How-To Bluetooth 5.0 USB Dongle [guide]

[locoh123]

This dongle works well for me without the patch. I was mainly looking for a forward looking device with a better signal than my old crappy one. For some reason it's performance has been degrading. If anyone gets around to creating a Clover patch for this device I hope they post something here. Until I want some of the extra features I won't bother to patch as instructed above.

Same here, dongle works fine without patch. Just received it so haven't really seen anything negative. Currently have it hooked up to my Sony WH-1000XM3 and sounds crisp, touch controls work on the headphone for volume, change song, pause, etc.
Will try an Apple Mouse and other things to see how it performs.

 

[Nightwatch]

I want better Magic Mouse 2.0 reception. Which dongle is the most reliable and easy for plug and play? I'd like to plug the USB dongle into my wired USB Apple keyboard, right next to the wireless Bluetooth mouse. Don't need handoff and all the other stuff but will take it if it works seamlessly.

Thanks,
Steve

 

[tokyocpu]

I just installed OpenCore + Catalina 10.15.5 and Laird and it "seems" works fine natively without any kext patching, but handoff...

 

[tokyocpu]

I got this device in today. I've got the BCM94360CD and adapter like mjban, and it works just fine (mostly), but I wanted BT 5.0 because of some of the limitations in 4.0 (in 4.0 when you put it in microphone mode like for a Zoom chat, it knocks the headphone quality down to 8khz (very unacceptable! - SCO codec)), whereas with 5.0 it won't (fresh and clean! - well, mSBC has it at 16 kHz)). I got it working using the BrcmBluetoothInjector.kext method, but it's nowhere near as fast to respond as the Broadcom. For example, pairing is much slower. Also, Handoff and Continuity are much noticeably slower/less reliable with the Laird than with the Broadcom. I've still got some tinkering to do to see if it's something in my config or placement, but I may just be putting this back in the box and sending back if I can't make much headway soon.

Also for what it's worth I couldn't get Apple Watch unlock working with either the BRCM or the Laird.

Actually I rebooted without loading those kexts or patches and I can see the device and it pops up as my preferred bluetooth device out of the gate. Still same sluggish handoff stuff (if I open Safari or Mail on the iPad it takes four to five seconds to register on the Mac desktop; with the Broadcom it's immediate. The interesting thing is that switching apps on the Mac desktop register immediately on the iPad with either the Laird or the Broadcom. Hmmm)

It could be antenna placement. I have a dual system (mainboard Clover + Mojave) with a test disk via usb (OpenCore + Catalina). I just tested it right now and it works instantly (i'm on Mojave now) --> so, when I open Safari it triggers the dock icon, and when i swipe away safari on the iPhone it goes away. I have the USB dongle on an extension cord that I run under my desk, so when i place the phone down the dongle is undernearth the phone (very close). This gives separation so my WiFi (at the back of the case) is FAR AWAY from bluetooth (avoids any interference), which is right under my desk, where its closer to my Phone and my bluetooth headset, etc. I'll try it in Catalina and report back. I'm lucky to have a computer desk/table that has netting underneath (thanks to IKEA) and i can run a cable underneath so it sits near where i usually put the phone.

 

[tokyocpu]

OK I'm booted into OpenCore+Catalina. I'm not getting handoff come up now on the Dock in Catalina. But I am getting the reverse: if I open my iPad, I am instantly getting handoff from my desktop show up in the iPad dock. This is why handoff is so frustrating. Magic Trackpad works fine. If I open Maps on Catalina, instantly shows up handoff in the iPad dock as well as Safari on the iPad. But not on the Catalina dock yet. Hmmmm....

 

[tokyocpu]

Seems to work, I had to turn things off on my phone and then back on (Bluetooth, airdrop, etc).

it does seem slower at times? its very hard to figure out. Anyway on Mojave its faster. Its definitely slower I think on Catalina.

 

[tokyocpu]

OK I fixed it, its instantaneous now. I didn't have WiFi turned on (I run off ethernet). OK, its very responsive now in Catalina. No kext patching needed. Its working quickly. My desktop runs off ethernet, and I didn't pay attention to WiFi. You can turn WiFi on without having to connect to a WiFi network.

 

[tokyocpu]

I don't have an Apple Watch, but I think if we think about it, the issues aren't with the dongle. The process is half bluetooth, and then half WiFi (the other half of the process) takes over for the transfer. There is a LOT of interference with Bluetooth and 2.4 GHz WiFi. Even just searching for information, we can see even "a mess of wires" causes interference. I think its important to separate out the USB dongle far from the WiFi antenna via a USB extension cable (I'm using a UGREEN brand USB extender which works well I got off Amazon) if you are on a desktop system, like I am.

So here we can see wires/mess interfering:

"I tried to change AirPort Extreme to present 5GHz SID separately and connect only to 2.4GHz. Not much luck here. However what really made difference is cleanup of cables and wires (HDMI, USB, Network, Power etc) which I had between me and MacPro (it sits very close on the little table behind my desk). After all of cables were moved aside communication works pretty stable. So, in case you have MacPRO and got issue authenticating with iWatch, you might need to make sure there are not many active cables between you and your machine."

