Q: Can I update my iMac Bluetooth to Bluetooth 4.0?
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Oct 21, 2014 10:12 PMby Buffalo Sal,Well....I would agree. But if that's the case, does anyone know if Apple is indeed going to make a free upgrade available? I'm not aware of any discussion regarding it....and I don't think that the current Bluetooth on my iMac has ever had an upgrade. Maybe it isn't possible.
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Oct 21, 2014 10:35 PMby Dudeasincool117,This article seems to infer that it can be done http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/news/comments/bluetooth-4.1-announced-as-free-u pdate-for-4.0-devices
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Oct 22, 2014 8:56 AMby Thomas Smith3,To use handoff and Airdrop your iMac must have a Bluetooth chip that supports Bluetooth 4.0. These were not added to the iMacs till fall of 2012. We have another thread where someone said he took his I-Mac in and for $100 they could replace the chip. However a higher level respondent indicated that to do this would be quite expensive. I asked the first guy if he would let me know if they were able to change out the blue tooth chip for that $100. My IMac was bought in June 2012 and they did not tart installing the BT 4.0 until fall of 2012. I will keep you all posted.
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Oct 22, 2014 9:31 AMby Buffalo Sal,I looked at the ilounge link, but it said the update was for 4.0 devices...and it was written in Dec, 2013....my impression from Thomas's reply is upgrading Bluetooth is not a software upgrade but rather a replacement chip. And I also in the interim read some of the Mac Rumors forum comments about Bluetooth...it certainly looks like if I want to use any of the Continuity features, I will need to purchase a new iMac with Bluetooth 4.0, which weren't produced until 2012. Apple knows how to solicit new income....
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Oct 24, 2014 4:06 PMby Thomas Smith3,I got this reply on my other thread. Maybe the BT board can be replaced. Any comments from Apple Support?
I'm not sure it is soldered. The iFixit guide shows how to replace the bluetooth board for this iMac: https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iMac+Intel+27-Inch+EMC+2429+Bluetooth+Board+Replace ment/7553
The question would be if a newer bluetooth board will fit and be recognized by the OS to allow handoff, and I would also be interested in this.
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Oct 24, 2014 5:03 PMby Thomas Smith3,HelpfulThis may answer all our questions. I just found it while trying to find the source of the BT 4.0 requirement. Read this
http://9to5mac.com/2014/10/23/enable-continuity-handoff-instant-hotspot-airdrop/
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Jan 7, 2015 2:48 PMby WvB22,Long answer short: yes you can upgrade the internal wifi card and Bluetooth card in your Mac. More detaile: it's very hard to do and not something you want to do if you're not familliar with tinkering your Mac as it will void all of your warranty with Apple. There is a simple solution though. It is possible to use an external wifi/Bluetooth dongle now and activate it with a small program. See this site.
