Type2Phone has been a fantastic utility for me for years. However now that I've updated to an M1 MacBook Pro, it's not connecting.
When I first updated to the new laptop, Type2Phone would connect to the phone when I went through the dance; then the next time, it wouldn't connect, and I'd have to delete the device and go through the dance again.
I've stopped using it for a while (quite possibly installed a minor update on phone, laptop, or both in the interim). Today I went to these forums, and looked at
https://forums.houdah.com/post/connecting-for-ever-macos-12-2-1-monterey-ios-15-3-1-iphone-12-12294936?trail=25#2. Now it's even worse - can't connect at all.
I went through these exact steps multiple times. The only thing that was ambiguous is step 6, "agree to pairing": the message with a number and buttons to cancel or connect appear on both iPhone and MacBook; not clear which one should use. However I've tried every combination, with no luck. The phone generally shows a dialog saying that it couldn't connect, try moving closer to the laptop (it's a few inches away); then the MacBook appears, as "not connected", in the list of devices on the phone, and same on the MacBook. I can connect from either, but at no point does T2P recognise the device.
Have you tried removing possible interference for the duration of the pairing procedure: other Bluetooth devices, WiFi router, cordless phone, and desk lamps?
You can also try if you can get pairing to work without involving Type2Phone. If you do, you need to undo pairing - have both devices forget the other - before redoing the pairing with Type2Phone enabled. Type2Phone needs to be running during the pairing process for the iPhone to later accept keyboard input.
From customer messages it seems that Bluetooth connections are more difficult to setup on M1 Macs than on Intel Macs. There are also many reports of success. On the MacBook Pro M1 I currently use the process has not failed once.
Thanks for reponding. The sequence is quite reproducible.
1. "Remove" the iPhone from the Macbook, "Forget" the Macbook from the iPhone.
2. With Bluetooth preference pane open on Macbook, ask T2P to Connect to New Device
3. It gives me the instructions, and displays "Ready to pair", "click here to connect"
3. Typically I need to switch BT off on the iPhone, then on again, for it to offer me the MacBook under "other devices"
4. Switch BT on, select the MacBook.
5. Almost immediately a pairing request shows up on both devices, with the same number.
6a. I click "Pair" on the iPhone
6b. I click 'Connect" on the Macbook.
7. The iPhone displays "Connection Unsuccessful"
8. Now the Macbook is listed in the iPhone "My Devices" list as "Not connected"; if I try to connect
If I do 6a and don't do 6b, eventually they both get bored.
If I do 6b first, then 6a, the connection is made; but T2P still sits there saying "Ready to pair".
#5 is no good. There should not be an immediate attempt to re-connect. You should trigger the pairing by tapping the Mac's name in Bluetooth preferences on iPhone.
Go to Type2Phone > Preferences > Devices and remove your phone from the list. This should prevent Type2Phone from trying to re-connect. You can also go to Type2Phone > Preferences > Disconnect / Reconnect and disable options to automatically connect.
There may also be other applications trying to connect / re-connect to your phone. Close those applications.
I think I wasn't very clear, I did trigger the pairing. My description of step 5 was two concise!
At step 5, I switch on bluetooth on the phone ("Switch BT on"). After some spinning, the Macbook appears under "Other devices" (below the list "My devices" of already connected).
I select the Macbook from that list ("select the MacBook"); and almost immediately - after I've selected it - the pairing dialogs appear on both devices.
In other words, it doesn't happen automatically; in step 5 I took two steps, it only attempts to pair when I've taken the second step.
You can skip #3. Just be sure the Type2Phone application is running.
#3 just has Type2Phone check more actively for a new Bluetooth connection.
The pairing itself happens at the system level. Type2Phone does interfere with it in that it modifies the Bluetooth profile of your Mac. It needs to do so in order for your iPhone to know to expect keyboard input from the Mac.
You can try doing the pairing without Type2Phone running. The result - if successful - would be a connection that cannot be used for typing. A failure would imply that the problem is at the hardware or system level. A success would imply that Type2Phone does not work with your Mac.
It does however seem we use similar Macs. Here Type2Phone works on a MacBook Pro (16", 2021) w/ Apple M1 Pro.
Yes, pairing works if Type2Phone is not running.
This is a MacBook Pro (14-inch, 2021), M1 Pro, macOS 12.4
I have the same problem. On a 14" M1. Also both on the current OSes.
The the pairing even sometimes completes successfully, but Type2Phone won't recognise that and won't register the remote device in its list of devices.
On the iPad that I try to connect to, a HW keyboard seems to be registered (the software KB won't show, and will show once I delete the pairing), but the Type2Phone app itself does not seem to recognize the BT connection, as mentioned above.
the software keyboard on the iPad also slides up when I quit the Type2Phone app. But since Type2Phone never registered the iPad as a connected device, it won't reconnect when I start Type2Phone again (since its list of devices is empty)
(Also, I looked at the app container in my library folder and saw that in preferences there are links to com.apple.security_common.plist and com.apple.security.plist that lead to nowhere. This might be connected to migration as they point to the same files in the com.houdah.MagicKeyboard container, that doesn't exist.)
Have you (@houdah) tried deleting all the containers (including the old MagicKeyboard one) and freshly connect to a device. Just doesn't work for me.
I also saw that Type2Phone does not seem to need BT privileges, is that correct?
In addition I wonder if the new Universal Control feature between macOS and iPadOS might interfere with how Type2Phone integrates with macOS' BT setup.
FollowUp: The creator of a similar app, KeyPad, mentions on their site that their app is not working since upgrading to macOS 12.4, so there might be a actual issue with the overall concept/compatibility.
Sadly it appears that @Member #1383 and the makers of the KeyPad app are correct. Pairing no longer works under macOS 12.4. Let's hope Apple will fix this bug with the next update.
@Houdah Software : Is there a way to use existing preference files or manually generate them from the bluetooth MAC address of the target device? I tried Type2Phone today on an Catalina Macbook and it worked. So I wonder if I can somehow migrate the connection dictionary to the app running under 12.4.
Or is the issue more complicated than just collecting the device IDs. From some comments it sounded like using existing connections might work at times.
Short update: I meanwhile managed to transfer the prefs/connectionRecords, Type2Phone is able to trigger and see/confirm the connection but the actual functionality still is not there, no keystrokes triggered on the remote device.
Hi,
Type2Phone does not work on a M1 MAX (Mac Studio). Pairing with iPhone works, Type2Studio has the phones listed, connects, but typing does not work. Even the iOS onscreen keyboard do not disappear.
@Member #1383 macOS 12.4 often reports a failed pairing. often it still list the devices as paired. One problem is that macOS fails to tell waiting applications about the „success“. here old prefs might help to tell Type2Phone about the connection
The iPhone accepts keyboard input only when it knows to expect keyboard input from the Bluetooth device. It learn this during pairing. For that reason Type2Phone needs to be running during pairing and the pairing request needs to originate from iPhone.
unfortunately Bluetooth pairing is partially broken on macOS 12.4
@Member #1383 you probably ended up with a connecion that lacks the keyboard profile