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Rhonda Fogel
Level 1 (14 points)
iPhone

Q: iPhone won't discover Mac for bluetooth connection for personal hotspot

Mac finds iPhone but iPhone won't find mac

PowerBook G4 Titanium 15", Mac OS X (10.4.4)

Posted on Aug 14, 2012 9:03 AM

by Lawrence Finch,Solvedanswer
Lawrence Finch Lawrence Finch
Level 8 (38,305 points)
Mac OS X
A:

Macs and iPhones DO support BlueTooth connect for tethering the Mac to the iPhone. http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4517

 

If it's an iPhone 4 or 4S you can also use the iPhone as a wireless hotspot.

Posted on Aug 14, 2012 4:15 PM

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Rhonda Fogel

Q: iPhone won't discover Mac for bluetooth connection for personal hotspot

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Dah•veed,

    Dah•veed Dah•veed Aug 14, 2012 9:20 AM in response to Rhonda Fogel
    Level 7 (34,847 points)
    Mac App Store
    Aug 14, 2012 9:20 AM in response to Rhonda Fogel

    The Apple Support Communities are an international user to user technical support forum. As a man from Mexico, Spanish is my native tongue. I do not speak English very well, however, I do write in English with the aid of the Mac OS X spelling and grammar checks. I also live in a culture perhaps very very different from your own. When offering advice in the ASC, my comments are not meant to be anything more than helpful and certainly not to be taken as insults.

     

    The Mac's BT stack is not equipped for this to my knowledge. I think that you need to use wi-fi.

  • by Rhonda Fogel,

    Rhonda Fogel Rhonda Fogel Aug 14, 2012 4:04 PM in response to Dah•veed
    Level 1 (14 points)
    iPhone
    Aug 14, 2012 4:04 PM in response to Dah•veed

    Eventually I got the iPh to find the Mac, and then it told me "device is not supported."  I was nowhere near wi-fi when trying to do this.  Also didn't have an iPh USB cord with me, with which my 3-yr-old G4 uses Personal Hotspot perfectly. Now I'm curious... do you know whether the current generation of MacBooks can connect to Personal Hotspot via Bluetooth? ¡Gracias!

  • by Dah•veed,

    Dah•veed Dah•veed Aug 14, 2012 4:10 PM in response to Rhonda Fogel
    Level 7 (34,847 points)
    Mac App Store
    Aug 14, 2012 4:10 PM in response to Rhonda Fogel

    I thought that I stated plainly that Macs don't support this with Bluetooth. Macs use wi-fi for internet connections.

  • by Lawrence Finch,Solvedanswer

    Lawrence Finch Lawrence Finch Aug 14, 2012 4:15 PM in response to Dah•veed
    Level 8 (38,305 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 14, 2012 4:15 PM in response to Dah•veed

    Macs and iPhones DO support BlueTooth connect for tethering the Mac to the iPhone. http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4517

     

    If it's an iPhone 4 or 4S you can also use the iPhone as a wireless hotspot.

  • by Dah•veed,

    Dah•veed Dah•veed Aug 14, 2012 4:20 PM in response to Lawrence Finch
    Level 7 (34,847 points)
    Mac App Store
    Aug 14, 2012 4:20 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

    I stand corrected.

  • by Rhonda Fogel,

    Rhonda Fogel Rhonda Fogel Aug 14, 2012 4:24 PM in response to Lawrence Finch
    Level 1 (14 points)
    iPhone
    Aug 14, 2012 4:24 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

    Time for the painful periodic equipment upgrade, I guess!  The iPh is a 3GS, MacBook is obviously dated, and even my iPad is the 2 and not the latest generation. Thanks for the info.