2011 MacBook Pros can support Handoff/Continuity

[berker]

Today, with my iPhone 5 and Macbook Pro 13" Late 2011, I successfully make a call via from Macbook pro and also answer a call from it.

Even the bluetooth on my phone was not active!!!!

Amazing to see it. You really do not need a bluetooth 4.0LE to use Handoff in the final version of 10.10 and ios8.

 

[eagandale4114]

Today, with my iPhone 5 and Macbook Pro 13" Late 2011, I successfully make a call via from Macbook pro and also answer a call from it.

Even the bluetooth on my phone was not active!!!!

Amazing to see it. You really do not need a bluetooth 4.0LE to use Handoff in the final version of 10.10 and ios8.

That is wifi calling. In that scenario, the mac connects to the iPhone via wifi and acts as a headset for the iPhone. Handoff rules don't apply to that scenario.

Edit: 1000th post! Wohoo!

 

[Manic Harmonic]

@CYBERMORPHEUS if you find that you can get a compatible card to fit I would be happy to add your board id to the kext.

IIRC somebody also got handoff/continuity working in a Mac Pro. If that is NOT currently working in DP3 I would also be happy to add the Mac Pro board id.

 

[hattonna928]

Mine hasn't arrived yet, but I bought it on the same web, so... isn't it the CAX one? Should I expect the same? In the description it says it's compatible with both models, but doesn't specify which one is... Where can we buy the correct one then?

Sometimes they send the CAX one and sometimes they send the AX one. It's kind of luck of the draw. OS-store is not very reliable.

 

[mikecwest]

i found this on ebay and it looks like its the right model
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Macbook-Pro-A1278-A1286-A1297-2011-WiFi-BCM94331PCIEBT4C-Airport-Bluetooth-Card/121366146498?_trksid=p2047675.c100011.m1850&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D23930%26meid%3D8243790733257508950%26pid%3D100011%26prg%3D10200%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D10%26sd%3D200910020950
should i buy it

Based on the photos provided, it should be fine. It looks exactly like mine. except mine says 607-8959. Everyone here reports success when it shows 607-8958. ( I suspect the 8958, 8959, maybe came from two similar models, maybe one from 13 and one from 15")

Most importantly, it shows the CAX, not AX.

 

[abcdefg12345]

Ok so the 2011 mbp series are compatible with the chipset of the 2012 mbp bluetooth 4.0 and are are thus cross compatible, right? So, you can get the 2012 bluetooth 4.0 and put it into the 2011 mbp's, some kext hacking, restart and boom, you have handoff continuity on your 2011 mbp, and you some of you guys have actually pulled it off? I have followed through many threads to get to this point - my problem is that I have the macbookpro7,1 mid-2010 series. I just saw the chart that showed the 2011 and 2012 compatibility and the mid-2010 is in the red. So, does that mean I am sunk in the water? I am a mere undergrad in New Mexico and updating to a new mac is not economically feasible for me at this moment in time. I have upgraded my existing hardware as much I could with 16 gb RAM and SSD and a secondary hybrid drive - but continuity is so cool. I receive texts on my computer screen when my iPhone 5 gets them, but I guess thats just because I signed into iCloud with my phone number on the mac.

I found the following os-store.com link from somebody who thought that maybe the 2010 mbp could be possibly upgraded to a bluetooth 4.0 internally. My mbp7,1 is a A1278 - could I just get the following broadcom A1278 set - install it - kext it with a mid-2010 mbp7,1 custom hack - restart - and get my MBP to be continuity compliant?

BroadCom BCM4331 BlueTooth BT+WLAN wireless Card Module for Apple A1278 A1286 A1297 661-5867 607-7291 BCM94331PCIEBT4CAX BCM94331PCIEBT4AX

This hardware set is posted at http://www.os-store.com/broadcom-ap...8-a1286-a1297-661-5867-607-7291-607-8792.html

Or am I way off track? Please, if any one could give me some feedback on the above situation, I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you on any input, ideas, feedback.

from what I've seen on google images the 2010 macbook pro only have 3 antenna cables (2 from the top and 1 from the side) while the 2011 and 2012 have 4 (3 from the top and one from the side) so i don't think it will work

 

[Manic Harmonic]

from what I've seen on google images the 2010 macbook pro only have 3 antenna cables (2 from the top and 1 from the side) while the 2011 and 2012 have 4 (3 from the top and one from the side) so i don't think it will work

If we know what the 4 cables go to, it's probably possible to get it working with some soldering... That being said, that's a pretty big risk to take since the soldering would probably take place on the logic board. This was sort of the situation with the Asus Vivobook though, the S200 model was the same as the X202E except it didn't have bluetooth, so you had to add the wire to where it would normally go.

