On my desktop, my trackpad is successfully paired/connected, so I think my desktop Bluetooth works properly.

But I am unsuccessful in getting my iPhone to connect (via Bluetooth) with my desktop.

I am certain that Bluetooth is enabled on my phone as I see the icon in the phone's "menu bar".

The desktop sees the phone (in System Prefs/Bluetooth), but when I try to connect to the Network, I am told "Make sure Network access is available".

Ergo, no connection and no phone/desktop bluetooth pairing.

What am I missing?

Make sure you turn on the Internet Hotspot on your phone before you connect.

Progress, sorta...

Indeed I did not have my Hotspot enabled. Now, there will be a connection, but after about 20 seconds, the connection terminates with: "Make sure the device is turned on and in range."

P.S. What I discovered: I can maintain a BT connection if/when my WiFi connection is terminated. But as soon as WiFi is (re)enabled, it drops the BT connection. Is that normal?

I may be little dense, well maybe a lot dense, but are you trying to connect your Mac to the internet via your iPhone, or vice-versa?

What I would really like to do is connect the Mac & Phone to each other, much as my Trackpad and Mac "see" and "communicate" with each other.

Okay, now I understand. I have had a few apps that can synch between the iPhone, iPad, and Mac when they are on the same LAN. Most of those apps have transitioned to synching with iCloud, and thereby synching the data on all my iOS and OS X devices. If I understand the recent product announcements from Apple, their intent is to extend the iCloud link so that it becomes essentially another drive on the Mac and by extension iOS devices for virtually all inter-device communications. But as far as direct communication between the Mac and the iPhone and/or iPad goes I am not aware of anything except iTunes via USB but not Bluetooth or I/R.


Adding OS X Server to your Mac and setting up a VPN (Virtual Private Network) and installing a VPN client on your iOS device might give you some of what you want. Unfortunately, most of the VPN apps for the iPhone and iPad are written only to link to their server, so it would take some research that would enable you to connect to your own VPN server.

If all you want to do is control your Mac from your iOS device there are several clients and servers applications that might do the job for you. GoToMyPC has a good reputation and is available in the App Store.

My interest in getting the Phone & Mac to connect via BT was mainly academic (and it bothered me that while my Mac could "see" the Phone in BT, it could not stay connected whilst I was connected via WiFi), and I got to wondering if something was wrong with my BT, and if so, I wanted to address that issue before Yosemite was released. There never was an operational imperative per-se. That said, I am trying to help the local MUG who has (about) 7 blind members, and they seem to extensively use BT, and ergo my new interest in all things BT. So in that regard, your comments about servers & VPN, is especially most welcome. Thank you. Your time and expertise is truly appreciated!

I know I'm a bit late to the party here, but I had this issue starting right after updating to 10.10.4, where I did not have any issues before the update.

This is what I did to fix the problem:
http://wp.me/p47fo9-5s

Hope it helps someone out!

A while back I had an issue with Bluetooth not connecting properly when more than one device was involved. Although the devices are different than in your case, (and I don't have an iPhone so I don't know what you're looking at) but maybe there's something in what I found that may be of help. Here's what I reported back then:

A new Bose Soundlink Mini that I had been using with my iPad via Bluetooth worked flawlessly, connecting without issue.

The I coupled the Bose with my iMac and it worked fine.

However, the iPad then stopped linking with the Bose, instead suggesting that it needs to be within range, even though it was only a foot away. My Apple keyboard connected as usual.

I assumed the Bose might still be linked to the iMac so I opened the iMac and disconnected it. For good measure I also turned off the iMac Bluetooth.

Still no connection....just the dialogue box about range.

The I found this suggestion on the web: "Clear the list on your Bluetooth® device. For more information, please refer to the manufacturer of the device".

So, on my iPad Settings/Bluetooth/Devices I selected the Bose SoundLink Mini and then the "i" for information. In the new dialogue box I choose "Forget This Device". A new search attempt worked perfectly.

Many thanks, kingsolmn & ryck. Feedback and insight always welcome. I have been trying your recent suggestions, but alas, no joy.

In poking around the web, I have found a few variations of the fixes you propose, but have not (yet) discovered a true fix. I suspect (guess) that is because there remains some uncertainty re the cause.

In my case, the issue is more academic than operational, so my concern is not great. Still, 'tis a problem that would be fun to resolve.

In the meantime, I'll keep mucking about and seeking a solution.

I also wonder if the age of my iMac (mid 2010) is an issue...

Mine's a year older.

For several months, my Beats Studio headphones were unable to maintain a reliable Bluetooth connection to my Late 2012 Mac mini no matter what I tried. That persisted from OS X 10.10.0 through 10.10.4 and even into the 10.11 public beta. Then a few weeks ago my NewerTech Bluetooth keypad refused to power up much less connect so I replaced it with a similar keypad from Belkin and voilá my Beats Studio headphones now work flawlessly.

My point is with Bluetooth, or any other RF (radio frequency) device for that matter, the source of the problem may not be where the symptoms are evidenced. That makes troubleshooting Wireless connectivity interesting as in the purported ancient Chinese curse, "May you live in interesting times".