"Holy crap - that worked for me too! I had three WD hard drives all plugged into a hub velcroed to my laptop mount, along with three other active USB3 cables (which are known to cause interference on 2.4GHz), and once I moved them all away from the 2014 rMBP and behind my stereo, unlock with the watch works every time!"

this is taken from "Apple watch unlock not reliable if Mac on 5ghz wifi" https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7839099

So in my case I'm on ethernet, and I don't connect to any WiFi so my WiFi is 100% unused and ready to only be used for Handoff and Airdrop. If your desktop is on WiFi probably connect via 5GHz on your desktop so it doesn't interfere with the 2.4 GHz band that bluetooth uses. And then try 2.4 or 5.0 on the watch or take note of what you are using on the watch vs Desktop or Mac, etc. These are just ideas/theories of mine.

So we have:

[1] Dongle placement: where is the bluetooth dongle placed? is it in the back of a tower next to your WiFi antennas, is it plugged into the front of a metal case where the signal won't travel? can you use an extender to put it under your desk where you put your phone down?

[2] Dongle interference with 2.4 GHz WiFi - "this can be an issue "Bluetooth uses frequency hopping, it changes channel (frequency) 1600 times per second. That way if one channel is disturbed only part of the data is lost. Also a re-transmit of data is possible."

[3] Is your desktop WiFi on 5.0 GHz where it won't interfere with Bluetooth and won't interfere with your home router's 2.4 GHz system?

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this was interesting, I found this:

"The 802.11v timestamp has been proposed to be used as a “time of flight”calculation all the back since 2008. Apple has decided to use Time of Flight as a security mechanism for the Watch Unlock feature. Rather than just assume that the Watch is in range because it’s communicating over Bluetooth, Apple wanted to increase the security of the Watch/Mac connection. When the Mac detects that the Watch is within 3 meters of the Mac it is connected to via Handoff it is in the right range to trigger an unlock. This is where the 11ac card works magic.

When the Watch sends a Bluetooth signal to trigger the unlock, the Mac sends an additional 802.11v request to the watch via wireless. This request is then timed for arrival. Since the Mac knows the watch has to be within 3 meters, the timestamp on the packet has a very tight tolerance for delay. If the delay is within the acceptable parameters, the Watch unlock request is approved and your Mac is unlocked. If there is more than the acceptable deviation, such as when used via a Bluetooth repeater or some other kind of nefarious mechanism, the unlock request will fail because the system realizes the Watch is outside the “safe” zone for unlocking the Mac.

Why does the Mac require an 802.11ac card for 802.11v support? The simple answer is because the Broadcom BCM43xx card in the early 2013 MacBooks and before doesn’t support the 802.11v time stamp field (page 5). Without support for the timestamp field, the 802.11v Time of Flight packet won’t work. The newer Broadcom 802.11ac compliant BCM43xx card in the mid-2013 MacBooks does support the time stamp field, thus allowing the security measure to work." SOURCE: https://networkingnerd.net/2016/09/21/apple-watch-unlock-802-11ac-and-time/

 

[stevee2112]

I got this device in today. I've got the BCM94360CD and adapter like mjban, and it works just fine (mostly), but I wanted BT 5.0 because of some of the limitations in 4.0 (in 4.0 when you put it in microphone mode like for a Zoom chat, it knocks the headphone quality down to 8khz (very unacceptable! - SCO codec)), whereas with 5.0 it won't (fresh and clean! - well, mSBC has it at 16 kHz)). I got it working using the BrcmBluetoothInjector.kext method, but it's nowhere near as fast to respond as the Broadcom. For example, pairing is much slower. Also, Handoff and Continuity are much noticeably slower/less reliable with the Laird than with the Broadcom. I've still got some tinkering to do to see if it's something in my config or placement, but I may just be putting this back in the box and sending back if I can't make much headway soon.

Also for what it's worth I couldn't get Apple Watch unlock working with either the BRCM or the Laird.

Actually I rebooted without loading those kexts or patches and I can see the device and it pops up as my preferred bluetooth device out of the gate. Still same sluggish handoff stuff (if I open Safari or Mail on the iPad it takes four to five seconds to register on the Mac desktop; with the Broadcom it's immediate. The interesting thing is that switching apps on the Mac desktop register immediately on the iPad with either the Laird or the Broadcom. Hmmm)

KarlKupermang My whole goal is to get 16 kHz microphone quality for my Air Pods working. However I can not seem to get that to happen. I have tried the same path that you outlined and they do connect but viewing the microphone settings via midi setup still shows them as 8 kHz. Worse still if I select them as input the sound preferences just hang on selection and can not be used. Any thoughts or steps that you did to get this to work?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[tokyocpu]

KarlKupermang My whole goal is to get 16 kHz microphone quality for my Air Pods working. However I can not seem to get that to happen. I have tried the same path that you outlined and they do connect but viewing the microphone settings via midi setup still shows them as 8 kHz. Worse still if I select them as input the sound preferences just hang on selection and can not be used. Any thoughts or steps that you did to get this to work?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

if you are using AirPods, which use the Apple W1/W2 bluetooth chip, you probably will only get that level of quality on a real Mac since it probably is built for the W1/W2 chip.

I dont use AirPods, I use a Bluetooth 5.0 earbuds with AptX. You can enable AptX on your Mac and it gives better quality than AAC. I dont think the AirPods w1/2 chip will pair well with Non-Apple bluetooth chips that aren't made for w1/2.