4th Gen 2020 M1 Mac mini bluetooth issues with Magic Mouse2

Well, at least for me, the Magic Mouse 2 is the biggest culprit, but it still happens with the keyboard, the trackpad, and the old Magic Mouse (tried 2 different ones, one rechargeable and one with AA), and an original Magic Trackpad.

So, though it is worse with the Magic Mouse 2, it happened at about the same rate with the original Magic Mice. The original and the new Magic Trackpads suffer mainly from lag, not the disconnect/connect/disconnect/connect issue.

The keyboards (both the old Magic Keyboard and the new Magic Keyboard) suffer keybounce at about the rate - ie, you're typing, and all of a sudden you get several of the same letter repeatedly.

All of this seems to be gone with Asus Bluetooth dongle, and with the Bluetooth Explorer tool, it seems that the link quality and the transmission power are MUCH more consistent (ie, 100% all the time), while the Mac Mini bluetooth is all over the place. Maybe there is some power saving mode going on with the Mac Bluetooth chip? If we could turn that off, maybe it would work more like the Asus dongle. If it was just the link, I think the transmitter power would still be consistent. I'm thinking that maybe to conserve power, the transmission power is raised and lowered, and that when that happens, the link suffers to the point that the mouse disconnects, the keyboard shows keybounce due to unreliable connection, or the trackpad becomes laggy.

My best connection with the Apple bluetooth module comes from using just the keyboard and the trackpad, for whatever reason.

I have a late 2008 model 3.2 GHz 6-Core Intel Core i7 mini and have had this issue almost from new. Splashed out and got the grey magic keyboard and mouse. Very disappointing. Ive tried removing everything else from Bluetooth, resetting the module and all the usual things. I seems to happen less if I turn off WiFi but in the end I gave up and starting using an ugly wired mouse. I've been an Apple pro users since the mid 90s and feel a bit let down in recent years I must say.

That's what concerns me; it seems that this problem has been around a while, and in my mind, it points to a hardware issue, not a software issue (you would hope that they would have fixed it by now if was software, right?).

I don't know what bluetooth chip is in your 2008 (you can check from Apple->System Information-> System Report, but you probably already know that ;), but the previous iteration of the Mac Mini uses the same Broadcom chip, and reportedly has the same issues (to what extent I'm not certain).

In my mind, it is pointing to a hardware issue and not software, but I'm not engineer.

I've been with Apple from almost the very beginning (an Apple II with 16K RAM, those were the days!), and I also feel a bit let down in recent years, as well.

Yep. Clearly Steve Jobs was a piece of work but ...

Hardware, Features and Settings:

  Name: Mac Mini 3.2 i7

  Address: 38-F9-D3-61-BD-6A

  Bluetooth Low Energy Supported: Yes

  Handoff Supported: Yes

  Instant Hot Spot Supported: Yes

  Manufacturer: Broadcom

  Transport: UART

  Chipset: 4364B0

  Firmware Version: v101 c4417

  Bluetooth Power: On

  Discoverable: Off

  Connectable: Yes

  Auto Seek Pointing: On

  Remote wake: Off

  Vendor ID: 0x05AC

  Product ID: 0x007B

  Bluetooth Core Spec: 5.0 (0x9)

  HCI Revision: 0x1141

  LMP Version: 5.0 (0x9)

  LMP Subversion: 0x2065

  Device Type (Major): Computer

  Device Type (Complete): Mac Desktop

  Composite Class Of Device: 0x380104

  Device Class (Major): 0x01

  Device Class (Minor): 0x01

  Service Class: 0x1C0

  Auto Seek Keyboard: On

Just check around this thread and you’ll find enough users for whom the Asus dongle works (and probably answers to your questions). And for the costs I would just take the risk ... for me it has already worked for a couple of weeks now on my M1 Mini almost all the time. Even more important ... I got rid of the frustrating lags and disconnects immediately. For me it was €13 very well spent.

