Mac mini 2018 Bluetooth issues?

[MevetS]

Actually everything worked fine for me apart from Apple Watch unlock. Does that work for you?
As soon as I unplugged the USB-A port cable it worked instantly.

It seems I mis-understood. I do not have an Apple Watch, so that specific scenario does not apply to me. Sorry for any confusion.

I have seen others state that using that port impacts all Bluetooth use and that was what I was was responding too, the use of the port in general. I've been using it pretty much from day one. This post lists the stuff currently attached to my Mini. I use a Satechi Compact Keyboard and a first generation Apple Magic Trackpad (that I got as a free thrown in when I bought my MacPro 2010 back in 2010). Both are working fine.

 

[Squuiid]

It seems I mis-understood. I do not have an Apple Watch, so that specific scenario does not apply to me. Sorry for any confusion.

I have seen others state that using that port impacts all Bluetooth use and that was what I was was responding too, the use of the port in general. I've been using it pretty much from day one. This post lists the stuff currently attached to my Mini. I use a Satechi Compact Keyboard and a first generation Apple Magic Trackpad (that I got as a free thrown in when I bought my MacPro 2010 back in 2010). Both are working fine.

Ha! Nice to see another MacPro 2010 switcher to the 2018 Mini ?

 

[D.T.]

Update: still working perfectly, from 2pm yesterday till right now, zero issues, and I went through my normal lock/sleep process last night, and this morning, it woke up exactly as expected.

Side note: I'll __swear__ my magic mouse is working better vs. even when it was "working" before, i.e., it almost seems like it might be tracking smoother[?] Maybe there were very tiny interruptions and didn't completely disrupt use, but maybe just caused a sub-second stutter.

OK, and, waking my machine via the mouse is faster. I'm seriously thrilled, this was the only little quibble with this machine.

 

[miric]

I have Mac Mini late 2012 (MD388) and Magic Keyboard A1314/Magic Trackpad A1339 with interchangeable batteries. There are stutters with the TrackPad. I consider switching to the latest Magic Keyboard/Trackpad with built-in batteries. As I can see, they themselves barely solve the stuttering issue or I'm wrong? My Mac Mini is allocated under my desktop, no metal between it and peripherals. Using cables as a workaround is OK but I suppose it will be bad for batteries and extra cables are not good.

 

[newellj]

Actually everything worked fine for me apart from Apple Watch unlock. Does that work for you?
As soon as I unplugged the USB-A port cable it worked instantly.

What's interesting to me is that a USB-A cord in that port, even with nothing connected to it, interferes with BT.

 

[miric]

What's interesting to me is that a USB-A cord in that port, even with nothing connected to it, interferes with BT.

My idea is to add external USB dongle and to mount it right under the desktop to be closer to all the peripherals. Are there any 5.0 solutions around for macOS in terms of support? As far as I can see, they are only 4.0.

 

[Janeilfen]

What's interesting to me is that a USB-A cord in that port, even with nothing connected to it, interferes with BT.

The cord acts as a transmitter, so doesn’t need anything attached to it.

 

[newellj]

The cord acts as a transmitter, so doesn’t need anything attached to it.

Not a transmitter, but the cord could be acting as an antenna. The USB-A connector is probably poorly shielded in the Mini and is generating RF interference. https://www.usb.org/sites/default/files/327216.pdf

 

[Janeilfen]

Ok. You caught me out with pedantics. Yes the cord acts as an antenna but it radiates and I believe it’s this which is causing the interference. The only issue I get is that when a cord, whether or not it has something attached to it, is plugged into any of the ports, my Apple Watch won’t unlock the mini. There may well also be an internal design issue, who knows?
If there are any radio frequency engineers on this forum, they might be able to give us chapter and verse on this problem.

 

[newellj]

Stopped using the far left USB-A port and Apple Watch unlock worked for the first time ever, and now works perfectly every time.
I cannot believe Apple released this product with this issue. This is not minor and seems to affect every user.
Incredible.

I was thinking back to your post and am experimenting with a naked cable on the inner USB-A connector. So far this morning, zero BT issues. I'll leave this for a few days or until I start getting BT disconnects from my old Wireless Keyboard or Magic Mouse (gen 1).

