15 Useful Bluetooth Tools for Linux

The Bluetooth wireless technology is a standard for a small-form factor, low-cost radio solution that provides links between mobile computers, mobile phones, other portable handheld devices, and connectivity to the Internet.

In Linux, the official implementation of the Bluetooth protocol stack is BlueZ. It consists of many modules:

• Bluetooth kernel subsystem core.
• L2CAP and SCO audio kernel layers.
• RFCOMM, BNEP, CMTP and HIDP kernel implementations.
• HCI UART, USB, PCMCIA and virtual device drivers.
• General Bluetooth and SDP libraries and daemons.
• Configuration and testing utilities.
• Protocol decoding and analysis tools.

There are many other useful Bluetooth tools available for Linux. This article showcases our favorites. Here’s our verdict captured in a legendary LinuxLinks-ratings chart.

Let’s explore the Bluetooth tools at hand. For each title we have compiled its own portal page, providing a screenshot of the software in action, a full description with an in-depth analysis of its features, together with links to relevant resources.

This article has been updated to reflect the changes outlined in our recent announcement.

Explore our carefully curated directory of recommended free and open source software, covering every major software category. The directory forms part of our extensive collection of articles for Linux enthusiasts. It includes hundreds of detailed reviews, together with free and open source alternatives to proprietary software from companies such as Google, Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, IBM, Cisco, Oracle, and Autodesk. LinuxLinks also covers interesting projects worth exploring, Linux-compatible hardware, free programming books and tutorials, and much more. Know a useful free and open source Linux application that we haven’t covered? Tell us about it using our submission form.