The phone must initiate the Bluetooth connection
Will not connect Android to Android (https://github.com/don/BluetoothSerial/issues/50#issuecomment-66405396)
Will not connect iOS to iOS

Background Scanning on iOS

Android applications will continue to receive notification while the application is in the background.

iOS applications need additional configuration to allow Bluetooth to run in the background.

Add a new section to config.xml

<platform name="ios">
    <config-file parent="UIBackgroundModes" target="*-Info.plist">
        <array>
            <string>external-accessory</string>
        </array>
    </config-file>
</platform>

See Documentation.

Installing

Install with Cordova cli

$ cordova plugin add cordova-plugin-bluetooth-classic-serial-port
$ cordova plugin add https://github.com/MaximBelov/cordova-plugin-bluetooth-classic-serial-port.git

Install with Ionic

$ ionic cordova plugin add cordova-plugin-bluetooth-classic-serial-port

Note that this plugin's id changed from 'cordova-plugin-bluetooth-serial' to 'cordova-plugin-bluetooth-classic-serial-port' as part of the fork.

Plugin variables

All variables can be modified after installation by updating the values in package.json.

BLUETOOTH_USAGE_DESCRIPTION: [iOS] defines the values for NSBluetoothAlwaysUsageDescription.
IOS_INIT_ON_LOAD: [iOS] Prevents the Bluetooth plugin from being initialised until first access to the bluetoothClassicSerial window object. This allows an application to warn the user before the Bluetooth access permission is requested.

Android permission

To include the default set of permissions the plugin installs on Android SDK v33+, add the following snippet in your config.xml file, in the <platform name="android"> section:

    <config-file target="AndroidManifest.xml" parent="/manifest">
        <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION" android:maxSdkVersion="28" />
        <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION" android:maxSdkVersion="34" />
        <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.BLUETOOTH_SCAN" android:usesPermissionFlags="neverForLocation" />
        <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.BLUETOOTH_CONNECT" />
        <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.BLUETOOTH" android:maxSdkVersion="33" />
        <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.BLUETOOTH_ADMIN" android:maxSdkVersion="33" />
    </config-file>

For the best understanding about which permissions are needed for which combinations of target SDK version & OS version, see Android Bluetooth permissions

Ionic Production

$ npm i @awesome-cordova-plugins/bluetooth-classic-serial-port

Ionic Development

$ npm i @awesome-cordova-plugins-hotfix/bluetooth-classic-serial-port

iOS Notes

iOS requires that the device's protocol string is in the p-list.

Examples

Replace the text 'first.device.protocol.string' with the protocol string for the Bluetooth accessory you are connecting to. Create a new line for each protocol string.
Some devices may have more than one.
The plugin only allows for connection to one device and one protocol.
If you need to connect to another, disconnect, then connect to the required device and protocol.

Cordova Command Line config.xml entry for Supported Accessories

<platform name="ios">
    <config-file target="*-Info.plist" parent="UISupportedExternalAccessoryProtocols">
        <array>
            <string>first.device.protocol.string</string>
            <string>second.device.protocol.string</string>
         </array>
    </config-file>
</platform>

Examples

API

Methods

connect

Connect to a Bluetooth device.

bluetoothClassicSerial.connect(deviceId, interfaceIdArray, connectSuccess, connectFailure);

Description

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.
If a device has multiple interfaces then you can connect to them by providing the interface Ids.

Parameters

connectSuccess: Success callback function that is invoked when the connection is successful.
connectFailure: Error callback function, invoked when error occurs or the connection disconnects.

Android

deviceId: Identifier of the remote device. For Android this is the MAC address.
interfaceIdArray: This identifies the serial port to connect to. For Android this is the SPP_UUID. A common SPP_UUID string is "00001101-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB". The device documentation should provide the SPP_UUID.

iOS

deviceId: For iOS this is the connection ID
interfaceIdArray: This identifies the serial port to connect to. For iOS the interfaceId is the Protocol String. The Protocol String must be one of those specified in your config.xml.

For iOS, connect takes the ConnectionID as the deviceID, and the Protocol String as the interfaceId.

connectInsecure

Connect insecurely to a Bluetooth device.

bluetoothClassicSerial.connectInsecure(deviceId, interfaceIdArray, connectSuccess, connectFailure);

Description

Function connectInsecure works like connect, but creates an insecure connection to a Bluetooth device. See the Android docs for more information.

