Permanently reject Bluetooth pairing request

13

1

There's some keyboard device that attempts to pair with my iMac about every 30 seconds. The reject button only removes it temporarily. Same with the disconnect. Discoverable is already off for the bluetooth.

The window is modal and breaks my workflow every few seconds and I can't put it on a separate screen since it closes and reopens every few seconds. I can't just turn my bluetooth off since I have a mouse connected. I seems like Apple built in a pretty powerful way to 'undefendably' sabotage a computer.

Is there a way I can permanently 'ban' a Bluetooth address?

Xster

Posted 2012-11-13T19:29:55.043

Reputation: 1 913

Do you know what the device is? What happens when you just pair the device? – Ramhound – 2012-11-13T19:37:51.390

nop, don't think it's actually in our office so I can't type in the keys to pair it – Xster – 2012-11-13T19:42:04.813

I managed to find the keyboard that was causing this but I would like to know if there is a way to permanently reject a bluetooth request. – Charles Beattie – 2013-02-11T16:01:04.700

Seems to be a really old issue across different OS X versions, with no proper fix yet. Showing modal dialogs repeatedly with no way to opt out is just stupid. (Edit: Perhaps Amyunimus has found a solution...)

– Karan – 2013-02-18T05:55:23.213

2Bug submitted to apple. – Charles Beattie – 2013-02-20T16:01:51.713

Answers

1

To answer your question: No, not without hacking blued.

Marc Bejarano

Posted 2012-11-13T19:29:55.043

Reputation: 201

1This is no longer correct, at least for recent versions of Mac OSX. See ccpizza's answer. – Theodore Murdock – 2015-04-29T17:43:33.567

9

While the pairing request is still showing on your screen:

  1. Press and hold the Option key (or Alt), and then click the bluetooth icon in the top bar.
  2. In the submenu for the offending device apart from Disconnect, you will now see an additional option - Remove.
  3. Click Remove.

If you can physically access the keyboard, you can turn it off by long pressing the right-side button, if it is an Apple Wireless keyboard. See also https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201178.

ccpizza

Posted 2012-11-13T19:29:55.043

Reputation: 5 372

this worked for me...finally – Francesco – 2014-10-18T23:15:35.850

This does not work for me, nor do I have a solution. I only mention this because this has been an issue for nearly a year now and the only way to make it stop is to turn off the keyboard. The fact that I can't click "remove" and make it stop is what is ridiculous about this entire thing. As an end-user, I'd expect to be able to tell my machine "ignore this device" and have it never ask me, but Apple doesn't think that a device ought not be paired with a machine by the looks of it. Amazingly obvious design flaw here. – harperville – 2015-07-20T13:01:32.830

3

I found a way to work around this: (inspired by this question https://superuser.com/a/497193/10009)

Assumptions:

The offending keyboard previously was paired with this computer, therefore the computer 'remembers' the device.

Caveat:

This involves modifying system settings files so be careful.

Steps:

  1. Find the Bluetooth address of the offending device and write it down. (Shows up in the System Preferences -> Bluetooth window when the pairing request is happening)
  2. Turn off bluetooth (System Preferences -> Bluetooth)

  3. Back up your /Library/Preferences/com.apple.Bluetooth.plist , and ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Bluetooth.plist files. (You'll need sudo for the first one)

  4. Because the plist files are in binary format you'll need to convert them to xml: plutil -convert xml1 com.apple.Bluetooth.plist

  5. Edit the converted plist files in a text editor.

    1. Find the (lowercase) bluetooth address in the file. It should be in a <key></key> tag.
    2. Delete the <key>...</key> tag and the immediately following <dict>...</dict> key.

  6. Save the text file and convert it back to binary: fplutil -convert binary1 com.apple.Bluetooth.plist

  7. Repeat for both locations of the file.

  8. Restart Bluetooth

John Weldon

Posted 2012-11-13T19:29:55.043

Reputation: 1 411

I completely removed all of my devices, deleted the plist file, rebooted, repaired permissions on my drive and the problem persists. This is idiotic behavior from a lousy operating system. It's impossible to accomplish any work with a pairing request happening every 30 seconds. I have tried @ccpizza suggestion, too. Still prompted to pair every 30 seconds. Solution: plug in a cabled mouse and turn off bluetooth. What a lovely machine this Crapple is. – harperville – 2015-05-08T18:59:05.283

1

Also you can just:

  • Reconnect that wireless keyboard again. You'll need to type those digits, which shows up on screen.
  • Choose Remove (not Disconnect!). Then you'll be informed, that you'll have to pair those devices again if you'll want to use it.

That's the way how to disconnect wireless keyboard permanently.

ViliusK

Posted 2012-11-13T19:29:55.043

Reputation: 1 670

+1 since this is the only answer on this page which actually worked for me (I've tried them all). I'm running Mavericks 10.9.5 on an old iMac with an Apple USB keyboard, and the Apple Wireless Keyboard of another Mac spammed my iMac with pairing requests. – Guido – 2018-01-14T16:21:42.217

0

This helped me:

Go to System Preferences -> Bluetooth, unclick Discoverable.

The add your mouse as a favorite on the devices panel.

Finally - go to the Sharing Setup, make sure file transfer, file exchage and PDA sync services are off. (as long as you don't use any of those yourself.) and check the Require pairing box on all.

Note: This is from a while ago-- I've tried to update it for newer OS, but it may not be implementable in mountain lion.

Amyunimus

Posted 2012-11-13T19:29:55.043

Reputation: 234

FYI, the discoverability status can quickly be checked by holding down the Option (Alt) key and then clicking the Bluetooth icon in the top tray. – ccpizza – 2014-10-22T08:09:48.183

OS X 10.9.1 does not have this option. – ViliusK – 2014-01-28T18:36:59.237

0

Was enough to:

  • sudo plutil -convert xml1 /Library/Preferences/com.apple.Bluetooth.plist
  • Searched for the name of bluetooth device and removed both <key>...</key> and <dict>...</dict> XML elements.
  • sudo plutil -convert binary1 /Library/Preferences/com.apple.Bluetooth.plist

ViliusK

Posted 2012-11-13T19:29:55.043

Reputation: 1 670

It's easier to just delete the file, i.e. sudo rm /Library/Preferences/com.apple.Bluetooth.plist – ccpizza – 2014-10-22T08:06:44.597

0

Just had the same problem. One of the office keyboard kept asking to pair with one of the iMac which has never been paired with that keyboard. It had a very low batteries. Once the batteries has been replaced problem stopped.

Tom Brek

Posted 2012-11-13T19:29:55.043

Reputation: 146

Asked: 2012-11-13T19:29:55.043

Viewed: 19 756 times

Active: 2019-03-21T17:50:40.057