This plugin enables serial communication over Bluetooth. It was written for communicating between Android or iOS and an Arduino.
Android and Windows Phone use Classic Bluetooth. iOS uses Bluetooth Low Energy.
- Android
- iOS with RedBearLab BLE hardware, Adafruit Bluefruit LE, Laird BL600, or BlueGiga
- Windows Phone 8
- Browser (Testing only. See comments.)
Supporting other Bluetooth Low Energy hardware
- The phone must initiate the Bluetooth connection
- iOS Bluetooth Low Energy requires iPhone 4S, iPhone5, iPod 5, or iPad3+
- Will not connect Android to Android*
- Will not connect iOS to iOS*
- Multiple connections works only on Android
Install with Cordova cli
$ cordova plugin add cordova-plugin-bluetooth-serial
Note that this plugin's id changed from com.megster.cordova.bluetoothserial to cordova-plugin-bluetooth-serial as part of the migration from the Cordova plugin repo to npm.
There are some sample projects included with the plugin.
- bluetoothSerial.connect
- bluetoothSerial.connectInsecure
- bluetoothSerial.disconnect
- bluetoothSerial.write
- bluetoothSerial.available
- bluetoothSerial.read
- bluetoothSerial.readUntil
- bluetoothSerial.subscribe
- bluetoothSerial.unsubscribe
- bluetoothSerial.subscribeRawData
- bluetoothSerial.unsubscribeRawData
- bluetoothSerial.clear
- bluetoothSerial.list
- bluetoothSerial.isEnabled
- bluetoothSerial.isConnected
- bluetoothSerial.readRSSI
- bluetoothSerial.showBluetoothSettings
- bluetoothSerial.enable
- bluetoothSerial.discoverUnpaired
- bluetoothSerial.setDeviceDiscoveredListener
- bluetoothSerial.clearDeviceDiscoveredListener
- bluetoothSerial.setName
- bluetoothSerial.setDiscoverable
Connect to a Bluetooth device.
bluetoothSerial.connect(macAddress_or_uuid, connectSuccess, connectFailure);
Function connect connects to a Bluetooth device. The callback is long running. Success will be called when the connection is successful. Failure is called if the connection fails, or later if the connection disconnects. An error message is passed to the failure callback.
For Android, connect takes a MAC address of the remote device.
For iOS, connect takes the UUID of the remote device. Optionally, you can pass an empty string and the plugin will connect to the first BLE peripheral.
For Windows Phone, connect takes a MAC address of the remote device. The MAC address can optionally surrounded with parenthesis. e.g. (AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF)
- macAddress_or_uuid: Identifier of the remote device.
- connectSuccess: Success callback function that is invoked when the connection is successful.
- connectFailure: Error callback function, invoked when error occurs or the connection disconnects.
Connect insecurely to a Bluetooth device.
bluetoothSerial.connectInsecure(macAddress, connectSuccess, connectFailure);
Function connectInsecure works like connect, but creates an insecure connection to a Bluetooth device. See the Android docs for more information.
For Android, connectInsecure takes a macAddress of the remote device.
connectInsecure is not supported on iOS.
connectInsecure is not supported on Windows Phone.
- macAddress: Identifier of the remote device.
- connectSuccess: Success callback function that is invoked when the connection is successful.
- connectFailure: Error callback function, invoked when error occurs or the connection disconnects.
Disconnect.
bluetoothSerial.disconnect([success], [failure], [macAddress]);
Function disconnect disconnects the current connection.
- success: Success callback function that is invoked when the connection is successful. [optional]
- failure: Error callback function, invoked when error occurs. [optional]
- macAddress: Identifier of the remote device, if not specified the identifier of the last connect or connectInsecure is used. [optional]
Writes data to the serial port.
bluetoothSerial.write(data, success, failure, [macAddress]);
Function write data to the serial port. Data can be an ArrayBuffer, string, array of integers, or a Uint8Array.
Internally string, integer array, and Uint8Array are converted to an ArrayBuffer. String conversion assume 8bit characters.
- data: ArrayBuffer of data
- success: Success callback function that is invoked when the connection is successful. [optional]
- failure: Error callback function, invoked when error occurs. [optional]
- macAddress: Identifier of the remote device, if not specified the identifier of the last connect or connectInsecure is used. [optional]
// string
bluetoothSerial.write("hello, world", success, failure);
// array of int (or bytes)
bluetoothSerial.write([186, 220, 222], success, failure);
// Typed Array
var data = new Uint8Array(4);
data[0] = 0x41;
data[1] = 0x42;
data[2] = 0x43;
data[3] = 0x44;
bluetoothSerial.write(data, success, failure);
// Array Buffer
bluetoothSerial.write(data.buffer, success, failure);
Gets the number of bytes of data available.
bluetoothSerial.available(success, failure, [macAddress]);
Function available gets the number of bytes of data available. The bytes are passed as a parameter to the success callback.
