How to Enable and Use Handoff on Mac

Authored by: Support.com Tech Pro Team

1. Introduction

Start a task on one Apple gadget—Mac, iOS, or Apple Watch—and pick up on another. Here’s how to use Apple Handoff to continue tasks between devices. 

2. How to Use

You have a Mac, and maybe another Apple device like an iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch. If you've started a certain task on one device and want to continue on another, you can do that with Handoff.

In order to use Handoff, each device must be connected to the same Wi-Fi network and be signed in to iCloud with the same Apple ID. Here's how to set up and use Handoff.

Handoff is not an app, so there's nothing you need to download from the App Store. Instead, you will have to activate the feature on each device. To set the feature up on your Mac, select the Apple menu icon and click on System Preferences > General. Select the option to "Allow Handoff between this Mac and your iCloud devices" if it's not already enabled.

Switching From Desktop to iOS

Let's start by using Handoff to go from the desktop to an iOS device with Safari. Open the web browser and start searching. Now check your iPad and you should see an icon for Safari in the Dock. You can tell this is the Handoff icon because attached to it in the upper-right is a smaller icon that mimics your Mac. Tap this Handoff icon and the same webpage you were viewing on your Mac opens on your iPad in Safari.