How to Find out if your Mac supports Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy (LE) for Handoff

BY Jason

Published 19 Jun 2014

image OS X Yosemite Handoff

Handoff is a really cool feature introduced in iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite that lets you seamlessly switch between the two devices, and pick up right where you left off. The feature, however, requires inbuilt Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy support, and may or may not be compatible with your Mac. Here’s how to find out.

Bluetooth 4 started appearing in Macs starting 2011, but there’s not a lot of clarity as to whether a specific model supports it or not. Here’s how to find out if your Mac supports Bluetooth 4:

  • Click the  at the top left on your Mac’s screen
  • Select “About this Mac”
  • Click on the “More Info” button
  • Click on the “System Report” button
  • Select Bluetooth under the Hardware category in the left sidebar
  • See the value for the “LMP Version” on the right.

If your Mac supports Bluetooth 4, it should say “0x6”, but if it’s a lower value, then your Mac is unsupported, and you won’t be able to use Handoff. Some people tried using an external Bluetooth LE adapter with their Macs, but Handoff still didn’t work.

Does your Mac support Bluetooth 4? If not, are Handoff features useful enough to convince you to upgrade? Let us know in the comment.