Bluetooth

Revision 49 as of 2014-05-20 11:31:34

Clear message

This is the home of Ubuntu’s Bluetooth team. Join up to help us make Bluetooth ROCK in Ubuntu, working together with upstream to test it and make it work out of the box. There’s also a mailing list of Bluetooth-related bugs. For help using Bluetooth in Ubuntu, see Ubuntu Help.

How you can help out:

Partial specification

Use cases

(X) not possible (./) defined Warning /!\ undefined

Function

Phone

Tablet

PC

Connect a Bluetooth USB dongle

(X)

(X)

Warning /!\

Verify that Bluetooth is working

(./) indicator, settings

Warning /!\

Set up a Bluetooth headset

(./) settings

Warning /!\ indicator, settings

Stop using a Bluetooth headset

Warning /!\

Warning /!\

Warning /!\

Set up a Bluetooth mouse

(X)

(X)

Warning /!\

– No other mouse is connected

(X)

(X)

Warning /!\

Stop using a Bluetooth mouse

Warning /!\

Warning /!\

Warning /!\

Set up a Bluetooth keyboard

Warning /!\

Warning /!\

Warning /!\

Stop using a Bluetooth keyboard

Warning /!\

Warning /!\

Warning /!\

Set up a Bluetooth printer

Warning /!\

Warning /!\

Warning /!\

Stop using a Bluetooth printer

Warning /!\

Warning /!\

Warning /!\

Transfer files using Bluetooth

Warning /!\

Warning /!\

Warning /!\

Set up a Wii Remote as a joystick

Warning /!\

Warning /!\

Warning /!\

Stop using a Wii Remote

Warning /!\

Warning /!\

Warning /!\

Turn off Bluetooth to save power

(./) indicator, settings

(./) indicator, settings

Bluetooth icon

bluetooth-icons.png

In the Bluetooth indicator across form factors, and in the System Settings quick access area, the current Bluetooth status should be represented by an icon:

  • If Bluetooth is off, a skeletal Bluetooth icon, with accessible label “Bluetooth (off)”.
  • If it is on, a lozenge Bluetooth icon (fixing bug 761766), with accessible label “Bluetooth (on)”.

  • If a device is paired, a lozenge Bluetooth icon between two arrowheads, with accessible label “Bluetooth (paired)”.

Each of these should always be full color when used in System Settings or dialogs, and always monochrome when used in the menu bar or status bar. (Though when Bluetooth is off on a phone, there is no icon at all.)

PC

bluetooth-menu-setting.png

At the bottom of the “Bluetooth” panel in System Settings should be a checkbox, “Show Bluetooth status in the menu bar”. It should be checked by default for a new user account, but should be sensitive only when there is a powered Bluetooth card or dongle.

bluetooth-menu.png

Whenever that checkbox is sensitive and checked, a Bluetooth menu should appear in the menu bar.

bluetooth-menu-title.png

The menu should begin with “Bluetooth” and “Visible” switch items. Whenever “Bluetooth” is off, “Visible” should be both off and insensitive.

After a separator, “Send Files to Device…” should open a “Choose Files to Send” file picker, followed (if you select files) by a dialog for choosing which device to send the files to. And “Show Files on Device…” should open the dialog for choosing which device to browse. Both items should be insensitive when Bluetooth is off.

If any devices have been paired and not forgotten, these should be listed following another separator, with an icon for each.

Finally, after another separator, “Set Up New Device…” should open the setup assistant, and “Bluetooth Settings…” should open the Bluetooth panel of System Settings.

See also

Phone

System Settings

Access

bluetooth-access.phone.png

The main screen of System Settings should have a “Bluetooth” category.

In addition, whenever (a) any device is paired, or (b) a device was paired the last time Bluetooth was turned off, or (c) you have not left System Settings since the last time Bluetooth was on, the quick access area should contain a “Bluetooth” switch. The switch itself should temporarily be replaced by a spinner whenever Bluetooth is turning on or off.

