Force OS X to use Bluetooth dongle instead of built in controller
I’m using a Magic Mouse with my MacBook Pro and Mountain Lion. The cursor sometimes start to lag. I figured, the reason for this could be the distance between my Mac and the mouse (about 1.5 meters / 5 foot). I bought an external USB Bluetooth dongle I want to plug into my monitor on my desk, so the mouse is closer to the controller. However, I can’t figure out how to make OS X use the external dongle instead of the built in controller. When I go into System Prefs > Bluetooth and hold the Option key to display the reception, I see that it is the strongest when it’s next to my Mac and not when it’s next to the dongle. So what can I do to change that? Thanks!
It’s a Hama stick, without a CD. I tried turning off Bluetooth in the System Prefs, then plug in the stick, then reactivate Bluetooth and it worked. I had to reconfigure the mouse (and keyboard). But when I restart it seems to use the built-in controller again.
Is your problem fixed? If yes, please mark the right answers, else please add info. to let others fix it.
As of macOS 10.13.6 (probably earlier versions too) all that seems to be necessary is to plug the dongle in and the Mac automatically switches to it (as confirmed by Option clicking on the Bluetooth icon in the menubar)
5 Answers 5
To force the system to use USB Bluetooth dongle by default, run the following command:
sudo nvram bluetoothHostControllerSwitchBehavior=always This will modify your boot kernel arguments.
To do opposite, use never . The change would be applied after the reboot. To return to the default, run:
sudo nvram -d bluetoothHostControllerSwitchBehavior While having a GUI, such as with Bluetooth Explorer, is nice, this is the only solution that works across reboots, which is something the OP probably wanted, and I certainly do. Thanks.
Thanks for this! It looks like macOS Catalina changes the default for this flag to be «always» instead of «never». As such, I was no longer able to map Bluetooth adapters to my virtual machines with Parallels or VMWare. Setting this to «never» resolved that problem.
The easiest way to use the USB adapter is to reboot. If you hold down the Option key while clicking on the Bluetooth menu icon, the MAC address of the adapter should be different. You can also verify in System Profiler. You’ll know it’s working if any existing pairings break.
I’ve found that a BT 4.0 adapter is working better than the built-in adapter in my 2010-era Macbook Pro. Especially with a headset, there’s much better sound quality.
The on / off button in System Preferences is a little buggy. Turning off the adapter works fine, but clicking «on» turned the internal adapter back on. I had to unplug the adapter, plug it back in, and then turn Bluetooth back on.
If you want to work around this without rebooting, you can use Bluetooth Explorer from the OS X developer tools. You’ll need a (free) developer account. There’s a ton of useful tools to debug interference, pairing issues, and so on.
Mac usb bluetooth dongle
Hey, did the info in the system info change after you updated? or does the dongle just work now. I guess what im getting at is other than bluetooth working is there any visual indication it works? are there any infos in system info about bluetooth 4.0 support, etc?
