How to Reset the Bluetooth Hardware Module on Mac OS X to Troubleshoot Challenging Bluetooth Issues
Bluetooth allows wireless devices like keyboards, mouse, speakers, trackpads to be used with the Mac, and while they usually work just fine, sometimes specific Bluetooth difficulties can arise and be very frustrating to troubleshoot. Maybe it’s a persistently disconnecting device, maybe it’s a device that refuses to acknowledge a specific Mac or vice versa. Sometimes disconnecting and reconnecting with new batteries or trashing the Bluetooth preferences and an SMC reset is enough to resolve the problem, but other times issues still persist. Rather than giving up, another approach for troubleshooting particularly stubborn Bluetooth problems is to reset the Macs Bluetooth module using a little known debug menu option.
Access the Hidden Bluetooth Debug Menu in Mac OS X for Hardware Module Reset
Keep in mind this is going to disconnect every Bluetooth device on the Mac, so if you only have a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse you’re going to temporarily lose the ability to use those devices as the Bluetooth hardware module is reset.
- From the OS X desktop, hold down the Shift+Option keys and then click on the Bluetooth menu item to reveal the hidden Debug menu
- Select “Reset the Bluetooth module” from the Debug menu list
- When finished resetting, reboot the Mac as usual and go through the process of connecting the Bluetooth device(s) to the Mac as you typically would, everything should now work fine
You’ll notice there are several other options available in the Bluetooth Debug menu, including logging options, the ability to factory reset all BT connected Apple devices, and the ability to remove all BT connected items in one fell swoop, those options can be useful for other scenarios, but for troubleshooting purposes the reset seems to be most valuable.
Keep in mind that if a Bluetooth device is too far away form the Mac it may also have problems connecting to the computer as well, you can monitor connection strength of Bluetooth devices with this trick if you’re uncertain about signal quality.
This should not need to be done often since Bluetooth is typically pretty reliable on the Mac, but I had to reset Bluetooth on a MacBook Pro recently after using a PS4 controller with the Mac and later trying to add a similar PS3 controller which was refusing to be discovered by the Mac. The reset trick worked and now both gaming controllers work with the Mac as expected.
Thanks to our friend Keir over at MacKungFu for discovering the debug menu item access, this should be useful to anyone who has fumbled through troubleshooting Bluetooth issues.
This debug and reset options appear to be available only to the latest versions of OS X, but if you find it working in something prior to El Capitan let us know in the comments.
I’m using Yosemite 10.10.5 and, while I didn’t go on to reset my bluetooth devices, the menu option did show up. So it works at least in Yosemite as well as El Cap.
You only find the debug menu when you have a Bluetooth device connected.
Is the debug action only for that connection or for all possible connections to other devices?
Also shows up in 10.9.5, didn’t do reset.
The information about reset the bluetooth device on Mac OS X is valueable. Thanks Paul
You only find the debug menu when you have a Bluetooth device connected.
Is the debug action only for that connection or for all possible connections to other devices?
I was hoping this would fix the broken AirDrop problem after upgrading to El Crapitan but no joy
I am with you, no joy with Airdrop.
Try using AirDrop compatibility mode
http://osxdaily.com/2015/11/30/enable-airdrop-new-mac-to-old-mac-support/
Airdrop works, but it’s finicky
Nope. Notta. El Crapitan won’t connect or see iOS devices anymore.
The closest I came to getting it working was to delete the bluetooth plist, create a new contact in my address book on the iOS and OSX devices with my iCloud email address, turn off the firewall and hard reboot both devices. My iOS device suddenly appeared in Finder airdrop but I couldn’t connect to it. When I tried clicking a different folder then returning to airdrop my device disappeared and is gone.
El Crapitan == Windows Vista
I was having a heck of a time trying to get an Auvio speaker to reliably pair with my MacBook Pro. Had to finally download Hardware IO Tools (free developer download from Apple) and use the Bluetooth Explorer to do pretty much the same thing. This shortcut would have saved me some time and, quite frankly, some bewildering menus.
Thanks, this might be what I need to do get my macbook to recognize some skull candy earbuds that work fine with my iPhone, but not with my macbook or iMac.
If you press Shift+Option, then click the Wifi icon, ther will be also a Debug menu :)
Thanks! yours was the one comment that helped me fix this nagging problem.
Apple Wireless Mouse paired after some of the steps above but Apple Wireless Keyboard would not. Only thing that actually allowed successful pairing of the Apple Wireless Keyboard with a 2009 Mac mini was turning off the WiFi antenna via the WiFi menu.
Thank you so much! Your comment worked for me too.
This solved my BT connection issue with SoundLink Mini bluetooth speaker. Thank you.
With only 1 meter between Macbook and bluetooth from QED i can hear a lot of noise. Reset didn’t helped at all.
I have connected my bluetooth mouse, sometimes when my mac wakeup from sleep state, the bluetooth is automatically turned off in mac and it is not turning on even when i click “Turn on”. I had to restart the system anyway(even after “reset blutooth”). Is there any way to turn on bluetooth in mac without restarting ?
my sub woofer has a problem when pairing,as soon as it pairs it doesnt it doesnt produce sound and if it does its a scatched one, any one with an idea?
Thank you! Fixed my problem – headphones that wouldn’t connect
Cheers!
Isn’t Apple going to fix this really pesky issue that makes Bluetooth devices UNusable!!!!???
The issue has been around at least since 2012. How many years do you guys need to fix a small hardware problem!?
Reboot the machine!? That is another 7 to 10 min + all the time I need to restore the state of any open applications. Altogether about 20 min.
When people pay you 4K for souped up Mac Book Pro they expect quality and robustness to save time and money. The Bluetooth issue reduces productivity and costs companies time and money.
Rather than ranting about Bluetooth on a random website that attempts to troubleshoot these issues, maybe you should contact Apple directly and let them know your concern.
Can anyone explain what is going on with my Bluetooth please.
My Bluetooth keyboard would not work. My Bluetooth is turned off and the option to turn it on is greyed out. Then my keyboard started working. The Bluetooth still says it’s off. I can not get the full debug menu. So I can’t add any devices because it’s not on yet my keyboard works.
Thanks
The problem is that I cannot find the bluetooth icon neither on the top icon nor on the system preferences!!!!
My bluetooth keyboard isnt working after installing os sierra!!! Now I cant login to my computer because I need to enter my password!!!
Thanks! Resetting bluetooth and rebooting worked perfectly. Thanks for the useful advice!