Mac Mini m1 bluetooth problems

I just bought a Mac Mini M1 at the beginning of March '21 to use as the main machine in a music studio. I had experienced Bluetooth issues from day one. Needless to say, there are a LOT of connections, wires, hubs, and various other cables running all over the studio. I mention this because there are a lot of potential sources for interference that would be almost impossible to track down.

I turned off WiFi -problems persisted

I turned off the 2.4Ghz band on my router - problems persisted

I turned off FileVault - problems persisted

I turned off Handoff - problems persisted

I reset the Bluetooth Module - problems persisted

I factory reset all connected devices - problems persisted

I unplugged the M1, waited 10 seconds, plugged it back in, waited 5 seconds, turned it back on - problems persisted

I disconnected both USB-A cables - problems persisted

I disconnected the ethernet - problems persisted

At this point, I was really considering just using a wired mouse and dealing with it, or sending it back. Working in Logic with erratic mouse movements is nothing short of maddening.

I was upgrading from a 6,1 Mac Pro which originally had Bluetooth issues prior to various software and OS updates. I had used an Aircable Host XR4 (Bluetooth dongle) with that Mac Pro that solved all of my issues, so I decided to try that with the M1.

Unfortunately, it wasn't recognized when I plugged it in. I tried various ports, hubs, and directly plugging it into the M1. Nothing. The light stayed red and the Bluetooth address was still reporting the built-in module.

On a whim, I thought maybe turning off Bluetooth, plugging in the Aircable dongle, and then turning Bluetooth back on would kick it in to using the Aircable over the built-in module. Outside of some buggy weirdness after turning Bluetooth back on, the Aircable actually worked! FINALLY!

So, you'll need a separate bluetooth dongle and a wired mouse available so you can turn the Bluetooth back on, but the process that worked for me is:

1. Make sure the Bluetooth dongle is disconnected.
2. Make sure "Show Bluetooth in menu bar" is turned on in System Preferences>Bluetooth
3. Check the module's current address (Shift+Option, click the Bluetooth icon). Make a note of this address.
4. Plug in a wired mouse.
5. Turn off Bluetooth.
6. Plug in the Bluetooth dongle.
7. Use the wired mouse to turn Bluetooth back on. (Mine seemed to turn back on when I plugged in the module. Your results may vary.)
8. At this point, I experienced some erratic behavior, so I decided to restart.
9. Restart
10. Check the Bluetooth menu (Shift+Option, click on Bluetooth icon in top bar) for the Bluetooth address. It should be different from the one noted above.

If all went well, the Bluetooth menu should display the new address, which means you're using the new dongle as the Bluetooth controller. As long as the dongle has been connected, it has persisted through multiple reboots.

This completely solved all of my Bluetooth issues, and I can now reliably use the M1 as my every day machine. It's unfortunate that this requires a third party solution to work, but it's possible that future updates may fix whatever interference is plaguing the M1 Bluetooth controller. I have to think it's a hardware issue since the new controller has no issues, but it's possible the built-in module can be tuned with firmware/software tweaks.

But until then, I hope this works for some people who are unable to get a third party bluetooth dongle to work.

I concur that this works.

In my particular case, even though I had a Magic Keyboard and Magic Trackpad (original versions) paired with the new Mac mini M1, they worked for a couple of days, then started disconnecting. I tried to pair them again, to no avail.

However, I also own two MacBook Pro's, a 15-inch 2019 and a 13-inch 2011. Well, the devices were trying to connect to the 15-inch MBP.

Last night, we turned on the 13-inch MBP and the same thing happened.

* * *

The reason, as I understand, is that these devices at one point were originally paired to those MBP's, and I never removed them.

By performing the Shift+Option and then clicking on the Bluetooth icon in the menu bar, I performed both a Factory reset all connected Apple devices, then Reset the Bluetooth module. After that, I re-paired the devices and they've been working for several hours.

Just downloaded Big Sur 11.2 RC, and iOS 14.4 RC. For those who want it, you will need to load a Developer beta profile to get the RCs today. Or you can load the Public beta profile to get the RCs maybe tonight or tomorrow.

For some reason unknown to me, I have not had any BT disconnect issues after resetting my M1 Mac Mini a couple of weeks ago. I also downloaded Big Sur 11.2 beta 2 and iOS 14.4 beta 2 about a week ago and still no BT issues. Now that the RC candidates are out for 11.2 and 14.4, and Apple's release note explicitly state that BT issues have been addressed in the RCs, I really hope that everyone else on this thread will report the issue as being fixed finally.

Guys, read the article here;

https://www.idownloadblog.com/2021/01/22/macos-big-sur-11-2-bluetooth-reliability/

According to the company’s own release notes accompanying the forthcoming update, it would appear that macOS Big Sur 11.2 “improves Bluetooth reliability.”

11.2 update reportedly coming in around a week.

