Continuity Activation Tool Enables Handoff Instant Hotspot Airdrop Features On Unsupported Macs

Apple decided not to support all Bluetooth 4.0 capable Macs for its new Continuity features in OS X Yosemite for undisclosed reasons, but it is possible to get the feature up and running on some older, unsupported Macs. Previously it required a bit of manual tinkering, but now a utility called OS X Continuity Activation Tool makes the process much easier.

It’s an all-in-one app to activate and diagnose OS X 10.10 Continuity (Handoff/Instant Hotspot/Airdrop iOS<->OSX) on older Mac configurations. I’ve been working on it for the past few weeks and tested it successfully on various Mac models. It should be stable enough now.

Continuity features like Handoff and Instant Hotspot for seamlessly switching between Macs and iOS devices are currently only officially supported by Apple on MacBook Air (Mid 2012 and later), MacBook Pro (Mid 2012 and later), iMac (Late 2012 and later), Mac mini (Late 2012 and later), and Mac Pro (Late 2013). Some Continuity features, such as phone calling and SMS, work with any Mac running OS X Yosemite as they only rely on a Wi-Fi network as opposed to requiring Bluetooth as well.

While the creator notes the tool has been tested successfully on various Macs, there are a few warnings to proceed at your own risk. The tool supports the Macs with Bluetooth 4.0 built-in that aren’t supported by Apple, but not those using a Bluetooth 4.0 USB dongle. The creator previously published the list below noting which Macs require a new Bluetooth card or modifications to work:

-Macbook Air:Early 2008-2010: Requires new bluetooth/wifi card and modified Kext. -Macbook Air:Mid 2011:Requires modified kext only -Macbook Air:Mid 2012-2014: Works OTB -cMacbookPros:Mid 2009-Mid2012 requires new bluetooth/Wifi card and Modified Kext. -RetinaMacBook Pros: Works OTB. -cMacPros:Early2008-2013 requires new bluetooth/Wifi only -NMacPros:Works OTB . -MacMini:Early 2009-2010 requires new bluetooth/Wifi Card and modified Kext. -MacMini:Mid 2011-2012 Only requires Modified Kext -iMac:Mid 2007-2011 requires bluetooth/Wifi Card and Modified Kext -iMac:Late 2012-2013 works OTB

The tool and its source code are available on GitHub.