I am using the Asus USB-BT400 on two of our Mac minis both with the Magic Mouse 2 and Magic Keyboards and they work without disconnects. There is occasional lag after waking up the computer and my Apple Watch will not unlock the computers but other than that appears to be a good temporary solution.

The fact that Apple has not published a fix for this problem yet despite this long thread, numerous CS calls and I spoke with my nephew that works for Apple to let him know about the issue (he was not free to discuss with me but could listen to what I told him and I pointed him to this thread, leads me to believe there is a hardware issue. Apple may be waiting until they have a hardware replacement they can offer to say anything or do anything unless a law suit and a lot of negative publicity forces their hand. Strictly my guess and opinion. However, I know from my many years managing software development that I would have made fixing this issue a priority and gotten a fix out to my customers ASAP with a point revision or patch and I suspect other development managers would do the same unless it is something they can't fix in software.

Yes, disabling the "allow this mouse to wake the computer" (or something to that effect) solved the problem. I don't see the frequent disconnects anymore.

I write this to express my disappointment of Apple's software quality. They built a brand on quality, and are now destroying it one bug at a time. It seems that they develop/maintain software with the dismal approach that testing is the main quality measure. This will never get anyone reasonable quality. A "correct by design" approach is the only way to get good level of dependability.

Arie Avnur

Cupertino, CA

You mean under Bluetooth Preferences->Advanced, deselect "Allow Bluetooth devices to wake this computer"

Yeah, been there, done that, doesn't make a difference.

But I'm happy that it works for you!

That's a different Broadcom chipset, I believe.

So, if your 2008 has the same issues, makes you wonder if it is the case or the antennae, huh?

OWC has a product that shields the bluetooth antenna on a 2012 Mac Mini (to protect it from USB interference), you may want to send them a note to see if that will also work on the 2008. I think it was about $12, so doesn't cost much. I was going to contact them and see if that could work on an M1, as that has also been an issue for some people.

I'm kind of getting upset that this issue seems to be present in a lot of generations of the Mac Mini; if it is the "electronic environment", then how come Asus's USB BT 400 external works so much better? Wouldn't the "electronic environment" be about the same for the bluetooth dongle as it is for the Apple bluetooth module? Is it the fact that it is external what helps? Can the Bluetooth/Wifi antennae be externalized on the M1? Something isn't adding up here....;

I wish people would realize that this is not an official Apple forum. If you want to express your anger at the company then please file a complaint with them. Meanwhile, some of us are reading each and everyone of these posts in order to try to help and if there is no helpful information it is just a burden on our time. I am not directing this at you or anyone in particular but in general.

I'm using a battery powered Apple Magic Mouse (2015) and I did experience bluetooth problems until I switched to an Asus USB-BT400 bluetooth dongle. Same for Apple Magic Keyboard with numeric pad (2020) and the Apple Magic Trackpad (2010, fewer problems).

I initially had problems with my Magic Mouse 2 when I first had it in November. But since upgrading to 11.2 last week I have had NO connection problems at all. I notice that the Bluetooth version has changed to version V82 c17714 from V81 c17686. Interesting........

Sorry for inconveniencing you and placing a burden on your time. I assumed that as I had to login using my Apple credentials to log on to a site with the domain apple.com that perhaps it was something to do with Apple.

Yes it has "something" to do with Apple but it is for users to provide support to each other regarding tech issues. It is not a forum to register complaints about the company. As I said, if you want to make your unhappiness known you need to do it in another venue.

I think one of the best ways to directly make Apple engineers aware of your issues is to participate in Apple's Public Beta or Developer Beta testing. As a beta tester, you have a "Feedback Assistant" app from where to enter your bug issues in detail, along with automatically generated system logs. As a developer beta tester, I have submitted many bug issues and have received responses directly from Apple engineers when there was a bug that was not previously reported or has been relatively puzzling to solve. Be assured that your bug reporting through the Feedback Assistant will be considered in Apple's data gathering, and possibly acknowledged directly from an Apple engineer.