Q: Can I update my macbook pro early 2011 to use bluetooth 4.0

As far as I can see, it's obvious that Apple has dropped support for Handoff with 2011 MBP's, at least with the beta so far. I would imagine this will remain the same, as Handoff never really "officially" worked for my MBP (early 2011) even with the first beta, regardless of the option which showed in the "General" pref pane at the time.

It's kind of irritating for those of you who do not do some research before asking questions... but in order for Handoff to work for a machine that it does not natively work for, you need to upgrade your wireless card to the 2012 . If your system does not support the new wireless card (in other words, doesn't have all or the right cables attached to the motherboard), Handoff will not work for you, regardless of what you do. Simply adding a bluetooth dongle will not work either, unfortunately...

So, for those who have early 2011 MBP's and who are willing to upgrade the wireless card, you may have luck with keeping this enabled, so long as you follow the instructions that the user @iammatthius included on page 4 on this thread:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=19332822

 

http://d-h.st/2eZ

 

1) open Terminal type sudo nvram boot-args="kext-dev-mode=1"
2) reboot your MBP
3) your wifi will not be working at this moment, replace the file IO80211Family.kext in Go>Computer>System>Library>Extensions
4) open Terminal type as below:-
sudo chown -R root:wheel /System/Library/Extensions/IO80211Family.kext
sudo chmod -R 644 /System/Library/Extensions/IO80211Family.kext
sudo kextcache -system-prelinked-kernel
sudo kextcache -system-caches
5) now reboot your MBP again.
6) now you will see System Preferences>General> will have handoff enable option
7) open Terminal type kextstat | grep AirPort

As with any OS modification like this, it is only temporary. Each time there is a system update (and the IO80211Family.kext is modified, removed or updated), Handoff will not work for you anymore, and you must go through this process again each time there is an update which changes this. Some updates may not affect our little modification, so unless you do not see the option anymore in the "General" pref pane, you shouldn't worry about redoing it.

However, a word of advice, I would keep a copy of that kext file, as you never know when that link may break. I would also encourage whoever is able to modify it to work with our setup to keep it up-to-date.... A small request from me and the community

I have an early 2011 Macbook Pro 15. My girlfriend has a mid-2012 13 inch macbook pro. I was able to replace the card from hers into mine (took about 15 min, be very patient). Booted up, after a couple of tries, following the directions, I was able to get Handoff enabled on my early 2011 MBP. I do not know yet if it works with iPhones and iPads as I haven't installed iOS8 on them yet, but the option is there now. I will be saving the kext file.

Personally, I think Apple will remove the 2011 MBPs from future updates and they will never work. You will have to do some clever hacking, or some developer somewhere with a 2011 or earlier MBP will come up with a way to enable this with a simple app.

After working on it all afternoon, I was not able to get hand-off to work between my iPad mini and my 2011 MBP with bluetooth LE card from a 2012 MBP. I'm disappointed, hopefully it gets fixed in the GM.

So, for those who have early 2011 MBP's and who are willing to upgrade the wireless card, you may have luck with keeping this enabled, so long as you follow the instructions that the user @iammatthius included on page 4 on this thread:

That was the case for me. Works pretty great, aside from some apparent wifi bugs in iOS 8 that is too often dropping the connection.

Have successfully enabled and used handoff in all the supported apps across iPhone iPad and Early 2011 MBP.

So, for those who have early 2011 MBP's and who are willing to upgrade the wireless card, you may have luck with keeping this enabled, so long as you follow the instructions that the user @iammatthius included on page 4 on this thread:

That was the case for me. Works pretty great, aside from some apparent wifi bugs in iOS 8 that is too often dropping the connection.

Have successfully enabled and used handoff in all the supported apps across iPhone iPad and Early 2011 MBP.

Is anyone willing / able to make a You Tube video of this? I am novice / nervous when it comes to using terminal. I am fine with hardware - just would like to see a complete run down on video. If anyone is willing

Can I get some idea of the following for research purposes:

What iOS device (5, 5s, 4)

What iOS version (beta 1-4)

What kind of wifi router (airport extreme, express, linksys, etc)

OSX Version: DP1-4 or Beta?

Thanks!

Here is what I have

iPad Mini, Beta 4, Airport extreme, Macbook Pro, OSX Yosemite Beta

I have a 2011 MBP with a 2012 BTLE card installed but no hand-off working. Option is there to enable it in beta after the terminal hack, but still can't get the devices to see each other. Tried pairing them but still a no-go. Tried different networks still nothing. Anyone using Beta Yosemite have the same issue?

I got it working!!!!! Here is what I did: 2011 MBP with a 2012 MBP BTLE card installed. The terminal codes pasted on the other pages with the old kext. Here is what you have to do:

Sign out of iCloud and back in on both devices, and make sure you use the iCloud login (username@icloud.com), not AppleID login (username@whatever_your_isp_is.com).

In other services iCloud and AppleID are interchangeable, but Handoff seems to require the iCloud username to work.

That didn't work for me either. Here's what I have.

CAX card installed into a late 2011 MBP running OSX Yosemite Public Beta.

iPhone 5s running iOS 7.1.2 (should I be running iOS 8 Beta's?)

iPad 3 running iOS 7.1.2 (should I be running iOS 8 Beta's?)

After running the steps provided and the new kept file - still no option to enable anything in System Preferences - General.

I also tried the sign out of iCloud on all devices, the. Sign back in. No luck.

ALthough ugh my Knock To Unlock IS working again! Great having that back after switching from a 2011 Air to a 2011 Pro.

Yes, you definitely need iOS 8 to make Handoff/Continuity work. There is no Handoff capability in iOS 7.

That being said, sounds like you're not an active developer, so I'd definitely suggest waiting until the official releases of iOS and OS X this fall. If you're not a developer, you're likely to run into much more headache than it's worth just to get these features a tiny bit early.

Thats kind of what I figured. Any idea why the option isn't showing up in System Preferences to enable on the MBP?

You'll need to run the terminal commands on the earlier pages of this thread and remember to re-boot. Same wifi network required. And you DEFINITELY need ios8 and 10.10 on both devices.

I got my 4CAX card today and installed it. Now my bluetooth doesn't work. Any ideas? I haven't done any kext hacks and don't have Yosemite installed yet.

Dude, you answered yourself.

Here's what is going on : You did install a card that needs AirPortBrcm4360.kext to work, but Mavericks loads AirPortBrcm4331.kext.

You have to patch AirPortBrcm4360.kext (disable id check, or add you mac id to the whitelist).

But you would install Yosemite first, cause if you install it after patching, you'll have to start from the beginning, in order to benefit Handsoff and continuity.

Everything is working fine, after a few hours trying over and over : Boum !!!!!! i did it.

Thanks to everyone who helped on this thread.