Continuity Camera fail - "Device timed out"

I had the identical problem.

This finally worked: Even though I had connected BlueTooth between my iPhone and laptop, and connected LAN via my wifi system to the same router and LAN network, an ethernet connection between my laptop and the Wifi of the iPhone did not work together even though both were on the same TCP/IP LAN. I had to turn my laptop wifi on, which I connected to the same wifi and LAN as my iPhone, and then for the first time the "Continuity Camera" worked: I did Pages->Insert->Import from iPhone->Take Photo, then I waited for some moments (maybe 4 seconds (everything with Apple is slow)), then the Camera app on my iPhone started, and I took a picture. Then it had a "Use Picture" button, so I pressed that, and then the picture showed up in Pages.

I also had this same problem with Handoff before: I had to turn on the Wifi of my laptop in order to use Handoff with my iPhone. I don't like this since I consider wired more secure than wifi, but at least now I know the operational parameters of these features. It makes sense that if Contuinity Camera is a part of Handoff or uses similar principles that both don't work when using hardwire Ethernet.

I also confirmed the same behavior with my iMac: Continuity Camera works with iMac wifi on, does not work with iMac wifi off, even though hardwired to identical LAN. This time, I had my iPhone in dark (sleep mode, screen not lit), and it woke up and went to the photo app, so that part worked great.

iPhone 6+ with iOS 12.0.1

MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015) with macOS Mojave Version 10.14

iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2014) with macOS Mojave Version 10.14

Wifi: UniFi AP-Pro Version 3.7.5.4969; Router: UniFi Security Gateway 3P 4.3.33.4936086

FEATURE REQUEST TO APPLE: MAKE HANDOFF (and Continuity Camera) WORK WITH WIFI OFF ON THE ETHERNET CONNECTED DEVICES (FOR INSTANCE, I USE ALL MY DEVICES, INCLUDING ETHERNET DEVICES, ON THE SAME LAN).

EVEN BETTER FEATURE REQUEST TO APPLE: MAKE HANDOFF (and Continuity Camera) WORK IF ANY CONNECTION TYPE CAN BE USED AT ALL (SUCH AS BLUETOOTH, LAN, INTERNET, ETC).

I've tried all of the suggestions and nothing worked. Signing out of iCloud worked only temporarily and the issue came back on my iPhone a day later. However, continuity camera has always worked on my iPad. What is the difference between my iPad and iPhone? For one thing, I've paired many more bluetooth devices with my iPhone than my iPad. I noticed that I had some old bluetooth devices that were paired to my iPhone, but I hadn't used them in a long time. I removed them using "forget device" in my iPhone's bluetooth settings. Continuity camera is now working for me. This seems to have worked for me, so far. I suggest trying to remove any unnecessary bluetooth devices (using forget device) and see if that works for you.

Tried that - still not working.... (but I have now fixed the issue, see the end)

iPhone 6s, iOS12. 2015MBP, MacOS Mojave 10.4. Same AppleID on both devices with 2FA active. BT enabled and devices paired.

Could not import from “<name of iPhone>”

The device timed out

Continuity Camera works with my 2018 iPad, which has identical settings to the 6S.

However... a reboot of the phone cured the problem.

I couldn't get Continuity Camera to work between my 2014 15" MBP (Mojave) and my iPad Air 2 (iOS 12). Initially I repeatedly got "The device timed out." error. But then I after reading more about continuity camera I finally turned on my MBP's Wifi (I normally connect via Ethernet only). Afterwards, it works! Though it took me a while to realize you also need to press the "use photo" button on the iOS device to actually send the photo to the Mac.

Probably the most potentially useful new feature in Mojave I've found so far!

You may care to try resetting the "bluetooth cache", as described in e.g.

http://osxdaily.com/2015/12/15/reset-bluetooth-hardware-module-mac-osx/

As a final step after trying most of the advice in this thread, this allowed my use of "continuity camera".

I had the same problem with both my iPhone SE and iPad Air 2.

The one point missing here was that my MBP was just connected via Ethernet (WiFi off).

Once I set up WiFi, it worked smoothly.

Fanny enough: wasn't just required you are on the same WiFi?

It worked!

I made sure my iPhone and MacBook were both connected via bluetooth.

Rebooted my MacBook.

Made sure again that they were both connected via bluetooth.

Opened Pages.

Clicked "insert" then "import from iPhone"

Chose "take photo"

The camera app opened on my iPhone

Took the picture, then saved, and there it was--in my Pages document.

I have the same issue from my iPhone Xs and my Mac desktop. When I try to import from my iPad, no problem. But when I try from the phone, I get the timeout message. I was able to get the phone to work by turning my Mac on to WiFi, no issues. But when I turn off the Mac WiFi and go back to the ethernet connection, I get the timeout. So something is wrong with the software where the iPad works fine when my Mac is on WiFi or ethernet, but the phone requires WiFi to work. Strange.

After sooooo many deep dives into different apple discussions, taking to three different 'Advisors', three hours of my life, and one burrito, I found a solution.

After the Apple Pay on my pre-touchbar era Mac wasn't working, and then the continuity camera wasn't working, I decided to talk to chat with the apple powers that be. After resetting wifi/bluetooth/Mac/iphone/icloud didn't work, they recommended the MacOS Reinstall for a 'fresh, new' OS.

Re-installing macOS. It sounds complex, but its fairly simple.

Re install does not delete anything on your computer. You simply reboot, and press/hold down the command and r buttons. You click re-install Mac OS and get dinner because it takes an ungodly amount of time. But it works, and you pray that the next update isn't as troublesome.

How to reinstall macOS from macOS Recovery - Apple Support

Roger ? I was having the same problem. I was able to use the continuity camera to insert a photo from my i-phone 6S only after I logged both my Macbook pro and i-phone 6S onto the SAME Wi-Fi network. With bluetooth on and the devices on the same network (NOT using a hot spot cellular connection).

Hello, I think I figured this out. Had the same problem of "device timed out".

To fix it I went to bluetooth on my iphone and manualy connected to my mac (as it was not listed there as my device before, so I figured that my iphone didn't recognise mac through bluetooth as they were not used together before) and tried the feature then. Next I disconnected my devices and now they find each other with no problem and don't need to be constantly connected (also my mac now appears in "my devices" list in bluetooth menu).

Hope this helps to someone as I searched alot for solution, but only this worked for me and I had to figure it out myself. 🙂

In bluetooth setting, I added my iPhone 7 as a bluetooth device in my MacBook Air. Now the continuity camera works.

IPhone 6 with IOS12 - had exactly the same problem and symptoms. Reset all settings on iPhone - all now works correctly

I reset bluetooth first, without resolve. Then signed out of iCloud and back in on my MacBook. This resolved my issue with the time out and sync issue. Thank you for the suggestion!

You're a Rock Star scullymulder!! After hours of troubleshooting everything, your solution of logging out of iCloud worked!! I only had to log out of iCloud from my iPhone XS Max and then sign back in and that did the trick. Thank you!