Apple this year has increased its focus on the integration between its desktop and mobile OS offerings. With the latest iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite, a number of new features like Continuity and Handoff are being offered. These features essentially allow a user to have a seamless workflow across the devices - start a task on one device and keep working on another, never interrupting the work. This guide will help you to successfully setup handoff on OS X Yosemite 10.10 and iOS devices to experience this helpful feature.
- Reported iOS 8 Bugs and Their Fixes – iOS Tips and Tricks
- Setup Handoff on Older / Unsupported Macs
While handoff is currently an unavailable feature in the beta; however, devs and testers have found a way to enable this "hidden" feature in the beta builds.
Prerequisites before you setup Handoff on OS X Yosemite:
- Bluetooth and WiFi should be turned on on both iOS and OS X devices.
- Ensure that your both devices are on the same WiFi network.
- Log on to the same iCloud account on both the devices.
- Also ensure to have logged on FaceTime with the same account to have phone calls feature work.
- Hand Off wouldn't work if your Safari is in Private mode.
How to setup Handoff on OS X Yosemite and iOS:
Here are the steps to help you setup Handoff on OS X Yosemite 10.10:
- Go to About this Mac and then System Report.
- Under the Bluetooth Category, ensure that your LMP version is be0x6 as anything below that wouldn't work for this guide.
- Next, go to System preferences > General and then click on the allow handoff box at the bottom.
- Now, on your iOS 8 powered device, go to Settings > General and enable hand off.
- Again go to your Mac and open FaceTime > preferences and check the allow iPhone calls box.
Once you have set all things up, here is how to verify that Hand Off is working:
- When opening a new web page on Safari on your iOS device, you will get a bouncing icon on your Mac dock.
- When opening a web page on Mac, your iOS device lock screen will show you an icon placed opposite to the camera icon. Swipe it up to open it.
About the author: Rafia joined Wccftech in 2012 as a tech reporter. She is currently working on stories focusing on people and technologies that are turning Microsoft into a “company to watch” again. She is also responsible for collaborating with tech makers and e-commerce platforms to bring annoying but tempting deals to our readers.
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