 

[MacVidCards]

If we know what the 4 cables go to, it's probably possible to get it working with some soldering... That being said, that's a pretty big risk to take since the soldering would probably take place on the logic board. This was sort of the situation with the Asus Vivobook though, the S200 model was the same as the X202E except it didn't have bluetooth, so you had to add the wire to where it would normally go.

You are overthinking this. If 2010 had BT on same card, just need to figure out which is BT and make sure it gets connected. If additional Airport antenna doesn't get connected you will just lose some Airport range.

You could chuck anoth one in there if it bugs you. Connector is called MHF4 I believe.

I have installed DP3 on 2 MP and a rMBP 2012.

I have the BCM94360 in both Mac Pros. The 2008 gets it's BT from the WiFi card so it is exactly like a 2014 Mac as far as WiFi and BT. The 2009 doesn't have USB in the MiniPCIE so it is using a USB dongle Prototype of our BT 4.0 card. The 2012 rMBP has a 2013 rMBP 94360 card in it so has latest current WiFi AC and BT 4.0.

And I am here to tell you that it's all a buggy mess. I get the "Enable Handoff" in all 3 machines in the General section. I can enable to my heart's content but I have yet to get ANYTHING of continuity or Handoff to work on any of them. I have iOS 8 DP3 on a 4S and a 5S iPhone.

I was able to use Airdrop to transfer a picture from MP 2009 to the 5S last night, ONE TIME. After that it has disappeared from Airdrop. The only good news is that the 2012 rMBP works fine with Airdrop and 5S. Can send things back and forth.

I just tried calling the 5S from home line and neither nearby Mac engaged Handoff. So even with hardware that should support these features I can get very little working.

If I remove the BT 4.0 dingle from 2009 I instantly lose the icon in Airdrop offering the (nonworking) support with all devices, so it is definitely requiring BT 4.0 for the Airdrop between iOS and OS X.

As far as the above hack to the 4360 kext, while it may be working, I don't think it is working for the reasons you think. The kext is for the newer BCM94360 devices. It makes perfect sense that it wouldn't load with a 94331 or 94324 chip since there are kexts for them. And the kext definitely loads in the MPs and I doubt very much that they are in that list. However, while they list "Handoff" I can't get anything other than 1 instance of Airdrop to work on them.

So we need some genius level person to sick Ida on how that code functions.

It is tough to get too fired up about this while the features don't really work for most people and it is hard to say if it isn't working due to deliberate blocks from Apple or if it is just buggy, early code. And when things change like the DP1 to DP2 to DP3 changes in how Bluetooth shows up in Sys Profiler it is tough to know if Apple is going to require BT 4.0 or what to make this all work.

The 94360 kext is an interesting enigma. If you force it to load based on Board id but it isn't really running anything and this enables the "Handoff" switch just based on something checking for it to be loaded, it will be absurdly easy for Apple to kill that.

 

[gunightess]

Others have had luck reinstalling Yosemite.. In the terminal you posted you didn't restart after the last (sudo kextcache -system-caches) command.I also recommend using the shutdown as the restart from the apple menu for me at least didn't seem to fully restart the machine.

Thx a lot ~ I was reinstall the yosemite and do what u said. It was successfully enable to use Handoff~

----------

I received the bluetooth card today but it has the wrong version number
BCM94331PCIEBT4AX
and the website states
BCM94331PCIEBT4CAX
I got it from there
http://www.os-store.com/broadcom-ap...8-a1286-a1297-661-5867-607-7291-607-8792.html

I filed a PayPal dispute Item not as described, anyone knows where i can buy one where the seller knows the difference between
BCM94331PCIEBT4CAX
BCM94331PCIEBT4AX
and would actually send me the correct one

View attachment 480213
View attachment 480214

In China, Taobao have it

 

[mikecwest]

possibly silly question

Does an iPhone 5 have to actually be activated in order to initiate handoff/continuity features? I know I obviously can not place a call without service, but I don't see how to initiate any of the features. I have seen screen shots of peoples phones requesting permission, but I don't see how to initiate it.

