Airdrop not working in mac ( OSX 10.11.6 El Capitan ) with iPhone 6s (iOS 9.3.5)
I would not expect AirDrop to work in SafeMode as most kernel extensions and features are hobbled / disabled. I also wouldn't reinstall unless you feel that's needed for another issue.

I don't see a good troubleshooting article from Apple - but this has some hints: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203106

Specifically - when you have hotspot enabled on iOS - AriDrop doesn't work.

Additionally, if you have any internet security, firewall, vpn software installed, that can cause problems on the Mac side.

The initial discovery of devices happens over bluetooth - so if you don't see other devices - look for bluetooth interference or issues with that hardware. If you see the other device, but the transfer is slow or fails, you can track that on the Mac side:

netstat -nr | grep awdl0


That will show all the IPv6 network connections and you can run sudo tcpdump -i awdl0 to trace the network traffic that is used to transfer files over AirDrop.

You are on the right track - powering off bluetooth and wifi, restarting both devices, powering on bluetooth and WiFi and then retesting. Worst case, you need a third device to see which of the two works with another device that you know works with AirDrop.

If that doesn't work - look at this answer on the thread below for more in-depth tools to debug AirDrop using graphical tools and the command line:


Debug AirDrop between MacBook Pro and iPhone 6s Plus