Not able to connect nRF5340 LE Audio to Android

[Paveletu]

Hi support team! I hope you're well.

I'm trying to connect nRF5340 Audio DK (gateway) to my Pixel 6a. The problem is there's no `NRF5340_AUDIO` detected via Bluetooth when I flash the sample in CIS mode and in BIS mode it's detected but cannot be connect (please find a screenshot from nRF Connect application attached).

Is there any way to make nRF5340 connectable to a phone?

Also, does my phone require to have a "LE Audio" supported chipset (like the once listed here: www.qualcomm.com/.../bluetooth-le-audio) on it to even be connected? Will Bluetooth 5.2 and OS support (Android 13 has support for LE Audio profile) not be enough?

As a side note my question is very similar to this one: https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/f/nordic-q-a/91856/nrf5340-audio-dk-connection-to-phone

Many thanks,
Warm Regards,
Pavel

[Paveletu]

Hi Nordic team,

I've just received Pixel 7 with LE Audio support and I still cannot connect to any of NRF5340 Audio configurations (headset/gateway, CIS/BIS). Is it possible? Here's the screenshot from NRF Connect application:



Thank you,
Warm regards,
Pavel

[dejans]

Hi Pavel,

You cannot see the gateway in CIS mode because gateway scans for headsets, does not advertise. However, in BIS mode gateway advertises to other headsets and they should be able to find it and connect to it. 

It is phone that should act as a gateway. Why do you want to use nRF5340 audio DK as a gateway when connecting to the phone? 

Best regards,
Dejan

[Paveletu]

Hi Dejan,

I tried it again and was able to connect in a CIS mode, thank you. For my application I'm only interested in using nRF5340 as an audio source and Android phone as an audio sink. So I'm figuring out how to set it up at the moment

Many thanks,
Warm regards,
Pavel

[xmoex]

Hi Pavel,

we're also trying to use the nRF5340 to send data to / and recieve from. Do you have any specific Pixel 7 version or did it require a special setup like custom or beta firmware?

Kind regards,

Moritz

[Paveletu]

Hi Moritz,

Not really, you just have to set "Enable Bluetooth LE audio" in developers options, restart your phone and that's it:



If it won't work check for System update, but it should be fine. I was able to connect to a CIS headset with no issues

Warm regards,
Pavel

[dejans]

Hi Pavel,

Currently, nRF5340-DK cannot be an audio input for the phone.

Best regards,
Dejan

[Paveletu]

Hi Dejan,

Is there anything I can do to implement it?

I was trying to use bidirectional transfer for CIS in nRF Connect SDK v2.2.0-rc1, and I can verify that data being sent back to Android, but on Android part device is not detected as an audio input, only output (I used getDevices(GET_DEVICES_INPUTS) method of AudioManager)

Many thanks,
Warm regards,
Pavel