Cannot pair bluetooth - iPhone to Macbook Air

I see that there are longstanding problems in pairing bluetooth devices. This one has only just happened for me. It has been working till now.


Using Bluetooth options on Macbook Air (M1, running Mac OS 12.0.1) to pair with my iPhone (Xs running iOS 15.1). I keep getting this message -- "Pairing Unsuccessful. 'Macbook Air' is not supported." -- even though I've tried almost all of the options on various websites but nothing solves the problem.


Has there been any workable solution to this?

MacBook Air (2020 or later)

Posted on Nov 23, 2021 10:16 PM

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153 replies

Jun 30, 2022 6:24 PM in response to sperphoto

Partial success for me. Doing the Reset Network Settings now means I can use my iPhone 12 Mini's personal hotspot (tethering) via direct WiFi link from my MacBook Pro, *without* having to turn Bluetooth off (which was previously the only way I could get it to connect). And the dialog box for 'There is a nearby wifi hotspot, do you want to join?' is working correctly now (previously would just throw an error).

But it's still not possible to connect the iPhone by Bluetooth — not for tethering, not for anything else. Pairing initiated from the MBP results in it momentarily saying Connected, then flicking back to Not Connected. Pairing initiated from the iPhone results in a message saying the MBP is 'not supported'.

Luckily for me, the tethering while BT is on is the thing I really needed. Doesn't matter to me if the link is by BT or WiFi, as long as it works, and as long as I can keep my MBP's bluetooth on (so that things like 'Device Left Behind' alerts don't get wrongly triggered, I can use my AirPods headphones, etc).

Jul 16, 2022 4:09 PM in response to s_gfb

Have had the same issue since updating to the M1 MacBook Air (currently running Monterey 12.3) & iPhone 13 Pro Max (current iOS 15.5).....I'm forced to "forget device" on both & attempt to pair them again to prevent Airdrop issues - will only pair if I select iPhone on MacBook (won't pair by selecting via iPhone) & now it says "device not supported". This is beyond frustrating as it defeats much of the ecosystem purpose!

Aug 8, 2022 6:15 AM in response to s_gfb

I have the same problem. iPhone 13 ProMax and Apple MacBook Pro M1 2020. It connects and after a second the connection breaks. I tried forget device restart on both devices and the result is the same :(

This problem occurred after I updated the iPhone to 15.6 software version.

When I try to connect from my phone to my computer, a message appears: Pairing Unsuccessful "****'s MacBook Pro " is not supported.

Cannot pair bluetooth - iPhone to Macbook Air

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