- success: Success callback function that is invoked when the connection is successful. [optional]
- failure: Error callback function, invoked when error occurs. [optional]
- macAddress: Identifier of the remote device, if not specified the identifier of the last connect or connectInsecure is used. [optional]
bluetoothSerial.available(function (numBytes) {
console.log("There are " + numBytes + " available to read.");
}, failure);
Reads data from the buffer.
bluetoothSerial.read(success, failure, [macAddress]);
Function read reads the data from the buffer. The data is passed to the success callback as a String. Calling read when no data is available will pass an empty String to the callback.
- success: Success callback function that is invoked with the number of bytes available to be read.
- failure: Error callback function, invoked when error occurs. [optional]
- macAddress: Identifier of the remote device, if not specified the identifier of the last connect or connectInsecure is used. [optional]
bluetoothSerial.read(function (data) {
console.log(data);
}, failure);
Reads data from the buffer until it reaches a delimiter.
bluetoothSerial.readUntil('\n', success, failure, [macAddress]);
Function readUntil reads the data from the buffer until it reaches a delimiter. The data is passed to the success callback as a String. If the buffer does not contain the delimiter, an empty String is passed to the callback. Calling read when no data is available will pass an empty String to the callback.
- delimiter: delimiter
- success: Success callback function that is invoked with the data.
- failure: Error callback function, invoked when error occurs. [optional]
- macAddress: Identifier of the remote device, if not specified the identifier of the last connect or connectInsecure is used. [optional]
bluetoothSerial.readUntil('\n', function (data) {
console.log(data);
}, failure);
Subscribe to be notified when data is received.
bluetoothSerial.subscribe('\n', success, failure, [macAddress]);
Function subscribe registers a callback that is called when data is received. A delimiter must be specified. The callback is called with the data as soon as the delimiter string is read. The callback is a long running callback and will exist until unsubscribe is called.
- delimiter: delimiter
- success: Success callback function that is invoked with the data.
- failure: Error callback function, invoked when error occurs. [optional]
- macAddress: Identifier of the remote device, if not specified the identifier of the last connect or connectInsecure is used. [optional]
// the success callback is called whenever data is received
bluetoothSerial.subscribe('\n', function (data) {
console.log(data);
}, failure);
Unsubscribe from a subscription.
bluetoothSerial.unsubscribe(success, failure, [macAddress]);
Function unsubscribe removes any notification added by subscribe and kills the callback.
- success: Success callback function that is invoked when the connection is successful. [optional]
- failure: Error callback function, invoked when error occurs. [optional]
- macAddress: Identifier of the remote device, if not specified the identifier of the last connect or connectInsecure is used. [optional]
bluetoothSerial.unsubscribe();
Subscribe to be notified when data is received.
bluetoothSerial.subscribeRawData(success, failure, [macAddress]);
Function subscribeRawData registers a callback that is called when data is received. The callback is called immediately when data is received. The data is sent to callback as an ArrayBuffer. The callback is a long running callback and will exist until unsubscribeRawData is called.
- success: Success callback function that is invoked with the data.
- failure: Error callback function, invoked when error occurs. [optional]
- macAddress: Identifier of the remote device, if not specified the identifier of the last connect or connectInsecure is used. [optional]
// the success callback is called whenever data is received
bluetoothSerial.subscribeRawData(function (data) {
var bytes = new Uint8Array(data);
console.log(bytes);
}, failure);
Unsubscribe from a subscription.
bluetoothSerial.unsubscribeRawData(success, failure, [macAddress]);
Function unsubscribeRawData removes any notification added by subscribeRawData and kills the callback.
- success: Success callback function that is invoked when the connection is successful. [optional]
- failure: Error callback function, invoked when error occurs. [optional]
- macAddress: Identifier of the remote device, if not specified the identifier of the last connect or connectInsecure is used. [optional]
bluetoothSerial.unsubscribeRawData();
Clears data in the buffer.
bluetoothSerial.clear(success, failure, [macAddress]);
Function clear removes any data from the receive buffer.
