Alfred Remote via Bluetooth

[Thomas_U]

Concerning today´s Alfred Support Blog entry regarding Bluetooth:

 

although my Mac and my iPhone 5 are paired all of the time, Alfred Remote does not recognize the Mac.

 

I am using the latest versions of Alfred and Alfred Remote.

 

OSX 10.10.2 (14C109)  -  iOS 8.1.3  

[Vero]

although my Mac and my iPhone 5 are paired all of the time, Alfred Remote does not recognize the Mac.

 

Hi Thomas,

 

Are your iPhone and Mac paired using Bluetooth as seen in the screenshot on the tutorial? I don't have an iPhone 5 handy to test this, but I believe it's a supported device

 

If you can post a screenshot of your Bluetooth preferences, I'll let you know if anything seems to be amiss

 

Cheers,

Vero

[chasems24]

Hi Thomas,

 

Are your iPhone and Mac paired using Bluetooth as seen in the screenshot on the tutorial? I don't have an iPhone 5 handy to test this, but I believe it's a supported device

 

If you can post a screenshot of your Bluetooth preferences, I'll let you know if anything seems to be amiss

 

Cheers,

Vero

 

I am unable to pair my iPhone 6 (8.1.1) to my 2013 MacBook Pro (10.10.2), even when following your brief tutorial. I need to be able to use Alfred Remote via bluetooth due to my College's router configuration. 

[Vero]

I am unable to pair my iPhone 6 (8.1.1) to my 2013 MacBook Pro (10.10.2), even when following your brief tutorial. I need to be able to use Alfred Remote via bluetooth due to my College's router configuration. 

 

At what stage do things not work when pairing your Mac and iPhone?  Did you get as far as pairing your Mac and iPhone using Bluetooth? This part of the process isn't affected by any network setup at the college.

 

If you can provide more details, we'll be happy to help.

[chasems24]

At what stage do things not work when pairing your Mac and iPhone?  Did you get as far as pairing your Mac and iPhone using Bluetooth? This part of the process isn't affected by any network setup at the college.

 

If you can provide more details, we'll be happy to help.

You misunderstand me–the bluetooth failure has nothing to do with the network. What I meant is that the network configuration is why I need to be able to connect via bluetooth. 

 

My situation seems a bit odd: I can't find my computer via bluetooth on my iPhone when it is discoverable, though I can find my iPhone from my Mac. I have tried multiple times to connect from my computer, and after the pairing request (which seems to work every time) there is a brief moment where both devices are connected before both drop the connection and my phone informs me "this accessory is not compatible" or something along those lines.

[Vero]

You misunderstand me–the bluetooth failure has nothing to do with the network. What I meant is that the network configuration is why I need to be able to connect via bluetooth. 

 

My situation seems a bit odd: I can't find my computer via bluetooth on my iPhone when it is discoverable, though I can find my iPhone from my Mac. I have tried multiple times to connect from my computer, and after the pairing request (which seems to work every time) there is a brief moment where both devices are connected before both drop the connection and my phone informs me "this accessory is not compatible" or something along those lines.

 

The issue you're describing with Bluetooth's "This accessory is not compatible" error message sounds like more severe underlying problems. Alfred isn't involved at all when you set up Bluetooth pairing; you could be pairing to use Logic Remote or any other tool that uses Bluetooth. 

 

If Bluetooth itself isn't staying connected, you might need to reinstall either your Mac or your iPhone. If you still have AppleCare coverage, you may want to get Apple to look at whether there's something wrong with the hardware or software relating to Bluetooth on your devices.

[chasems24]

The issue you're describing with Bluetooth's "This accessory is not compatible" error message sounds like more severe underlying problems. Alfred isn't involved at all when you set up Bluetooth pairing; you could be pairing to use Logic Remote or any other tool that uses Bluetooth. 

 

If Bluetooth itself isn't staying connected, you might need to reinstall either your Mac or your iPhone. If you still have AppleCare coverage, you may want to get Apple to look at whether there's something wrong with the hardware or software relating to Bluetooth on your devices.

Okay, first off, what? I need to reinstall my Mac or my iPhone? 

 

Also, I've read that a direct iPhone to Mac connection via the bluetooth settings isn't possible, and every other app I have used with bluetooth (i.e. Knock, Notifyr) connect perfectly fine through their own system, **not** through the native bluetooth connection found in OS X and iOS. Would it be ridiculous to think that Alfred should have the same capabilities via an in-app bluetooth connection?

[Andrew]

Also, I've read that a direct iPhone to Mac connection via the bluetooth settings isn't possible, and every other app I have used with bluetooth (i.e. Knock, Notifyr) connect perfectly fine through their own system, **not** through the native bluetooth connection found in OS X and iOS. Would it be ridiculous to think that Alfred should have the same capabilities via an in-app bluetooth connection?

 

Alfred currently uses a very similar connection method to Logic Remote which favours WiFi over bluetooth due to the better reliability and faster speeds (which is really noticeable when transferring the initial icon images, instant on WiFi and more than 30 seconds on bluetooth). The current fallback to bluetooth is based on a similar method provided by Apple for Logic Remote:

 

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202765

 

You shouldn't need to reinstall your Mac or iPhone, but the OS X pairing to iOS should work and is out of Alfred's control. At this point, I'm not sure what to suggest to help you get this part working... perhaps temporarily quitting Alfred, creating a new user account, switching to that user and trying the bluetooth connection from there?

 

It's also worth saying that native bluetooth pairing will be coming to Alfred in the future as fallback if WiFi isn't available.