 

[Janeilfen]

Just to elaborate and I apologise if this has already been mentioned but most of my BT issues disappeared when I changed the mini wi-if to 5ghz from 2.4 and my iPhone to 5ghz as well. The watch unlock problem still persisted until all cords were disconnected. I use a Logitech BT keyboard and the Apple trackpad version 1.

 

[newellj]

I was thinking back to your post and am experimenting with a naked cable on the inner USB-A connector. So far this morning, zero BT issues. I'll leave this for a few days or until I start getting BT disconnects from my old Wireless Keyboard or Magic Mouse (gen 1).

So, about half a day later, I've noticed zero disconnects or interference between the inner USB-A connector and devices connected to it and the Wireless Keyboard and old Magic Mouse. I'll keep this experiment going for several days because my experience has been that it can get worse as time goes by from a reboot, but this is very promising.

 

[newellj]

So, about half a day later, I've noticed zero disconnects or interference between the inner USB-A connector and devices connected to it and the Wireless Keyboard and old Magic Mouse. I'll keep this experiment going for several days because my experience has been that it can get worse as time goes by from a reboot, but this is very promising.

I've had absolutely no issues with BT connectivity since I started using the inner USB-A connector. My conclusion is that the outer connector must be shielded differently. Whatever the cause may be, I strongly encourage people to try the inner connector before giving up on USB-A connections or setting up elaborate work-arounds. (This obviously works best if you only need one USB-A connection.)

 

[Janeilfen]

I tried that and it made no difference for me.

 

[D.T.]

Did the perm NVRAM change before I shut down, cold start, still working perfectly, a week after my last report (though I was gone for a few days). Definitely calling this fixed, and my gyrations of devices, cables, adapters was __not__ a fix for me.

(I went with an external USB/BT dongle, see post #540)

I also want to add: the BT dongle fix is cheap (~$15), takes under a minute to execute (plug in dongle, run term command, reboot). I know it's sort of a drag having to do this, but I'm happy I'm not having to think about it (er, knock on wood ) anymore.

 

[Shvarg]

Well, I want to share an alternative solution that works without standing Mac mini on its back or messing with cables or USB ports. This is also an update to my previous effort described to Aug 23, 2019 in this thread.

All you need is a $20 Bluetooth USB dongle. It has to be use chip that has built-in driver in macOS. I use StarTech USBBT1EDR4 dongle based on CSR8510 A10 chip that is supported out of the box. In general any USB dongle using CSR8510 should work for you. If you find other dongle working too, please share. NOTE: The device must be proper USB dongle, not UART via USB (see below why).

Once you got the dongle, it is easy to plug it in. But the tricky part is to TURN OFF existing broken built-in Bluetooth permanently so it remains off after reboot. After few attempts using private APIs, numerous reboots and studying assembly of Apple's Bluetooth drivers I finally found undocumented NVRAM setting. Here it is:

sudo nvram SkipIOBluetoothHostControllerUARTTransport=%01​

It prevents UART transport based driver from probing the devices, which effectively disables built-in Mac mini Bluetooth that uses UART interface, but leaving USB transport enabled - which makes our USB dongle only one dongle in the system, thus default active one.

If this works for you too, please let me know. Now finally I can enjoy stutter free, butter smooth mouse action for extra $20. I hope you can too.

SIDE NOTES:

The nvram setting above is crucial, anything else will fail to work, e.g.

1. Switching active Bluetooth host device via Bluetooth Explorer utility makes it active only until next reboot
2. sudo nvram bluetoothHostControllerSwitchBehavior=always well known documented nvram setting - recommended in few places to make USB dongle default (active) Bluetooth host device, works only when you are plugging the dongle in while system is already running. When system is booted with USB dongle already plugged in then (at least here on 10.14.6) built-in dongle remains active. Additionally built-in dongle also often becomes active (again) after computer wake.

This worked for my freshly bought Mac Mini 2020.

I've used USB-C dongle LogiLink BT0048 with the same chipset CSR BC8510 without any additional cables (price was 10€), it just sticks behind Mini in one of the thunderbolt ports. All my connection issues are solved!