- success: Success callback function that is invoked when the connection is successful. [optional]
- failure: Error callback function, invoked when error occurs. [optional]
- macAddress: Identifier of the remote device, if not specified the identifier of the last connect or connectInsecure is used. [optional]
Lists bonded devices
bluetoothSerial.list(success, failure);
Function list lists the paired Bluetooth devices. The success callback is called with a list of objects.
Example list passed to success callback. See BluetoothDevice and BluetoothClass#getDeviceClass.
[{
"class": 276,
"id": "10:BF:48:CB:00:00",
"address": "10:BF:48:CB:00:00",
"name": "Nexus 7"
}, {
"class": 7936,
"id": "00:06:66:4D:00:00",
"address": "00:06:66:4D:00:00",
"name": "RN42"
}]
Function list lists the discovered Bluetooth Low Energy peripheral. The success callback is called with a list of objects.
Example list passed to success callback for iOS.
[{
"id": "CC410A23-2865-F03E-FC6A-4C17E858E11E",
"uuid": "CC410A23-2865-F03E-FC6A-4C17E858E11E",
"name": "Biscuit",
"rssi": -68
}]
The advertised RSSI may be included if available.
Function list lists the paired Bluetooth devices. The success callback is called with a list of objects.
Example list passed to success callback for Windows Phone.
[{
"id": "(10:BF:48:CB:00:00)",
"name": "Nexus 7"
}, {
"id": "(00:06:66:4D:00:00)",
"name": "RN42"
}]
id is the generic name for uuid or [mac]address so that code can be platform independent.
- success: Success callback function that is invoked with a list of bonded devices.
- failure: Error callback function, invoked when error occurs. [optional]
bluetoothSerial.list(function(devices) {
devices.forEach(function(device) {
console.log(device.id);
})
}, failure);
Reports the connection status.
bluetoothSerial.isConnected(success, failure, [macAddress]);
Function isConnected calls the success callback when connected to a peer and the failure callback when not connected.
- success: Success callback function, invoked when device connected.
- failure: Error callback function, invoked when device is NOT connected.
- macAddress: Identifier of the remote device, if not specified the identifier of the last connect or connectInsecure is used. [optional]
bluetoothSerial.isConnected(
function() {
console.log("Bluetooth is connected");
},
function() {
console.log("Bluetooth is *not* connected");
}
);
Reports if bluetooth is enabled.
bluetoothSerial.isEnabled(success, failure);
Function isEnabled calls the success callback when bluetooth is enabled and the failure callback when bluetooth is not enabled.
- success: Success callback function, invoked when Bluetooth is enabled.
- failure: Error callback function, invoked when Bluetooth is NOT enabled.
bluetoothSerial.isEnabled(
function() {
console.log("Bluetooth is enabled");
},
function() {
console.log("Bluetooth is *not* enabled");
}
);
Reads the RSSI from the connected peripheral.
bluetoothSerial.readRSSI(success, failure);
Function readRSSI calls the success callback with the rssi.
BLE only This function is experimental and the API may change
- success: Success callback function that is invoked with the rssi value.
- failure: Error callback function, invoked when error occurs. [optional]
bluetoothSerial.readRSSI(
function(rssi) {
console.log(rssi);
}
);
Show the Bluetooth settings on the device.
bluetoothSerial.showBluetoothSettings(success, failure);
Function showBluetoothSettings opens the Bluetooth settings on the operating systems.
showBluetoothSettings is not supported on iOS.
- success: Success callback function [optional]
- failure: Error callback function, invoked when error occurs. [optional]
bluetoothSerial.showBluetoothSettings();
Enable Bluetooth on the device.
bluetoothSerial.enable(success, failure);
Function enable prompts the user to enable Bluetooth.
enable is only supported on Android and does not work on iOS or Windows Phone.
If enable is called when Bluetooth is already enabled, the user will not prompted and the success callback will be invoked.
- success: Success callback function, invoked if the user enabled Bluetooth.
- failure: Error callback function, invoked if the user does not enabled Bluetooth.
bluetoothSerial.enable(
function() {
console.log("Bluetooth is enabled");
},
function() {
console.log("The user did *not* enable Bluetooth");
}
);
Discover unpaired devices
bluetoothSerial.discoverUnpaired(success, failure);
Function discoverUnpaired discovers unpaired Bluetooth devices. The success callback is called with a list of objects similar to list, or an empty list if no unpaired devices are found.
Example list passed to success callback.
