How to programmatically tell if a Bluetooth device is connected?

Question

I understand how to get a list of paired devices but how can I tell if they are connected?

It must be possible since I see them listed in my phone's Bluetooth device list and it states their connection status.

Answer 1

Add bluetooth permission to your AndroidManifest,

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.BLUETOOTH" />

Then use intent filters to listen to the ACTION_ACL_CONNECTED, ACTION_ACL_DISCONNECT_REQUESTED, and ACTION_ACL_DISCONNECTED broadcasts:

public void onCreate() {
    ...
    IntentFilter filter = new IntentFilter();
    filter.addAction(BluetoothDevice.ACTION_ACL_CONNECTED);
    filter.addAction(BluetoothDevice.ACTION_ACL_DISCONNECT_REQUESTED);
    filter.addAction(BluetoothDevice.ACTION_ACL_DISCONNECTED);
    this.registerReceiver(mReceiver, filter);
}

//The BroadcastReceiver that listens for bluetooth broadcasts
private final BroadcastReceiver mReceiver = new BroadcastReceiver() {
    @Override
    public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
        String action = intent.getAction();
        BluetoothDevice device = intent.getParcelableExtra(BluetoothDevice.EXTRA_DEVICE);

        if (BluetoothDevice.ACTION_FOUND.equals(action)) {
           ... //Device found
        }
        else if (BluetoothDevice.ACTION_ACL_CONNECTED.equals(action)) {
           ... //Device is now connected
        }
        else if (BluetoothAdapter.ACTION_DISCOVERY_FINISHED.equals(action)) {
           ... //Done searching
        }
        else if (BluetoothDevice.ACTION_ACL_DISCONNECT_REQUESTED.equals(action)) {
           ... //Device is about to disconnect
        }
        else if (BluetoothDevice.ACTION_ACL_DISCONNECTED.equals(action)) {
           ... //Device has disconnected
        }           
    }
};

---

A few notes:

• There is no way to retrieve a list of connected devices at application startup. The Bluetooth API does not allow you to QUERY, instead it allows you to listen to CHANGES.
• A hoaky work around to the above problem would be to retrieve the list of all known/paired devices... then trying to connect to each one (to determine if you're connected).
• Alternatively, you could have a background service watch the Bluetooth API and write the device states to disk for your application to use at a later date.

Answer 2

In my use case I only wanted to see if a Bluetooth headset is connected for a VoIP app. The following solution worked for me:

public static boolean isBluetoothHeadsetConnected() {
    BluetoothAdapter mBluetoothAdapter = BluetoothAdapter.getDefaultAdapter();
    return mBluetoothAdapter != null && mBluetoothAdapter.isEnabled()
            && mBluetoothAdapter.getProfileConnectionState(BluetoothHeadset.HEADSET) == BluetoothHeadset.STATE_CONNECTED;
} 

Of course you'll need the Bluetooth permission:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.BLUETOOTH" />

---

Answer 3

Big thanks to Skylarsutton for his answer. I'm posting this as a response to his, but because I'm posting code I can't reply as a comment. I already upvoted his answer so am not looking for any points. Just paying it forward.

For some reason BluetoothAdapter.ACTION_ACL_CONNECTED could not be resolved by Android Studio. Perhaps it was deprecated in Android 4.2.2? Here is a modification of his code. The registration code is the same; the receiver code differs slightly. I use this in a service which updates a Bluetooth-connected flag that other parts of the app reference.

    public void onCreate() {
        //...
        IntentFilter filter1 = new IntentFilter(BluetoothDevice.ACTION_ACL_CONNECTED);
        IntentFilter filter2 = new IntentFilter(BluetoothDevice.ACTION_ACL_DISCONNECT_REQUESTED);
        IntentFilter filter3 = new IntentFilter(BluetoothDevice.ACTION_ACL_DISCONNECTED);
        this.registerReceiver(mReceiver, filter1);
        this.registerReceiver(mReceiver, filter2);
        this.registerReceiver(mReceiver, filter3);
    }

    //The BroadcastReceiver that listens for bluetooth broadcasts
    private final BroadcastReceiver BTReceiver = new BroadcastReceiver() {
    @Override
    public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
        String action = intent.getAction();

        if (BluetoothDevice.ACTION_ACL_CONNECTED.equals(action)) {
            //Do something if connected
            Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), "BT Connected", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
        }
        else if (BluetoothDevice.ACTION_ACL_DISCONNECTED.equals(action)) {
            //Do something if disconnected
            Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), "BT Disconnected", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
        }
        //else if...
    }
};

Answer 4

This code is for the headset profiles, probably it will work for other profiles too. First you need to provide profile listener (Kotlin code):

private val mProfileListener = object : BluetoothProfile.ServiceListener {
    override fun onServiceConnected(profile: Int, proxy: BluetoothProfile) {
        if (profile == BluetoothProfile.HEADSET) 
            mBluetoothHeadset = proxy as BluetoothHeadset            
    }

    override fun onServiceDisconnected(profile: Int) {
        if (profile == BluetoothProfile.HEADSET) {
            mBluetoothHeadset = null
        }
    }
}

Then while checking bluetooth:

mBluetoothAdapter.getProfileProxy(context, mProfileListener, BluetoothProfile.HEADSET)
if (!mBluetoothAdapter.isEnabled) {
    return Intent(BluetoothAdapter.ACTION_REQUEST_ENABLE)
}

It takes a bit of time until onSeviceConnected is called. After that you may get the list of the connected headset devices from:

mBluetoothHeadset!!.connectedDevices

Answer 5

BluetoothAdapter.getDefaultAdapter().isEnabled -> returns true when bluetooth is open

val audioManager = this.getSystemService(Context.AUDIO_SERVICE) as AudioManager

audioManager.isBluetoothScoOn -> returns true when device connected

Answer 6

I know this thread is kind of old, but I really needed to know if a device was connected right at the startup of my app, and I found the solution!

//List of Paired Devices
Set<BluetoothDevice> pairedDevices = bluetoothAdapter.getBondedDevices();

if (pairedDevices.size() > 0) {
// There are paired devices. Get the name and address of each paired device.

    for (BluetoothDevice device : pairedDevices) {
        String deviceName = device.getName();
        String deviceHardwareAddress = device.getAddress(); // MAC address
    }
}
else {
//There are no paired devices.
}

It is available right here, in Kotlin as well: https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/connectivity/bluetooth#QueryPairedDevices