The phone is an iPhone 5 that is not activated due to a broken screen. (my activated phone is a 4S, and in order to activate the 5, Spxxxt wants me to change plans. I don't want to change plans just to activate a phone with a broken screen.) The iPhone 5 is running iOS 8 Beta 3. I have tried on 10.10 DP1, DP2 and DP3.

 

[Wrong Turn]

I have had the same issues as gunightess.
The big difference is that i swapped back the backup for IO80211Family.kext
before reinstalling Yosemite (stupid, but that's what i did).
What i did notice though was that i had the checkbox for handoff in DP2 (when i had reinstalled Yosemite).
Was that checkbox there in DP2 even for those who had incompatible hardware?

Cause if it wasn't, then i assume my new wifi-card is at least the right model.

 

[jntdroid]

Did any of the MBP owners lose the "allow handoff" option in DP3?

 

[mikecwest]

Did any of the MBP owners lose the "allow handoff" option in DP3?

Yes. There are many pages of discussion on this. You must make sure you have a compatible mac, or a mac that you can make compatible.

You need a card with CAX in the long number. BCM94331PCIEBT4CAX, make sure it is NOT BCM94331PCIEBT4AX.

You need to follow the instructions in this thread to install a backed kext.

Your results will vary.

----------

I am still having trouble getting handoff to work. I have been able to get my iPhone 5S to "see" the mac... If I try to connect to it in the bluetooth menu, it tells me that I am either too far away or the network is unavailable.

 

[jntdroid]

Yes. There are many pages of discussion on this. You must make sure you have a compatible mac, or a mac that you can make compatible.

You need a card with CAX in the long number. BCM94331PCIEBT4CAX, make sure it is NOT BCM94331PCIEBT4AX.

You need to follow the instructions in this thread to install a backed kext.

Your results will vary.

----------

I am still having trouble getting handoff to work. I have been able to get my iPhone 5S to "see" the mac... If I try to connect to it in the bluetooth menu, it tells me that I am either too far away or the network is unavailable.

Thanks. Late '11 MBA that says it supports all of it in the system info, but still has the option missing. Will keep reading... can't find much info on this for the MBA for some reason.

 

[chekz0414]

Where can I buy the required part for the Macbook Pro 2011? Can someone link me?

 

[mikecwest]

Where can I buy the required part for the Macbook Pro 2011? Can someone link me?

This appears to be the correct one. Be careful, there are reports of sellers sending the wrong one, despite what the listing says.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/13-MacBook-...US_Internal_Network_Cards&hash=item2ed435fc9c

 

[nicklad]

Yep, and considering they were NOT doing that until people discovered this card worked in the 2011 MBP, it's hard for anyone to argue that Apple is not using the "planned obsolescence" approach... Not supporting this feature on a 2011 MBP I understand. It makes sense because the default hardware doesn't support it. However, purposefully whitelisting only Macs that come with the card is a different story. This would be like if you put a genuine Apple SSD in your Mac, but you didn't get TRIM support because your Mac didn't come with an SSD.

I cannot see why Apple are being so bloody minded about this.

This is only going to apply to a small subset of Macs anyway.

1) Only technically minded people are likely to do this.
2) Even if more are, there is not going to be an abundance of the 2012 ‘CAX’ part available for people to make this modification so supply would easily otherwise become constrained when Yosemite ships.
3) Other 2011 Macs support Continuity as they shipped with Bluetooth 4.0 hardware, so what is to be gained by deliberately blocking this where the necessary hardware feature happens to be available in an Apple part in a 2011 MBP?

 

[gsxrq]

hi

anyone getting hotspot listed in wifi networks from phone /ipad
get it on my other machine but not on this mbp 2011 with cax card installed
its 607-8961

previous card was an ax and gave no option for handoff

have handoff and airdrop sort of working can make calls from mbp via phone
but no hotspot

 

[Manic Harmonic]

hi

anyone getting hotspot listed in wifi networks from phone /ipad
get it on my other machine but not on this mbp 2011 with cax card installed
its 607-8961

previous card was an ax and gave no option for handoff

have handoff and airdrop sort of working can make calls from mbp via phone
but no hotspot

Did you read a few pages back in the thread? There's a modified kext you have to install for it to work on dp3. I posted instructions on how to do it.

