bluetoothctl - Man Page

List available controllers.

Usage

> list

Example Display all Bluetooth controllers available on the system

> list

Controller information.

Usage

> show [ctrl]

Uses

org.bluez.Adapter(5) properties

[ctrl]

Bluetooth controller address

Example Display information for currently selected controller

> show

Example Show information for controller 00:11:22:33:44:55

> show 00:11:22:33:44:55

Select default controller.

Usage

> select <ctrl>

<ctrl>

Bluetooth controller address

Example Select controller 00:11:22:33:44:55

> select 00:11:22:33:44:55

List available devices, with an optional property as the filter.

Usage

> devices [Paired/Bonded/Trusted/Connected]

[Paired/Bonded/Trusted/Connected]

Filter to show only devices with specific property (optional)

Example List all discovered devices

> devices

Example List only paired devices

> devices Paired

Example List only bonded devices

> devices Bonded

Example List only trusted devices

> devices Trusted

Example List only currently connected devices

> devices Connected

Set controller alias.

Usage

> system-alias <name>

Uses

org.bluez.Adapter(5) property Alias

<name>

New alias name for the Bluetooth controller (required)

Example Set controller alias with spaces (note quotes)

> system-alias "My Desktop Bluetooth"

Example Set controller alias without spaces

> system-alias MyLaptop

Example Set controller alias with hyphens

> system-alias "Home-Office-PC"

Reset controller alias.

Usage

> reset-alias

Uses

org.bluez.Adapter(5) property Alias

Example Reset controller alias to default (usually the hostname)

> reset-alias

Set controller power.

When the controller is powered off, the USB port the controller is attached to is put into a suspend state.

Usage

> power <on/off>

Uses

org.bluez.Adapter(5) property Powered

<on/off>

Power state - "on" to enable or "off" to disable the controller (required)

Example Turn on the Bluetooth controller

> power on

Example Turn off the Bluetooth controller

> power off

Enable/disable advertising with given type.

When the controller advertises an LE device (peripheral) it will generate a random address for its own privacy if the controller is capable of it, it will use its public address if it does not support the feature (address of the device).

A device can advertise if it initiated the connection to another advertising device.

Usage

> advertise <on/off/type>

Uses

org.bluez.LEAdvertisingManager(5) method RegisterAdvertisement

<on/off/type>

Advertising mode - "on", "off", "peripheral", or "broadcast" (required)

Example Enable basic LE advertising

> advertise on

Example Disable LE advertising

> advertise off

Example Advertise as peripheral device

> advertise peripheral

Example Advertise as broadcast source

> advertise broadcast

Set device alias.

Usage

> set-alias <alias>

Uses

org.bluez.Device(5) property Alias

<alias>

New alias name for the device (required)

Example Set device alias with spaces (note quotes)

> set-alias "My Headphones"

Example Set device alias without spaces

> set-alias MyMouse

Example Set device alias with hyphens

> set-alias "Kitchen-Speaker"

Scan for devices.

For LE, scanning is an important requirement before connecting or pairing.

The purpose of scanning is to find devices that are advertising with their discoverable flag set (either limited or general). Once you have found the address then you can connect or pair.

Usage

> scan <on/off/bredr/le>

Uses

org.bluez.Adapter(5) methods StartDiscovery, StopDiscovery

<on/off/bredr/le>

Scan mode - "on", "off", "bredr" for Classic, or "le" for Low Energy (required)

Example Start scanning for all device types (LE + Classic)

> scan on

Example Stop scanning

> scan off

Example Scan for Low Energy devices only

> scan le

Example Scan for BR/EDR (Classic) devices only

> scan bredr

Pair with device.

This will pair with a device and then trust and connect to it. If the device is already paired this will first remove the pairing.

The command can either be used while the controller is in the connected or not connected state.

If the controller is already connected then the pair command can be used without an arguments. If the controller is not connected, the pair command can be given the address of a device with an active scan report and it will initiate the connection before pairing.

Before pairing the agent must be selected to choose the authentication mechanism.

Usage

> pair [dev]

Uses

org.bluez.Device(5) method Pair

[dev]

Device MAC address (XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX) (optional, uses current device if omitted)

Example Pair with device using MAC address

> pair 00:11:22:33:44:55

Example Pair with another device

> pair AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF

Example Pair using device object path

> pair /org/bluez/hci0/dev_00_11_22_33_44_55

Set controller pairable mode.

This enables/disables pairing. If pairing is disabled then the controller will not accept any pairing requests.

