connecting, bonding, pairing, and whitelists

[GlennEngel]

I'm a bit confused about nomenclature and am looking for guidance in how best to implement the needs of my ble app. From the S110 perspective, how are connecting, bonding, pairing, and whitelists related? What do these terms mean in relation to the device_manager?

For my application I can currently discover and connect from android and read and write characteristics. At this point I would like my ble device to only allow connections from the last successful connection until a reset procedure is initiated via a button press. I've read about irks and addresses and it really sounds like using a library is the way to go. I'm not concerned with security and passkeys for my application but wonder if I should be or if there is any downside. There is no visible ui on my ble device other than an led.

What is the most straight forward means of providing the connection storage, connection denial, and reset back to 'open'?

[GlennEngel]

Just to recap my understanding - A device can be connected to a master and communicate via configured characteristic. If they exchange encryption keys they can become bonded if the keys are stored for the next connection. This somehow allows a whitelist to be used as the stored keys allow the device to recognize a previously connected master even if it has a new mac address. It sounds like whitelisting is not usable with most phones unless they are paired and bonded.

[Einar Thorsrud]

You are right. Most phone (at least iOS devices and for Android devices with Lollipop or newer) use a random private resolvables address, that changes at regular intervals, but can be calculated from the IRK. And as you write, this makes whitelisting not usable unless they are paired or bonded. This post has some more info on the subject.

[Igor Ganapolsky]

@EinarThorsrud So if I just pair, and NOT bond, can the connection still be encrypted?