How-To Bluetooth 5.0 USB Dongle [guide]

[mntbighker]

hello guys,

does Laird BT851 work on macOS Monterey?

thanks

So far mine doesn't.

 

[applemacosxGOD]

So far mine doesn't.

so bad, i want to buy one, seems need to stop.

 

[mntbighker]

hello guys,

does Laird BT851 work on macOS Monterey?

thanks

Yeah, what he said. So far it does not for me. Wondering if OpenCore 0.7.5 will change the picture.

 

[tokyocpu]

HI EVERYONE - UPDATE: I'm on Big Sur and I now switched to Hideez Smart USB Bluetooth Dongle for macOS & Windows 10 – Low Energy, Long Range, Micro Bluetooth Adapter for Mouse, Keyboard, Headphones, Speaker and Other Bluetooth Devices. It works NATIVELY on Big Sur (just plug it in). And I heard it is supported in Monterey (I dont have Monterey so I can't 100% confirm). Its old style BT4.0 but everything works natively and perfectly

.

 

[tokyocpu]

Yeah, what he said. So far it does not for me. Wondering if OpenCore 0.7.5 will change the picture.

OpenCore wont do anything because Monterey changed its Bluetooth Kexts. They removed a lot. I briefly installed monterey to examine the kexts. But I am on Big Sur now. Monterey cut out a lot of dongles and the bluetooth stack its all changed for the worse actually.

 

[Thireus]

Are we out of luck for Bluetooth 5.0 on Monterey?

 

[abbotsford1980]

Laird BT851 macOS Monterey:

What's I've discovered so far
1. BrcmBluetoothInjector.kext - this kext would inject the below in Big Sur - However this kext can no longer be used in Monterey (As noted on the BrcmPatchRAM GitHub page) as BlueToolFixup.kext is required by Monterey
2. BlueToolFixup.kext on its own does not inject the below as BrcmBluetoothInjector.kext did

<key>04b4_f901</key>
<dict>
<key>CFBundleIdentifier</key>
<string>com.apple.iokit.BroadcomBluetoothHostControllerUSBTransport</string>
<key>IOClass</key>
<string>BroadcomBluetoothHostControllerUSBTransport</string>
<key>IOProbeScore</key>
<integer>3000</integer>
<key>IOProviderClass</key>
<string>IOUSBHostDevice</string>
<key>idProduct</key>
<integer>63745</integer>
<key>idVendor</key>
<integer>1204</integer>
</dict>

3. By adding a slightly altered version of the above to BrcmNonPatchRAM2.kext (attached) which injects for BT dongles that have their own firmware the Laird BT851 is detected and is able to find BT Devices but it slows down the machine and is buggy. Devices show up and disappear

<key>04b4_f901</key>
<dict>
<key>CFBundleIdentifier</key>
<string>com.apple.iokit.BroadcomBluetoothHostControllerUSBTransport</string>
<key>IOClass</key>
<string>BroadcomBluetoothHostControllerUSBTransport</string>
<key>IOProviderClass</key>
<string>IOUSBHostDevice</string>
<key>idProduct</key>
<integer>63745</integer>
<key>idVendor</key>
<integer>1204</integer>
</dict>

USB Detected

Bluetooth controller discovered - doesn't show as on in the system view

Shows some devices sometimes but doesn't connect - active in menu view




4. Blue status light is active when trying to discover/connect to BT devices
5. I'm hoping this will be fixed in a future Monterey / BrcmPatchRAM update

 

[mntbighker]

Do we know of a BT 5.x USB dongle that DOES work with Monterey / OpenCore "out of the box"? Of course it seems like Apple is intentionally killing these.

 

[mntbighker]

Laird BT851 macOS Monterey:

What's I've discovered so far
1. BrcmBluetoothInjector.kext - this kext would inject the below in Big Sur - However this kext can no longer be used in Monterey (As noted on the BrcmPatchRAM GitHub page) as BlueToolFixup.kext is required by Monterey
2. BlueToolFixup.kext on its own does not inject the below as BrcmBluetoothInjector.kext did

<key>04b4_f901</key>
<dict>
<key>CFBundleIdentifier</key>
<string>com.apple.iokit.BroadcomBluetoothHostControllerUSBTransport</string>
<key>IOClass</key>
<string>BroadcomBluetoothHostControllerUSBTransport</string>
<key>IOProbeScore</key>
<integer>3000</integer>
<key>IOProviderClass</key>
<string>IOUSBHostDevice</string>
<key>idProduct</key>
<integer>63745</integer>
<key>idVendor</key>
<integer>1204</integer>
</dict>

3. By adding a slightly altered version of the above to BrcmNonPatchRAM2.kext (attached) which injects for BT dongles that have their own firmware the Laird BT851 is detected and is able to find BT Devices but it slows down the machine and is buggy. Devices show up and disappear

4. Blue status light is active when trying to discover/connect to BT devices
5. I'm hoping this will be fixed in a future Monterey / BrcmPatchRAM update

Is it still causing slow downs and bugs? I now have both a Laird and the Asus BT-400. I have not tried any added kext yet.

 

[theSov]

Any updated instructions for Catalina? The Laird BT851 dongle won't connect under Catalina 10.15.7. I had to add three kexts to my Clover kexts "other" folder manually to get the internal Broadcom bluetooth to work but unfortunately those three kexts did not work for the Laird dongle. The Laird BT851 shows up and connects quickly to my headphones but without the confirmation bleep sound and then it quickly disconnects.

UPDATE: Switched to OpenCore deleted and re-added my BlueTooth headphones and working fine now!!

I lost track of this thread for a while (didn't use the Hack for a year) and never successfully got the dongle to work under Clover/Catalina.

At some point Clover refused to update and forced me to OpenCore.

Once I rebooted with OC, the dongle started working.

I'd love to upgrade to Monterey, but not willing to lose BT functionality I just finally gained.