 

[hattonna928]

Ok so the 2011 mbp series are compatible with the chipset of the 2012 mbp bluetooth 4.0 and are are thus cross compatible, right? So, you can get the 2012 bluetooth 4.0 and put it into the 2011 mbp's, some kext hacking, restart and boom, you have handoff continuity on your 2011 mbp, and you some of you guys have actually pulled it off? I have followed through many threads to get to this point - my problem is that I have the macbookpro7,1 mid-2010 series. I just saw the chart that showed the 2011 and 2012 compatibility and the mid-2010 is in the red. So, does that mean I am sunk in the water? I am a mere undergrad in New Mexico and updating to a new mac is not economically feasible for me at this moment in time. I have upgraded my existing hardware as much I could with 16 gb RAM and SSD and a secondary hybrid drive - but continuity is so cool. I receive texts on my computer screen when my iPhone 5 gets them, but I guess thats just because I signed into iCloud with my phone number on the mac.

I found the following os-store.com link from somebody who thought that maybe the 2010 mbp could be possibly upgraded to a bluetooth 4.0 internally. My mbp7,1 is a A1278 - could I just get the following broadcom A1278 set - install it - kext it with a mid-2010 mbp7,1 custom hack - restart - and get my MBP to be continuity compliant?

BroadCom BCM4331 BlueTooth BT+WLAN wireless Card Module for Apple A1278 A1286 A1297 661-5867 607-7291 BCM94331PCIEBT4CAX BCM94331PCIEBT4AX

This hardware set is posted at http://www.os-store.com/broadcom-ap...8-a1286-a1297-661-5867-607-7291-607-8792.html

Or am I way off track? Please, if any one could give me some feedback on the above situation, I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you on any input, ideas, feedback.

Yes. The 2012 chipset works in a 2011 MBP. I'm not sure personally if the 2012 chipset will work in a 2010 MBP. As far as the link you listed, it actually lists both the normal 2011 chipset and the 2012 chipset. BCM94331PCIEBT4AX is the 2011, BCM94331PCIEBT4CAX is the 2012. Notice that there is an extra "c" before the last two characters. that is the defining part when looking for these bluetooth modules. The other xxx-xxxx numbers are inconsistent, as are many of the listings saying that it has BT 4.0. OS-store is particularly inconsistent as they list the BT 4.0 module and then send a mixture of 2011 and 2012 cards to people.

 

[nicklad]

As you can see in the screenshot, I just took the 3 first board id's and changed them to the ones from the 2011 13, 15, and 17 inch MacBook Pro.

I will disassemble the KEXT to see if we can easily NOP the check for the board id.

 

[Manic Harmonic]

I will disassemble the KEXT to see if we can easily NOP the check for the board id.

I took a look at it with hopper a few days ago and it's pretty obvious where the check is, shouldn't be too difficult for someone that knows what they're doing. I was going to try to do that, problem is I have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to disassemblers lol. If you figure it out let me know what you did.

 

[nicklad]

I took a look at it with hopper a few days ago and it's pretty obvious where the check is, shouldn't be too difficult for someone that knows what they're doing. I was going to try to do that, problem is I have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to disassemblers lol. If you figure it out let me know what you did.

Looking at it, it does appear easy enough. I will get a patched version together.

I can appreciate Apple not wanting those with external Bluetooth 4.0 dongles being able to use the new features but where it is one of their own internal cards, I hope they will reconsider. There will be cases where people accidentally or incidentally have a 2012 card in a 2011 MBP and they should not suffer unnecessary, artificially imposed issues because of it.

 

[gsxrq]

Did you read a few pages back in the thread? There's a modified kext you have to install for it to work on dp3. I posted instructions on how to do it.

Yes have the patched kext in and running all working except wifi hotspot.
Works on my other mac.
Just wondering why not available

 

[128keaton]

Yes have the patched kext in and running all working except wifi hotspot.
Works on my other mac.
Just wondering why not available

Probably something on the phone or the feature isn't available yet.