I’m experiencing a strange, repeatable AirDrop issue between my personal iPhone 17 Pro Max (iOS 26.7.1) and my corporate-managed 2024 MacBook Air (macOS 26.6.2).
AirDrop worked normally between these devices for two years until recently. Now the MacBook frequently does not appear as an AirDrop destination on my iPhone. Interestingly, AirDrop works in the opposite direction: the MacBook can see my iPhone and send files to it. The IT team can’t figure out what’s causing this issue.
Here’s what I’ve established:
- My iPhone can see and AirDrop normally to my personal MacBook.
- A coworker’s personal iPhone can see and AirDrop normally to the corporate MacBook.
- The corporate MacBook can see and AirDrop normally to my iPhone.
- Therefore, the failure appears specific to my iPhone → this particular MacBook.
- Both devices have been restarted and Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and AirDrop settings checked.
- Mac AirDrop is set to Everyone, and iPhone to Everyone for 10 Minutes.
- The corporate VPN (Netskope Client) is disconnected.
- The corporate Mac has an “iCloud Restrictions – AirDrop Enabled” management configuration, with com.apple.share.AirDrop listed under Allowed Services.
- Resetting Network Settings on the iPhone temporarily fixes the problem, but it returns a few minutes later.
- iPhone Diagnostics / Mobile Resource Inspector reports no known issues.
- I signed out and back into iCloud on the corporate Mac during troubleshooting. I initially had difficulty signing back in, but this is now resolved and did not fix the AirDrop problem. The AirDrop issue also existed before I signed out.
- Clearing Other Known on the corporate Mac produces a particularly interesting result: my iPhone sees the Mac again and asks for the AirDrop verification code displayed on the Mac. After entering the code, one AirDrop transfer succeeds; subsequent AirDrop transfers fail.
- Clearing Other Known and repeating the verification process reproduces the same behavior.
This makes me suspect an AirDrop discovery/trust-state issue between these two particular devices, possibly involving the newer AirDrop verification-code/Other Known mechanism, although the corporate management configuration may also be relevant.
Has anyone experienced this specific “works once after AirDrop verification, then disappears again” behavior on iOS/macOS 26? Is there a way to completely reset the AirDrop relationship between two specific devices, or could an MDM configuration cause this kind of one-way/device-specific discovery problem?