Apple has invited a number of non-developer users to participate in what it’s calling an “AirDrop Test Fest” to help fix bugs in the over-the-air file sharing system, according to users who have gotten the invite. Users who have been invited will find a notice inside the Feedback Assistant application included with the public beta of the upcoming OS X Yosemite.
Users who have been invited to participate are provided with a set of guidelines for testing the feature. According to the notice, users will need two Macs capable of running Yosemite and AirDrop, or one Mac running Yosemite and one running Mavericks to test the “legacy” feature. An iOS device isn’t required to participate, indicating that the focus will be on Mac-to-Mac transfers rather than cross-platform ones.
Users who are taking part in the Test Fest are being asked to report issues (or successes) in a special forum set up for the event. Hopefully this will help avoid any outstanding critical issues before Yosemite launches next month.
The program started today and is set to run through this Friday. The full message is below:
Please join us
AppleSeed and the AirDrop engineering team would like you to join us for an AirDrop Test Fest. What’s a test fest? At Apple we often hold test fests when we want to focus our efforts on a new feature or enhanced function of OS X. Now we want to bring that experience to our seed participants. We would like you to help us test the new AirDrop in OS X Yosemite. To facilitate this we have set up a special discussion topic where everyone participating can contribute their observations and results. There is a special AirDrop survey that will be available in Feedback Assistant. It will guide you through some of things we would like you to try. We will also be providing you with information for writing up AirDrop bug reports. Interested? Here are the details.
When? The AirDrop test Fest will take place from 12:00 PM PDT Wednesday Sept. 24th through Sunday Sept. 28th.
Where? Join us in our special AirDrop Test Fest discussions.
What do I need? To participate in the AirDrop Test Fest you will need at least two Macs from the following:
• 2012 Mac or later for new AirDrop
• Any Mac for Legacy AirDrop (old Mac to Mac only)
The Macs will need to be running the latest seeded build of OS X Yosemite. If you also want to test with your iPhone or iPad you will need device with a Lightning connector running iOS 7 or iOS 8.
Feel free to test AirDrop at your own convenience and join in the discussions during the dates indicated. We are excited to bring the Test Fest to our global audience of dedicated OS X Yosemite seed participants. This is an exclusive opportunity for you to help make AirDrop rock solid when we release it for all our customers this fall.
Thank you for testing!
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This should be interesting. I have not been able to get AirDrop to work at all on my iPhone or iPad since upgrading to iOS 8.
Smas-and-drabs. The only think Scamsuck hasn’t paid people to do at their stroes to copy Apple. Yet.
AirDrop not working between two Macs. Can’t see either one from either side. Used to work in Mavericks.