Android

For Android, see connect.

iOS

connectInsecure is not supported.

Parameters

deviceId: Identifier of the remote device. For Android this is the MAC address.
interfaceIdArray: This identifies the serial port to connect to. For Android this is the SPP_UUID. A common SPP_UUID string is "00001101-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB". The device documentation should provide the SPP_UUID.
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

bluetoothClassicSerial.disconnect(deviceId, interfaceId, success, failure);

Description

Function disconnect disconnects the current connection.

Parameters

deviceId: Identifier of the remote device. For Android this is the MAC address.
interfaceId: The interface to disconnect
success: Success callback function that is invoked when the connection is successful. [optional]
failure: Error callback function, invoked when error occurs. [optional]

disconnect

bluetoothClassicSerial.disconnectAll(success, failure);

Description

Function disconnectAll disconnects all connections.

Parameters

success: Success callback function that is invoked when the disconnection is successful. [optional]
failure: Error callback function, invoked when error occurs. [optional]

write

Writes data to the serial port.

bluetoothClassicSerial.write(deviceId, interfaceId, data, success, failure);

Description

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.

Parameters

deviceId: Identifier of the remote device. For Android this is the MAC address.
interfaceId: The interface to send the data to
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]

Quick Example

// string
bluetoothClassicSerial.write(deviceId, "00001101-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB", "hello, world", success, failure);

// array of int (or bytes)
bluetoothClassicSerial.write(deviceId, "00001101-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB", [186, 220, 222], success, failure);

// Typed Array
var data = new Uint8Array(4);
data[0] = 0x41;
data[1] = 0x42;
data[2] = 0x43;
data[3] = 0x44;
bluetoothClassicSerial.write(deviceId, interfaceId, data, success, failure);

// Array Buffer
bluetoothClassicSerial.write(deviceId, interfaceId, data.buffer, success, failure);

available

Gets the number of bytes of data available.

bluetoothClassicSerial.available(deviceId, interfaceId, success, failure);

Description

Function available gets the number of bytes of data available. The bytes are passed as a parameter to the success callback.

iOS

available is not supported.

Parameters

deviceId: Identifier of the remote device. For Android this is the MAC address.
interfaceId: The interface to check
success: Success callback function that is invoked when the connection is successful. [optional]
failure: Error callback function, invoked when error occurs. [optional]

Quick Example

bluetoothClassicSerial.available(deviceid, "00001101-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB", function (numBytes) { console.log("There are " + numBytes + " available to read."); }, failure);

read

Reads data from the buffer.

bluetoothClassicSerial.read(deviceId, interfaceId, success, failure);

Description

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.

Parameters

deviceId: Identifier of the remote device. For Android this is the MAC address.
interfaceId: The interface to read
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]

Quick Example

bluetoothClassicSerial.read(deviceId, "00001101-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB", function (data) { console.log(data);}, failure);

readUntil

Reads data from the buffer until it reaches a delimiter.

bluetoothClassicSerial.readUntil(deviceId, interfaceId, '\n', success, failure);

Description

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.

Parameters

deviceId: Identifier of the remote device. For Android this is the MAC address.
interfaceId: The interface to read
delimiter: delimiter
success: Success callback function that is invoked with the data.
failure: Error callback function, invoked when error occurs. [optional]

Quick Example

    bluetoothClassicSerial.readUntil(deviceId, "00001101-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB", '\n', function (data) {console.log(data);}, failure);

Subscribe to be notified when data is received.

bluetoothClassicSerial.subscribe(deviceId, interfaceId, '\n', success, failure);

Description

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.

Parameters

deviceId: Identifier of the remote device. For Android this is the MAC address.
interfaceId: The interface to subscribe to
delimiter: delimiter
success: Success callback function that is invoked with the data.
failure: Error callback function, invoked when error occurs. [optional]

Quick Example

// the success callback is called whenever data is received
bluetoothClassicSerial.subscribe(deviceId, "00:AA:DD:DD:1A:2D", '\n', function (data) {
    console.log(data);
}, failure);

unsubscribe

Unsubscribe from a subscription.

bluetoothClassicSerial.unsubscribe(deviceId, interfaceId, success, failure);

Description

Function unsubscribe removes any notification added by subscribe and kills the callback.