The thing with my problem is that the dongle does not work at all by default. I can see if detected as a USB device but that’s it. OS X does not by default recognize it as a Bluetooth device without the kext hack. Once the hack is done, the Bluetooth info in the System Information shows the Bluetooth device information and obviously it’s working now. Here’s the extract from my System Information on the Bluetooth device:- Apple Bluetooth Software Version: 4.0.5f11
Hardware Settings:
Address: ##-##-##-##-##-##
Manufacturer: Broadcom
Name: Ken’s MacBook Pro
Firmware Version: v14 c4096
Bluetooth Power: On
Discoverable: No
Vendor ID: 0xa5c
Product ID: 0x21e8
HCI Version: 6 (0x6)
HCI Revision: 4096 (0x1000)
LMP Version: 6 (0x6)
LMP Subversion: 8718 (0x220e)
Device Type (Major): Computer
Device Type (Complete): Mac Portable
Composite Class Of Device: 3801356 (0x3a010c)
Device Class (Major): 1 (0x1)
Device Class (Minor): 3 (0x3)
Service Class: 464 (0x1d0)
Services:
Bluetooth File Transfer:
Folder other devices can browse: ~/Public
Requires Authentication: Yes
State: Enabled
Bluetooth File Exchange:
Folder for accepted items: ~/Downloads
Requires Authentication: No
When other items are accepted: Ask
When PIM items are accepted: Ask
When receiving items: Prompt for each file
State: Enabled
Devices (Paired, Favorites, etc):
Ken’s iPhone:
Address: ##-##-##-##-##-##
Type: Smartphone
Firmware Version: 0x510
Services: Wireless iAP, PAN Network Access Profile, AVRCP Device, Handsfree Gateway, Audio Source, AVRCP Device, Phonebook
Paired: Yes
Favorite: Yes
Connected: No
Manufacturer: Broadcom (0x6, 0x4103)
Vendor ID: 0x5ac
Product ID: 0x12a0
EDR Supported: Yes
eSCO Supported: Yes
Razer Orochi:
Address: ##-##-##-##-##-##
Type: Mouse
Firmware Version: 0x501
Services: Razer Orochi
Paired: Yes
Favorite: No
Connected: No
Manufacturer: Broadcom (0x3, 0x229)
Vendor ID: 0x1532
Product ID: 0x14
EDR Supported: No
eSCO Supported: No
Incoming Serial Ports:
Bluetooth-PDA-Sync:
RFCOMM Channel: 3
Requires Authentication: No
Outgoing Serial Ports:
Bluetooth-Modem:
Address:
RFCOMM Channel: 0
Requires Authentication: No
KensiPhone-WirelessiAP:
Address: ##-##-##-##-##-##
RFCOMM Channel: 1
Requires Authentication: No
Ken, great post. Other than verifying your System Information as shown above, have you tried actually connecting to a Bluetooth 4 peripheral with this dongle after the configuration?
Step-by-Step: Installing macOS Compatible Bluetooth USB Dongle
Looking for an easy to install Bluetooth USB dongle for your Mac or Hackintosh PC — I recommend the Broadcom BCM20702 Chipset. It’s readily available used by many dongles, inexpensive and works easily without drivers. But you need to install some software just to enable it.
Here are my step-by-step instructions!
In my case the integrated AirPort Extreme card was broken on the Macbook Pro. This is a combo card with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth combined — (1) Wi-Fi would work for a while and then turn itself off until restart, (2) Bluetooth would keep randomly turning off and back on, making it impossible to use any Bluetooth device. So I decided to get a cheap external adapter instead of paying for expensive replacement work.
Note that I have El Capitan (10.11.6 at the time of writing) but this will most probably work with earlier versions of the macOS.
I purchased a Broadcom BCM20702 equipped USB Bluetooth Adapter which went under the brand name “GMYLE” (although received dongle says “Succul”).
I noticed that with a lot of compatible dongles you don’t see Mac compatibility listed. But it’s safe to ignore that, as long as you have a supported chipset in your hands. Mine actually says on the back of the box that it’s Mac OS compatible.
Required Software
First you need to install: Xcode (the OS X developer tools). Then an additional tools package that contains the “Bluetooth Explorer” app, which is needed to activate the “Host Controller”.
(1) First — grab Xcode over here if it’s not already installed. Apple ID is required for both downloads (1) (2).
(2) Second — go to the “Downloads for Apple Developers” section and search for Xcode. Or use this direct link to get there. Look for the version of the tools package that corresponds to your version of Xcode. Previously the package has been called “Hardware IO Tools” but since Xcode 8 it’s just “Additional Tools”.
Note: “Additional Tools for Xcode 8” supports only macOS Sierra. So if you are on El Capitan or other older version, you might consider sticking with Xcode 7.
Open up Bluetooth Explorer and go to Tools –> HCI Controller Selector.
You should see the Broadcom Corp chip within the list of host controllers. Pick the right one and “Activate”. And you are done!
Bluetooth mouse gets immediately connected.
How is this working for macOS 10.13 High Sierra in 2023? Let me know!
Please, also let us know the setup that’s working for you.
Or is the Bluetooth USB dongle not working? Leave your problems below.
Also I’d likely kindly note my readers, that some of these guides and posts on Elftronix are affiliated with other companies and the services they provide. This could potentially result in financial benefit.
Sincere thank you for reading and supporting me! David.