New 5C - iOS 7.0.4 - no Airdrop icon in control center

Niemander · Dec 11, 2013

Newbie here. Trying to figure out how to get the airdrop icon to show for my new iPhone 5C (iOS 7.0.4) - Verizon. I swipe the bottom of my screen to get the control center and there's no airdrop icon or buttons or anything. The only reference I can find anywhere in settings is under Sounds, where I can attach a tone to airdrop, but of course that doesn't do much good...

How do you turn on airdrop, or get the airdrop icon to show, or airdrop to activate on the 5C?

DaveM · Dec 12, 2013

Since it's not grouped with the standard icons and doesn't look like them either, it's easy to miss it. Are you saying that you're not showing Airdrop in the location shown below? If not, you might try doing a hard reset.

Niemander · Dec 12, 2013

DaveM said:
Since it's not grouped with the standard icons and doesn't look like them either, it's easy to miss it. Are you saying that you're not showing Airdrop in the location shown below? If not, you might try doing a hard reset.

View attachment 14398

Yeah, that's precisely the problem. A few of us in our office got new 5Cs a couple of weeks ago and mine is the only one that doesn't show what you've highlighted above. That entire line is missing on mine. I was hoping all I needed to do was turn something on to get it to show but I've checked everything I can in Settings and don't see any such switches...

Question then: what are the implications of doing a hard reset, if I decide to do that? It's not like I *need* airdrop - just frustrated with Apple's ideology that we're all somehow supposed to intuitively grasp how everything works.

Niemander · Dec 12, 2013

Here's what my screen looks like (not from my iPhone, but an image I found on the web):

Btw - is it possible to capture screen shots on the iPhone?

DaveM · Dec 12, 2013

No, I agree, this should definitely be working. No implications of doing a hard reset. It sometimes solves quirky issues. No, it's not something that you should do unless needed, but it shouldn't hurt anything. Hold your Sleep/Wake and Home buttons down at the same time. Continue holding until you see the Apple logo appear, then release. The phone will reboot.

To capture your screen, momentarily press and release together the same buttons from above. The capture will appear in your photos.

Mickey330 · Dec 12, 2013

Could you possibly have Restrictions turned on AND AirDrop (within Restrictions) turned off?

To check, go to the General tab in your Settings app. Press on the line titled "Restrictions" (note that if it is on, it will say so ... ). If it is off, then that's not it.

However, if it is on, then tap the Restrictions line. You will have to enter your Restrictions password and then you will see a list of apps/actions you can restrict. At the very bottom is AirDrop. The button needs to be on (i.e. it must be green) in order for the AirDrop line to show in your control center.

Hopefully, that's it because I can think of no other reason why your AirDrop is not showing.

Marilyn

Niemander · Dec 12, 2013

Mickey330 said:
Could you possibly have Restrictions turned on AND AirDrop (within Restrictions) turned off?

To check, go to the General tab in your Settings app. Press on the line titled "Restrictions" (note that if it is on, it will say so ... ). If it is off, then that's not it.

However, if it is on, then tap the Restrictions line. You will have to enter your Restrictions password and then you will see a list of apps/actions you can restrict. At the very bottom is AirDrop. The button needs to be on (i.e. it must be green) in order for the AirDrop line to show in your control center.

Hopefully, that's it because I can think of no other reason why your AirDrop is not showing.

Marilyn

Bada bing! That's what it was. I had it turned off in restrictions. Who'da thunk... Thank you very much! I'm a fan again...

DaveM said:
No, I agree, this should definitely be working. No implications of doing a hard reset. It sometimes solves quirky issues. No, it's not something that you should do unless needed, but it shouldn't hurt anything. Hold your Sleep/Wake and Home buttons down at the same time. Continue holding until you see the Apple logo appear, then release. The phone will reboot.

To capture your screen, momentarily press and release together the same buttons from above. The capture will appear in your photos.

Well bada bing twice! Here's my screenshot with AirDrop turned on.

Thanks - both of you!
I'm a regular power user now.

Niemander · Dec 12, 2013

P.S. I feel like an idiot because when I got the phone I went through all the settings to get it set up, see what's new, etc. and turned of Siri (no use for it) when I saw the AirDrop thing. I questioned several others in the office if they knew what it was and no one did, so I just turned it off. The ONE area I didn't check of course was restrictions... go figure.

Thanks again!

DaveM · Dec 12, 2013

Good job Marilyn! Glad you got it working Neimander. Sometimes we're our own worst enemy.

You might want to give Siri a trial run, though. I've found it can be pretty cool for finding information in a hurry and a lot of other things. Google's voice function in the Google app works as well or better most of the time, too. If I don't like the results from one I try the other.