Home How-to How to Fix Bluetooth Not Available Error on Mac

How to Fix Bluetooth Not Available Error on Mac

How to fix bluetooth not available error on mac

Bluetooth makes life so easy. A lot is riding on it like Continuity, Handoff, file sharing, wireless keyboard, mouse, and AirPods. At times, on your Mac, you may see a Bluetooth Not Available message.

There are no fixed causes for the occurrence of this error. Chances are, it may be because you haven’t restarted your Mac in a while, or an external connected Bluetooth device is misbehaving, or macOS has a bug. Whatever be the reason, we have find the solutions to fix Bluetooth Not Available Error on Mac. Let’s move on…

Reboot your Mac

Most of the times a rebooting a Mac helps to fix the Bluetooth issue. When you use your Mac for an extended period with shutting it down and connect multiple devices and peripherals, there are chances your Mac starts to show some small glitches.

Click on Apple Logo and Select Restart on Mac

Restart your Bluetooth Device in macOS

If Mac’s reboot does not help, it is time to check your Bluetooth device’s battery percentage and then restart it. For AirPods, you may keep it in the charging case, and to restart other Bluetooth devices, please follow its standard procedure.

Disable and Enable Bluetooth on Mac

If you are not able to turn off Bluetooth from the menu bar,

  1. Click on System Preferences.Click on Apple Logo and Select System Preferences on Mac
  2. Click on Bluetooth.
    Click on Bluetooth in System Preferences on Mac
  3. Turn Bluetooth Off.Turn Off Bluetooth Device on Mac
  4. After a minute, switch it back ON

Eject all USB Devices Connected to Mac

A quick hack to fix Bluetooth error is to physically remove all USB devices that are connected to your Mac.

After disconnecting USB keyboards, mice, pen-drives, etc. wait for a minute or two and try to use Bluetooth again.

Remove .plist Files on Mac

  1. Quit System Preferences and any app that is running on Mac and which was trying to establish a connection with Bluetooth
  2. From Finder, press together Command (⌘) + Shift ⇧ + G
  3. It will launch “Go to Folder” and over there, type (or copy-paste) this address /Library/Preferences/ and click on Go.Enter Folder Path and Click on Go on MacPro Tip: From Finder, you may also click on Go from the menu bar and press the Option key. You will see Library. Click on it and then click on Preferences.
  4. Search for the file with an extension of “com.apple.Bluetooth.plist” and delete it. If there are other files with the same extension, remove them too.Find comappleBluetoothplist Files and Delete it
  5. Follow step #3 and now search for ~/Library/Preferences/ByHost and click on Go. Now, locate and delete the file(s) named: com.apple.Bluetooth.xxxxxx (xxxxx = random numbers)Find comappleBluetoothnumber Files on Mac and Remove itPro Tip: Inside the Preferences folder (for step 4 and 5 above), you may type Bluetooth in the search bar, then click on Preferences (or ByHost) next to This Mac, and you will see .plist files. Delete them.
  6. After you follow the above steps, restart your Mac. Worry not, as macOS will automatically recreate the deleted .plist files

After restart, your Bluetooth issues will be fixed.

Reset Mac’s Bluetooth Module

  1. Press together Shift ⇧ + Option (⌥), and without leaving the key, click on the Bluetooth icon in Mac’s menu bar
  2. Place your mouse pointer on Debug and click on Remove all devicesRemove.Click on Bluetooth from Menubar Select Debug and Click on Remove All Devices
  3. Follow step #1 again. From Debug, click on Reset the Bluetooth moduleOK.Click on Bluetooth icon Select Debug and Click on Reset the Bluetooth Module
  4. Restart your Mac

This will fix Bluetooth not available error. But in case it does not, maybe the problem lies with your connected Bluetooth devices. In that case, you may factory reset all connected Apple devices from the Debug option.

Reset SMC

If you are having problems after following the above method, you can try to reset SMC (System Management Controller). It works differently for different kinds of Macs.

Update macOS to Latest Version

Click on Software Update in Mac System Preferences

To update your Mac click on the Apple LogoSystem PreferencesSoftware Update.

Signing Off…

I am hopeful that one of the methods listed above fixed your issue. If not, the last thing you may try is to factory reset your Mac. However, if you feel perplexed to do so, buy a hard drive, back up your Mac, and contact Apple Support or visit an Apple Store to get things fixed.

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Dhvanesh Founder
The founder of iGeeksBlog, Dhvanesh, is an Apple aficionado, who cannot stand even a slight innuendo about Apple products. He dons the cap of editor-in-chief to make sure that articles match the quality standard before they are published.
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