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Continuity Keypad adds a dialer to OS X Yosemite for iPhone Handoff calls

Anyone testing iPhone Handoff calling on OS X Yosemite, Apple’s latest Mac operating system, have probably noticed one major detail missing: a dialer. Student developers Eytan Schulman and Harrison Weinerman have created a very useful utility called Continuity Keypad that solves that problem.

Essentially what the app does is bridge a gap created by Handoff and FaceTime when making calls on your Mac using your iPhone. It creates a dialer similar to the one found on your iPhone allowing you to easily call numbers using your iPhone from your Mac, and it uses transparency to fit in with the new look of OS X.

The current implementation of Handoff between iPhone and Mac allows you to answer incoming calls from anyone, call out numbers saved in your contacts, or type out a number in a text field and call from the sub menu, but Continuity Keypad makes the experience of initiating a call to someone not in your contacts a much more intuitive experience.

The utility does have a few limitations at this point like pound (#) and star (*) functionality during calls, but these buttons do work when initiating a call. The utility does make calling a second number during a call on Mac much easier, though, and anyone testing iPhone Handoff calling on OS X Yosemite should find it useful.

The app’s developers plan to continue working on the utility by improving performance and adding additional feature before releasing it alongside OS X Yosemite later this fall, and current Yosemite testers can try out an beta version of the app for free here in the mean time.

In addition to the work above, the video below shows the potential for a dialer using the Today view in Notification Center, which will support widgets with OS X 10.10.

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Comments

  1. Karthik Bonthu - 10 years ago

    I’m able to receive the messages but not the calls on my mac. Is there something do i need to setup to get the calls too?

    • Your iDevice needs to run iOS 8 Beta in order to receive calls. If you have an iOS 8 iDevice and still can’t get incoming calls, make sure you have bluetooth enabled, you use the same Apple account on both your Mac and iPhone and that you have enabled Continuity on your iPhone.

  2. Ryan Chappell - 10 years ago

    This could make a nice sidebar widget.

  3. jrox16 - 10 years ago

    Translucency, not “transparency”. (Gaussian blur technically)

  4. minatory221133 - 10 years ago

    You can dial numbers from Yosemite. Simply type them into the FaceTime app and call them.

    • Andrew Messenger - 10 years ago

      Enter them where in FaceTime?

    • Hello,

      The FaceTime app doesn’t allow you to call numbers without adding to your contacts first. This is where our app comes in…

      • minatory221133 - 10 years ago

        I am pretty sure it does. Enter them in the searchbox and from then it allows you to call them.

      • minatory221133 is right. Just tested myself.

        Fail.

      • Chris Coveney - 8 years ago

        it does allow you to dial, but there is no keypad if you are navigating an IVR phone menu, so that is where this is useful over using FaceTime alone.

      • mikee60369 - 8 years ago

        Yes, you can still enter IVR commands by using the numbers on your keyboard and then hitting Enter/Return. No tone is heard, but the command is sent. Of course, I’m referring to the little FaceTime widget that pops up when Yosemite receives a call handed off from my phone.

    • Devon Dunham - 9 years ago

      Yes. Open the facetime app, type the number you wish to dial then press the phone icon next to it. It works fine. You do not have to save a contact in order to dial them.

  5. Alex (@Metascover) - 10 years ago

    A stupid idea, made from people who don’t understand why a Mac isn’t an iPad.

  6. coolfactor - 10 years ago

    Very nice “dailer”.

  7. Damon Ray (@Damonraynow) - 10 years ago

    great idea, i think a quick ”add to contact” and ”send sms” next to the ”Dailer” button could be a time saver in some situations…. don’t get me wrong, i know you can just open the sms app or the contact…. but i think this is a very quick way to contact ”outsiders”,

  8. I clicked on the link, and all I get is a blank webpage.

  9. Why does it call home and what information do you collect?

    • We only collect anonymous general usage statistics. The numbers you call are never sent to the Continuity Keypad server or stored by the app. In addition on launch, the app checks its version to see if there are updates available.

  10. I have tried “Continuitykeyboard” but it doesn’t work at all.
    I have dialled my own number from my another number, tried with texting but didn’t work.
    I think you need to work a bit harder than you are working to fix on this.
    Pls. note that I have tried from Yosemite OS (Beta) and I have iOS 7 (Latest version in iPhone 5S Gold)
    This feature is fantastic if it works well.

  11. hi, i am not reciving calls in my mac. i have updated iPhone 5 to ios 8beta5, bluetooth is on, same wifi network…. still in Yosemite i am not getting the call. MacBook pro retina 2014 model.
    is there any fix ?

    all devices are in same icloud account. thanks.

    • Devon Dunham - 9 years ago

      You need to make sure bluetooth is enabled and that the continuity options are enabled on your mac and iPhone.

  12. David Fuentes - 9 years ago

    What if you need to use the numberpad in a call.. like when choosing what support track to use or something like that…. then it seems that you are forced to use the phone … as the keypad doesn’t work for that.. neither the facetime app can do that..

    • Ben Peter - 9 years ago

      I’d really like to know the answer if there is one. Not only do you need to use the phone, but using the phone will transfer the phone back to your iPhone :(

    • Ben Peter - 9 years ago

      Found it now. Just click on the Flyout and then type in numbers on your keyboard.

  13. Nate LaFerle - 9 years ago

    When I try and dial a number with this app, Microsoft Lync opens. It seems like there’s some sort of default dialer setting in OS X that is currently set to Lync instead of Continuity. Anyone know how this can be changed?

    • Hi Nate,
      after a lot of crash of my head :) I reached the solution …
      You have to execute facetime and the cmd+, to enter in setup mode.
      So you have to change the default caller from Lync to Facetime.

      Bye

  14. Fantastic idea. Very very useful for me. Many thanks.

  15. Great idea. Is this working on the final release? Not getting it to dial on my iMac and Continuity is working.

  16. Enkhbilguun E. (@beregu) - 9 years ago

    You can use Facetime to make a phone call through your iPhone. It’s the cheapest solution to get phone dialer. It works for me perfectly.

  17. David Friend - 9 years ago

    I just went to the app store to download it. The app is not there

    • F.Misle - 9 years ago

      We’re not in the App Store just yet, but you can grab the latest beta at continuitykeypad.co

  18. Devon Dunham - 9 years ago

    This is absolutely wonderful. I am still installing this even though you can dial directly from the facetime app in yosemite, this looks to make it much easier. What I need is the ability to press * and # though for manipulating conference calls. I can’t believe they did not include a dialer by default.

  19. Snæbjörn V Lilliendahl - 9 years ago

    With this app i don’t have to look at my face every time i want to call someone from my computer

  20. Steven Dudley - 9 years ago

    Great simple app and works well. At first it kept opening up microshaft communicator but after a quick response from their support team via email, it was a simple as changing the default dialling application in FaceTime back to FaceTime.
    I love the notifications widget too.

  21. Any ideas on how to integrate this with Alfred so I can call someone without using the mouse?

Author

Avatar for Zac Hall Zac Hall

Zac covers Apple news, hosts the 9to5Mac Happy Hour podcast, and created SpaceExplored.com.