Parameters

deviceId: Identifier of the remote device. For Android this is the MAC address.
interfaceId: The interface to unsubscribe from
success: Success callback function that is invoked when the connection is successful. [optional]
failure: Error callback function, invoked when error occurs. [optional]

Quick Example

bluetoothClassicSerial.unsubscribe(deviceId, interfaceId, console.log, console.error);

subscribeRawData

Subscribe to be notified when data is received.

bluetoothClassicSerial.subscribeRawData(deviceId, interfaceId, success, failure);

Description

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.

Parameters

deviceId: Identifier of the remote device. For Android this is the MAC address.
interfaceId: The interface to subscribe to
success: Success callback function that is invoked with the data.
failure: Error callback function, invoked when error occurs. [optional]

Quick Example

// the success callback is called whenever data is received
bluetoothClassicSerial.subscribeRawData(deviceId, interfaceId, function (data) {
    var bytes = new Uint8Array(data);
    console.log(bytes);
}, failure);

unsubscribeRawData

Unsubscribe from a subscription.

bluetoothClassicSerial.unsubscribeRawData(deviceId, interfaceId, success, failure);

Description

Function unsubscribeRawData removes any notification added by subscribeRawData and kills the callback.

Parameters

deviceId: Identifier of the remote device. For Android this is the MAC address.
interfaceId: The interface to unsubscribe from
success: Success callback function that is invoked when the unsubscribe is successful. [optional]
failure: Error callback function, invoked when error occurs. [optional]

Quick Example

bluetoothClassicSerial.unsubscribeRawData(deviceId, "00001101-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB");

clear

Clears data in the buffer.

bluetoothClassicSerial.clear(deviceId, interfaceId, success, failure);

Description

Function clear removes any data from the receive buffer.

Parameters

success: Success callback function that is invoked when the connection is successful. [optional]
failure: Error callback function, invoked when error occurs. [optional]

list

Lists bonded devices

bluetoothClassicSerial.list(success, failure);

Description

Android

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": "Device SPP"
}, {
    "class": 7936,
    "id": "00:06:66:4D:00:00",
    "address": "00:06:66:4D:00:00",
    "name": "ESP32 Bluetooth classic"
}]

iOS

Function list lists the paired Bluetooth devices. The success callback is called with a list of objects.

Example list passed to success callback for iOS.

[{
    "id": 12345,
    "address": 12345,
    "class": "",
    "manufacturer": "Manufacturer 1",
    "name": "MFI Device",
    "modelNumber": "ABC123",
    "serialNumber": "ABC123",
    "firmwareRevision": "ABC",
    "hardwareRevision": "ABC",
    "protocols": [ "com.string.protocol" ]
}]

Note

id is the generic name for connection Id or [mac]address so that code can be platform independent.

Parameters

success: Success callback function that is invoked with a list of bonded devices.
failure: Error callback function, invoked when error occurs. [optional]

Quick Example

bluetoothClassicSerial.list(function(devices) {
    devices.forEach(function(device) {
        console.log(device.id, device);
    })
}, failure);

isConnected

Reports the connection status. If all interfaces are connected then the success callback is called. If one interface is not connected then the failure callback is called. The connect method does not allow the status of a single interface to be determined (unless you have only specified a single interfaceId in the prior connect method).

bluetoothClassicSerial.isConnected(deviceId, interfaceId, success, failure);

Description

Function isConnected calls the success callback when connected to a peer and the failure callback when not connected.

Parameters

deviceId: Identifier of the remote device. For Android this is the MAC address.
interfaceId: The interface to unsubscribe from
success: Success callback function, invoked when device connected.
failure: Error callback function, invoked when device is NOT connected.

Quick Example

bluetoothClassicSerial.isConnected(
    deviceId, 
    interfaceId,
    function() {
        console.log("Bluetooth is connected");
    },
    function() {
        console.log("Bluetooth is *not* connected");
    }
);

isEnabled

Reports if bluetooth is enabled.

bluetoothClassicSerial.isEnabled(success, failure);

Description

Function isEnabled calls the success callback when bluetooth is enabled and the failure callback when bluetooth is not enabled.

Parameters

success: Success callback function, invoked when Bluetooth is enabled.
failure: Error callback function, invoked when Bluetooth is NOT enabled.

