OS X Yosemite & iOS 8 Handoff & Airdrop Fix!
Update #06
Apple OS X Yosemite Public Beta Version 4.0 has been released since the last blog update. I don't think anything has changed other than the patch to the shellshock bug vulnerability. It is highly recommended that you patch your computer against this bug as the dangers cannot be overstated.
Since the last update however, I have managed to get a few things working; namely Airdrop (iPhone to Mac) and Handoff. Previously Airdrop would only work for sending files from my iMac to iPhone & iPad but wouldn't work in reverse. Handoff on the other hand would not work at all.
What is Apple Handoff?
In a quick nutshell, Handoff basically let's you jump between Apple devices in a quick and seamless way.
You can start composing an email on your iPhone and finish it off on your Macbook. Browse a website then pickup your iPad and continue from there. It is pretty handy if you're invested in Apple's product ecosystem.
Your devices use Wifi and Bluetooth LE to detect proximity, and when using apps like Safari, Maps or Mail, a small icon launcher will appear on the lock screen of your iOS device or in the doc of your Mac OS.
Previously, this function was not working for me and I just assumed that it had not been activated yet in the Public Beta. This was not the case.
Handoff is working in both Yosemite and iOS 8. If Handoff (and Airdrop) is not working properly for you, follow the instructions below:
How to fix Yosemite & iOS 8 Handoff and Airdrop
Firstly, you should check that your devices are compatible here. It requires that your devices have Bluetooth 4.0 (which supports Low Energy).
Secondly, you need to have all your devices signed into the same iCloud account. It will not work unless they are all signed in under the same account.
You will need to enable Wifi & Bluetooth on all your devices as Handoff requires it. Some forum users are reporting that turning on Airdrop (set to everyone) helped fix the Handoff issue - most probably because it turns on Wifi and Bluetooth by default.
If you find that Handoff is still not working, I recommend:
- Signing out of iCloud on all your devices
- Rebooting.
- After you have rebooted, sign back into the same iCloud account on all devices.
Side note: I was previously using Notifyr which connects my iPhone to my iMac via Bluetooth to push my iPhone notifications to my iMac. This was really messing with my Bluetooth connections so I reset all my Bluetooth profiles & connections on my iPhone (by "Forget this device"). I think this also helped in fixing the stability of Handoff.
This process fixed Handoff for me, and also fixed the annoying Airdrop issue.
Now I can easily jump between my iPhone, iPad & iMac! Let me know if you have any questions in the comment section below.
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