macOS Sequoia not pairing with 3rd party bluetooth mouse/keyboard on startup

Question

macOS Sequoia not pairing with 3rd party bluetooth mouse/keyboard on startup

I updated my Mac mini (2018) to macOS Sequoia on Monday and the next morning when I turned my computer on, I realized that I cannot log in with my password because my Satechi Slim X3 bluetooth keyboard wasn't responding and my BT Logitech mouse either didn't respond.

I turned off/on the devices several times and none of them were responding but were fully charged and on. I use my 4 digit password to log in to my desktop. Only after I connected the keyboard to my mac with a USB-C charging cable that came with the keyboard, it started working and I managed to type my password and log in.

As soon as I logged in to desktop, all my bluetooth accessories started working as usual. This is now happening every morning when I turn on my mac - I have to connect the keyboard to mac over a cable in order to type my password...

What is happening here? It's like the bluetooth is turned off on the login screen and it turns itself on past the log in.

Mac mini (2018)

Posted on Sep 18, 2024 3:32 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

dragoslavfrombelgrade Author

Level 1

36 points

Nov 3, 2024 9:22 AM in response to sanz959

I discovered that the issue is with FileVault. When it's turned on, it disables ALL non-Apple devices upon reboot, up until the user logs in to their user account.

If it's not a problem for you to turn off the FileVault, go ahead and everything will be back to normal. FileVault is blocking all 3rd party Bluetooth accessories due to "security" or whatever.

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Answer 2

Barney-15E

Level 10

116,752 points

Sep 18, 2024 11:08 AM in response to dragoslavfrombelgrade

Try forgetting your bluetooth devices and add them back.

I don't have third-party input devices, but my Apple keyboard and trackpad are not lost on restart.

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Answer 3

sanz959

Level 1

18 points

Nov 3, 2024 9:35 AM in response to dragoslavfrombelgrade

That did it, thanks!

It could be practical to add a little note when you set up the FileVault warning you of these side effects.

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Answer 4

Nov 3, 2024 9:41 AM in response to sanz959

Great, I'm glad it worked out for you! Yeah, totally agree. I didn't know either that it disables 3rd party accessories until Sequoia setup recommended me to turn FV on because up until then, it was off on my mac.

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Answer 5

ray159

Level 1

9 points

Nov 8, 2024 6:32 PM in response to dragoslavfrombelgrade

Thank you so much for posting this. It has been aggravating me so much after I upgraded to Sequoia. Unfortunately turning off FileVault is not an option for me, corporate policy requires hard disk encryption on all machines that connect to the network (even if by VPN). So i'll just have to keep an Apple Keyboard and Mouse in the closet for those rare occasions where I have to reboot.

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Answer 6

Tesserax

Level 10

152,302 points

Nov 8, 2024 6:52 PM in response to ray159

FWIW. I have the Logitech MX-series keyboard and mouse. Logitech provides me with the option to use either Bluetooth or Logitech's propriety Unifying USB key to connect them to my Mac. I use the latter, and even though my Mac is running macOS Sequoia and FileVault is enabled, I have no issues with these devices reconnecting after rebooting.

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Answer 7

Nov 21, 2024 5:22 PM in response to sanz959

OS Sequoia is only a couple of months released so not much experience on this particular problem. I just upgraded my MacMini to Sequoia, When the upgrade started up, both my blue-tooth apple mouse and my wireless Logitech 750 solar keyboard would not work - had to get wired substitutes. The apple mouse came up soon after, but so far it has been impossible to get the keyboard to connect. There is nothing from Logitech except for earlier OS's. They seem not to bother to legally stop Ask an Expert from swiping the click in their tech support window and charging a $55.00 membership fee for advice I can read in apple literature - advice that doesn't work. Seeking user experience that will help.

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Answer 8

sanz959

Level 1

18 points

Nov 3, 2024 9:15 AM in response to Barney-15E

I tried forgetting the keyboard (Logi K850) but it didn't work.

Everytime I start the computer I need to connect my backup usb keyboard, log in, and then everything is fine.

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