Suddenly my MacBook appears on AirDrop as "myusername iPhone"
0
votes
1
answer
70
views
Suddenly my MacBook appears on AirDrop as "myusername iPhone", myusername being the name I use to login to my Mac.
I gave names to my iPhone and MacBook. So when I tried to AirDrop something from one to the other, the correct device name would appear on the Airdrop choose-destination window. Both AirDrops are set to Contacts Only.
Suddenly (oh alright, a few months ago) the MacBook to iPhone route works as before, but when sending from my iPhone, the MacBook appears in the list as "myusername iPhone" twice, once under the People heading and once under the Devices heading. That's not what I want and my MacBook isn't a phone anyway.
The MacBook is MacOS Catalina 10.15.7. System Preferences -> AppleID shows the correct device name at bottom left of the window.
The iPhone is iOS 16.6.
The transfers work OK (always, actually) but the wrong name really irritates me.
Any way to fix this?
P.S. The only change I can think of that I made recently was to use the option "Private WiFi Address" in the WiFi settings of my iPhone. But I don't see how that could affect the name of the MacBook.
UPDATE: I tried the actions 1-7 in the answer by bmike but with no luck. Result: same problem - laptop shows up as "myusername iPhone". Thanks anyway.
I also tried the following: Told both devices to forget my network; Turned that router off; Took both devices to a different and brand new router and wifi network; Connected both to that network; Tried sending from phone to laptop. Result: same problem - laptop shows up as "myusername iPhone".
Asked by reallydismayed
(170 rep)
Apr 19, 2025, 10:33 PM
Last activity: Jun 13, 2025, 10:04 PM
Last activity: Jun 13, 2025, 10:04 PM