Bluetooth pairing between iPhone and Mac Mini M1 "not supported"

I found this helpful https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT209456

OK, here's the deal: I got in touch with an Apple engineer, and was told that "with bluetooth pairing, this is an expected behavior since Mac to iPhone is not yet supported with both devices."

The iPhone and Mac are in fact talking over BT, despite not being paired, but it's at a low level. Apps like AirDrop use WiFi for the file transfers. (I suspect that the BT chatter has to do with security, which would explain why it's invisible to the user.)

There is outdated Apple guidance floating about that instructs you to pair the devices, but it only applies to Big Sur and earlier, and in many cases this is not made clear. Any instructions to "pair" an iPhone to a Mac via BT do not apply if your OS is Mojave or later. BT may need to be on for some applications, but pairing is not implemented. (I don't know what to make of the "yet" in his statement.)

The current way to set up an iPhone hotspot: Use an iPhone or iPad to connect your Mac to the internet - Apple Support

Modern Macs and iPhones cannot be PAIRED via Bluetooth, and there is NO NEED to pair them, so please stop trying.

They can be CONNECTED, which is a different thing entirely, and the Mac will show the connected devices.

Apple provides a raft of functions that use the Bluetooth connection. NONE of them require pairing: Use Continuity to connect your Mac, iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Apple Watch - Apple Support

This really should end the discussion here.

I had the same issue but once I signed both machines into the iCloud everything seem to be working in other words I could use airdrop telephone on either machine and pictures iMessages and everything seem to be in sync immediately

so the bottom line is I think the phone does connect but it just says it doesn’t connect and also after three days with the Apple support they didn’t have any idea but eventually agreed with me because everything worked they even screenshot it my phone and computer and sent it to engineering and they had no answer

Briank75 wrote:

but I think the bottom line is you will never get the Bluetooth to say that it is connected but if you can do airdrop it means Wi-Fi and Bluetooth is working and the way that ended up getting fixed was by signing in and out of the iCloud on both devices

That is correct because Airdrop doesn't require that the devices be paired or connected using BT.

AngelBH wrote:

Same issue. I have a Mac mini M1, and I've just moved from Android to iPhone 13. I can't understand WHY my new iPhone cannot be connected to my Mac mini via Bluetooth. Then, what is the benefit of buying an iPhone?

That is not and never has been a feature of the iPhone. Perhaps if you explain why you're trying to do it, someone can explain an alternate method.

While many would say there are advantages to buying an iPhone (notably better security), that doesn't mean it's the best phone for everyone.

I've tried every possible variation of reset methods and have finally come up with one that seems to work. It's only been a few days, though - I will update this thread if this turns out only to be temporary.

This is what worked for me(so far):

Mac: Turn off Bluetooth

iPhone: Settings -> Bluetooth -> select Mac (touch the circle with an "i" in it) and "Forget this device"

iPhone: Turn off Bluetooth

iPhone: Completely power down

Mac: Turn Bluetooth back on

iPhone: Power back on, turn on Bluetooth, pair the iPhone and the Mac back together.

Hmm, you might be on to something. (I posted about the issue at hand a while ago). I just got a call on my iPhone12, and it also "rang" on my Mac Mini. And still, my phone is NOT connected via BT.

And I believe I know why.. when I reinstalled Monterey I just kept most default settings, so FaceTime was set to use not only my cell number, but also my AppleID. For FaceTime and Messages I normally uncheck everything except my cell number (just to keep things simpler).

And now it seems to work just fine. In short, if I had my AppleID checked then no problem!

Hello everyone, I am not sure this helps but I think it might.

As far as have been able to determine this feature is simply NOT SUPPOSED TO WORK AT ALL ANY LONGER.

A bit obscure but it seems to be that Apple "replaced" the "bluetooth connect facility" for IPhone and/or iPad to iMac with the "Air Drop" service.

That is to say there is actually no longer any need for using bluetooth to "pair and connect your iPhone or iPad to your iMac" .