Now regarding the process of installation - at first there was no reaction by Mini on dongle, but after sudo nvram bluetoothHostControllerSwitchBehavior=always my bluetooth mouse and keyboard have lost connection, so I had to remove the dongle/forget the devices/insert dongle again/connect devices.
A bit more complicated was to reconnect my airpods, but after forgetting them on all my devices and reconnecting anew on my iphone it became available to Mini as well.
sudo nvram SkipIOBluetoothHostControllerUARTTransport=%01 made it possible to restart Mini anytime I need without necessity to reconnect the dongle.

Now, after three weeks of hardcore paranoia about waves/cables/interferences/neighbours, I can finally enjoy flawless apple keyboard/mouse/airpods performance from regular distance of 2 meters from Mac Mini, and much more if I need to move to the sofa/kitchen table (Mac Mini is connected to a TV).

Very surprised by Apple and by the quality/range of their bt antenna used in new Minis, I'm using their equipment since 2008, never thought that something like that and on this scale is possible.

 

[Ray2]

Since this thread is still running, I'll add my experience.

My 2018 mini came with Mojave preinstalled. I was plagued by utterly useless BT. So bad I replaced my shiny new Apple wireless keyboard with an old wired version of the same. However, I was not willing to give up my Magic Mouse. I used a dongle plugged into the USB port on the back of my Dell display along with the sudo nvram command to boot to the dongle.

2 weeks ago I "upgraded" to Catalina. No BT issues. For 2 weeks my Magic Mouse has been operating flawlessly without the dongle.

There are more than a few comments early in this thread noting that reinstalling Mojave from Recovery solved the BT issue people were having. Don't dismiss this solution. With a fresh Catalina install my 2018 mini, without a BT dongle, has flawless BT functionality. Nothing else changed other than the MacOS upgrade.

While there is a hardware solution. In my case it solved only 1 aspect of a software problem.

 

[marclondon]

Not sure if this relevant but as internet is down I've tethered my phone to the 2018 Mini. Using Bluetooth tethering results in a very slow connection even with the phone next to the Mini. A wi-fi connection to the phone as a mobile hotspot works pretty fast.

 

[MevetS]

Not sure if this relevant but as internet is down I've tethered my phone to the 2018 Mini. Using Bluetooth tethering results in a very slow connection even with the phone next to the Mini. A wi-fi connection to the phone as a mobile hotspot works pretty fast.

I suspect Bluetooth has a lower throughput than WiFi.

 

[Squuiid]

Since this thread is still running, I'll add my experience.

My 2018 mini came with Mojave preinstalled. I was plagued by utterly useless BT. So bad I replaced my shiny new Apple wireless keyboard with an old wired version of the same. However, I was not willing to give up my Magic Mouse. I used a dongle plugged into the USB port on the back of my Dell display along with the sudo nvram command to boot to the dongle.

2 weeks ago I "upgraded" to Catalina. No BT issues. For 2 weeks my Magic Mouse has been operating flawlessly without the dongle.

There are more than a few comments early in this thread noting that reinstalling Mojave from Recovery solved the BT issue people were having. Don't dismiss this solution. With a fresh Catalina install my 2018 mini, without a BT dongle, has flawless BT functionality. Nothing else changed other than the MacOS upgrade.

While there is a hardware solution. In my case it solved only 1 aspect of a software problem.

I suspect you un-plugged something from the far left USB port if I had to guess. An OS update does nothing for this.

 

[Ray2]

I suspect you un-plugged something from the far left USB port if I had to guess. An OS update does nothing for this.

The only hardware touched was plugging a bootable external SSD (Catalina installer) into an available USB-C port. It was immediately unplugged with the first boot to internal. I was sufficiently surprised when, after days of being paired with the internal BT module, I unplugged the dongle all together. No BT issues.

There are plenty of comments noting Recovery reinstalls and fresh installs solved the BT issue. Better to consider these are not neophytes at work than dismiss their results. Your suspicions and guesses are ill founded.

 

[boswald]

I have a similar issue with my Magic Mouse 2. It'll connect just fine, but sometimes the pointer will randomly pause. Been happening the past 2 days. Nothing I can't handle, but kind of annoying.