Quick Example

bluetoothClassicSerial.isEnabled(
    function() {
        console.log("Bluetooth is enabled");
    },
    function() {
        console.log("Bluetooth is *not* enabled");
    }
);

showBluetoothSettings

Show the Bluetooth settings on the device.

bluetoothClassicSerial.showBluetoothSettings(success, failure);

Description

Function showBluetoothSettings opens the Bluetooth settings on the operating systems.

iOS

showBluetoothSettings is not supported.

Parameters

success: Success callback function [optional]
failure: Error callback function, invoked when error occurs. [optional]

Quick Example

bluetoothClassicSerial.showBluetoothSettings();

enable

Enable Bluetooth on the device.

bluetoothClassicSerial.enable(success, failure);

Description

Function enable prompts the user to enable Bluetooth. If enable is called when Bluetooth is already enabled, the user will not prompted and the success callback will be invoked.

iOS

enable is not supported.

enable is only supported on Android and does not work on iOS.

If enable is called when Bluetooth is already enabled, the user will not prompted and the success callback will be invoked.

Parameters

success: Success callback function, invoked if the user enabled Bluetooth.
failure: Error callback function, invoked if the user does not enabled Bluetooth.

Quick Example

bluetoothClassicSerial.enable(
    function() {
        console.log("Bluetooth is enabled");
    },
    function() {
        console.log("The user did *not* enable Bluetooth");
    }
);

discoverUnpaired

Discover unpaired devices

bluetoothClassicSerial.discoverUnpaired(success, failure);

Description

The behaviour of this method varies between Android and iOS.

Android

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 process to finish, and the success callback to be invoked.

Calling connect on an unpaired Bluetooth device should begin the Android pairing process.

iOS

Function discoverUnpaired will launch a native iOS window showing all devices which match the protocol string defined in the application's cordova config.xml file. Choosing a device from the list will initiate pairing and the details of that device will not trigger the success callback function. The device discovered listener must be used. Once paired the device is available for connection.

Parameters

success: Success callback function that is invoked with a list of unpaired devices.
failure: Error callback function, invoked when error occurs. [optional]

Quick Example

bluetoothClassicSerial.discoverUnpaired(function(devices) {
    devices.forEach(function(device) {
        console.log(device.id, device);
    })
}, failure);

setDeviceDiscoveredListener

Description

Android

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"
}

iOS

When a device is paired from the discoverUnpaired function it's details will be passed to the callback function. Unlike Android this will only be fired once for the selected device, not for all the available devices.

Parameters

notify: Notify callback function invoked when a device is discovered during a discovery process.

Quick Example

bluetoothClassicSerial.setDeviceDiscoveredListener(function(device) {
  console.log('Found: ',device.id);
});

clearDeviceDiscoveredListener

Clears notify callback function registered with setDeviceDiscoveredListener.

Quick Example

bluetoothClassicSerial.clearDeviceDiscoveredListener();

Misc

Where does this work?

Android

Development Devices include

Samsung A04 with Android 14

iOS

Development Devices include

iPhone 11-16

Props

This project is a fork of Don Coleman's https://github.com/don/BluetoothSerial so all the big props to him.

The multi-interface implementation for Android borrowed ideas from Shikoruma's pull request https://github.com/don/BluetoothSerial/pull/205 to Don Coleman's Cordova BluetoothSerial Plugin.

Android

Most of the Bluetooth implementation was borrowed from the Bluetooth Chat example in the Android SDK.

iOS

API

The API for available, read, readUntil was influenced by the BtSerial Library for Processing for Arduino

Wrong Bluetooth Plugin?

If you need generic Bluetooth Low Energy support checkout Don Colemans's Cordova BLE Plugin.

If you need BLE for RFduino checkout Don Colemans's RFduino Plugin.

For Windows Phone 8 support see the original project, Don Coleman's Cordova BluetoothSerial Plugin

What format should the Mac Address be in?

An example a properly formatted mac address is "AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF"

Feedback

Try the code. If you find a problem or missing feature, file an issue or create a pull request.

Keywords

FAQs

What is cordova-plugin-bluetooth-classic-serial-port?

Is cordova-plugin-bluetooth-classic-serial-port popular?

Is cordova-plugin-bluetooth-classic-serial-port well maintained?

Package last updated on 05 Aug 2025

Did you know?

Socket for GitHub automatically highlights issues in each pull request and monitors the health of all your open source dependencies. Discover the contents of your packages and block harmful activity before you install or update your dependencies.

Install