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How useful do you find handoff?

S

stanw

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 29, 2007
842
5
Curious to hear what you think of the handoff features, specifically, the ability to start something on the phone and continue on a Mac or using Macs to take phone calls. On a spectrum of usefulness, are you finding these features to be ones you can’t live without now, or features that are more of a gimmick?

Thanks.
 
stanw said:
Curious to hear what you think of the handoff features, specifically, the ability to start something on the phone and continue on a Mac or using Macs to take phone calls. On a spectrum of usefulness, are you finding these features to be ones you can’t live without now, or features that are more of a gimmick?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

The only real world situation where I wish it was there before we ever heard of handoff is how it uses safari. Many times I have been on a site where I would like to continue on my mac. Before I either had to wait for the slow iCloud tabs list to update. Or just save it to pocket. The other stuff is nice to have but doesn't solve any problems.
 
More of a gimmick, IMO.

I've tried it a few times, but I usually would not be in a situation where I would need to hand-off a task from one device to another. Besides, the only time I could see me doing it would be if I was filling something out online and would want to move to my laptop. But that can't happen, at least I have not figured out how to do it.
 
I have a Late-2011 MBP so its not supported. The only thing I would like is AirDrop. Other than that SMS/Calls is a good feature to have.
 
Is this a hand-off feature?

When I get home after a long day, I tend to dock my phone and pickup my iPad to tote around the house. It's real convenient to pickup calls on my iPad as my iPhone is in another room.

Although the feature isn't "on" yet, answering regular text messages will be even nicer.
 
reckless2k2 said:
Is this a hand-off feature?

When I get home after a long day, I tend to dock my phone and pickup my iPad to tote around the house. It's real convenient to pickup calls on my iPad as my iPhone is in another room.

Although the feature isn't "on" yet, answering regular text messages will be even nicer.
Click to expand...

Not Handoff, but it's part of the larger "Continuity" feature, which Handoff is also a part of.
 
stanw said:
Curious to hear what you think of the handoff features, specifically, the ability to start something on the phone and continue on a Mac or using Macs to take phone calls. On a spectrum of usefulness, are you finding these features to be ones you can’t live without now, or features that are more of a gimmick?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

couple of scenarios to consider.

1. If you are browsing the Internet on your Mac or iPad you can tap on a phone number and it will dial the number using your iPhone and put you into a speakerphone mode.

2. When I come home I put my iphone down on the nightstand next to my bed to charge it. I then go to the living room and pick up my iPad or Macbook and not have to worry about missing calls because they ring there as well.
 
It's hard to do on the iPhone 5S / 6 witih TouchID. I always unlock my phone with touchID. In order to use handoff, must not use touch ID, swipe-up etc. It is more of a concious thing. They should have had it in notification center instead.
 
Peepo said:
It's hard to do on the iPhone 5S / 6 witih TouchID. I always unlock my phone with touchID. In order to use handoff, must not use touch ID, swipe-up etc. It is more of a concious thing. They should have had it in notification center instead.
Click to expand...

You can't just click the home button and then swipe up?
 
stanw said:
Curious to hear what you think of the handoff features, specifically, the ability to start something on the phone and continue on a Mac or using Macs to take phone calls. On a spectrum of usefulness, are you finding these features to be ones you can’t live without now, or features that are more of a gimmick?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

I think it'll be more useful when 3rd-party apps start to take advantage of it. Like the new version of Pixelmator coming for iPad has it.
 
Not that useful really, for me at least. I like to keep my devices more separated. I love cloud storage and bookmark and tab sinking in Safari but as for actually doing one thing on one device and continuing on another, I do different work depending on my device.
 
Handoff I have no actual use for as I'm never in the situation where I start something on one device and have to finish it on another.

SMS Relay and taking calls on my Mac or iPad is way more useful if you ask me.
 
Hammie said:
More of a gimmick, IMO.

I've tried it a few times, but I usually would not be in a situation where I would need to hand-off a task from one device to another. Besides, the only time I could see me doing it would be if I was filling something out online and would want to move to my laptop. But that can't happen, at least I have not figured out how to do it.
Click to expand...

Handoff requires Yosemite on a compatible computer (must have Bluetooth LE) and iOS 8.1 which will be released October 20, 2014.
 
titans1127 said:
Handoff I have no actual use for as I'm never in the situation where I start something on one device and have to finish it on another.

SMS Relay and taking calls on my Mac or iPad is way more useful if you ask me.
Click to expand...

I've taken calls on my mac plenty of times. That's the only feature that's part of Handoff that's been stable so far. The only thing working for me is safari. Pages, texts (which would be very useful right now), other features with handoff don't work atm. Maybe 8.1 will fix that. Just wish it was out already.
 
tripleh3lix said:
I've taken calls on my mac plenty of times. That's the only feature that's part of Handoff that's been stable so far. The only thing working for me is safari. Pages, texts (which would be very useful right now), other features with handoff don't work atm. Maybe 8.1 will fix that. Just wish it was out already.
Click to expand...

8.1 will bring full support for Continuity and Handoff and will be released Monday, October 20, 2014.
 
I think it's too early to be asking this question as most of these apps are just now coming out.

And of course it's going to be gimmicky to people who don't use their iOS devices to do productive work to begin with.

My Mac doesn't support it. If it did, then I would love it. It makes more sense when using a computer and then switching to the iPad/iPhone than it does switching between two iOS devices.
 
tripleh3lix said:
I've taken calls on my mac plenty of times. That's the only feature that's part of Handoff that's been stable so far. The only thing working for me is safari. Pages, texts (which would be very useful right now), other features with handoff don't work atm. Maybe 8.1 will fix that. Just wish it was out already.
Click to expand...
Same here. Calls and iMessages worked perfectly. But handoff was super flaky. I think having to have bluetooth and wifi on but not necessarily connected messes with it working as well as it should. Bluetooth shouldn't even be needed for handoff considering its not needed for SMS and Phone.
 
Between nothing and zero. I only hope some day I can use whatsapp on my mac, if whatsapp won't use these new features, I don't have any use for them.
 
whsbuss said:
Thanks I'm aware of that. But doing the hardware change is not something worth the handoff benefit IMO
Click to expand...

What hardware change? I have a Mid-2011 MBA and it had the required hardware already. 10 minutes to make the required kext changes and it now works perfectly.
 
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