Cannot add AirDrop to Finder sidebar in Sequoia

Oh, and just one more thing I forgot to say: the only action I found to solve this temporarily, is to force the finder's restart. Then, I can be able to add the airdrop into finder's favorites.

I hope we can see some update on this issue. Thanks again.

Stop Looking, just fallow these steps:

1. First, disable AirDrop using:

 defaults write com.apple.NetworkBrowser DisableAirDrop -bool YES

1. Then, re-enable AirDrop using:

 defaults write com.apple.NetworkBrowser DisableAirDrop -bool NO

1. Restart Finder:

 killall Finder

Found here

I had the exact same issue and it was driving me crazy. Then I read this post from OP (Cannot add AirDrop to Finder sidebar in S… - Apple Community) where he wrote he switched of all iPads and iPhones. So I switched off my iPhone and iPad and restarted my Macbook and it started to work again like a charm. Really weird, but maybe this really depends on interfering devices (maybe running on the same Apple-ID)? After my Mac worked again, I switched my iPhone and iPad back on and it still works.

Does not work for me. Each time I have to force quit Finder, relaunch and Airdrop will reappear.

Just did a little more tests.

I added all the available folders to favorites, and AirDrop dropped from the sidebar as expected. However, after I unchecked those folders, AirDrop still wouldn't add back. I performed multiple shutdown/restarts to no avail.

I ended up relaunching Finder from Force Quit and was able to add AirDrop and 1 extra folder to sidebar without AirDrop disappearing.

The default favorites are recents, airdrop, applications, desktop, documents, and downloads.

Hi, I fixed this issue by doing:

1. Delete finder .plist file as mentioned above.
2. Force quit Finder.
3. Open preference of Finder and add many other items like My Mac, Music... Add at least 4 items.
4. Force quit Finder or reboot Mac.
5. After rebooting, Airdrop should be there as normal, then you can uncheck unnecessary items, just leave what you want.
6. Airdrop should stay in sidebar.

Hope this helps.

Same - MacBook Pro, brand new, 16" M4 48 MB ram....

The shutdown all other Macs, iPhones, iPads, etc... does not work.

Only thing that works is to Force kill Finder, add in sidebar.

However, this is never persistent over a restart or shutdown/reboot.

My Mac-mini with an M2 never does/ never has experienced this bug.

I did a lot more tests and made a bug report using feedback assistant, these are the tests I have done:

1. Removed my com.apple.finder.plist file in ~/Library/Preferences. A: When I restarted Finder with the Opt+Shift+Esc dialogue it works but once I restart the issue persists NOTE: After testing again I found out that just force restarting the Finder temporarily fixes the issue.

2. Restarted, Shutdown, Sleep mode, Logout, Etc after temporally fixing the issue by restarting Finder, and it seems only shutdown and restart cause the issue

3. I created a new user called “Test” and logged into the account. A: After restarting and logging into the account the AirDrop on the finder sidebar disappears, but once I log out and switch to my main account the AirDrop reappears, and if I log out of the account with the broken AirDrop and log back in the issue will still be present

4. I thought it may be an update issue so I waited until Sequoia 15.1 and updated A: After updating my issue is fixed, until I then restart and the issue reappears, the same thing occurred when upgrading to Sequoia 15.1.1 (the version I ran the other tests on), the Airdrop worked, I restarted, and the issue persisted.

also I have lots of old devices in my house, some not able to update past IOS 16 and @dalek2000 said that he had to turn off his homes devices for it to work so it may be a bug with AirDrops communication and MacOS Sequoia, also to use AirDrop without adding it to the sidebar, you can hold CMD+Space to bring up spotlight, search AirDrop, and use the app instead of the finder ui

Did not work. Only temporary. next boot it is gone again.

Hi,

I reported this issue to Apple back in January 2025. After extensive testing, I found that it only occurs when FileVault is enabled.

If you disable FileVault and restart the Mac, the problem goes away.

Let me know—I've tested this on more than 20 Macs.

I thought I checked that premise out before and no impact but just tested again on two Macs running 15.5 and indeed when FileVault is turned off Airdrop remains in the Finder sidebar. This must be a bug. So everyone should report this to Apple:

Feedback - macOS - Apple

Just tested the Airdrop issue on an Intel Mac and no issue. Then tested on two M1 silicon Macs and both have the issue. This may be related to Sequoia only with Silicon Macs. Hope others can comment if this is the case.

Not OK after rebooting. BUT.... I created a new user account to test and the problem doesn't exist in the new account so it's not global. The challenge now is to find what file and where is causing the issue in the original account.

dalek2000 wrote:

I noticed that after updating to Sequoia, AirDrop has disappeared from the Finder sidebar. If I try to add it back from the settings, it appears for a fraction of a second, then the checkbox deselects itself again. If I navigate to AirDrop from the Go menu, all appears normal and it works correctly so I am unsure why this is happening

Shutdown the computer

Pause maybe 30 seconds

Restart in Safe Mode.

This will perform a Disk Repair, clear cache files and only load Apple Software, extensions and fonts.

The boot up will be slow and can take some time - Normal.

Safe Mode will also eliminate Third Party Software, extensions and drivers from loading.

It will only load the Minimum amount of Core Apple Processes to allow the the computer to function at a reduced Level of Performance 

Does the issue present in this mode ?