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Connection request keeps popping up

I have too many apple devices, since they get lost. When I have imac turned on and macbook pro turned on and they are in the same apartment, every minute or 30 seconds the window keeps popping up (attached). "Ignore this device" does nothing. During writing this text I needed to close the popup window three times, nothing works. The only way to not let it happen is to have those two computers turned on separately, so my wife and I need to take turns to be able to work as we should in XXI century.


Is there any kind of ultra-hyper advanced apple magic products specialist, that can help...?

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Sep 13, 2020 5:19 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Sep 13, 2020 2:47 PM

Thanks Ronasara for trying to help. Yes, this apple environment is complex and no one seems to understand what is happening and why.


All my computers are sharing the same icloud account. Out of three computers I have at home, only two are having those popups, I don't know why. Turning off bluetooth solves that, but I hoped to be able to use my airpods pro with my laptop, and turning off bluetooth doesn't turn on apple magic and the headphones can't connect.


Changing contents of one computer doesn't mean change on another. I had a case with apple support, since sometimes some files are not synced at all. Yes, I'd like to see the file X I put on the desktop of one machine on the desktop of another machine, but this is only happening in half of the cases, and apple support can't help (they don't know what their software is doing). I heard some funny explanations, like too many wifi networks around :). Really, that's apple support playing jokes on the customer that spent $15000 on their sh...


I am lost.

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10 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Sep 13, 2020 2:47 PM in response to Ronasara

Thanks Ronasara for trying to help. Yes, this apple environment is complex and no one seems to understand what is happening and why.


All my computers are sharing the same icloud account. Out of three computers I have at home, only two are having those popups, I don't know why. Turning off bluetooth solves that, but I hoped to be able to use my airpods pro with my laptop, and turning off bluetooth doesn't turn on apple magic and the headphones can't connect.


Changing contents of one computer doesn't mean change on another. I had a case with apple support, since sometimes some files are not synced at all. Yes, I'd like to see the file X I put on the desktop of one machine on the desktop of another machine, but this is only happening in half of the cases, and apple support can't help (they don't know what their software is doing). I heard some funny explanations, like too many wifi networks around :). Really, that's apple support playing jokes on the customer that spent $15000 on their sh...


I am lost.

Sep 13, 2020 2:42 PM in response to steve626

Thanks steve626 for suggestion. Let me try that.

Nope, that won't work, since I don't have them connected. Look at what I see at my bluetooth preferences on both machines.

To make the story even more complicated, I will add, that I have a third macbook prototype, and it doesn't do any of those... Looks like magic to me. Totally amazing!


(sorry, I can't add the screenshot from the second computer, because for some reason icloud decided not to sync the file to the desktop of the computer I am using now; yes, it does that sometimes, and even after spending five hours, sending apple support the logs from my three machines, they told me nothing can be done some files will be synced, some not; amazing magic)

Sep 13, 2020 3:31 PM in response to steve626

Thanks again, will try to do it later.


Now I need to do some work, not endless maintenance for those prototypes to be working, but be sure I will post it here with the results. One thing I don't understand is how does the apple amazing and magic marketing correspond with manually deleting some file I never knew existed at all?


Here's the setting as it always been on imac - don't you think this shouldn't play any role? The sharing is and always been turned off here.

Sep 13, 2020 2:07 PM in response to Piotr Kowal

I can't be positive, but I believe this is due to your Macs trying to coordinate the information via your iCloud connection. I think you either need to follow the instructions or not have both computers listed in the same iCloud account. Incidentally, having both on the same account means that what you do in one computer will change what is in the other computer when they share the same iCloud account. I don't think that is what you want.

Sep 13, 2020 2:10 PM in response to Piotr Kowal

That's a Bluetooth connection request. On each device, open Bluetooth Preferences (System Preferences).


Look at the devices listed there. Find the other computers that are trying to connect to each other and remove each from the others Bluetooth Preferences. This is done by selecting the x that appears when you move the cursor to that device in the list.

Sep 13, 2020 3:18 PM in response to Piotr Kowal

I really understand your frustration. Personally, I started reading things on this forum to learn more. I have used Macs for many years and am fairly knowledgeable, but there is so much more to know. Personally I have observed some things on this forum which I will share with you. My opinions only. I see a lot of problems with Apple's Mail app. I stopped using it years ago because I didn't like it. I like Thunderbird. Also, the same with Time Machine which I also tried and didn't like. It is a good app, but not for me. Lots of reports of problems. When doing downloads of updates or upgrades, always use an ethernet connection directly to the modem/router to avoid corruption. People think iCloud is for back up. It is not. It is for transfer data to all associated devices. You said "Changing contents of one computer doesn't mean change on another". I have experienced that it did. My wife erased some Safari Bookmarks on one computer and the other one lost its Bookmarks and duplicated the other's, so I disconnected them. I don't really need or use iCloud anyway. I like to keep things as simple as possible.


