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macOS 13.3 and iPadOS 16.4 Users Report Issues With Continuity Features

It would be a good practice to restart every device iOS or Mac before updating. This clean caches and other unwanted stuff that could jeopardize an upgrade.
Let Apple take care of the jeopardization 🤪 of our systems but at least on our side we do all what is doable to avoid extra issues. Even better is to update using, when possible, a full update and not OTA
Takes a little more time but spares you from few other problems
 
iPhone 13 Pro (iOS 16.4)
Mac Pro (10.13.6)

I only have partial Handoff and Continuity features but that may be due to my older Mac.

• A few minutes ago I only had one-way Universal Clipboard. iPhone -> Mac only. After playing around for a few minutes (toggled BT on phone), I was able to get Mac -> iPhone to work. Universal Clipboard is working both ways again.

• Phone calls work and I can pick up calls on the Mac, however, once the call is transferred to the iPhone or when initially picked up on the iPhone, the option to transfer it back to the Mac is gone. This used to work. Sometimes the incoming call continues to ring on the Mac after it's been answered on the phone.

• Reminders does nothing in both directions.

• Notes triggers it but it never brings up the note itself. Same with Messages, it triggers it, but the relevant message does not pop up. Getting a few "Handoff could not be completed" error messages on the Mac, which I never saw before.

• Mail Handoff is working great in both directions.

• Safari still seem to Handoff both ways (however open tabs are not shared between Mac & iPhone in both directions - outdated Safari?)

I will admit, my Mac OS has been on 10.13.6 for a while, so I have to give credit to iOS for recent improved reliability with Handoff and Continuity over the last couple years. It's trying and likely failing due to my Mac OS, as opposed to not even trying and doing nothing, which was more common a couple years back.

In the past, this procedure has worked every time to restore Handoff and Continuity whenever it decided to completely stop working in one direction.

Broken from iPhone -> Mac

1. Turn off iPhone
2. Toggle Bluetooth on Mac
3. Turn on iPhone

Broken from Mac -> iPhone

1. Turn off Mac
2. Toggle Bluetooth on iPhone
3. Turn on Mac
 
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Continuity for me has always been broken one point or another since inception:

- Transferring calls sometimes works others times simply drops the call.
- Calls when picked up the Mac sometimes just drop the call instead of answering it.
- Making a call sometimes simply gives some kind of error
- Copy & Paste usually works. But sometimes stubbornly refuses to work.
- Universal control sometimes refused to recon cmd-space to summon spotlight.
- Messages sometimes stops synching between the Mac and iOS.
- While the AirPods Max is our of the box yet not in the head either the Mac, iPad or iPhone still connects. Depleting the device of energy. Worst, when answering a call when its not in my head it stills routes to it instead of using what would the be natural option, which is not to route as it is not of course in use.
....

When it works ... it's magic. I find the experience superior to other competitors yet still not robust enough to be transparent, to be a natural affair with no tech baby sitting. Rebooting the devices and toggling options and so on sometimes fixes some of the problems. But this should not be needed regularly.

It is weird that only now Mac Rumours seams to have called Apple attention to it. In my view this is not a MacOS or iOS version problem. It seams systemic.
 
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They are a bunch of idiots, seriously.

Continuity hasn’t worked since its launch. I spent 8 months sending reports and trying things with an engineer via email and he also called me a few times to discuss things.
They finally got it to work with the latest Monterey and broke it again with Ventura .3

When I said it was working I mean kind of. Handoff messages won’t transfer the typed text to the other device, AirPods automatic switching never worked and unlock with Apple Watch would stop working if you logged into a second user account, basically the same issue continuity had for the last 7 years.
Personal hotspot also works only after you open the settings app on iPhone, that triggers it, otherwise 80% of the time the iPhone doesn’t broadcast the network. It’s a joke.

They really have an incapable software team.
I miss the days of Bertrand Serlet and Scott Forstall.
 
