Is the Handoff feature not working? Learn how to fix everything on iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite

THE Handoff undoubtedly one of the most interesting novelties of the duo iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite. If you have no idea what we're talking about, be sure to read these two articles we wrote about the resource:

What we haven’t commented on is that there are a lot of people with iGadget and Mac are compatible with the feature, but are unable to use it.

Handoff

As soon as I installed OS X Yosemite here, everything worked fine. But a few days later, communication between the iPhone and the Mac just stopped working. And yes, I had everything necessary activated: the same Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, iCloud network logged under the same account and, of course, the Handoff feature activated on both devices.

The truth is that there are bugs not only in the Handoff, but also in other new features of the system, many people, for example, are not able to exchange files between iGadgets and Macs with AirDrop; but that matter for another post. For sure Apple is keeping an eye on user reports and trying to fix these problems in future updates. But while they don't arrive, know that you have some alternatives to try to resolve this.

Here, I followed the information shared by MacRumors and I can see that they, at least for now, managed to get the Handoff back up and running. And on all devices (Mac, iPad and iPhone; all of them "talking" to each other).

How to solve the Handoff problem

  1. End the iCloud session on all devices (on the Mac at ICloud System Preferences; at the iGadget in ICloud settings).
  2. Disable the Handoff feature on all devices (on the Mac on General System Preferences; at the iGadget in General Handoff Settings and Suggested Applications).
  3. Turn off Bluetooth on all devices (on your Mac on Bluetooth System Preferences; at the iGadget in Bluetooth settings).
  4. Restart the devices.
  5. Enable iCloud, Handoff, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi on all devices.

Ready. In doing so the Handoff should be back in service, but it is possible that the resource will take a while to appear. You just have to force it a little and it will come back.

If nothing happens, another option is to delete Bluetooth preferences from OS X (com.apple.Bluetooth.plist) in / Library / Preferences /. Then restart your computer, turn on Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and see if everything is working as it should.

On a related note, as we explained in another post the Handoff “appears” to the user in the form of a cone. In iGadgets, this icon appears in the lower left corner of the Locked Screen; On the Mac, the icon appears in the left corner of the Dock. There is, however, an alternative way to use Handoff on iPads and iPhones / iPods touch, through “multitasking”.

Handoff

By pressing the Home button twice and sliding to the right, you have access to the last open application on your devices (as long as the app in question is compatible with Handoff, of course).

Doing the above procedures, everything is working perfectly here in my ecosystem. But I reiterate that there are bugs, the Instant Hotspot, for example, only worked here after a few attempts. Let's hope Apple fixes that quickly.