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I'm working on an app using bluetooth LE technology. I am trying to build a bi-directional communication between two devices, and first thought Bluetooth LE was the perfect choice at first.

But then the more I learn about it the more disappointed I became, because it looks like not enough devices support the peripheral feature, even though this has been introduced a long time ago.

I know the central role is possible in most cases, but for my app to work, I need to make sure there are enough devices out there that support (and will support) the peripheral role as well.

But I'm really not sure what the situation is because I couldn't find any reputable source which has a list of devices that support the peripheral feature. And due to the fragmented nature of the ecosystem I have no idea if this is something hardware vendors are planning on dropping or if the coverage will increase.

Can anyone share some insights?

  • Edit: I have already read another answer suggested as a duplicate (Chipsets/Devices supporting Android 5 BLE peripheral mode) as well as almost everything I could find on Stackoverflow about this topic. But I have yet to come across a definitive list of what devices support this feature, and what the future of this feature is. It's extremely frustrating not knowing whether I should even rely on this API or not because while they say it depends on the hardware vendor, NO hardware vendors include this information in their device spec, which is why I asked this question.
anticafe
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Vlad
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    Possible duplicate of [Chipsets/Devices supporting Android 5 BLE peripheral mode](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/26482611/chipsets-devices-supporting-android-5-ble-peripheral-mode) – Burhan Khalid Oct 29 '17 at 05:33
  • @BurhanKhalid I have read that post and everything related to it. But that's not a definitive list so I wouldn't say this is a duplicate. It's extremely frustrating not knowing whether I should even rely on this API or not because while they say it depends on the hardware vendor, NO hardware vendors include this information in their device spec, which is why I asked this question. – Vlad Oct 29 '17 at 05:43
  • Asking for external resources is not encouraged here, so your question will most likely be closed - especially as there is another post about it. Now the fact that there is no definitive information out there, not sure how anyone could answer it. – Burhan Khalid Oct 29 '17 at 05:45

1 Answers1

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A good rule of thumb seems to be that devices which have Bluetooth chips with version 4.1 or above have proper support for the peripheral role.

Otherwise all Bluetooth devices and their features are listed on https://www.bluetooth.org/tpg/listings.cfm. Note that you might have to search for the model number and not brand name, like LG-H790 instead of Nexus 5X. Then press >> DISPLAY ICS DETAILS >>.

But maybe you can use Bluetooth classic? Android - communicating between two devices

Emil
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  • Thank you for the answer. This was super helpful. Do you know if it's safe to assume that most android phones released recently and going forward supports/will support this feature? The reason I can't use Bluetooth classic is because I'm trying to make a cross platform communication with this between iOS and Android as well, and iOS corebluetooth only supports LE – Vlad Oct 29 '17 at 11:40
  • It's probably a good assumption, but I can't say how "safe" it is. You could also use Bluetooth Classic between Android devices, and if you need to talk to an iOS device, you could let the iOS device be a BLE peripheral and the Android device the central. Then you implement your transport-independent protocol on top of those two lower level transports and pick at run time which transport to use. – Emil Oct 29 '17 at 20:49