AirDrop

For common meaning for AirDrop, see AirDrop on Wikipedia

AirDrop is an ad-hoc service, introduced in iOS 7. Users can share photos and videos with other supported iOS devices without the need of mass storage devices with their iCloud accounts (If share with Contacts). You cannot use AirDrop on iOS to share with OS X, and OS X users can't use AirDrop to share with iOS devices. AirDrop in iOS operates over both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0.

AirDrop feature can be accessed through Control Center (Enable it from Settings>Control Center) introduced in iOS 7. Enabling it causes both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth active (if not active yet).

Supported iDevices

AirDrop is officially supported on these devices (or newer) only:

• iPhone 5
• iPhone 5c
• iPhone 5s
• iPod touch 5G
• iPad 4
• iPad Air
• iPad mini 1G
• iPad mini 2G

Interesting point, AirDrop in iOS makes use of BCM4334 or BCM43342 bluetooth chip (or higher version) for Bluetooth operations. This means devices with this chip (or higher) are able to use AirDrop.

Filesystem

This is the list of AirDrop filesystem discovered in iOS 7 OTA file:

• /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.sharingd.plist
• /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Sharing.framework
• /System/Library/SpringBoardPlugins/Sharing.servicebundle
• /usr/libexec/sharingd

References

• AirDrop on Wikipedia
• Using AirDrop on Apple