It seems that now we have to use "Air Drop" to cater for those requirements. Certainly if "Air Drop" is enabled on all devices I can easily move photos and files etc. around between them all. My reading and understanding might not be correct but currently I believe that "Air Drop" does in fact use Bluetooth to identify devices in range etc but then it uses "wifi" for the actual data transfers.

In addition and FYI, the options in "Air Drop" are VERY VERY MISLEADING, basically 3 choices, OFF (not ON at all lol !), or ONLY PEOPLE IN "CONTACTS" - BUT BUT BUT this rather indicates I have to list MYSELF to be in "contacts" - lol lol again !, or "ANYONE" which seems rather risky and a bit odd to me ?? To me it seems logical that all of "my" devices should be able to "Air Drop" to each other WITHOUT me being listed in my own "contacts" and without me allowing "ANYONE" to "Air Drop" stuff to my devices. BUT THAT IS NOT WHAT IT SAYS under the "Air Drop" options !! NONE of the three choices shown do actually indicate the ability to have "Air Drop" fully active and available but restricted and limited to being possible ONLY between MY devices. Maybe I am just reading it wrong ?

Anyhow if 'Air Drop" is fully ON and is option enabled on my iPhone and my iPad for "ANYONE" then all works OK.

ZERO marks to Apple in this case for their crappy explanations and lack of clarity and update/notifications on this stuff.

Hope the forum/questions continue until we get good clear answers. If all of my above is incorrect then my apologies in advance and I look forwards to further updates. Cheers.

Hi, this discussion does seem endless but I have seen nothing that contradicts what I earlier read and what seems to be the case. There is simply no need to pair these devices any longer. You are as far as I understand it supposed to use airdrop to handle moving things from one to the other. Possibly incorrect but I understand that this service actually uses BT at least to initially link or ID each device but uses Wi-Fi ti actually transfer things. It is for sure a total crock of $&#t that Apple can not seem to bother to actually explain this clearly and that when you try to actually PAIR the devices as you would have done in the past quite easily it looks like it works and then it fails and worse advises a totally useless reason for the failure and offers no help.

If anyone ever does get this figured out I would be grateful for the update. Good luck.

For what it's worth folks - I've been consistently successful so far with the workaround I mentioned about a month ago:

Turn on Bluetooth on iPhone

Initiate a connection by transferring a single image from the Mac to the iPhone.

(Right-click on image, select Share, then AirDrop, then the name of the iPhone)

Next, AirDrop any images you like from the iPhone to the Mac.

Turn off Bluetooth on the iPhone

I have also done tests to be sure the "right way" is still broken by simply attempting to initiate a transfer from the iPhone to the Mac. So far, these attempts still fail. On top of that, I am not able to use the workaround described above for about two days after the failure.

Briank75 wrote:

I had the similar problem with iPhone 13 promax and seven year old iMac and it never said it was pairing it said unsupported but all of the functions seem to work once both have been signed into iCloud. AirDrop iMessages the phone calls on either one everything actually seems like it’s working fine but it always says not connected did the pairing was unsuccessful and yet it gives the pairing number and I spent three days with Apple support and they could not understand it either

You don't need to pair your phone and Mac using BT in order for AirDrop or other continuity features to work. You only need to have BT enabled on both devices.

Bluetooth is required to identify devices using Airdrop then uses WiFi to complete the file transfer.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204144

You would only need to have BT enabled on both devices. You don't have to actually pair them.

Though it isn't consistent, I have had some luck. Initiating a transfer from the Mac to the iPhone before doing the opposite works about 75% of the time, so far:

Turn on Bluetooth on the iPhone.

Transfer one photo from the Mac to the iPhone.

If successful, I can then transfer as many photos from the iPhone to the Mac as I wish during that session.

This only works for a limited time, though. If I attempt more transfers the next day, it may or may not work. If it doesn't, I can just try the next day and then quite often it will work. I have not found a consistent pattern thus far.