When will Bluetooth be turned on?

[Crussell (Chris)]

I know its there

Hub Firmware Release Notes - OTA - 16.9 - V2

What would happen if someone were to accidentally stumble upon a way to enable Bluetooth?:innocent:

[tgauchat (ActionTiles.com co-founder Terry @ActionTiles; GitHub: @cosmicpuppy)]

What are you implying?

Surely:

1. The firmware is cryptographically signed and cannot be modified in transit. If not, then I’m very very very concerned.

2. The Hub and SmartThings cloud can check the integrity of the Hub OS (including checking if Bluetooth or USB ports are enabled) and shut it down. If not, again, I’m very very very concerned.

[michaelahess (Michael Hess)]

He stabbed it with a stun baton, BAM active! (albeit briefly)

[Glen_King]

@Merlin

There are TONS of BlueTooth options that could be created!

Bluetooth keyboard support (or simulation of keyboards,) smart phone interaction, proximity, bluetooth remote simulation, etc.

If they were SMART (aka SMARTthings,) they would go ahead an “enable” it, and allow the user-community to develop our custom apps. From that, they can learn what’s hot, and what’s not, and respectively focus their follow-on corporate support/development.

Instead, it remains “dark” (aka useless!)

ST, are you listening to your user-development community??

[AMaskedMan (Tj Cooper (A Masked Man))]

couldnt you make bluetooth repeaters? At any event, it should be up to us, the customer, whether or not we want to use it.

[michaelahess (Michael Hess)]

No, and yes I agree.

[JDRoberts]

There’s something going on technically.

The wink hub has Bluetooth, but hasn’t enabled it for anything beyond the hub’s own initial pairing.

The iris hub has Bluetooth, but hasn’t enabled it. ( they said they’re waiting for Bluetooth mesh).

Google OnHub has Bluetooth, but hasn’t enabled it.

Vera Plus has Bluetooth, but it doesn’t appear to be functional beyond initial pairing.

Securifi’s Almond 3 has Bluetooth, but hasn’t enabled it.

The SmartThings hub has Bluetooth, but hasn’t enabled it.

Seeing a pattern?

Since there are existing Bluetooth home automation devices on the market, notably some locks and buttons, the question is why haven’t any of these hubs enabled it?

I don’t know for sure, and I can think of at least two possibilities, but it does look like this is more than just a SmartThings issue.

[Untyped]

Reading that article above gives me goosebumps :)) Bluetooth mesh network sounds amazing. Range would not be an issue in the perimeter of the home, power management in Bluetooth is outstanding, every command will be instant and setup from your already Bluetooth ready phone will be a breeze.

Just think of all the Bluetooth devices out there that are advertised as 1-2 year battery life !

How cool would it be to be able to buy those eBay Bluetooth color LED bulbs that come with a remote and cost $5 and have them connect to ST ?

[JDRoberts]

@Untyped

Reading that article above gives me goosebumps :)) Bluetooth mesh network sounds amazing. Range would not be an issue in the perimeter of the home, power management in Bluetooth is outstanding, every command will be instant and setup from your already Bluetooth ready phone will be a breeze.

Just think of all the Bluetooth devices out there that are advertised as 1-2 year battery life !

How cool would it be to be able to buy those eBay Bluetooth color LED bulbs that come with a remote and cost $5 and have them connect to ST ?

Yeah, that would be cool. Unfortunately, it’s not going to happen. The new Bluetooth can’t work with the old devices.

But it looks like the new Bluetooth will be in a number of mobile phones by the middle of 2017, and that should push the development of additional new devices.

[Glen_King]

Perhaps there’s a tech issue. I don’t know.
What I DO know is this: phones as presence devices would be a heckuva lot easier if BT were enabled at the hub. Make the hub always discoverable but not pair-able without a valid code, put BT Autoconnect on your android phone, and away you go.

[Kurrgo (Patrick)]

Target has introduced a series of la is that have Bluetooth integration.

They looks pretty sweet and cost about the same as a non-smart lamp. I’d love to hear that they would work with my ST!!

[Lucas_Mesquita]

Hi

I’ve been foolowing the topic for BT news with ST. Any one knows anything?
I intend to integrate a BT Soundbar.

[geko]

@Lucas_Mesquita

I intend to integrate a BT Soundbar.

When (and if) SmartThings enables Bluetooth, I doubt it’ll support audio. AFAIK, it only supports BLE (GATT profiles).

[TMiller (Tony)]

I would love BT so that my Anymote could be natively integrated with my Smarthing Hub!

[Lucas_Mesquita]

Thanks for the comments

[JDRoberts]

@Lucas_Mesquita

Hi

I’ve been foolowing the topic for BT news with ST. Any one knows anything?
I intend to integrate a BT Soundbar.

As @geko mentioned, it’s unlikely that smartthings will ever use the Bluetooth profile that the Soundbar uses.

If the Soundbar is compatible with the $89 harmony hub, you could get integration that way.

Device Compatibility

[Mooseknuckle]

I’m getting ready to give up on St ecosystem. It’s all a bunch of false promises and end of life on products they sell… No bt, no thingshield and today’s update messed my ZigBee up completely…

[Mooseknuckle]

Well forget about Bluetooth for the next little while guys…

[foltz61]

Since the last update the hub IDE has no listing for BT at all.

[mdsutton81 (Martin Sutton)]

Any update Smartthings???