How to use keyboard shortcuts to connect/disconnect Bluetooth devices on macOS

Pairing and connecting a Bluetooth device on macOS is simple. In fact, you’ll find that the whole process is pretty straight forward and the OS is able to easily pair with a variety of devices. Rarely does it have trouble trying to find the device you want to connect to. That said, it doesn’t have keyboard shortcut support. If you want to use keyboard shortcuts to connect/disconnect Bluetooth devices, you will have to use a third-party app called Wechsel.

Install Wechsel

Wechsel is a free open-source app that you can download from Github and installing it is no different than installing other apps however, there appears to be a problem with the signature of the app and macOS blocks it.

To unblock it, you will have to open System Preferences and go to the Security and Privacy preference. On the General tab, click the pad lock icon at the bottom and enter the admin password to authenticate. Click the ‘Open anyway’ button to open the app.

While the app is open-source, and we’ve personally tested it to make sure it isn’t malicious, you should still try it at your own risk.

Keyboard shortcut for Bluetooth devices

Wechsel runs in the menu bar and it does not pair Bluetooth devices. It’s only for connecting or disconnecting them. Out of the box, the app doesn’t have a keyboard shortcut configured to activate it so the first thing you need to do is click its icon in the menu bar, and go to its preferences/settings.

The settings window only has one item that you can set up which is the keyboard shortcut. Click the Record Shortcut button and then tap the key combination you want to use to activate the app.

Once that’s done, return to your desktop, or switch to any app of your choice. Use the keyboard shortcut you’ve configured to open the app. You will see a window on your screen listing all the paired and available Bluetooth devices. Use the arrow keys to select a device, and tap Enter.

If the device isn’t connected to your Mac, tapping Enter will connect it. If the device is already connected to your Mac, tapping Enter will disconnect it. A connected device is indicated by a green dot icon next to it. Each device also shows you when it last connected to your system.

Wechsel’s menu bar icon indicates that it is meant to be used for audio devices but the app will likely work with any Bluetooth device.