EFR Connect Reference Guide#
Introduction#
Silicon Labs EFR Connect is a generic mobile app for testing and debugging Bluetooth® Low Energy (BLE) applications. It can help developers to create and troubleshoot BLE applications running on Silicon Labs’ development boards. With EFR Connect, you can quickly troubleshoot your BLE embedded application code, Over-the-Air (OTA) firmware update, data throughput, interoperability, and many other features, with Android and iOS mobiles. You can use the EFR Connect app with all Silicon Labs Bluetooth development kits, System-on-Chips (SoCs), and modules.
This application has five main functional areas:
By default, the app opens in the Scan view. Use the bottom tab bar to move between views.
The EFR Connect mobile application source code for both iOS and Android is available on GitHub under the Apache 2.0 license.
This version of the document refers to the version 2.6.0 for both the iOS and Android app. Because the apps have the same UI for most features, this document utilizes screenshots from the Android app. If a UI feature differs depending on platform, the differences are explained.
Scan View#
The Scan view contains a collection of tools for BLE firmware application developers. It consists of three sub-views: Scanner, RSSI Graph and Active Connections. Together they form a feature-rich set of tools to scan, connect, and interact with BLE devices.
Scanner#
Scanner is the default view. It is a powerful tool to explore the BLE devices around you. Key features include the following:
Scan for BLE devices
Sort the list by the RSSI
Filter devices to narrow down the scan results
Label favorite devices to place them on the top of the list
Inspect advertising data
Connect to a specific device
Start and Stop Scanning#
You can control when scanning starts and stops. The application does this automatically in only four situations:
Opening Scanner view starts scanning
Connecting to a device stops scanning
Refreshing the list automatically starts scanning if it was stopped
Locking the screen automatically stops scanning
Scanning will continue indefinitely until you tap Stop Scanning at the bottom right or exit Scan View. Start/Stop action does not clear the list of devices. This means that, if scanning resumes with an existing device list, new devices will be added to the end. Exiting Scan view as well as pulling down and releasing the device list causes the list to refresh. As mentioned above, pulling down also automatically starts scanning if it was stopped before.
Device Cards#
Each device discovered by the app is represented by a card containing information about that device. The image below shows the main elements of the device card.
Device name, if it's part of the advertisement, either through AD type Complete Local Name (0x09) or Shortened Local Name (0x08). If the device name is not part of the advertisement packet or the scan response packet, the app displays "N/A".
Bluetooth address. Note: On iOS the Bluetooth address is not accessible by the application.
Connect button if the advertisement is of connectable type.
RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indicator).
Advertising interval.
Known beacon format (iBeacon, Eddystone or Altbeacon). If no beacon format is identified, it will be "Unspecified".
Advertisement type (connectable or non-connectable).
The star indicates whether the device has been marked as favorite (star is blue). This can be easily toggled by tapping the star, which changes between blue and gray.
Bonding status. Note: Bonding status is not available on iOS due to system limitations.
Expand view, to inspect advertising data.
The device card can be expanded to show the advertisement data details. Once expanded, each row shows one of the advertisement data types that are part of the advertisement packet.
If the advertisement has a known beacon format, the details are also parsed according to that specific beacon format. The image below shows the details from an iBeacon advertisement (Bluetooth - SoC iBeacon sample application running on an EFR32BG22 kit)