Discoverability

(bug 1268047)

The phone should be discoverable when — and only when — you are on the System Settings “Bluetooth” screen, with Bluetooth on, for more than one second. This saves needing a separate switch for discoverability, that you might not know to turn on, or might forget to turn off.

To indicate this:

bluetooth-on-undiscoverable.phone.png

Whenever Bluetooth is on but you have been on the screen for less than one second, the status text should be “Not discoverable” opposite a spinner.

bluetooth-on-discoverable.phone.png

Once you’ve been on the screen for a second or more, the status text should change to “Discoverable”, opposite the visible name of the device.

bluetooth-on-undiscoverable-exit.phone.png

If you navigate back to the System Settings overview, the status text should change immediately to “Not discoverable”, without a spinner, and System Settings should pause for one second so that you can see this.

system-settings-top.phone.png

After one second, System Settings should return to the overview.

Devices

phone-bluetooth.png phone-bluetooth-pair.png phone-bluetooth-device.png

Erratum: “Detected devices:” should be “Connect another device:”.

Whenever Bluetooth is on, the “Bluetooth” switch and status text should be followed by one or two lists of devices. When a device is currently paired, there should be a “Connected devices:” list followed by a “Connect another device:” list. Otherwise there should be just a “Connect a device:” list.

In all these lists, each device should have an icon representing the type of device it is (or a Bluetooth icon if it is an unknown type), and its display name, ellipsized in the middle if too long to fit. This is both because the names of similar devices may differ only at their ends, and because an ellipsis at the end means something else. Specifically, in the “Connect a device:”/“Connect another device:” list, the name should end in an ellipsis if the device is of a type that always requires entering a PIN (that is, not a headset, keyboard, or mouse).

The “Connect a device:”/“Connect another device:” list should contain placeholder text “None detected” when appropriate, for example when entering the screen. The list should update every ten seconds, with a spinner showing opposite the label whenever scanning is in progress (bug 1272317).

Pairing

Tapping a device in the “Connect a device:”/“Connect another device:” list should begin pairing. While pairing is in progress, the list item for the device should have a spinner at its trailing end.

If the device is of a type that usually has the PIN “0000” (a headset, keyboard, or mouse), Ubuntu should try this first. If that doesn’t work, or for any other kind of device, a ‘PIN for “{headset name}”’ or ‘Passkey for “{headset name}”’ dialog should appear, with a PIN/passkey field that uses a number-based keyboard.

If pairing is successful, the “Bluetooth” screen should scroll to the top, so that you can see the device’s list item slide up to join the “Connected devices:” list. If the newly-connected device is a headset, and a headset was already paired, that previously-paired headset should automatically be disconnected, sliding down to rejoin the “Connect another device:” list, so that you never have more than one headset paired at a time.

Examining and disconnecting

Choosing a device in the “Connected devices:” section should navigate to a screen with the device name as its header. It should contain a key-value table showing the “Name:” (full and wrapped to multiple lines if necessary), “Type:” (with icon), and “Signal:” strength of the device (with a one-minute sparkline graph and “Excellent”/“Good”/“Fair”/“Poor” text). If you choose “Disconnect”, that button should become insensitive, the “Signal:” value should be replaced by a spinner and the word “Disconnecting…”, and one second later you should be returned to the main “Bluetooth” screen to see the device sliding down from the “Connected devices:” list to the “Connect a device:”/“Connect another device:” list.

Indicator and menu

phone-bluetooth-menu.png

When Bluetooth is on, the indicator icon should appear in the status bar. When Bluetooth is off, to save space the Bluetooth indicator should not be present at all.

For reassurance about whether a device is still paired, the Bluetooth switch should be followed by an insensitive item, with icon, for each currently-paired device.

“Bluetooth Settings…” should open the Bluetooth screen of System Settings.

Bluetooth device battery charge

The battery charge for a paired Bluetooth device should be represented in the battery UI, both on the PC and on the phone.

Links


CategoryUbuntuTeams

CategoryBluetooth