james5150mac
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: What is the reasoning behind apple not supporting direct blutooth connections between desktop macs and iPhone or iPad?

My iPhone-5 won't find via blutooth my mac mini and visa versa even though one or both are discoverable (also on same wifi network).

Mac mini

Posted on Mar 26, 2014 7:15 PM

by lllaass,Solvedanswer
lllaass lllaass
Level 10 (190,813 points)
Apple Watch
A:

Apple has not said why but it could be due to security concerns (hacking) for the iOS devices

Posted on Mar 27, 2014 2:58 AM

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james5150mac

Q: What is the reasoning behind apple not supporting direct blutooth connections between desktop macs and iPhone or iPad?

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  • Helpful answers

  • by lllaass,Solvedanswer

    lllaass lllaass Mar 27, 2014 2:58 AM in response to james5150mac
    Level 10 (190,813 points)
    Apple Watch
    Mar 27, 2014 2:58 AM in response to james5150mac

    Apple has not said why but it could be due to security concerns (hacking) for the iOS devices

  • by dwb,Helpful

    dwb dwb Mar 27, 2014 7:48 AM in response to lllaass
    Level 7 (24,460 points)
    Notebooks
    Mar 27, 2014 7:48 AM in response to lllaass

    That would be my #1 idea. Speed an reliability would be #2. Given most of us have WiFi, why try to support BT to transfer data when WiFi is so much faster and has a greater range?

  • by woodmeister50,

    woodmeister50 woodmeister50 Mar 28, 2014 3:06 AM in response to james5150mac
    Level 5 (5,664 points)
    Mac OS X
    Mar 28, 2014 3:06 AM in response to james5150mac

    WiFi and Bluetooth nave no relationship to each other

    whatsoever.  They serve to totally different purposes.

     

    WiFi is strictly a mass data transfer medium between

    points, be it an iPhone, Mac, PC, server farm, etc.

     

    Bluetooth is basically a wireless equivelent of USB

    for connecting accessory devices like keyboards,

    speakers, mice, etc.

     


  • by Joe Bailey,

    Joe Bailey Joe Bailey Mar 28, 2014 9:24 AM in response to woodmeister50
    Level 6 (12,217 points)
    Mar 28, 2014 9:24 AM in response to woodmeister50

    woodmeister50 wrote:

     

    Bluetooth is basically a wireless equivelent of USB

    for connecting accessory devices like keyboards,

    speakers, mice, etc.

     

    However Mavericks does support Bluetooth PAN (Personal Area Network) and Bluetooth DUN (Dial Up Network). PAN can be used to connect devices for data sharing with the computer while DUN is used to tether the Mac to a smart phones data connection.

     

    Both are configured in the System Preferences > Network pane. I have not tried either, but apparently they can be tricky to setup but a Google search for "Bluetooth PAN Mac" will turn up several how to articles going back to Lion.

     

    Hopefully someone with experience setting up one or the other will chime in here.

  • by lllaass,

    lllaass lllaass Mar 28, 2014 9:47 AM in response to Joe Bailey
    Level 10 (190,813 points)
    Apple Watch
    Mar 28, 2014 9:47 AM in response to Joe Bailey

    Setting them up for what purpose?

    The following tells you how to share an iPhone cellular data connection (if allowed by carrier) by either BT or wifi

    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4517

     

    Joe Bailey said

    Both are configured in the System Preferences > Network pane. I have not tried either, but apparently they can be tricky to setup but a Google search for "Bluetooth PAN Mac" will turn up several how to articles going back to Lion.

     

    Hopefully someone with experience setting up one or the other will chime in here.

  • by woodmeister50,

    woodmeister50 woodmeister50 Mar 29, 2014 3:20 AM in response to Joe Bailey
    Level 5 (5,664 points)
    Mac OS X
    Mar 29, 2014 3:20 AM in response to Joe Bailey

    PAN can be used to connect devices for data sharing with the computer while DUN is used to tether the Mac to a smart phones data connection.

     

    I just set up the iPhone as a Wifi hot spot and connect my MBP

    to it that way for an internet connection.  Or just tether the iPhone

    via USB.  Either way is faster than Bluetooth.  Especially if

    you have a 4GLTE connection.