Bluetooth not working on a Mac? Try these fixes

Work through these in order.

1. Toggle Bluetooth

Open Control Centre → Bluetooth, turn it off, wait a few seconds, and turn it on.

2. Check the device

Charge it, turn it off and on, and make sure it isn’t connected to another device nearby, such as your iPhone or iPad.

3. Forget and pair again

In System Settings → Bluetooth, hover over the device, click ⓘ and choose Forget This Device. Put it in pairing mode and connect it again.

4. Restart the Bluetooth service

In Terminal:

sudo pkill bluetoothd

macOS restarts it within seconds. Every Bluetooth device disconnects briefly.

5. Restart the Mac

It clears most stuck states.

Check the battery

Low battery causes dropouts. NotchMind, which I make, shows an accessory’s battery in the notch when it connects, for devices that report it. See AirPods and Bluetooth.