AppleScript to toggle Bluetooth

Question

In OS X 10.8 I had a neat little AppleScript that I used to toggle Bluetooth quickly without using the mouse.

I updated to 10.9 which added several UI changes to System Preferences. Among other things it replaced the element that toggles Bluetooth from a checkbox to a button. My script is now broken, and consequently so is my workflow.

The problem is that the button's name changes from "Turn Bluetooth On" to "Turn Bluetooth Off" depending on its status. I don't have a sufficient grasp in AppleScript to figure out a workaround, and was wondering if you guys could help me out.

Answer 1

This worked for me in 10.9:

tell application "System Preferences"
    reveal pane "com.apple.preferences.Bluetooth"
end tell
tell application "System Events" to tell process "System Preferences"
    click button 6 of window 1
end tell
quit application "System Preferences"

You could also use blueutil:

/usr/local/bin/blueutil|grep -q 'Power: 1';/usr/local/bin/blueutil power $?

Answer 2

tell application "System Preferences"
    reveal pane "com.apple.preferences.Bluetooth"
end tell
tell application "System Events" to tell process "System Preferences"
    repeat until exists window "Bluetooth"
    end repeat
    try
        click button "Turn Bluetooth Off" of window "Bluetooth"
        do shell script "networksetup -setairportpower airport off"
    on error
        click button "Turn Bluetooth On" of window "Bluetooth"
        do shell script "networksetup -setairportpower airport on"
    end try
end tell
tell application "System Preferences" to quit

Answer 3

This worked for me in 10.15.6, I might have over complicated my solution which is running script 1 (turn bluetooth off) and then script 2 (turn bluetooth on).

Script 1. This is for turning bluetooth OFF

tell application "System Events" to tell process "SystemUIServer"
    tell (menu bar item 1 of menu bar 1 where description is "bluetooth")
        click
        click menu item "Turn Bluetooth Off" of menu 1
    end tell
    tell window 1
        click button "Turn Bluetooth Off"
    end tell
end tell

Script 2. This is for turning bluetooth ON

tell application "System Events" to tell process "SystemUIServer"
    tell (menu bar item 1 of menu bar 1 where description is "bluetooth")
        click
        click menu item "Turn Bluetooth On" of menu 1
    end tell
end tell

So I execute one command which will run one script after the other, the sleep is for the UI to update properly.

osascript bluetooth_off.scpt && sleep 3s && osascript bluetooth_on.scpt

You can just save the command in a file and execute it using: (they have to be in the same directory).

~ bash <fileName>

Answer 4

AppleScript Solution

Steps

1. Open Automater.app.
2. Type Run AppleScript in the search bar and select to open a new script window.
3. Set Workflow receives to no input in any application in the settings at the top of the screen.
4. Copy & paste the scripts below and save the file.
5. Create a keyboard shortcut: System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > Services > The new script shows under General under the saved name. > Set a shortcut.

macOS Big Sur 11.5

Bluetooth Toggle.workflow

tell application "System Events"
    tell process "ControlCenter"
        set BluetoothButton to menu bar item "Bluetooth" of menu bar 1
        click BluetoothButton
        delay 1
        set OnSwitch to checkbox "Bluetooth" of group 1 of window "Control Center"
        click OnSwitch
    end tell
    key code 53
end tell

See: Setting Bluetooth with AppleScript in Big Sur - r/applescript, 12/1/20

macOS Monterey 12.0.1

Bluetooth Toggle.workflow

tell application "System Events"
    tell application process "Control Center"
        click menu bar item "Bluetooth" of menu bar 1
        tell window "Control Center"
            try
                click checkbox "Bluetooth"
            on error
                click checkbox "Bluetooth"
            end try
        end tell
    end tell
    key code 53 -- # escape key
end tell

See: AppleScript Error - Can’t get group 1 of window "Control Center" - StackExchange, 11/10/21

Third-Party

For macOS Big Sur, Enrique Scherer's answer no longer works. However, the blueutil utility has been updated and can be installed for example from homebrew.

Answer 5

Worked for me, no blue util:

tell application "System Preferences"
    reveal pane id "com.apple.preferences.Bluetooth"
    -- activate

    set the current pane to pane id "com.apple.preferences.Bluetooth"

    try
        tell application "System Events" to tell process "System Preferences"
            click button "Turn Bluetooth Off" of window "Bluetooth"

            click button "Turn Bluetooth Off" of sheet 1 of window "Bluetooth" of application process "System Preferences" of application "System Events"
        end tell

        delay 1

    on error
        tell application "System Events" to tell process "System Preferences"
            click button "Turn Bluetooth On" of window "Bluetooth"
            quit
        end tell

    end try

end tell

Answer 6

Sometimes my Mac drops its connection to my Logitech MX Master 3, necessitating a quick Bluetooth toggle. But I work with my laptop closed so once I toggle Bluetooth off, I lose my input to the computer until I physically open it up

This script solves the problem by turning Bluetooth off, waiting 5 seconds, and turning it back on

When my mouse's connection drops, but I still have keyboard access, I navigate to the directory containing this script, command + down arrow to open it, and command + R to run it. 5 seconds later and my mouse is back!

Toggle Bluetooth.scpt:

display dialog "Toggle Bluetooth?"

-- turn bluetooth off
tell application "System Events" to tell process "SystemUIServer"
    tell (menu bar item 1 of menu bar 1 where description is "bluetooth")
        click
        click menu item "Turn Bluetooth Off" of menu 1
    end tell
end tell

-- wait 5 seconds
delay 5

-- turn bluetooth on
tell application "System Events" to tell process "SystemUIServer"
    tell (menu bar item 1 of menu bar 1 where description is "bluetooth")
        click
        click menu item "Turn Bluetooth On" of menu 1
    end tell
end tell

display dialog "Welcome Back!"

Answer 7

Here is a GUI script that should work for macOS 12. It is also language independent:

tell application "System Preferences"
    set current pane to pane "com.apple.preferences.Bluetooth"
    delay 0.5
end tell

tell application "System Events"
    tell application process "System Preferences"
        click button 1 of window "Bluetooth"
    end tell
end tell