This might sound a little confusing since there is not a central location for AirDrop files in iOS, but the way it is presented to the user is quite simple. Because iOS does not have an official user accessible file system however the AirDropped files will go to different locations depending on the file type being transferred. Using AirDrop to move files and pictures to iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch is also super easy and accessible from Control Center as well as the Photos app and Sharing functions. This applies to all file types transferred by AirDrop to a Mac, whatever they are, whether movies, photos, word documents, texts, presentations, PDF files, images, you name it, all files from AirDrop go into the ~/Downloads folder. There are multiple ways to access the Downloads folder on a Mac, perhaps the quickest way for most users is to use the Dock or the Finder. Thus, if someone sends you a file via AirDrop to your Mac, you will want to look in your Downloads folder. Using AirDrop to move files between Macs is fast and easy done entirely through Finder, but have you ever wondered where those AirDrop files are saved? It turns out that AirDrop files on a Mac go into the user Downloads folder by default.

Otherwise, read on so you know where to look in the future for data transferred by AirDrop to Mac OS or iOS.

Obviously you’ll need to have received an AirDrop file on a Mac or iPhone or iPad to be able to track down where AirDropped files go and are located, so if you want to try this yourself you’ll probably want to quickly AirDrop a file to yourself from another device.

How to transfer files with airdrop