As evidenced by the numerous tweets posted by MacRumors forum users, a number of iPhone 14 users are experiencing issues with the AirDrop feature not working properly. Specifically, when attempting to send a file to a known contact, the affected iPhone 14 (iOS 16) devices are unable to complete the process.
On the one hand, the ready-to-send file is always showing a “waiting…” status. At the same time, the recipient never receives the “Accept AirDrop overhead delivery” message.
MacRumors forum user Bexx said:
I had the same problem when I tried to send a photo to my husband earlier my phone kept saying it was connecting and nothing was showing up on his iPhone X. But if I set the AirDrop setting to "AirDrop", I was able to get a message from the receiver. But if I set AirDrop to turn it on for everyone (not just known contacts), and then enabled over-the-air drop to other devices, there was no problem. Strangely, sending files to my own device (with the same Apple ID) works fine, regardless of whether AirDrop's drop range is circled or not.
A brief summary of what people are saying suggests that the problem is with iPhone 14, not iOS 16. However, some users running iOS 16 are not excluded from being affected by the same issue.
Awkwardly, although it is possible to temporarily change the AirDrop setting to “open to all”, it is possible to change the setting to “open to all” when password sharing is required. However, when password sharing is required, both parties must save each other’s contact information in advance.
Patrick at MacRumors adds:
I contacted Apple support the same day as AirDrop wasn't working on the two new iPhone 14 Pro Max devices. I was advised to change the settings to enable Airdrop to everyone, not just known contacts, and it did work. Bizarrely, my regular AirDrop emoji didn't work and I had to set it to enable overhead delivery to everyone to see my partner's device under other. I tried sharing via my Apple password and got a message saying 'The person is not in the known contacts list' - could this be an iCloud contact mismatch?
Finally, according to several people who have contacted Apple support, Apple is officially aware of the bug and is expected to fix it in the near future.
