Does iOS supports custom BLE profile?

[SumitS]

Hi,

I am developing a custom profile for an application. This custom application works fine with Master Control Panel and nRF toolbox on Android. I am also developing an app for iOS which will read this data and display to the user. My question is does iOS supports custom BLE profile? Basically, the peripheral side is implementing the glucose service with different UUID. I want to implement this on the iOS as central and receive the glucose data with this different UUID and also perform RACP operations. Is this possible?

Thanks

[RK]

Of course iOS supports custom profiles. You can scan for any service you like, or every service there is, you can connect to any peripheral you find, you can get all the service and characteristic details from any peripheral you are connected to and you can read, write, indicate and notify any of them you wish.

[run_ar]

Remember to use a 128 bit UUID if you are creating a custom profile. However note that if you are creating a glucose device, you should use the Bluetooth sig defined profile.

[SumitS]

Hi,

I am using the ble_glucose code provided by Nordic. I have only changed the UUID of glucose service to 0x0001. With these changes can i develop an app on iOS to detect and implement the glucose service?

[RK]

Yes technically you could but what you're doing doesn't make much sense and doesn't use UUIDs properly

if you're writing a glucose service then why not use the glucose service defined service and characteristics? that's the point of having standardized services in BLE, then anything which knows about that service, can connect to it.

What are you actually trying to do

And you can't really just change the UUID to 0x0001, all 16-bit (and 32-bit) UUIDs are owned by bluetooth org and 0x0001 may one-day get used for something official, if it's not already. Apart from that, there's lots of bad code out there which uses 16-bit UUIDs incorrectly like that and if you come across a device using it, you'll try to connect to it thinking it's your service.

If you want your own service, use a full custom 128 bit UUID. But if you're really writing a glucose service, use the glucose service UUID.

[run_ar]

If you wish to use a 16 bit Bluetooth SIG assigned UUID for a custom service it is possible to buy one here. However, since you are developing a glucose service you should use the glucose service UUID. Remember that if you don't follow the profile specification you are not compliant with the bluetooth specification, and you might risk violating IP.