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Can't remove bluetooth devices

Having trouble removing an old iPhone and iPad from my bluetooth device list. Clicking "x" just initiates connection attempts, and there's no "remove" in the contextual menu. Has anyone else seen this? Any advice? I have a mid-2015 MacBook Pro, running El Capitan (10.11.1). Thanks.

MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015), OS X El Capitan (10.11.1), And an iPhone, and an iPad...

Posted on Nov 13, 2015 7:20 PM

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Posted on Dec 20, 2015 5:27 AM

I ran into this problem too. It looks like a bug but fortunately there is an alternative way:

  1. Enable the bluetooth icon in the menu bar if you haven't already done so (System Preferences / "Show Bluetooth in menu bar" checkbox)
  2. Click on the bluetooth icon on the menu while holding down the option key
  3. Select the bluetooth device you want to remove
  4. Choose remove from the submenu

This helped me to remove my old iPhone from the device list.

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Dec 20, 2015 5:27 AM in response to EMSmac

I ran into this problem too. It looks like a bug but fortunately there is an alternative way:

  1. Enable the bluetooth icon in the menu bar if you haven't already done so (System Preferences / "Show Bluetooth in menu bar" checkbox)
  2. Click on the bluetooth icon on the menu while holding down the option key
  3. Select the bluetooth device you want to remove
  4. Choose remove from the submenu

This helped me to remove my old iPhone from the device list.

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Jan 11, 2016 11:57 AM in response to max minimal

Hi max minimal,


Thank you, this helped. I had the same problem, however it was not caused by upgrade to El Capitan (as many other report) but rather upgrading my iPhone. After I set-up my new phone and gave it the same name as the old one, I could not remove the old one from BT device list. Your method worked. Once more thanks.

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Mar 12, 2016 7:19 PM in response to max minimal

I can't get rid of certain Bluetooths names either. My lastest update is 9.2.1 on my iPad.


There's no Menu per-se in Settings on my iPad. There's just the identifier such as 1003 for one of my wireless earbuds and to the right it says whether or not it's connected.. There's no way to press on a Menu button. I did trying to just press and hold the name '1003' and hit 'Option' on my external keyboard, but that did nothing.


Is there a way to get rid of those bluetooth device names that I don't use anymore on my iPad?

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Mar 13, 2016 8:14 AM in response to amember

amember wrote:


I can't get rid of certain Bluetooths names either. My lastest update is 9.2.1 on my iPad.


There's no Menu per-se in Settings on my iPad. There's just the identifier such as 1003 for one of my wireless earbuds and to the right it says whether or not it's connected.. There's no way to press on a Menu button. I did trying to just press and hold the name '1003' and hit 'Option' on my external keyboard, but that did nothing.


Is there a way to get rid of those bluetooth device names that I don't use anymore on my iPad?

The reason these instructions don't work for you is that they are for Mac computers, not iPads.


On your iPad, go to Settings>Bluetooth. Tap the "i" in the blue circle at the right of the name of the device you want to remove. Tap "Forget This Device".

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Mar 13, 2016 8:53 AM in response to IdrisSeabright

I've done that but didin't follow through because after I hit "Forget this Device?" a box came up that said....


"BE1002...Pair with this device to use it again?


That made no sense to me so I didn't say 'yes'.... But just now, because of your answer, I hit "Yes" and it DID remove the Earbud name from the list, which was my goal.


So...thank you very much!


(I wonder why Apple programmed it to say, "BE1002....Pair with this device to use it again?" after we ask it to "Forget this Device".)

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Can't remove bluetooth devices

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