Cannot pair bluetooth - iPhone to Macbook Air

Sorry to disagree. I had read most posts here. Please read again yourself the Apple support document you link:

Personal Hotspot with Bluetooth:

Pair your devices

1. On the device that provides Personal Hotspot, go to Settings > Personal Hotspot and make sure Allow Others to Join is on.
2. Go to Settings > Bluetooth and make sure that Bluetooth is on.
3. Keep this screen open, then follow the steps for the device that needs to connect:

• ...
• On your Mac, choose Apple menu  > System Preferences, then click Bluetooth and make sure Bluetooth is on. Select the device providing Personal Hotspot, click Connect, then follow the onscreen instructions.

So there is clearly written that for using an iPhone as a personal hotspot over Bluetooth it has to be paired first.

And not being able to do so is my problem. May be I misunderstood something, if so please explain. If I am not wrong, is there a solution?

I did those exact instructions, and my MacBook Pro connected directly to the Personal Hotspot, but it wasn’t listed on the phone. Because as I said, the only possible Bluetooth connection from a computer is to Personal Hotspot. I could access the internet on my MBP through the personal hotspot.

I have the same issue on below configures.

iPhone 12/iOS Version 16.1.1

MacBook Air/M1,2020, MacOS Ventura Version 13.0.1

File airdrop is working from iPhone to MacBook;

File airdrop is not working from MacBook to iPhone.

Before Software Update, they worked well.

iPhone 12/iOS Version 16.0.2

MacBook Air/M1,2020, MacOS 12 Monterey

File airdrop is working from iPhone to MacBook;

File airdrop is working from MacBook to iPhone.

I hadn’t considered that you couldn’t pair because they were both masters, but that could be correct.

The message is generic; it doesn’t know why you can’t pair or what the other device that you are trying to pair with is; if it could find that out it would be a security vulnerability as you could get information about the device without connecting to it.

I read somewhere that in the BT protocol, a master could switch state to slave. So that would mean that iOS, MacOS forbid it (did they allow in the past and change for security reason ?) where PC allow. And then the error message is partially correct (wait to be ready for pairing)… even though there is no way to get it ready.

Yes. It was working on ios 15. My BT security keys were working and then they stopped working with ios 16. The subsequent updates have not fixed the issue and when I took the phone to the Genius Bar, they thought it was a bug and reported it as such. So, I'm pretty sure it's not expected behavior. The common element seems to be any device that has a pairing code. So "dumb" shower radios and airpods work fine. But anything that would have a pairing code appear does not seem to work.

Does anyone know if the Ventura update on my MacBook air will solve the issue with the inability to pair with my iPhone 13 Pro? I had no issues with pairing prior to updating to Monterey but now cannot pair these two devices. Keeps giving me the Pairing unsuccessful - MacBook air not supported

I have the same issue, cannot pair and have used the forget device on both devices, reboot and tried to repair devices with no Success. I have a iPhone 13 Pro Max IOS 16.2 and trying to pair with MacBook M1 Pro Ventura 13.1

PLEASE can someone help. I have also put it the cable and Accepted "trust the device"

GIo

It's required for security keys. The Apple tech support thought it should work and were surprised when it didn't. I don't think Apple would remove functionality. But I'm mystified why they cannot get it resolved. I'm having to buy expensive physical security keys for my staff because the iphone cannot be used as a security key any longer.

Thanks to those who replied with actual helpful info... to those who chose the snarky comments, please. refrain. I had been able to receive a facetime call on my phone and it would pop up on the mac book air so I could use either. Now, I can't pair them together so this isn't possible anymore. Seems like many are having this same issue. Apple hasn't addressed it either. Very frustrating coming from a brand that touts the ability to cross-pollinate between devices ( as I HAD been able to do until recently)

Cannot Pair my iphone with macbook air (so very, very, very, tired of spending hours of valuable time trying, generally with low success rate to solve device problems). This time I'm just trying to do the simplest thing of transfering a file from iphone to macbook and now here I am.

Is anybody else just fed up with this?

error message air is not suppported

thank you

Daver2020 wrote:

I see lots of folks having apple equipment problems.... been going on for a while any fixes for Bluetooth connectivity problems between Mac & iPhones???

Please read the post right above yours.

I have the same problem as a lot of people. Bluetooth used to connect all three devices, iPhone, iPad, MacBook Pro and I could use Airdrop between them all for photos. Airdrop now only works between my iPhone and iPad, and MacBook Pro no longer recognises my iPhone and iPad on Bluetooth, although they recognise MacBook. In addition I can no longer copy from iPhone to iPad and vv. And just as annoying, some photos on my phone appear in Photostream on my MacBook, while others, taken minutes earlier, don't.

What is going on? I didn't pay premium prices to get substandard functionality.

OK, I just had a post removed by apple for not abiding rules of the board.

whilst I admit that my writing was piqued. It was directly addressing a matter central to this thread. ‘Has it ever been possible to pair an iPhone and a Mac via Bluetooth’.

I believe that the experiences recounted in this thread, plus the fact that a developer created a piece of commercial software that relied on this feature, proves that yes, it was possible.

yet two posters continue to insist, as if with one voice and with unshakable authority that, no, it has never been possible.

I do believe that getting consensus on this fact is important to pressing forward with addressing this with Apple.

Is there anything that might be done to prove this irrefutably? Perhaps someone could create a video of this pairing in operation on an older system? And even Type2Phone in action. Or even tethering an iPhone Wi-Fi connection to a Mac via BT. That would be hot.

I do not man to be contentious but I seems valuable to get this right amongst ourselves because, as it has been pointed out, Apple is not on this board. 😳

Why would it say "Pairing Unsuccessful" if it's not supported?

If it says "Pairing Unsuccessful" then there must be a "Pairing Successful".

It should say "Pairing Not Supported" if it wasn't supported.

And you are calling me a liar when I told you it worked every day before Monterey. Everyone in this thread should not be Gas-Lighted. We are not delusional.

Why is there even a Pairing option if it's not supported. You guys don't making any sense.