Usage

> pairable <on/off>

Uses

org.bluez.Adapter(5) property Pairable

<on/off>

Pairable mode - "on" to accept or "off" to reject pairing requests (required)

Example Enable pairing (accept pairing requests)

> pairable on

Example Disable pairing (reject pairing requests)

> pairable off

Set discoverable mode.

This enables/disables discoverable mode. If discoverable is disabled then the controller will not respond to any scan requests.

In LE if discoverable if off the controller will just passively scan and not make scan requests to advertising devices. If on it will make the advertising requests.

It will use a random address if supported by the controller. The length of time "discoverable on" is valid is determined by discoverable-timeout command.

Usage

> discoverable <on/off>

Uses

org.bluez.Adapter(5) property Discoverable

<on/off>

Discoverable mode - "on" to be discoverable or "off" to be non-discoverable (required)

Example Make controller discoverable to other devices

> discoverable on

Example Make controller non-discoverable

> discoverable off

Set discoverable timeout.

The time in seconds that "discoverable on" is valid.

Usage

> discoverable-timeout [value]

Uses

org.bluez.Adapter(5) property DiscoverableTimeout

[value]

Timeout duration in seconds for discoverable mode (0 for unlimited, optional)

Example Show current discoverable timeout value

> discoverable-timeout

Example Set discoverable timeout to 30 seconds

> discoverable-timeout 30

Example Set discoverable timeout to 2 minutes

> discoverable-timeout 120

Example Set discoverable timeout to 5 minutes

> discoverable-timeout 300

Example Set unlimited discoverable timeout

> discoverable-timeout 0

Enable/disable agent with given capability.

This chooses the local authentication mechanism of the controller. It is needed for pairing and allows you to choose the IO capabilities of the controller.

The valid agent capabilities are: DisplayOnly, DisplayYesNo, KeyboardDisplay, KeyboardOnly, NoInputNoOutput.

Usage

> agent <on/off/auto/capability>

Uses

org.bluez.AgentManager(5) method RegisterAgent

<on/off/auto/capability>

Agent mode - "on", "off", "auto", or capability type (DisplayOnly, DisplayYesNo, KeyboardDisplay, KeyboardOnly, NoInputNoOutput) (required)

Example Enable agent with default capability

> agent on

Example Disable agent

> agent off

Example Enable agent that can only display pairing codes

> agent DisplayOnly

Example Enable agent that can display codes and accept/reject

> agent DisplayYesNo

Example Enable agent that can display and input pairing codes

> agent KeyboardDisplay

Example Enable agent that can only input pairing codes

> agent KeyboardOnly

Example Enable agent with no input/output (JustWorks)

> agent NoInputNoOutput

Set current agent as the default one.

After selecting the agent this will make it the default agent.

Usage

> default-agent

Uses

org.bluez.AgentManager(5) method RequestDefaultAgent

Example Set the current agent as default

> default-agent

Trust device.

Usage

> trust [dev]

Uses

org.bluez.Device(5) property Trusted

[dev]

Device MAC address (XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX) or object path (optional, uses current device if omitted)

Example Trust device using MAC address

> trust 00:11:22:33:44:55

Example Trust another device

> trust AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF

Example Trust device using object path

> trust /org/bluez/hci0/dev_00_11_22_33_44_55

Untrust device.

Usage

> untrust [dev]

Uses

org.bluez.Device(5) property Trusted

[dev]

Device MAC address (XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX) or object path (optional, uses current device if omitted)

Example Remove trust from device using MAC address

> untrust 00:11:22:33:44:55

Example Remove trust from another device

> untrust AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF

Example Remove trust using object path

> untrust /org/bluez/hci0/dev_00_11_22_33_44_55

Block device.

Usage

> block [dev]

Uses

org.bluez.Device(5) property Blocked

[dev]

Device MAC address (XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX) or object path (optional, uses current device if omitted)

Example Block device using MAC address

> block 00:11:22:33:44:55

Example Block another device

> block AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF

Example Block device using object path

> block /org/bluez/hci0/dev_00_11_22_33_44_55

Unblock device

Usage

> unblock [dev]

Uses

org.bluez.Device(5) property Blocked

[dev]

Device MAC address (XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX) or object path (optional, uses current device if omitted)

Example Unblock device using MAC address

> unblock 00:11:22:33:44:55

Example Unblock another device

> unblock AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF

Example Unblock device using object path

> unblock /org/bluez/hci0/dev_00_11_22_33_44_55

Remove device.

Usage

> remove <dev>

Uses

org.bluez.Adapter(5) method RemoveDevice

<dev>

Device MAC address (XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX) or object path (required)

Example Remove device using MAC address

> remove 00:11:22:33:44:55

Example Remove another device

> remove AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF

Example Remove device using object path

> remove /org/bluez/hci0/dev_00_11_22_33_44_55

Connect device.