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I’m having all the issues mentioned, plus iMessage voice memo on Mac no longer works. Apple is “aware of the issue.” Great! That helps! I regret updating my M1.
 
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dudu307 said:
Same! It doesn't work at all...
Click to expand...
I fixed it using the Amazing Iceman’s suggestion (Post #43) - “I was able to fix it by resetting Bluetooth by running this command in the Terminal: sudo pkill bluetoothd”

Voice memos are back to working, as well.
 
Anything to do with continuity related things has always been a cluster for me. From unlocking with Apple Watch breaking all the time, to just general bugs with a Universal Clipboard or iPad external display disconnecting frequently even after a few minutes of inactivity or apps not showing up for handoff. I think Apple needs to rewrite the stack from scratch or something.
 
Filed two different Feedback reports as soon as macOS 13.3 was released - Continuity (inc Camera), Handoff and Universal Clipboard all failed after the update, but after a reboot today - touch wood - it has all come back.

Relieved that is working again - how knows for how long based on other posters here.

Point updates do seem to be getting worse (esp macOS) - normally I would jump on them for bug fixes, but now there is a lot of bug regressions happening. How these breakages can go through various betas I have no idea.
 
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I am using Universal Control between a Macbook Air M2 and an Intel iMacPro.
The following just helped me:
1. Disabling Handoff
SCR-20230406-nxuf.png

2. Disabling the Allow your pointer and keyboard to move between any nearby Mac or iPad
SCR-20230406-nxyl.png

3. Rebooting both computers
4. Turn the above features back on.

I also wanted to clarify that it is not necessary for both computers to be connected to the same WiFi network for Universal Control. In my configuration, only the MacBook Air is connected to WiFi and the iMacPro just has WiFi enabled but no network connected.
 

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I had to unpair my Apple Watch and re-pair it. I also upgraded my software to 16.5 beta. Signing out of iCloud did nothing. Handoff has to be working across devices. It’s working perfectly for mine for me again after being on the phone with an Apple consultant (re why my Apple watch stopped unlocking my MacBook) who guided me thru the process. Def a glitch, and Apple is working on a patch. But if you have Apple devices, I suggest removing them from your phone and reinstalling them. Apple consultant told me it basically reinitializes everything. My Apple watch works better since I re-paired it. Hope this helps!
 
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DocBrownMacMan said:
I've had an issue with macOS 13.3 where placing my finger on Touch ID when the computer is asleep doesn't wake up and unlock the Mac. I have to tap a key on the keyboard or click the trackpad first to wake up the computer, then I can place my finger on Touch ID to unlock the Mac. Before this update, I could simply place my finger on Touch ID and it would both wake up and unlock the Mac. Anybody else having this issue?

Using a 2023 16-inch M2 Max MacBook Pro.
Click to expand...
I actually have been having this issue for quite a while, but since the update it won't wake up like ever. Plus, Apple Watch Unlock doesn't work and I had to restart both my devices to get it to work again... for two days. This morning it went back to not working
 
CubaClayton53 said:
I had to unpair my Apple Watch and re-pair it. I also upgraded my software to 16.5 beta. Signing out of iCloud did nothing. Handoff has to be working across devices. It’s working perfectly for mine for me again after being on the phone with an Apple consultant (re why my Apple watch stopped unlocking my MacBook) who guided me thru the process. Def a glitch, and Apple is working on a patch. But if you have Apple devices, I suggest removing them from your phone and reinstalling them. Apple consultant told me it basically reinitializes everything. My Apple watch works better since I re-paired it. Hope this helps!
Click to expand...
It sure helps, I managed to get it back to working for two days after rebooting both devices. I won't go through the headache of unpairing and re-pairing since it takes literally an hour or so, but I hope Apple comes up with a fix soon. Not having AppleWatch Unlock when using the Mac in clamshell is an awful experience. I guess you have to lose something to realise how much you valued it, but I got the point now give it back to me pls
 
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