Connecting to iOS without pairing pop up

[Bos]

For our user experience, we would like to get rid of the "Bluetooth Paring Request" pop up in iOS.

The device just needs to connect with the iOS device, and should not be paired. Thus far, we are yet to succeed in this problem. 

From within an app the device needs to be connected and disconnected for communication to the iOS device, but should not be paired or bonded. This is already working on android, but on iOS it always wants to pair on first connection.

Does anyone have a solution for this problem?

The device we are using is NRF52832, with an altered hids_keyboard example project running on it. 

[Vidar Berg]

Hello,

iOS will automatically request pairing if it discovers a characteristic that requires authentication, so the solution should be as simple as making sure all characteristics are initialized with the security set to 'SEC_OPEN' and not with SEC_JUST_WORKS or higher.

Best regards,

Vidar

[Bos]

Hello Vidar,

The security setting is already set to SEC_OPEN. What characteristics need to be set as well to gain security open.

Kind regards,

Sander Bos

[Vidar Berg]

Hello Sanders,

You need to make sure that none of the attributes are set with a security level higher than SEC_OPEN. Do you see any references to SEC_JUST_WORKS if you just search through the project?

[Bos]

Hello Vidar,

I did not find any references to SEC_JUST_WORKS, but a lot of calls for the function BLE_GAP_CONN_SEC_MODE_SET_ENC_NO_MITM(), which is called as well for SEC_JUST_WORKS. Ill try replacing them by BLE_GAP_CONN_SEC_MODE_SET_OPEN() and come back to you. 

I will be working on this again monday, so I will keep you updated!

Thanks for your help so far, I think we found our solution.

Kind regards,

Sander Bos

[Vidar Berg]

Hello,

Ah, I forgot to ask what SDK version you were using. The most recent SDKs use 'SEC_JUST_WORKS' instead of using BLE_GAP_CONN_SEC_MODE_SET_ENC_NO_MITM macro directly. This was done as an effort to simplify service configuration.

Kind regards,

Vidar

[Bos]

Goodmorning Vidar,

I've tested your solution, and the iOS device is now connecting without a pop up!

Thank you for your time and solution!

Kind regards,

Sander