This will initiate a connection to a device.

By default this commands tries to connect all the profiles the remote device supports and have been flagged as auto-connectable. In case when the UUID of the remote service is given only that service will be connected. The UUID can be either a short form (16-bit UUID) or a long form (128-bit UUID). There are also some special values for well-known profiles like "a2dp-sink", "a2dp-source", "hfp-hf", "hfp-ag", "ftp" or "spp".

To connect with an LE device the controller must have an active scan report of the device it wants to connect to.

If no advertising report is received before the timeout a le-connection-abort-by-local error will be issued. In that case either try again to connect assuming the device is advertising.

Usage

> connect <dev> [uuid]

Uses

org.bluez.Device(5) methods Connect, ConnectProfile

<dev>

Device MAC address (XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX) or object path (required)

[uuid]

Specific service UUID to connect to (16-bit, 128-bit UUID, or profile name like "a2dp-sink", "hfp-hf", etc.) (optional)

Example Connect to device (all supported profiles)

> connect 1C:48:F9:9D:81:5C

Example Connect to HSP Headset profile

> connect 1C:48:F9:9D:81:5C hsp-hs

Example Connect to A2DP Sink profile

> connect 1C:48:F9:9D:81:5C a2dp-sink

Example Connect to A2DP Source profile

> connect 1C:48:F9:9D:81:5C a2dp-source

Example Connect to HFP Hands-Free profile

> connect 1C:48:F9:9D:81:5C hfp-hf

Example Connect to HFP Audio Gateway profile

> connect 1C:48:F9:9D:81:5C hfp-ag

Example Connect to File Transfer Profile

> connect 1C:48:F9:9D:81:5C ftp

Example Connect to Serial Port Profile

> connect 1C:48:F9:9D:81:5C spp

Example Connect using full 128-bit UUID (HSP)

> connect 1C:48:F9:9D:81:5C 00001108-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb

Example Connect using short 16-bit UUID (HSP)

> connect 1C:48:F9:9D:81:5C 0x1108

Example Connect to A2DP profile using short UUID

> connect 1C:48:F9:9D:81:5C 0x110E

Disconnect device.

By default this commands disconnects all profiles and then terminates the connection. In case when the UUID of the remote service is given only that service will be disconnected.

For LE when disconnecting from an active connection the device address is not needed.

Usage

> disconnect [dev] [uuid]

Uses

org.bluez.Device(5) methods Disconnect, DisconnectProfile

[dev]

Device MAC address (XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX) or object path (optional, uses current device if omitted)

[uuid]

Specific service UUID to disconnect from (16-bit, 128-bit UUID, or profile name) (optional)

Example Disconnect all profiles and terminate connection

> disconnect 1C:48:F9:9D:81:5C

Example Disconnect only A2DP Sink profile

> disconnect 1C:48:F9:9D:81:5C a2dp-sink

Example Disconnect only HFP Hands-Free profile

> disconnect 1C:48:F9:9D:81:5C hfp-hf

Example Disconnect only Serial Port Profile

> disconnect 1C:48:F9:9D:81:5C spp

Example Disconnect A2DP profile using short UUID

> disconnect 1C:48:F9:9D:81:5C 0x110E

Example Disconnect HSP profile using full UUID

> disconnect 1C:48:F9:9D:81:5C 00001108-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb

Device information.

Usage

> info [dev/set]

Uses

org.bluez.Device(5) properties

[dev/set]

Device MAC address (XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX), object path, or DeviceSet (optional, uses current device if omitted)

Example Show detailed information for device

> info 1C:48:F9:9D:81:5C

Example Show information for another device

> info 00:11:22:33:44:55

Example Show device info using object path

> info /org/bluez/hci0/dev_1C_48_F9_9D_81_5C

Get/Set preferred bearer.

Usage

> bearer <dev> [last-seen/bredr/le]

Uses

org.bluez.Device(5) property PreferredBearer

<dev>

Device MAC address (XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX) or object path (required)

[last-seen/bredr/le]

Preferred bearer type - "last-seen", "bredr" for Classic, or "le" for Low Energy (optional)

Example get preferred bearer

> bearer <addr>
PreferredBearer: last-seen

Example set preferred bearer to LE

> bearer <addr> le
[CHG] Device <addr> PreferredBearer: le
Changing le succeeded

Example set preferred bearer to BREDR

> bearer <addr> bredr
[CHG] Device <addr> PreferredBearer: bredr
Changing bredr succeeded