How to disable Handoff and Continuity on Mac

Handoff lets you start something on your iPhone and pick it up on your Mac — a half-written email, a Safari tab, a Maps search. It's useful if you move between Apple devices constantly. If you don't, it just means your Dock quietly shows icons for things you weren't doing on your Mac. Here's how to turn it off.

What Handoff is and what Continuity covers

Handoff is one piece of a broader set of Apple features called Continuity. It handles the "pick up where you left off" part: your Mac advertises what you're working on over Bluetooth and local Wi-Fi, and nearby Apple devices signed into the same iCloud account can offer to continue it.

Continuity as a whole is broader. It also includes Universal Clipboard (copy on iPhone, paste on Mac), iPhone camera in apps like FaceTime and Photos, Sidecar (use your iPad as a second display), and AirDrop. Disabling Handoff turns off the activity handover — it doesn't break Universal Clipboard, Sidecar, or AirDrop, which have their own separate controls.

Why you might want to disable it

A few common reasons: you share a Mac with others on the same iCloud account and don't want your phone activity visible in the Dock; you want to reduce background Bluetooth traffic; or you simply find the Handoff suggestion icons distracting and don't use the feature. Handoff also requires Bluetooth to be on, so if you run with Bluetooth off, it's already non-functional anyway.

The System Settings path

1. Open System Settings (Apple menu → System Settings).
2. Click General in the sidebar.
3. Click AirDrop & Handoff.
4. Uncheck Allow Handoff between this Mac and your iCloud devices.

The change is immediate. Handoff icons will stop appearing in the Dock right away.

The Terminal commands

Open Terminal (Applications → Utilities) and run both commands:

# stop this Mac from advertising activity to nearby devices
defaults write ~/Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.coreservices.useractivityd.plist \
  ActivityAdvertisingAllowed -bool false

# stop this Mac from receiving Handoff from nearby devices
defaults write ~/Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.coreservices.useractivityd.plist \
  ActivityReceivingAllowed -bool false

To re-enable Handoff later, flip both back to true:

# undo — re-enable Handoff
defaults write ~/Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.coreservices.useractivityd.plist \
  ActivityAdvertisingAllowed -bool true
defaults write ~/Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.coreservices.useractivityd.plist \
  ActivityReceivingAllowed -bool true

You may need to log out and back in, or restart, for the Terminal change to fully propagate. The System Settings toggle is faster and more reliable for most people.

What breaks when you turn it off

Only the activity handover stops. You won't see your iPhone's in-progress apps appear in the Dock, and your phone won't offer to continue what you were doing on your Mac. Universal Clipboard, Sidecar, iPhone camera continuity, and AirDrop all keep working unless you disable them separately. Phone calls and SMS messages forwarded to your Mac also use a different setting (FaceTime preferences) and are unaffected.

How to disable other Continuity features

If you want to go further: Universal Clipboard has no dedicated toggle and is bundled with Handoff. Disabling Handoff via the checkbox above also disables Universal Clipboard. Sidecar is controlled separately in System Settings → Displays → Add Display. AirDrop is in the same AirDrop & Handoff pane.