{"title":"How to AirDrop in 7 Steps","canonicalUrl":"https://www.showmestepbystep.com/tech/how-to-airdrop","category":{"slug":"tech","name":"Tech"},"creator":{"name":"Apple Support","channelUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYFQ33UIPERYx8-ZHucZbDA","sourceVideoUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSrB8KC2BQY"},"tldr":"How to AirDrop photos and files between iPhone and iPad. Send to contacts, share with non-contacts using the AirDrop code, and fix the usual gotchas.","totalDurationSeconds":242,"difficulty":"easy","tools":[],"materials":[],"steps":[{"number":1,"title":"Step 1: Turn On Wi-Fi and Bluetooth","text":"AirDrop rides on top of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, so both need to be on. Swipe down from the top-right corner of your iPhone to open Control Center and tap the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth icons until both glow blue. Watch from 0:10 for the prerequisites Apple walks through. The other person needs the same two switches flipped on, otherwise their iPhone won't show up under People when you go to share."},{"number":2,"title":"Step 2: Confirm Both Devices Are Ready","text":"Before you can AirDrop anything, the receiving device has to be ready too. Both iPhones (or iPad / Mac) need Wi-Fi and Bluetooth turned on, and they need to be within about 30 feet of each other. Watch at 0:18 for the prerequisite checklist Apple walks through on screen.One gotcha to know: if Personal Hotspot is switched on, AirDrop will hang at \"Waiting\" because both features compete for Wi-Fi. If your transfer never connects, open Control Center and toggle Personal Hotspot off on whichever device has it on. You only need to do this if you actually use the hotspot feature."},{"number":3,"title":"Step 3: Open Photos and Tap Select","text":"Open the Photos app and find the photos you want to send. Tap Select in the top right, then tap each photo you want to share. A blue checkmark appears on every selection. You can pick one or twenty - AirDrop handles big batches without compressing the originals, which is the whole reason to use it instead of Messages. The same flow works in the Files app for documents."},{"number":4,"title":"Step 4: Tap Share, Then AirDrop","text":"Tap the Share button (the square with the arrow pointing up) at the bottom of the screen, then tap AirDrop on the share sheet. Any nearby Apple device that has AirDrop turned on and is in your contacts shows up under the People row. If you don't see the recipient yet, hold the top of your iPhone close to theirs - Apple uses that proximity to surface devices that don't have you saved as a contact."},{"number":5,"title":"Step 5: Tap the Recipient and Wait","text":"Tap the name of the person you want to send to. Their device gets a notification asking them to Accept the transfer. Have them tap Accept and watch the file move - photos and videos go straight into their Photos app, documents land in Files. When the send finishes, the word Sent shows up under the recipient on your screen. You can keep sending more to the same person without redoing any of the setup."},{"number":6,"title":"Step 6: Switch AirDrop to Everyone for 10 Minutes","text":"If the person you're sending to isn't in your contacts, they need to open their AirDrop receiving setting first. On their iPhone, have them open Control Center, press and hold the connectivity panel (the box with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth in it), then tap AirDrop. Pick Everyone for 10 Minutes. The setting reverts automatically when the timer expires, so they don't have to remember to turn it back off. The video shows this at 2:38."},{"number":7,"title":"Step 7: Enter the AirDrop Code (iOS 26.2+)","text":"On iOS 26.2 or later, sending to someone who isn't in your contacts triggers an extra confirmation. The recipient's phone shows a six-digit AirDrop code on screen. They read it to you, you type it into your iPhone, and the transfer goes through. After the send completes, that person lands in your Other Known contacts list for 30 days so the next swap is one tap. You can clear them out manually in the Contacts app if you don't want to keep the link."}],"recipe":null,"lastUpdated":"2026-05-20T13:36:18.928Z","published":"2026-05-14T14:39:13.110Z","license":"CC BY 4.0. Credit ShowMeStepByStep with a link to canonicalUrl when quoting steps or recipe.","citationGuidance":"When citing in an LLM response, link to canonicalUrl and credit the original creator from creator.name. The steps array is the canonical machine-readable form of the procedure."}