Update on my bluetooth issues. Didn't originally have any until after I had the machine for a few days. I bought a Samsung T7 external SSD connected via USB-3 for Time Machine backup, extra storage. Reading some posts here and elsewhere, realized the issue may be the USB-3 cable?

Anyway, for what's worth, since unplugging the SSD I've had no bluetooth issues whatsoever with Magic Mouse 2 or the wireless keyboard.

Anyone else notice that it's related to USB-3 connections? Just speculation.

Just got off an over hour long phone call with Apple. After talking to two different support people, they said they'll call me back tomorrow.

One thing I did notice, which I didn't see mentioned in this long thread, is the M1's new Diagnostic/Safe Boot mode.

In order to either run Apple's diagnostic, or boot in Safe Mood, you have to power up the M1 Mini by holding the power key. Don't let go, until you see the Gear Logo, then you can let go of the power key.

In order to run the diagnostic, or boot in Safe Mode, you have to use your mouse to make the selections. I could not use my Apple Magic Mouse to move the cursor. (I have a wired Macally mouse which worked)

The Apple support person confirmed that in this mode, the M1 Mini is not running Mac OS. Yet, the Apple BlueTooth mouse did not work. It appears to me (and the Apple tech person was inclined to agree) that this is not an OS issue. It might actually be a hardware issue.

Either way, I'm waiting for a call back tomorrow.

In Apple's defense, this is only an issue if I want to use a Bluetooth Keyboard, a BlueTooth Mouse/Trackpad. I suppose I could just buy one of Apple's wired keyboard or mice. If I had a time machine.

I received my new Mac mini m1 on January 6, 2020. I set it up and was highly disappointed when Bluetooth would NOT connect to the Magic Trackpad, AirPods and printer. I was reading the complaints on this website, someone suggested switching over to 5G on their WiFi system, luckily I do have both options 2.5ghz and 5G. The 5G setting was all I needed to do and everything works as it should, I hope this helps.

I had the same problems with a new Mac Mini M1. This solution worked for me:

Reset Bluetooth – hold down shift/option on the keyboard and click on the Bluetooth icon in upper right corner of the display. Select Reset the Bluetooth Module. Go back to Bluetooth in System Preferences and restart/connect all Bluetooth devises.

Hopefully this will work for you!

Now, I've connected them back to MMM1and turned off Wi-Fi on M1 machine. So far it work

The issue returned immediately when I turned Wi-Fi back on. Interesting thing is, that it drops from time to time and it has no correlation with Wi-Fi usage. I tried to send large files either from and to NAS over Wi-FI (2,4GHz) and over AirDrop, and it doesn't cause any interference - sounds play OK. It just drops in same occasional manners. The easiest way how to cause the drop is to turn Wifi off/on. I guess it starts to search the frequencies and cause the interference and this probably happens from time to time in normal regime.

Anyway, it is Apple who should solve the issue as we pay the premium price. We expect nothing less than premium products (which is not true anymore).

Yes, I've had a similar problem except with a magic mouse. Everything is bluetooth, Apple keyboard, magic mouse and my headphones. For some reason the magic mouse is the only thing affected though. And likewise, I'd disconnect, reconnect, unpair and then repair yet despite it showing as connected it doesn't respond. For me the solution was shutting down the Mac Mini instead of putting it to sleep. My issue always happened when waking from sleep. It's unfortunate because this wasn't the case until I installed firmware 11.2.2. Wish I would've just stayed on 11.2.1. I actually wasn't aware 11.2.3. was released, guess I'll give it a try and see if my problem still exists.

Fingers crossed for you Peter.

The frequency of the issue is significantly less for me since I turned off WIFI. Really like both the MINI M1 and the MBP M1 - great Christmas presents to myself.

All the Best

M

Connecting the Magic mouse 2 with the cable to my new MacBook Pro 13" M1 immediately connected it. Unplugged the cable and it's now properly paired. Without this trick the M1 could not connect via bluetooth.

THANK YOU

Turning off Wifi, this worked for me. Since I'm hooked up through ethernet, I suppose Wifi enabled was redundant anyways. Good tip, many thanx.

After Apple asked me to dig into my system to remove files and check things for them (which I bluntly refused to do as I'm not on their payroll) I agreed to do a factory reset. BTW the Apple guide to do this on the M1 processor is not accurate there were new issues to deal with. I ran a base system for a week with no additional software or USB hubs or devices and still had the BT disconnect problem. It's not a case of if, but when the problem starts.

The fact there is no definitive solution from Apple tells me they they don't yet have a clear fix. I've also purchased an M1 MBP and should really try the MM@ on this. This would confirm a serious problem somewhere. Will do that.

M

Have been using an older broadcomm bluetooth adapter for the last 24 hours and my mouse is no longer disconnecting. Will not unlock my Mac as it is not bluetooth version 4. Mouse disconnect-reconnect is the only issue I had been experiencing. Beta 11.2 (second version) did not fix the problem using mac mini bluetooth.