Clarification on Bluetooth Channel Sounding Support Between nRF54 Device and Smartphone

[Subhiksha]

Hi Nordic Team,

I have been working on the Bluetooth Channel Sounding (CS) Initiator and Reflector samples using nRF Connect SDK v3.3.0 on nRF54LM20B devices, and I was able to successfully run the demo. The CS procedures are working as expected, and I am receiving distance estimates using both Round-Trip Timing (RTT) and Phase-Based Ranging (PBR) methods.

I have a clarification regarding interoperability with smartphones:

Query:

Is it possible to perform Bluetooth Channel Sounding between an nRF54 device and a smartphone (Android/iOS)?

If yes:

• What are the requirements on the smartphone side (BLE version, hardware support, or specific APIs)?
• Is there any example or reference application available to test this scenario?
• Can nRF Connect Mobile App be used in any way (Initiator/Reflector/monitor)?

If not:

• Is this limitation due to lack of controller-level Channel Sounding support in current smartphones?
• Are there any plans or roadmap updates for enabling CS support in mobile devices?

[Edvin]

Hello,

You can test smartphone compatibilities using the nRF Toolbox app. For phones that support channel sounding, that will be available in that app. Unfortunately, we don't maintain a list of supported smartphones, as they may change in the future with software updates.

I don't think any iPhones support channel as of yet. I know that Google Pixel 10 does support channel sounding, and perhaps Google Pixel 9 as well. 

You can also read a bit about channel sounding and phone support here:  Evaluating Bluetooth®︎ Channel Sounding with our open-source Android app on Google Pixel 10 

Best regards,

Edvin