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Bluetooth pairing and so handoff does not work

Hi!


First of all I have a Macbook Pro 15" Retina late 2013 (bought at in the first months of 2014) and and iPhone 5s.

rMBP has installed OS X Yosemite since yesterday and my iPhone iOS 8.0.2


Positiv checks:

- both devices support Bluetooth LE

- both devices are on the same wi-fi network

- rMBP support handoff and instant hotspot as displayed in system information screen

- rMBP could "out call" over facetime and my iPhone to anyone

- bluetooth is activated on both devices

- airdrop (for everyone) is activated on both devices

- handoff in settings -> general on rMBP ist actived

- handoff in settings -> generall -> handoff & ... ist activated on iPhone too


Problems:

- handoff does not work between my rMBP and iPhone

- in bluetooth settings both devices see each other, but they cannot connect to each other


if I try to connect bluetooth from rMBP to iPhone I get: network not available

if I try to connect bluetooth from iPhone to rMBP I get: connections failed


so what can I do to pair/connect them both to each other for these incredible handoff features I want to use?


things I tried out:

- switching airdrop on and off on both devices

- switching airdrop off and on on both devices

- switching bluetooth off and on on both devices

- clearing bluetooth device cach on rMBP and fresh select (pairing) in the settings

- multiple trys on my iPhone to connect with my rMBP

- resetting network settings on iPhone

- resetting all settings on iPhone


I run out of ideas .... can anybody help me please!

MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013), OS X Yosemite (10.10)

Posted on Oct 17, 2014 4:01 AM

Reply
53 replies

Oct 19, 2014 3:15 AM in response to pepp1

remove your iPhone from your bluetooth settings.

if handoff works correctly, your iPhone should not be listed there (they connect each other over bluetooth 4.0 LE. the connection is sill there but invisible)


so navigate on your MBP to settings / bluetooth and remove your other iOS devices

than do the troubleshooting again

Oct 19, 2014 8:39 AM in response to Eleria83

I am having the same problems Eleria posted. I use a Late 2013 MBPr (OS X 10.10), iPhone 6 (8.0.2), and iPad Air (8.0.2). I followed all of Eleria's suggested fixes (many thanks!) and have had very inconsistent results. I am not able to use Handoff from my MBPr to my iOS devices at all, and only occasionally does Handoff work from my iOS devices back to the MBPr.


One minor suggestion to Eleria's resolution: Restarting OS X 10.10 in safe mode was accomplished for me holding down the Shift key only when starting, not by pressing shift + ctrl + alt + power.


Also, when powering back up following the suggested alt + cmd + r + p, the "p" is for power, not the letter p!


Good luck everyone. This looks to me like this problem needs an Apple software fix.

Oct 19, 2014 9:57 PM in response to trwesq

the combination of [alt] +[cmd] + [p] + [r] ist to reset PRAM and NVRAM

PRAM = Parameter RAM

NVRAM = Non Volatile RAM


- shot down your MBP (do not restart)

- press the power button and immediately after that or at the same time press those four keys

- shortly after the monitor flashes the mac will recognize, that those keys where pressed and will begin to boot

- hold down the keys until the bootsound come two times

- release the keys so the mac can start up normal


the combination of [left shift] + [left alt] + [left ctrl] + power is to reset SMC

SMC = System Management Controller

your MBP should be connected via MagSafe connector (and the MagSafe power adapter to a power outlet)

Oct 20, 2014 3:18 AM in response to AndyWhitz

As far as I know, iPad and iPhone don't need to be paired to Mac for Handoff to work.


My devices aren't shown in the bluetooth device list. Still, handoff only works in the "device direction" (from Mac to iPhone / iPad and between iPhone / iPad) rather than in a two-way mode.


I've tried the points listed in the first post except for rebooting in safe mode and resetting the PRAM.


I'm gonna give it a try.

Oct 20, 2014 10:58 AM in response to Eleria83

Just a quick but important update: I've joined a different wifi network with my Mac and iPhone and... Well, Handoff works perfectly both ways.


At this point, I think that the problem is caused by my telco fiber router (Telecom Italia 30 Mb), because with a different router (Telecom Italia Adsl 7Mb) on a different connection, everything works fine.


Maybe the fiber router has some ports / services blocked.


This is a good AND a bad news at same time: a good news because I hope I've figured the problem out. A bad news because I already know that Telecom Italia will never try to understand or solve it!

Oct 20, 2014 11:14 AM in response to Eleria83

OK. I am still relatively new to the mac. I have an iphone 5 and ios 8.0.1 installed and upgraded from OS X Mavericks to Yosemite on my MacBook Pro. (late 2012 model). I cannot get handoff to work between my iphone and the mac. I have handoff enabled in both, both are logged in with same apple id, both are on the same wi-fi network. The main reason I upgraded to Yosemite was for the handoff features, but, alas, it isn't working. I plan to upgrade to ios 8.1 later today and hopefully that will fix the problem. If not, I need ideas how to make this wonderful feature work.

Oct 21, 2014 1:59 AM in response to Eleria83

Ok, guys. When I've read the all of the above, I started to suspect that the only thing you need to do is to turn off bluetooth on your mac and delete apple.bluetooth.blablabla (your mac bluetooth settings file). And it worked - handoff works perfectly, instant hotspot as well, sms and calls too.
AND YOU DON'T NEED TO PAIR DEVICES - if you do try to pair them everything goes wrong again. But after I've deleted bluetooth file again it works fine 🙂

I hope that this works not just for me

Bluetooth pairing and so handoff does not work

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