Issues with Handoff, Universal Clipboard and Apple Watch Unlock after updating to Big Sur.

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Issues with Handoff, Universal Clipboard and Apple Watch Unlock after updating to Big Sur.

I was quite excited to update to Big Sur, but wanted to rid my Mac of the digital junk it had accumulated over the past years. To do this, I backed up to time machine, wiped my Mac, updated to Big Sur via recovery and then restored only my user account from time machine. This worked almost flawlessly, except that it introduced some strange issues with handoff. Namely, all features seem to work going from my Mac to my iPhone, but not vice versa. That means that when I copy something on my Mac I can paste it on my iPhone, but not the other way around. Or that apps I use on my Mac show up on the app switcher on my phone, but the iPhone apps don't show up in the dock. Most annoyingly, Apple Watch unlock does not work anymore, and instantly prompts me to "Make sure your Apple Watch is unlocked,

on your wrist and powered on".

Apart from the standard restarts, WiFi/ Bluetooth toggles and PRAM resets, I've tried the steps described in this post: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251803595?login=true, I have reset Bluetooth on my Mac via Alt+Shift Bluetooth in the menubar and have deleted anything with Bluetooth in the name from ~/Library/Preferences. Bluetooth sharing and 2FA for my AppleID are enabled.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 11.0

Posted on Nov 16, 2020 8:52 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

carlfromtimbuctu Author

Level 1

6 points

Dec 4, 2020 1:17 AM in response to carlfromtimbuctu

Though I was trying to avoid signing out of iCloud in my Mac (for fear of having to re-download all my iCloud Drive files), I bit the bullet and signed out and then back in to iCloud. Though it took a while to download all my data again, it solved all the handoff/ Universal Clipboard/ Apple Watch Unlock problems.

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Answer 2

Joseph_S.

Community Specialist

Nov 24, 2020 12:57 PM in response to carlfromtimbuctu

Hello carlfromtimbuctu,

We understand you are having some issues with Continuity and Universal Clipboard. You’re in the right place, we’d be glad to assist in seeking a solution.

If you have made sure that all devices meet the requirements in: System requirements for Continuity on Mac, iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Apple Watch, we would next suggest testing the issue in safe mode. Start up your Mac in safe mode

Let us know the results.

Take care.

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Answer 3

Nov 25, 2020 12:20 PM in response to Joseph_S.

Hi Joseph,

I booted into safe mode and the issue persisted. I doubt it's an issue relating to some installed software, as my problems started post clearing my laptop of all the junk it had accumulated. Though I noticed another interesting quirk: handing off calls from my iPhone to my Mac works perfectly fine, though all the other handoff features only work when transferring from my Mac to my iPhone, and not the other way around.

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Answer 4

Nov 25, 2020 2:03 PM in response to carlfromtimbuctu

Hello carlfromtimbuctu,

Thanks for those details.

Next, see if the issues occurs with a different macOS user account:

Set up users, guests, and groups on Mac - Apple Support

If you see the issue in a new test user account, reach out here for further assistance: Get Support

Cheers.

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Issues with Handoff, Universal Clipboard and Apple Watch Unlock after updating to Big Sur.

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