New BLE app working on simulator, but not on the watch

Howdy all,

Recently sat down and wrote an app that connects to an ESP32 using some custom firmware that I wrote. I have everything working PERFECTLY in the simulator - I can connect, read the characteristic, parse the data (thanks jim for the help a few days ago) and display it in the app, however I cannot get it to work when I sideload on the watch itself - Fenix 6X Pro, FW 24.10. It does not error, it just doesn't seem to connect to the device, but I'm not sure how to look deeper into this. The app doesn't crash, it simply doesnt seem to connect.

Here's what I've tried and looked at:

- BLEScan
Before even starting this process, I made sure I could see and connect to the device using BLEScan. I can connect to the device, see the open characteristic and the Tx data from the ESP32 without issue in BLE Scan.

- Disconnected simulator
When I couldnt get it to initially connect from the watch, I shutdown the simulator and unplugged the nordic USB to ensure it wasn't connected.

- Checked phone connectivity
I wrote Android/iOS apps for this hardware and can confirm they are working as expected. I also checked my phone wasn't connected to the device (confirmed using serial comms directly from the ESP32).

- Restarted ESP32 device
To ensure a fresh start. Checked

- Restarted Watch
Power the watch off and back on.

- New app wont connect
App still wont connect.

- Checked with BLE Scan again
Confirmed again that BLE scan can connect and displayed the data Tx from the ESP32 on the open characteristic. Data is correct.

One thought I had this morning on my drive into the office, and one that I think needs further investigation was that I have a secure, writable characteristic configured but not actually doing anything at all yet (actually writing to this char is next on my list of things to do). Could pairing to a secure characteristic could be holding the whole thing up on device, even if it hasn't in the sim? Could there be different behaviour regarding this between the sim and watch itself?

I'm not really sure even where to start troubleshooting this one on the actual device itself, as usually everything has given me grief in sim and been fine when on the device itself. I had a look for logs on the watch, but so far, been unable to find anything, or am simply looking in the wrong place.

Appreciate your time and assistance on this one.

Cheers,
Matt

0 MThurtell over 2 years ago

OK - I can confirm it seems that trying topair to a secure characteristic was what was causing the issues.

I've looked through doco - is the watch capable of passing a PIN/Code so these can be accessed. I'd love to have control, but not keen on unsecure comms for those purposes.

0 jim_m_58 over 2 years ago in reply to MThurtell

The CIQ version of BLE is very minimal - no security, etc. BTW, Blescan doesn't allow you to see available characterizes. Any that you want to use need to be defined in the profile manager for your app

0 MThurtell over 2 years ago in reply to jim_m_58

Thanks Jim.

A bit disappointing from CIQ standpoint re no PIN/security functionality. I've found another of your posts and will create another BLE characteristic on the ESP32 device that checks for whitelisted BLE macs etc etc.

Cheers mate,
Matt