 

[MevetS]

I have a similar issue with my Magic Mouse 2. It'll connect just fine, but sometimes the pointer will randomly pause. Been happening the past 2 days. Nothing I can't handle, but kind of annoying.

I have found that my Magic Trackpad v1 will exhibit this behavior, stuttering, under two conditions. (1) When the batteries are low. (2) If the system is doing something compute intense. It is rare that I experience this, and I had the same issues with my MacPro 2010.

So you could watch to see if this is the case for you as well. Another possibility is that there is something connected that gives off RF interference, and the stuttering occurs when this device is active.

Clearly the problems are real, and I used to have them, and the cause has not yet been completely determined.

I have not experienced any Bluetooth issues for several months now, after having them almost daily. Every port in my Mini, and then some, are in use.

This post details what I have connected to my Mini and how. Things have since changed slightly. I have connected the OWC Mercury Elite Pro Quad to the OWC Thunderbay 4 Mini and installed the Luna Display dongle in the freed up port in the Mini (I just picked up a iPad Pro 2018 on the cheap).

So, we have an existence proof that Bluetooth can work with all ports on the Mini in use, including the dreaded far left port. And with WiFi enabled, another suggested fix. This is both positive, it can work, and negative, why doesn't it always work? It is frustrating that the issues exist with no general solution.

 

[boswald]

I have found that my Magic Trackpad v1 will exhibit this behavior, stuttering, under two conditions. (1) When the batteries are low. (2) If the system is doing something compute intense. It is rare that I experience this, and I had the same issues with my MacPro 2010.

So you could watch to see if this is the case for you as well. Another possibility is that there is something connected that gives off RF interference, and the stuttering occurs when this device is active.

Clearly the problems are real, and I used to have them, and the cause has not yet been completely determined.

I have not experienced any Bluetooth issues for several months now, after having them almost daily. Every port in my Mini, and then some, are in use.

This post details what I have connected to my Mini and how. Things have since changed slightly. I have connected the OWC Mercury Elite Pro Quad to the OWC Thunderbay 4 Mini and installed the Luna Display dongle in the freed up port in the Mini (I just picked up a iPad Pro 2018 on the cheap).

So, we have an existence proof that Bluetooth can work with all ports on the Mini in use, including the dreaded far left port. And with WiFi enabled, another suggested fix. This is both positive, it can work, and negative, why doesn't it always work? It is frustrating that the issues exist with no general solution.

I have also noticed my AirPods will randomly disconnect or have trouble connecting in the first place. I’ll make sure to keep track of future Bluetooth issues.

 

[Ray2]

As an update to this post, I’m again using Mojave and again having BT problems. So I’m again using my IOGear GBU521 dongle and using the sudo nvram SkipIOBluetoothHostControllerUARTTransport=%01 command to kill the mini's BT module.

While I liked what Catalina offered on the surface - functioning BT without a dongle, quicker, smoother interface. Below the surface was one issue after another - network sharing, permissions, inability to boot off an external even with Startup Utility changed to Allow (solved, not elegant, probably a harbinger of where Catalina is going). So I moved back. Both installs were totally fresh, no Migration Assistant, no Time Machine. Other than Adobe CC, the only thing this mini does is serve media throughout the house, so fresh installs are quite simple.

Basically another indication that, for Mojave’s users, there's more to this issue than hardware. My mini did come with the newer Broadcom module.

Since this thread is still running, I'll add my experience.

My 2018 mini came with Mojave preinstalled. I was plagued by utterly useless BT. So bad I replaced my shiny new Apple wireless keyboard with an old wired version of the same. However, I was not willing to give up my Magic Mouse. I used a dongle plugged into the USB port on the back of my Dell display along with the sudo nvram command to boot to the dongle.

2 weeks ago I "upgraded" to Catalina. No BT issues. For 2 weeks my Magic Mouse has been operating flawlessly without the dongle.

There are more than a few comments early in this thread noting that reinstalling Mojave from Recovery solved the BT issue people were having. Don't dismiss this solution. With a fresh Catalina install my 2018 mini, without a BT dongle, has flawless BT functionality. Nothing else changed other than the MacOS upgrade.

While there is a hardware solution. In my case it solved only 1 aspect of a software problem.