Level 2

365 points

Continuity Camera fail - "Device timed out"

Just upgraded to Mojave, and tried Continuity Camera.

Opened a new doc in Pages, right-clicked, and chose "Import from iPhone" and "Take Photo". I took the photo.

A few seconds later, in Pages, I got an error message: "Could not import from iPhone. The device timed out."

So I tried doing this with my iPad, and this time when I took the photo with the iPad, I saw "Use Photo" on the screen. Hit that, and the photo went into Pages.

But with the iPhone, I never get "Use Photo".

What's wrong here?

iMac, macOS Mojave (10.14), null

Posted on Sep 25, 2018 11:33 AM

Top-ranking reply

V.Ulmo

Level 1

8 points

Posted on Oct 14, 2018 9:43 AM

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).

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90 replies

Oct 24, 2018 11:24 AM in response to eiuolapap

This removes your apple pay card. 😢

Oct 24, 2018 11:59 AM in response to TucsonTom

Oh, yeah, and Settings - General – Reset – "Reset Location & Privacy" + "Reset All Settings" didn't help a bit.

Oct 30, 2018 5:01 PM in response to yohannesfromsan jose

Yes

Oct 31, 2018 7:20 AM in response to srini196812

Thank you, really 🙂

Ric R

Level 1

13 points

Nov 6, 2018 2:51 PM in response to Roger Barre

Same issue on iPhone 10, OS 12. No problem with iPad 5th Gen, OS 12. I share the frustration.

Nov 6, 2018 9:11 PM in response to Roger Barre

Ditto! Everything suggested in this thread has been done and still not working!

Ric R

Level 1

13 points

Nov 7, 2018 7:23 AM in response to notgnirriaf

Engad! You mean even my solution was not the hoped for silver bullet?

Sep 25, 2018 4:59 PM in response to Roger Barre

I originally had this problem but found a way to make it stop. First, make sure both Mac and iPhone is up to date (Mojave and IOS 12). Second, make sure both device is connected to the same Wi-Fi. Third, make sure to ENABLE bluetooth on both device. If you don't turn bluetooth on both device, it will not work. Hope this helps!

Sep 29, 2018 7:45 PM in response to Roger Barre

Open Finder... go to Library / Preferences

locate com.apple.BluetoothFileExchange.plist

delete it.

Restart your mac

restart your phone.

and voila it works (at least for me) !!

PS: Make sure you are on wifi and bluetooth is turned on in both the devices

mfd14534

Level 1

49 points

Oct 1, 2018 7:33 AM in response to Roger Barre

What worked for me was doing all of the following:

Making sure both devices were on the same WiFi network
Sign out of iCloud on iPhone
Sign back in
Connect iPhone to bluetooth on Mac
Restart Mac and iPhone

I think fixing this mostly had something to do with connecting the iPhone via Bluetooth and then restarting the Mac and the iPhone.

Oct 5, 2018 10:57 AM in response to scullymulder

I am not so sure its a bluetooth issue. I do not have my iPad pro bluetooth paired with my Mac and it works fine with ethernet or wifi. But my iPhone Xs only works if I turn on wifi. It doesn't work when connected to ethernet as the iPad does. I have also tried bluetooth pairing the iPhone with my Mac and get the same results - works with wifi, does not work with ethernet.

I have tried most all the remedies suggested here except resetting my phone which sounds too extreme as this would mean everyone would have to do that. Not gonna happen.

Hopefully Apple will address this iPhone issue on an upcoming revision of iOS.

Oct 9, 2018 11:40 PM in response to Roger Barre

Here's the solution. Given that you satisfy all conditions in this support doc: Use Continuity to connect your Mac, iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Apple Watch - Apple Support, then all you have to do is go to your Mac's Bluetooth preferences, and connect the iPhone from the scanned list. You can also do it from your iPhone. Go to Settings -> Bluetooth, connect the Mac from the scanned list. This step about connecting directly between the 2 devices via bluetooth is not mentioned at all in the doc and after doing that, all features of Continuity works. No need to sign out/ sign in iCloud.

Dec 4, 2018 8:26 PM in response to Roger Barre

Mojave "Take Photo" was never a problem with my iPhone 8+, but struggled with timeout issues on iPhone 6...Came across this thread when searching for a fix..

Following steps made it work on iPhone 6

1. Apple ID - Sign out of IPhone

2. Sign in

3. Reboot the phone

4. try now ;-)

I worked !!!!, although it take 1-2 seconds for the camera app to open on phone (in 8+, it was instant)

-Ramki

Jan 5, 2019 4:05 AM in response to Quangle00

This solution worked for me to connect my iMac and iPhone. My iMac had been connected only via ethernet. So I had to turn on the wi-fi on the iMac and connect to the iPhone's wi-fi network. Thanks for providing this solution.

Nov 5, 2018 3:31 PM in response to billames

Open Finder... go to Library / Preferences

locate com.apple.BluetoothFileExchange.plist

delete it.

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Continuity Camera fail - "Device timed out"