Did your Mac recently upgrade to macOS High Sierra? Did it also stop recognizing your Bluetooth devices? Are you using a brand-new MacBook with the latest version of macOS installed? In that case, you are probably experiencing an issue related to macOS High Sierra’s new Bluetooth LE (Low Energy) feature. Fortunately, you won’t have to deal with this problem for long, as Apple is currently working on a fix and plans to release it soon. In the meantime, here are some temporary solutions that may help alleviate your device pairing troubles.
Why Won’t My Bluetooth Turn On Mac?
There are several different ways Bluetooth can turn off or become inactive on your Mac. One of the most common ways that Bluetooth will turn off on your Mac is if you forget to turn it on. Once the Bluetooth is turned off, it can be difficult to realize that it’s not turned on. The first step to turning your Bluetooth back on is to find the switch to activate it. The switch may be located in different places depending on your model of Mac. If you’re not sure where the switch is, you can follow these instructions for finding it.
Turn Bluetooth Off And Back On Again
- Go to System Preferences > Bluetooth.
- Toggle the switch next to “Bluetooth” and click “Turn Bluetooth Off”. (Note: This is not the same as uninstalling and reinstalling your Mac.)
- Restart your Mac. When you restart, your Mac will try connecting to the previously paired Bluetooth device and see if it still exists. If the device still does not appear in the list, it means that the problem is related to macOS High Sierra’s new Bluetooth LE (Low Energy) feature.
- If you’re prompted to connect with a specific device, input its Bluetooth MAC address (see below for a tutorial) and press OK to pair. Alternatively, simply pick any available wireless connection option from your device or choose “AirDrop” from within macOS High Sierra.
- If the above steps do not fix the problem, and you still have difficulties pairing your Mac to your Bluetooth device, try restarting Bluetooth on your Mac (see below). If the problem persists even after you restart the feature, it is likely a bug that Apple will fix with a future update (which should happen very soon).
Reset Network Settings
- While holding down the Option key, click on the Bluetooth symbol in the menu bar.
- Click “Turn Bluetooth Off”.
- Restart your Mac and then re-pair your device to your Mac. (You may need to turn Bluetooth back on.) Don’t forget to restart AirDrop when you do this as well.
- Next Open System Preferences > Network > Advanced > Reset Connection Settings and click “Restore Default Settings”
- When prompted, select “Off” from the “Show Options for this network connection only” drop-down menu and then click “OK”
- When prompted again, choose “Off” from the “Show Options for this network connection only” drop-down menu and then click “OK” 4. Close System Preferences > Network panel and reset your Mac as normal by restarting it.
Try A Different Bluetooth Device
- Go to the Bluetooth page in System Preferences and click “Turn Bluetooth On”.
- Next, go to the Add a Device pane and click “Add”.
- You can search for your device by either entering its name or using the serial number of your device. If you are having problems pairing with an iOS device, search for it by entering its name (if you know it).
- Once you have found your device in the list, select it and click “Next”.
- Click “Continue” when prompted to confirm that you want to pair with the device or click “Cancel” if you do not want to pair with the selected device at this time. 6. When prompted, input your PIN/password if required and then click “OK”
- Click “Pair” when prompted to confirm that you want to pair with your device
- When pairing is complete, click “Close”.
- If you are having problems pairing with a Windows PC, make sure that the Bluetooth driver for your Mac is installed and enabled. You can check this by going to the Windows Device Manager (Control Panel > Device Manager), and looking for a Bluetooth device with a yellow question mark next to it. If you do not see any yellow question marks, then follow the steps listed above in section 2b to install the driver for your Mac.
- It is important that you restart your Mac after following these steps or else pairing may not take effect.
Check For MacOS High Sierra Updates
- Head to the App Store on your Mac and download the latest version of macOS High Sierra.
- Once you have downloaded it, go to the App Store app and click on the Updates tab.
- When prompted, click “Update” for macOS High Sierra
- Click “Download and Install” when prompted to install the update (this will take a few minutes)
- Once complete, you should be able to see that an update has been applied to your Mac.
- If you are still having problems pairing with your device, then try to update again by reading the steps in the section above.
Temporarily Disable MacOS High Sierra’s New Privacy Protections
- You can temporarily disable some of macOS High Sierra’s privacy protections.
- Click on the Apple icon in the top left and click on System Preferences.
- Click on Security & Privacy.
- Next, click Privacy.
- Then, select your device from the list and click “Disable” for the following options:
- When you are finished making changes, click “OK”
- If you are still having problems pairing with your device, try to update again by reading the steps in the section above.
Conclusion
Bluetooth has been around for a long time and is a staple of today’s wireless technology. Unfortunately, some Mac users may recently have experienced issues with their Bluetooth devices after updating to macOS High Sierra. If this is the case, there are several temporary solutions you can try to alleviate your device pairing troubles. You can turn Bluetooth off and back on again, reset network settings, try a different Bluetooth device, or check for macOS High Sierra updates. If none of these solutions work, you’ll need to wait for Apple to release a patch.
