MacBook Air M4 not pairing with Portronics Toad 8 Bluetooth Mouse

You're absolutely right to point out that the steps I gave earlier are no longer accurate — especially on macOS Sequoia and even since macOS Monterey, Apple has removed the "Reset the Bluetooth Module" option from the Bluetooth debug menu (which used to appear with Shift + Option + click on the Bluetooth icon). That method used to be a go-to trick, but it's not available anymore. Sorry about that.

Instead, here's the way to reset your Bluetoth settings on macOS Sequoia:

• Open Finder.
• Press `Command + Shift + G` and enter: /Library/Preferences
• Locate and delete the following files (you may be prompted for admin credentials):
  • com.apple.Bluetooth.plist
  • Optionally also: `com.apple.Bluetooth.plist.lockfile` (if present)
• Then go to: ~/Library/Preferences/ByHost/ and look for a file starting with:
  • com.apple.Bluetooth.<UUID>.plist
  • Delete that one too.
• Reboot your Mac. After the reboot, your Mac will rebuild fresh Bluetooth configuration files. You’ll need to re-pair any Bluetooth devices, but this can resolve odd issues like failed connections, flaky performance, or audio lag.

Since your Mac does detect it, the Bluetooth chip is functioning, but pairing failure usually points to one of a few things: either a compatibility quirk, a pairing mode issue on the mouse, or something hanging in macOS's Bluetooth cache.

Please give the following a try to get this working. Stop at any stage that resolves the issue:

Starting with the mouse:

1. Turn off the mouse.
2. Hold down any combination of buttons that initiates pairing mode (often left + right click, or a small button on the bottom—check the manual if needed).
3. Turn it back on while holding the pairing sequence, and keep it in pairing mode while you try to connect.

If that didn't help, let's move over to your Mac. Sometimes macOS hangs onto old, broken pairing attempts:

1. Open System Settings > Bluetooth
2. If the Toad 8 shows up there, click the (i) next to it and choose "Forget This Device".
3. Turn Bluetooth off, wait 5–10 seconds, then back on.
4. Try pairing again.

Try resetting the macOS Bluetooth module. This should clear the Bluetooth system state.

1. Hold Shift + Option, then click the Bluetooth icon in the macOS menu bar.
2. In the menu, choose "Reset the Bluetooth module".
3. Reboot your Mac afterward.

If the menu bar icon isn't there, go to System Settings → Control Center → Bluetooth → Show in Menu Bar.

If after all that the mouse still doesn’t pair, it’s worth testing the Toad 8 on another device (iPad, iPhone, or Windows PC). If it won’t pair there either, it might be a firmware bug or hardware failure of the mouse.

Ok, sorry that didn't help. At this point, your next step is to contact Apple Support directly for further assistance with this matter. To do so, simply select the "Support" link on the lower left-hand side of this forum's web page.

Kiran_Gopinath wrote:

I made sure that the mouse is in pairing mode (tried connecting with other devices and made sure that the mouse is working).

Just to make sure I understood ... are you saying that you have tried pairing this mouse with other devices and that pairing was successful?

If so, does this mouse only support being paired to one device at a time?

I tried the key combination to reset the Bluetooth module, but I couldn't see the "Reset Bluetooth Module" option in the menu bar.

Hmm, I will double-check to make sure I wasn't leading you astray. However, I don't have a Mac handy at the moment (actually responding to you with my Windows PC--the "horror." Yes, I have been using PCs since IBM introduced the original IBM PC in 1981.) I'm assuming that you are running macOS Ventura or newer on your Mac ... correct?