Logo Questions Linux Laravel Mysql Ubuntu Git Menu
 

Connect multiple devices to one device via Bluetooth

I would like to create a game, where you must connect multiple devices (4+) to a main device (ex. a tablet) via Bluetooth. There would be two apps, a main one to which all data would be send from the phones, and to the phones. Is that even possible?

like image 403
domen Avatar asked Oct 06 '13 08:10

domen


People also ask

Can one Bluetooth device connect to multiple?

IMPORTANT: Bluetooth headphones and speakers can't connect with multiple devices at a time. Just think of how making multiple phone calls to multiple devices at once is not possible. If your headphones are already connected to one mobile device, they cannot be simultaneously connected with another mobile device.


1 Answers

Yes, that is possible. At its lowest level Bluetooth allows you to connect up to 7 devices to one master device. I have done this and it has worked well for me, but only on other platforms (linux) where I had lots of manual control - I've never tried that on Android and there are some possible complications so you will need to do some testing to be certain.

One of the issues is that you need the tablet to the master and Android doesn't give you any explicit control of this. It is likely that this won't be a problem because * the tablet will automatically become the master when you try to connect a second device to it, or * you will be able to control the master/slave roles by how you setup your socket connection

I will caution though that most apps using Bluetooth on mobile are not attempting many simultaneous connections and Bluetooth can be a bit fragile, e.g. what if two devices already have a Bluetooth connection for some other app - how might that affect the roles?

like image 66
Tom Avatar answered Sep 22 '22 09:09

Tom