Note: BTD-400 is no longer compatible with MacOS. Customers have reported issues with the latest versions of MacOS - hence we are no longer recommending BTD400 to MAC users.
Old article:
To set up the BTD-400 on macOS (Intel and M1), the following steps will need to be done:
Unplug the BTD-400 from the Mac.
Enable the internal Bluetooth adapter on your computer if your computer has a built-in Bluetooth adapter.
Delete any existing pairings that exist on your previous adapter. You can do this under your Bluetooth settings.
Click on Go→Utilities→Terminal to open a Terminal window; we need to have the Mac see the external adapter
Run the following command sudo nvram bluetoothHostControllerSwitchBehavior=always. Type in your Mac password and hit enter. Close the terminal window.
To have the Mac use the built-in adapter again, open the terminal and type in the command sudo nvram -d bluetoothHostControllerSwitchBehavior. Type in your Mac password and hit Enter. Close the terminal window
Power off the Mac.
Plug the BTD-400 adapter into your Mac, then power it on. The BTD-400 will not show up in the list of Bluetooth devices; it takes over from the built-in adapter.
Put your Bluetooth device into pairing mode and pair it to your computer using the Mac’s Bluetooth settings.
We apologize for all the difficulties. We have tested the BTD-400 on macOS 12.4 Monterey (Intel and M1) and confirmed that it does work.
Unplug the BTD-400 Click on the Apple menu, then System Report. Go to the Bluetooth section and note the MAC address for the built-in Bluetooth adapter.
Turn off Bluetooth on your Mac. Plug in the BTD-400. Wait about 15 seconds then turn on Bluetooth. Go to the Apple menu, System Report, then Bluetooth. If the MAC address is different from the built-in Bluetooth radio’s MAC address, then the BTD-400 is being detected and has taken over from the built-in Bluetooth radio. Pair devices as usual with the macOS.
I followed instructions, also reset PRAM, et all, tried the Terminal command… sudo
Attached are screen shots. whether the device is plugged in or not the Bluetooth MAC address is null.
Further down in the USB Report, your Broadcom device does show up. Turning on Bluetoothat control panel, the blue switch comes on, but no Bluetooth is activated.
The 2015 iMac’s Bluetooth chip died 5 years ago. For four years it worked with competitor’s Bluetooth USB on OS 10.13 and 10.14. After upgrading to Monterey, your chip doesn’t seem to work or get recognized as a BT device.
I highly recommend not using it. I have had issues since OS 11 and I am trying 13 beta and still it won’t do airdrop and drops connection. Even if you don’t use airdrop and airplay I expect it will simply have it drop more often than the internal transmitter.
Hi Brian
I brought the Kinivo BTD400 Bluetooth Adapter for my iMac Late 2012 running macOS Catalina because my Apple mouse and keyboard constantly dropped in and out of service and no googled tips fixed the problem.
I have followed your setup suggestion you gave digitalflack on Jun 22 and this works, some times even on rebooting my mac but other times it drops back to the inbuilt Bluetooth adapter even without a reboot.
I have used the terminal to enter the command sudo nvram bluetoothHostControllerSwitchBehavior=always followed by my password but after entering this command the mac will not fully close down, I have to hold the power button for a few seconds to shut down, so I don’t know if the command as been activated, is there a command to view if the state as been set to always.
Hi Brian
I brought the Kinivo BTD400 Bluetooth Adapter for my iMac Late 2012 running macOS Catalina because my Apple mouse and keyboard constantly dropped in and out of service and no googled tips fixed the problem.
I have followed your setup suggestion you gave digitalflack on Jun 22 and this works, some times even on rebooting my mac but other times it drops back to the inbuilt Bluetooth adapter even without a reboot.
I have used the terminal to enter the command sudo nvram bluetoothHostControllerSwitchBehavior=always followed by my password but after entering this command the mac will not fully close down, I have to hold the power button for a few seconds to shut down, so I don’t know if the command as been activated, is there a command to view if the state as been set to always.
Hi, Pete,
To view the current value of bluetoothHostControllerSwitchBehavior, you should be able to use: sudo nvram bluetoothHostControllerSwitchBehavior
Setting it to true shouldn’t be affecting the way the computer powers off or on, and I can’t think of a reason for the adapter to disappear spontaneously, other than some kind of issue with the adapter itself. A replacement might be worth a try if in this case - just send an email to support@kinivo.com and we should be able to arrange a replacement.
Hey there, recently bought the BTD-400 and I followed the instructions multiple times but no matter how hard I try, the computer won’t recognize it. I’m thinking maybe it has to do with updating to Mac Os Sonoma 14.1. Any tips for the new OS?
Evidently this should be read as “The BTD-400 is not supported by recent versions of the Mac OS” (aka “macOS”); the dongle will continue to be supported by older OS versions.
My guess is that those newer, incompatible OS releases will only run on Macs that have a different BT chipset onboard. The Hackintosh community may have documents on how to obtain the driver for the chipset in the BTD-400.
