Pairing to a Bluetooth Low Energy device in Android

Question

Is it possible to automatically connect to Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) devices?

The Android documentation indicates that the [BluetoothDevice.connectGatt()](https://developer.android.com/reference/android/bluetooth/BluetoothDevice.html#connectGatt(android.content.Context, boolean, android.bluetooth.BluetoothGattCallback)) has a autoConnect parameter:

boolean indicating whether to automatically connect to the BLE device as soon as it becomes available

However, to call this, you need a BluetoothDevice first. AFAIK the only way to get this is by scanning available devices. Setting up a scan every time to connect to a device doesn't seem like a desirable way. Also, I tried using nRF Control Master Panel to connect to my peripheral using the autoConnect = true, but this does not connect to the device. Connecting without the autoConnect however does make it connect, and I've managed to read and write data from and to my peripheral this way with success.

The general way in Bluetooth to have two devices paired. However, searching for my BLE device and using BluetoothDevice.createBond() does not seem to work. In my ACTION_BOND_STATE_CHANGED-callback, the EXTRA_BOND_STATE and EXTRA_PREVIOUS_BOND_STATE just go from BOND_BONDING to BOND_NONE and back. I don't read out an error or anything - so maybe I'm missing something here. Here's the callback:

private final BroadcastReceiver mGattUpdateReceiver = new BroadcastReceiver() {
    @Override
    public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
        final String action = intent.getAction();
        if (BluetoothDevice.ACTION_BOND_STATE_CHANGED.equals(action)) {

            final int state = intent.getIntExtra(BluetoothDevice.EXTRA_BOND_STATE, BluetoothDevice.ERROR);
            final int prevState = intent.getIntExtra(BluetoothDevice.EXTRA_PREVIOUS_BOND_STATE, BluetoothDevice.ERROR);

            Log.e(TAG, "prevState " + prevState + ", state " + state);
        }
    }
};

So this type of bonding does not seem to work.

My question is: am I doing something wrong for pairing or the autoConnect? Or is how I currently have it working the only correct way? It seems like a real pain (and battery-drain) to have to scan for devices every time, see if the device is there, if so read data and check back tomorrow, otherwise check back in an hour or so. The point of Bluetooth is that it should pair directly whenever it is near, isn't it?

Answer 1

It does work without rescan. You do not need pairing at all. Just call BluetoothGatt.connect() again for gatt object you aquired from first connection. You will receive onConnectionStateChange event in your BluetoothGattCallback as soon as ble device will be available again. If you use autoconnect option, you don't even need to call BluetoothGatt.connect() method. Just monitor your cllback, and don't forget to close BluetoothGatt with close() if you don't see any connection for too long.

And yes, to obtain first connection you should scan for ble devices with BluetoothAdapter.startLeScan, not the common bluetooth devices scan.