[{
"class": 276,
"id": "10:BF:48:CB:00:00",
"address": "10:BF:48:CB:00:00",
"name": "Nexus 7"
}, {
"class": 7936,
"id": "00:06:66:4D:00:00",
"address": "00:06:66:4D:00:00",
"name": "RN42"
}]
The discovery process takes a while to happen. You can register notify callback with setDeviceDiscoveredListener. You may also want to show a progress indicator while waiting for the discover proces to finish, and the sucess callback to be invoked.
Calling connect on an unpaired Bluetooth device should begin the Android pairing process.
discoverUnpaired is not supported on iOS. iOS uses Bluetooth Low Energy and list discovers devices without pairing.
discoverUnpaired is not supported on Windows Phone.
- success: Success callback function that is invoked with a list of unpaired devices.
- failure: Error callback function, invoked when error occurs. [optional]
bluetoothSerial.discoverUnpaired(function(devices) {
devices.forEach(function(device) {
console.log(device.id);
})
}, failure);
Register a notify callback function to be called during bluetooth device discovery. For callback to work, discovery process must be started with discoverUnpaired. There can be only one registered callback.
Example object passed to notify callback.
{
"class": 276,
"id": "10:BF:48:CB:00:00",
"address": "10:BF:48:CB:00:00",
"name": "Nexus 7"
}
See discoverUnpaired.
- notify: Notify callback function that is invoked when device is discovered during discovery process.
bluetoothSerial.setDeviceDiscoveredListener(function(device) {
console.log('Found: '+device.id);
});
Clears notify callback function registered with setDeviceDiscoveredListener.
bluetoothSerial.clearDeviceDiscoveredListener();
Sets the human readable device name that is broadcasted to other devices.
bluetoothSerial.setName(newName);
For Android, setName takes a String for the new name.
Not currently implemented.
Not currently implemented.
- newName: Desired name of device.
bluetoothSerial.setName("Really cool name");
Makes the device discoverable by other devices.
bluetoothSerial.setDiscoverable(discoverableDuration);
For Android, setDiscoverable takes an int for the number of seconds device should be discoverable. A time of 0 will make it permanently discoverable.
Not currently implemented.
Not currently implemented.
- discoverableDuration: Desired number of seconds device should be discoverable for.
bluetoothSerial.setDiscoverable(0);
Current development is done with Cordova 4.2 on Android 5. Theoretically this code runs on PhoneGap 2.9 and greater. It should support Android-10 (2.3.2) and greater, but I only test with Android 4.x+.
Development Devices include
- Nexus 5 with Android 5
- Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 (GT-P7510) with Android 4.0.4 (see Issue #8)
- Google Nexus S with Android 4.1.2
- Nexus 4 with Android 5
- Samsung Galaxy S4 with Android 4.3
On the Arduino side I test with Sparkfun Mate Silver and the Seeed Studio Bluetooth Shield. The code should be generic and work with most hardware.
I highly recommend Adafruit's Bluefruit EZ-Link.
NOTE: Currently iOS only works with RedBear Labs Hardware, Adafruit Bluefruit LE, Laird BL600, and BlueGiga UART services
This plugin was originally developed with Cordova 3.4 using iOS 7.x on an iPhone 5s connecting to a RedBearLab BLEMini. Ensure that you have update the BLE Mini firmware to at least Biscuit-UART_20130313.bin.
Most development is now done with iOS 8 with Cordova 4.2 using RedBear Lab BLE Shield or Adafruit Bluefruit LE Friend.
For Bluetooth Low Energy, this plugin supports some hardware running known UART-like services, but can support any Bluetooth Low Energy hardware with a "serial like" service. This means a transmit characteristic that is writable and a receive characteristic that supports notification.
Edit BLEdefines.h and adjust the UUIDs for your service.
See Issue 141 for details on how to add support for Amp'ed RF Technology BT43H.
Most of the Bluetooth implementation was borrowed from the Bluetooth Chat example in the Android SDK.
The iOS code uses RedBearLab's BLE_Framework.
The API for available, read, readUntil was influenced by the BtSerial Library for Processing for Arduino
If you don't need serial over Bluetooth, try the PhoneGap Bluetooth Plugin for Android or perhaps phonegap-plugin-bluetooth.
If you need generic Bluetooth Low Energy support checkout my Cordova BLE Plugin.
If you need BLE for RFduino checkout my RFduino Plugin.
An example a properly formatted mac address is AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF
Try the code. If you find an problem or missing feature, file an issue or create a pull request.