Imperator AirDrop

// Overview

A macOS menu bar app that turns AirDrop into a drop target. Drag a file onto the menu bar icon and it goes straight to the AirDrop share sheet.

Hybrid SwiftUI and AppKit: SwiftUI owns the app lifecycle and the popover content, AppKit owns everything else.

// Install

Download the latest zip from Releases, unzip, and move Imperator AirDrop.app to /Applications.

The app is ad-hoc signed, so Gatekeeper blocks the first launch. Right-click the app and choose Open, or clear the quarantine flag:

Requires macOS 13 or later.

// Use

Everything happens on the AirDrop icon in the menu bar.

Single click opens the dropdown: Open AirDrop, Open at Login, About, and Quit. It waits half a second before appearing, because the app has to know you are not on your way to a double click. That pause is deliberate, not a hang.

Double click skips the menu and opens the AirDrop window in Finder.

Drag files onto the icon to send them. Hold the drag still over the icon and after one second AirDrop fires on its own, with a red badge following the cursor while that timer runs. Drop the files instead of waiting and the share sheet opens immediately.

Right click opens the same dropdown as a single click, with no delay.

// Build from source

Cleans, builds, codesigns, installs to /Applications, and launches. Other targets are make run and make clean.

// Release

Build a zip without touching git or the remote:

Cut a full release, which bumps Info.plist, commits, tags v1.0.0, pushes, and publishes a GitHub release with the zip attached:

Requires the GitHub CLI. The working tree must be clean. Tags are plain semver; the release title carries the app name.

// License

MIT © Goran Imperator