Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, El Capitan Edition

Bluetooth

Bluetooth is a short-range, low-power, wireless cable-elimination technology. It’s designed to connect gadgets in pairings that make sense, like cellphone+earpiece, Mac+wireless keyboard, phone+portable speaker, or Mac+cellphone. In El Capitan, Bluetooth is the key to the Continuity features described in Chapter 14; it’s the wireless link between your Mac and your iPhone.

Pairing

Now, you wouldn’t want the guy in the next cubicle to be able to operate your Mac using his Bluetooth keyboard. So the first step in any Bluetooth relationship is pairing, or formally introducing the two gadgets that will be communicating. Figure 17-8 shows how that goes.

To do that, open System Preferences→Bluetooth. Make sure that Bluetooth is On. (The only reason to turn it off is to save laptop battery power.)

You don’t have to turn on a Discoverable switch to make the Mac “visible” to other Bluetooth gadgets in range; whenever the Bluetooth pane of System Preferences is open, it’s discoverable.

In fact, you don’t have to click some Add New Device button, either. When the Bluetooth pane is open, the Mac automatically starts searching for nearby Bluetooth gadgets within range (see Figure 17-8, bottom)—nearby headsets, laptops, cellphones, and so on. Usually, it finds the one you’re trying to pair. Just click the one you want, and then click Pair.

When it’s all over, the new gadget is listed in the panel, in the list of Bluetooth stuff that you’ve previously introduced to this Mac. (You can click ...