CODEWITHSUNDEEP
bluetoothbluetooth-lowenergycore-bluetooth
Titan
Titan

Reputation: 6040

How to determine if device uses bluetooth classic or BLE?

I have a bluetooth device and I'm trying to understand why no BT debug app on my iOS device can find it, and yet my Mac and iPhone settings app can discover and connect to it no problem.

The debug apps I'm using on iOS are BT Low Energy scanners and I'm wondering if it's not that kind of device, is there a way to tell from the below debug?

Connecting to it via mac and running system_profiler SPBluetoothDataType gives:

XRS2 2205:
              Address: 84-71-27-05-DB-B8
              Major Type: Miscellaneous
              Minor Type: Unknown
              Services: XRS2 HID, Bluetooth Serial Port, Wireless iAP
              Paired: Yes
              Configured: Yes
              Connected: Yes
              Manufacturer: Cambridge Silicon Radio (0x5, 0x27B8)
              Bluetooth Core Spec: 3.0
              Firmware Version: 0x0400
              Vendor ID: 0x0483
              Product ID: 0xA026
              Class of Device: 0x00 0x00 0x0000
              AFH: On
              AFH Map: FF43720007FE1CC7F
              RSSI: -51
              Role: Master
              Connection Mode: Sniff Mode
              Interval: 250 ms
              Host Connectable: No
              EDR Supported: Yes
              eSCO Supported: Yes
              SSP Supported: Yes

Data sheet: https://www.livestock.tru-test.com/sites/default/files/datasheets/XRS2%20Datasheet_0.pdf#product_data_sheets

Upvotes: 4

Views: 2809

Answers (2)

RokeJulianLockhart
RokeJulianLockhart

Reputation: 331

BT4 is not BLE

The previous answer informs you of how to ascertain it in your specific case, where the versions demonstrate a lack of capability. However, to answer the title - "How to determine if device uses Bluetooth classic or BLE?" - one must ascertain the specific reported capabilities of the device, because the version may be high enough to render that method ineffective.

This is demonstrated by this SU answer, which unfortunately explains that BT4 support does not necessarily mandate BLE support.

Detection

Luckily, if you use the Windows OS, this SU answer provides a method whereby the capability of a device can be ascertained using a tool included by default in every installation:

  1. Ensure Bluetooth is enabled.
  2. Run the Device Manager.
  3. Open the "Bluetooth" branch on the left, which will expand to show all Bluetooth drivers.
  4. If there is a driver named "Microsoft Bluetooth LE Enumerator", then your computer supports Bluetooth Low Energy.

If that tool is unavailable (which is a common reality in corporate environments) this necessitates specific software, because the process is too complex to provide as mere code here. The same answer lists some:

To scan your network for compatible BLE devices needs a third-party tool. Here are some that I found (but didn't test):

  1. Bluetooth LE Lab

    (Microsoft Store)

  2. Bluetooth LE Explorer

    (Microsoft Store)

  3. BLEConsole

  4. BleScanner

    (Microsoft Store but without much documentation)

Though, this is more the purview of Stack Exchange Software Recommendations.

Upvotes: 0

Emil
Emil

Reputation: 18452

Bluetooth Low Energy was added to Bluetooth version 4.0. Since your device uses Bluetooth 3.0, it must be a Bluetooth Classic device.

Upvotes: 6

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