to Contacts Only or fully disabled
afterwards.
How to send in AirDrop
AirDrop makes itself available through
the Sharing sheet in iOS and Sharing
menu in macOS. Whatever item is
currently being viewed—like a webpage,
photo, video, map location, Pages file,
and so on—can be shared. In macOS, you
can additionally use the Finder AirDrop
window to drag and drop files onto a
recipient’s icon.
When you select an item to share and
choose a recipient’s device, that person
receives a message on the selected
device with a preview or other details,
and the option to accept or decline it. If
you’re sending an item to another of your
own devices, it will be accepted without a
prompt.
In most cases, the received item opens
in the correct app: a photo opens in
Preview, a URL opens in Safari, and a map
location opens in the Maps app.
When you can’t see the recipient
It’s a frequent issue with AirDrop that you
want to send something to either another
device you have nearby or to someone
who wants to receive it, but the icon for
the correct device doesn’t appear in iOS
or macOS as a destination.
This typically happens because the
right combination of features aren’t
enabled on the receiving machine. When
sending, AirDrop provides a warning or an
error if your device can’t use it, or the
option to use AirDrop won’t appear in a
Sharing sheet or menu.
If you’re trying to AirDrop something to
yourself on another device and yourmacOS offers an option to search for Macs
using the older version of AirDrop.When AirDrop receives a file from someone else, it prompts
about accepting or declining it.