Lastly, I see recurring problems with people who wait forever to do updates and upgrades and then have all kinds of problems. My devices are always up to date and have few if any problems. I don't install junk apps. I do regular maintenance like restarting my computer, occasionally doing a restart in the Safe Mode and clearing Browsing data. I have an external disk which is fully backed up and has its own operating system on it. My files are always backed up to the minute. I am fortunate that I know how to troubleshoot from my many years in telecommunications. It's mostly a matter of isolating, trial and elimination. So, hang in there, my friend. The world is difficult and complex. We have to evolve, like it or not.

Sep 13, 2020 3:23 PM in response to Piotr Kowal

Check your Sharing Preference Pane and turn off Bluetooth Sharing.


Turn off Bluetooth off on all devices. Exit the Bluetooth Preference Pane if it is open. Then on all devices, delete this file:


/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Bluetooth.plist


If it is also present in your user libraries, delete it there also.


You can restart all devices at that point and see if the issue is gone (turning bluetooth back on where you need to). If it were me, before restarting I would boot each device into safe mode in order to clear out caches that might "remember" some problematic setting. Then restart normally and see if the issue is gone.


Other resources are available to you. Hold option and open the Bluetooth icon in the menubar, you will see more info than without holding the option key. Also holding SHIFT-OPTION when opening the Bluetooth icon in the menubar presents you with some DEBUG options which you can experiment with. You may need to do this on multiple computers.





Sep 13, 2020 3:36 PM in response to Ronasara

Thanks Ronasara for kind words.


But also I started to think, why apple manufactures the hardware and the software with so many crippled functions, that work or doesn't work? Why buying and overpaying for those things, if the next thing you do is turn off some of the magic amazing functions? Sorry, I don't get it. You are not using icloud because of sync problems, I am using icloud because apple marketing told me this is great way to share files between computers. Honestly, I think Microsoft OneDrive is much much better in that. I should have bought Windows machines instead of this crap that overpromises and underdelivers. The only good product they have is iphone.


Restarting in safe mode - seriously? Why would those advanced... sorry - amazing computers don't do it themselves? Yes, I am also having up to date os, and I also do monthly resets of smc, nvram and other **** because the biggest and wealthiest company in the world can't make it clear automatically, instead you need to learn some specific key combinations, count to seven etc. Nice.

Sep 13, 2020 3:45 PM in response to Piotr Kowal

If Bluetooth Sharing is OFF (as shown in your picture) for all your devices, then that's not causing the problem, clearly.


There is an additional thing you can try after Safe Mode, which would be to reset NVRAM, but I think that's a long shot because the items stored there do not (to my knowledge) pertain to Bluetooth. But it would not hurt to try if running out of options.


Deleting Preference files is an old and standard troubleshooting step that sometimes resolves issues where a setting is not behaving as the user expects or requests. It should not be necessary, but these files can be damaged when there is a computer freeze, unexpected restart, forced shutdown, power failure, something of that ilk. It's hard to make everything bulletproof. I have had very good luck with various iCloud options across 4 different computers and one iPhone, and all have Bluetooth on (for wireless keyboard, mouse, headphones, Fitbit etc.) but I have never seen that problematic pop up. There might be a connection to iCloud if some stuck or corrupted setting is being propagated across your computers via iCloud, so if you are going to try what I suggested earlier, you might want to turn off iCloud sharing (temporarily) before embarking on that.

Sep 13, 2020 3:59 PM in response to Piotr Kowal

Piotr Kowal wrote:

Honestly, I think Microsoft OneDrive is much much better in that. I should have bought Windows machines instead of this crap that overpromises and underdelivers. The only good product they have is iphone.

Restarting in safe mode - seriously? Why would those advanced... sorry - amazing computers don't do it themselves?

If you're having trouble with iCloud for file sharing, you could try other options. I use Dropbox, for instance, it works across various computers running 10.11 to 10.15 as well as the iPhone. Google also has cloud file sharing capabilities you can choose to use.


Sorry to suggest Safe Mode, but what it does is (a) check the disk/file system to make sure it is clean, and (b) clear some caches. The caches might be persisting in reasserting a setting that you have been trying to change. I am suggesting these things because we are trying to troubleshoot your problem. The things I have suggested are very basic and simple to do. I and others I know have had good experiences with iCloud but I don't doubt the reality of what you have been reporting and experiencing.

Connection request keeps popping up

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