AirDrop not working? AdGuard installed? Here's the Workaround

AirDrop is a feature of the Apple ecosystem that allows easy file transfer across devices. But for the last couple of months I just couldn’t figure out why I cannot send files from my Mac to my other Apple devices. I could receive using AirDrop just fine – which indicates it’s not an issue with bluetooth or WiFi on my Mac.

I’ve tried everything that a Google search might suggest, turning WiFi, bluetooth, computer off and on, doing updates etc. Then I realized this has to be a network issue, so I started looking through all the apps I installed that may affect network – and AdGuard stuck out.

How AdGuard works is that it essentially sets up a local mini-VPN such that network traffic flow through here. This is where AdGuard blocks ads before websites gets rendered on the browser.

However, recently it’s been noted ¹² that AirDrop affects Apple Bourjour service – a network service that powers AirDrop. Luckily, there is a workaroud:

1. Open the AdGuard settings panel (either through the app, or the browser extension) by clicking on the gear icon.
2. From the menu bar, click on AdGuard, then select Advanced > Advanced Settings
3. Find the entry network.extension.monterey.force.split.tunnel and set the value to true
4. Done.

Now my AirDrop works flawlessly with AdGuard turned on.

Update: Apparently, as of December 2021, the team behind AdGuard has rolled out an update in beta (2.7.0+) that fixes this issue. But it’s been weeks since the patch and I still haven’t gotten my update (I installed AdGuard through Setapp) so I personally still find this workaround useful.

Thanks for reading!