CoreBluetooth Issue on Mac

Question

I bought my current Macbook Pro new less than 6 months ago, but my instance of CBCentralManager returns CBCentralManagerStateUnsupported for [centralManager state];

My mac uses Bluetooth software version 4.0.3f12 but I can't find anything that says it supports Bluetooth LE, and I can't find any relevant documentation from Apple saying what Macs support LE. Where can I find this documentation, and if my Mac is in fact not a Bluetooth LE device, what suggestions do you have for bluetooth communications between Mac and iOS? I have an iPhone 4S with Bluetooth LE hardware.

Answer 1

I have a old iMac with "Cambridge Silicon Radio" that does not support low energy and it gets CBCentralManagerStateUnsupported , my MBA from last year does however with a Broadcom chip and i get CBCentralManagerStatePoweredOn for it, they both have version 4.0.3f12 but that is not to be confused with version 4.0 of the Bluetooth spec.

Here are the details from Bluetooth Explorer

To use CoreBluetooth you will need low energy compatible BT 4.0 chips other than that the only other api with bluetooth is GameKit

Answer 2

Even the current page of tech specs on macbook pro says it has "Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR", which means no LE. If it supported LE, it would say BT 4.0

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_mac/family/macbook_pro (see tab "tech specs")

Don't confuse Bluetooth software version (which is just an apple thing relating to their host stack) with Bluetooth spec numbers.