Post

I don't think there's anyone who has used Bluetooth that would say that it's a nice technology from a user perspective. But why is this such a bad user experience and why has it not been fixed in the 25 years it has been around? The only exception is Apple, so it is possible to get it right.

Bluetooth SIG (Special Interest Group) is the organization behind Bluetooth and a lot of the problems start with the specifications they create. This group chose to define the standard by predicting the all possible types of devices that would use Bluetooth.

Think of this as if ICANN would not let people define new domain names but instead have a standardized list of allowed domain names that you can use. The list would be updated with new approved names once a year. That was how the Bluetooth SIG defined the standard.

The effect is that it was nearly impossible to expand on the Bluetooth technology, because the abstraction level was too high. Adding new features was very difficult. To fix this the group added more and more profiles to cover all the use cases that appeared. This did not work out well.

Then came Bluetooth Low Energy. This is actually very different from classic Bluetooth, but unfortunately inherited a lot from the classic that kept the technology from being user friendly. Most new devices today use BLE, but they still suffer from the old stuff.

You know when you want to pair a new headset and there are multiple dialogs that appear and it seems like you're approving things multiple times? Sometimes you also get a question if you want to share your contacts with the device. Very confusing for most people.

The device manufacturers can make this easier, but due to bureaucracy very few do. In order to skip the annoying setup for a new device, the manufacturer needs to get it certified by both Apple and Google (iPhone and Android). It costs a lot and takes a lot of time. Most choose never to do this.