How to Enable AirDrop on Older Macs

AirDrop is an easy way to transfer files between Macs on a network, but older hardware doesn’t support the feature.

These are instructions on how to enable AirDrop on older unsupported Macs. If you are running OS X Lion or higher and don’t see AirDrop in your Finder you may want to perform these steps.

Step 1. Launch Terminal from your Applications:Utilities folder.

Step 2. Enter the following command into the Terminal window and press Enter:

defaults write com.apple.NetworkBrowser BrowseAllInterfaces -bool TRUE

Step 3. Then enter this command into Terminal to relaunch Finder:

killall Finder

You’ll now notice AirDrop appear under the favorites in your Finder window.

You will also need to perform these steps on any other Macs that you want to AirDrop with the older Mac. 

You can easily reverse with following these steps

Step 1. Launch Terminal from your Applications>Utilities folder.

Step 2. Enter the following command into Terminal window and press Enter:

defaults write com.apple.NetworkBrowser BrowseAllInterfaces -bool FALSE

Step 3. Then enter this command into Terminal to relaunch Finder:

killall Finder