1. Question
You may often see Bluetooth® LE devices marketed as supporting a certain version of Bluetooth. For example, you may see some of the following text in the marketing material for these devices:
- Supports Bluetooth v6.0
- Qualified against Bluetooth Core 6.2
- Bluetooth 5.4 compatible
This may lead you to believe that this device supports all the Bluetooth features released in the stated version + previous versions of Bluetooth. For instance, if a device states support for Bluetooth v5.0, does this mean that it supports the Bluetooth feature known as LE Coded PHY, which was released in this version of the Bluetooth Core specification?
2. Answer
The vast majority of Bluetooth features released are optional for device manufacturers to implement. A device that states support for a certain version of Bluetooth does not guarantee support for all Bluetooth features released in that or previous versions.
For this reason, the Bluetooth SIG has released updated communication guidelines requiring that Bluetooth devices list the Bluetooth features that are supported instead of just the Bluetooth version. This blog post from the Bluetooth SIG discusses the importance of standardizing the communication of Bluetooth functionality.
3. Recommendation
We always recommend checking the datasheet, which lists all supported Bluetooth features following the Bluetooth SIG’s guidelines. This applies, for example, to the STM32WB0, STM32WB, or STM32WBA.
Below is an example from DS15003, which is the datasheet for the STM32WBA2.
