Cannot pair bluetooth - iPhone to Macbook Air

You can use a Personal Hotspot with Bluetooth. The (rather complicated) instructions are here→How to set up a Personal Hotspot on your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support, with a link to If Personal Hotspot is not working on your iPhone or iPad (Wi-Fi + Cellular) - Apple Support (yes, it’s buried in there).

However, this is not a good approach because Bluetooth is SLOW. Under 1 mbps. Using Wi-Fi is only limited by the speed of your Internet connection from your phone. On my iPhone 14 I get speeds of 250 mbps over a 5G network with Personal Hotspot.

I don't think you read my message. My initial problem was with BT security keys and my iPhone. And yes there is a reason for an iPhone to communicate with a Macbook: when it acts as a security key. I went through multiple levels of Apple support and they sent me to the Genius Bar to get a new iPhone 14 because the problem started with my new 14. Turns out it was ios 16. My 13 was working fine. When I got to the GB, they had the same issues with multiple devices and combinations. They have reported this as a bug.

The issue seems to be with pair codes. Devices that use them don't work and the ones that don't, do. Perhaps we are talking about different issues but this thread was sent to me by Apple support as a place to monitor to see when a fix would be out.

hello, you keep denying other users' need is not helpful. If you actually read through all requests, for example, some of us want to use one keyboard (from mac) to type in iphones (because certain apps are only on iphone like snapchat); i use type2phone and i emailed the developer, i got response like this, looks like it's a real apple bug and i am pasting the response here for other users' future reference:

Hi xxx,

Since the release of macOS 12.4 it is no longer possible to pair new devices to use with Type2Phone. We had hoped for Apple to swiftly fix this bug. They did not. It may even have gotten worse with the release of macOS 13.1

My hopes for Apple to fix the bug are gone. We working to find a workaround, but my hopes are low. No competititor has succeeded. Most likely, this seems to be the end of Type2Phone and similar apps.

Best,

Pierre Bernard

Houdah Software s.à r.l.

No. The last update didn't work. I updated both iPhone and Macbook. I logged into my Google account, which uses security keys and my iPhone is listed as a security key, and when the pop-up came asking if it was me logging in and I pressed yes, nothing happened. I tried connecting the iPhone and Mac via BT and while I got a pairing code pop-up, the connection failed and I got the message saying a connection with a Mac was not supported.

I'm really mystified why Apple is pushing security keys and this functionality -- which was working with ios 15 -- is no longer working.

You can't tether for free on Wi-Fi unless you have a tethering plan, but you can tether using Bluetooth or iPhone USB.

On an iPad, after bringing both devices into pairing mode, with Personal Hotspot on, select the iPhone to begin pairing. Verify that the code on-screen matches the iPhone. If they match, tap pair on each device. This will establish an Ethernet-based Bluetooth PAN whenever you connect. When done, go to Bluetooth in settings, tap the (i) next to the iPhone, and tap Disconnect. This will restore Wi-Fi on your iPhone, which was turned off for tethering. To connect again, select the iPhone on your iPad's screen while Personal Hotspot is turned on.

For a Mac, it's a bit different. You can't use a Bluetooth PAN because the feature was removed in Monterey v12.0.1 To remedy this, you need a connector cable. USB-C to Lightning (if iPhone 14 or older), or USB-C to USB-C (if iPhone 15 or newer). Connect the device, and wait for it to populate in the Network tab in System Settings. Click the (…) at the bottom, and click "Set Service Order". To make the services work correctly, you need to set the order to "iPhone USB" first, then "Thunderbolt Bridge", and finally "Wi-Fi". This is because of a bug that prevents tethering from working unless at the top of the list. Thunderbolt Bridge is there to prioritize Ethernet if a Thunderbolt Dock is connected. And if all else fails, Wi-Fi is a last resort. Once you set this order, your Personal Hotspot will kick in until you disconnect the iPhone, and all you have to do is visit a website like this one to test it out.

And the best part is: If you don't have a tethering plan, most carriers will allow these types of tethering at no additional cost.

Hope this works for you!

Sorry, what part of "that is not supported" was unclear?

You can not do that. It's not necessary to do that.

What are you trying to accomplish by pairing them?

Cannot pair iPhone 12mini w/ MacBook Air. Get message "Pairing Unsuccessful, MacBook Air is not supported". All software is up to date. Used to work, just noticed after update to Monterey 12.0.1. Don't understand , Anybody no why ?

I don't understand: How is Bluetooth "utilised between devices" without pairing?

I want to use my iPhone as a personal hotspot via bluetooth as wifi isn't working and my router connection is (physically) broken...

I installed the new IOS and now my Apple iPhone 13 pro max and my Apple Mac Pro won't pair - never had issues before - I have tried what everyone else is saying - it is also driving me bonkers - APPLE what is wrong!

If all it took was following that instruction to make the connection work, this topic would not exist! Try it for yourself…between a Mac and iPhone…you will see it does not work and you will experience the behavior detailed in this (now) four page discussion topic. I don’t keep saying the same thing, I update whether the issue continues unresolved after testing for it again after each issuance by apple of software updates…welcome your testing as well!

dartimcoo wrote:

I went to apple.com/feedback and reported this as a bug under macbook, and linked this thread and pointed out it currently has 711 users with the same problem. Don't know if it will help, but it can't hurt. That's how we can report it to Apple, if anyone else cares to bug them. If all 711 people posted feedback about bluetooth at once maybe they'd notice and listen ;-)

All that demonstrates is that 711 people don’t understand how Apple devices communicate. They don’t use Bluetooth. Never. Not required for anything. Airdrop and mirroring establish the connection using BLE, which does not require pairing, but use Wi-Fi for data communication because BT is much too slow.

I think it is the intended (even though not explained properly) behaviour. I would suspect that for some reason, they removed the slave mode from iOS or MacOS devices. It could be a security issue, a performance issue (they talked about BT speed limitations hindering AirPods, so the same could apply for inter devices communication) or a compatibility with some applications.

Before I updated to Monterey I could pair my iPhone SE to my MacBook Pro easily. Now it says Pairing Unsuccessful.

I don't know why people are saying that Apple never meant for this to work this way when it always has worked that way before Monterey.

I had to buy a third-party program to easily transfer files to my MacBook Pro. I used to be able to do so with AirDrop (without iCloud). For business security reasons, I will never use iCloud. It is against our company policy to use "cloud" servers for client information. We are liable for our clients' data.

So, yes. It worked easily before Monterey no matter what people are saying in this thread.

duc174 wrote:

Before I updated to Monterey I could pair my iPhone SE to my MacBook Pro easily. Now it says Pairing Unsuccessful.

I don't know why people are saying that Apple never meant for this to work this way when it always has worked that way before Monterey.

Because Apple never meant it to work. And it has not always worked that way. It has never worked that way. You can use other ways to transfer content, as you have found out, with 3rd party apps that use BLE, which does not require pairing. You can also use Wi-Fi, but Wi-Fi is not Bluetooth.

I had to buy a third-party program to easily transfer files to my MacBook Pro. I used to be able to do so with AirDrop (without iCloud). For business security reasons, I will never use iCloud. It is against our company policy to use "cloud" servers for client information. We are liable for our clients' data.

So, yes. It worked easily before Monterey no matter what people are saying in this thread.