How do I reduce my Mac's Bluetooth range

[Adora]

Hello,

is it possible to somehow reduce the Bluetooth range of a Mac, that it's just enough to use a keyboard and mouse right in front of it?

It's an M4 Pro mini in this case.

I was able to do this with my WiFi router and have WiFi power set to 6% and that is enough for full reception on all devices because everything is in a range of 1-2 meters in the same room. WiFi is mostly off anyway because I use Ethernet. But sometimes I need it for Continuity features or my rarely used iPhone or iPad.

I see the TV or whatever that is of some neighbor when turning on bluetooth and that just doesn't feel good. When anyone near enough to my apartment can see my Mac too. I know it's secured and nobody can access it but it just feels strange, when people I don't know see the name of my Mac or my router. Also we do not have very thin walls here and I wonder how this is even possible.

 

[Ruggy]

I don't think there's an easy way.
Not a solution, but would you feel better about it if you just changed the name of your mac to something anonymous?
Go settings>general> about and change it to something obscure in the top line.

There are things called bluetooth limiters, you could put the mac in a faraday cage, you can put foil or mirrors on the wall, you can play around with terminal and maybe find something but there's nothing convenient or easy I know of.

 

[headlessmike]

Hello,

is it possible to somehow reduce the Bluetooth range of a Mac, that it's just enough to use a keyboard and mouse right in front of it?

It's an M4 Pro mini in this case.

I was able to do this with my WiFi router and have WiFi power set to 6% and that is enough for full reception on all devices because everything is in a range of 1-2 meters in the same room. WiFi is mostly off anyway because I use Ethernet. But sometimes I need it for Continuity features or my rarely used iPhone or iPad.

I see the TV or whatever that is of some neighbor when turning on bluetooth and that just doesn't feel good. When anyone near enough to my apartment can see my Mac too. I know it's secured and nobody can access it but it just feels strange, when people I don't know see the name of my Mac or my router. Also we do not have very thin walls here and I wonder how this is even possible.

View attachment 2471903

A bluetooth device is only discoverable, i.e. visible to other devices, when it broadcasts that it is discoverable. Your neighbors TV is probably always discoverable, as many devices are. Your Mac should only be discoverable when the settings window is open, so most of the time, if not always, your neighbors will not see you.

As you are noticing, Bluetooth devices are becoming very efficient over long ranges. If I stand outside of my apartment building I find dozens of TVs and speakers within range of my iPhone.

 

[Ray2]

EMI fabrics block bt. Might experiment with some.

 

[Adora]

A bluetooth device is only discoverable, i.e. visible to other devices, when it broadcasts that it is discoverable. Your neighbors TV is probably always discoverable, as many devices are. Your Mac should only be discoverable when the settings window is open, so most of the time, if not always, your neighbors will not see you.
View attachment 2471916

As you are noticing, Bluetooth devices are becoming very efficient over long ranges. If I stand outside of my apartment building I find dozens of TVs and speakers within range of my iPhone.

Thanks I did not see that.

 

[Adora]

EMI fabrics block bt. Might experiment with some.

Never heard of that. Looks like a joke.