03-15-2022, 02:32 PM
PeterB wrote:
...of course they all have to be on the same wireless network.
No, in fact AirDrop is supposed to be completely independent of whatever networks the devices might be connected to... (although if you're using the version where you can only be found by "contacts" then network connectivity might assist with finding the devices... but to me that utterly defeats the purpose which is to quickly share files between two Apple devices without connecting them to the same network. Especially since said network might be far slower due to distance to the WiFi base station or repeater and signal attenuation vs AirDrop needing the devices to be pretty close together but usually much much faster than the WiFi network.
When it works. Which as I was complaining is never consistent and often irritating that device A can see device B and send files to it but device B can't see device A to send files to it; but usually device B can see device C which CAN see device A, so I usually just play that game.
Question - with APFS if you send, say, a 2GB file from one device to another via AirDrop then resend the same file a few minutes later, does that use 4GB of space or does the receiving device recognize the incoming file is indentical and just save a separate clone?