Ubuntu 17.04 Sending/Receiving files by Bluetooth not working

From the terminal, run (as normal user)

systemctl --user start obex

That worked for me… as it enabled me to send – for example – files to my phone via bluetooth.

For a fix that works accross reboots, run (as normal user)

systemctl --user enable obex

Which creates an according symlink. This is a set-and-forget thing, enabling file transfers permanently so you don't need to start obex every time.

Also see https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/bluez/+bug/1645631

I had the same issue. After banging my head against a selection of walls, I came across a post somewhere which recommended running the command

/usr/lib/bluetooth/obexd

as your own user in a terminal. That seems to have done it for me. Didn't require installation of blueman, obex-ftp, etc.

I now added that command to my 'start-up application' list and the sun keeps on shining..