Android phones and tablets support Bluetooth communications (“BT”).

BT is a very low power, very short range communication technology used for connecting earphone and headphone adapters, wireless microphones, and wireless keyboards and mice to computers and tablets.

App Inventor supports BT links and can be used to transmit data back and forth between two Android devices.

When two devices communicate, one device acts as a “server” and the other as a “client”, although either send and receive data.

I now have basic Bluetooth communication working between two Android phones. As I finalize the Bluetooth sample app, I will post a tutorial here on how to set up Bluetooth and how to write apps that use Bluetooth communication.

Longer term, I intend to connect an App Inventor app to an Arduino microcontroller board using the Bluetooth link. I will post information on that once it is available.

(Due to volunteering every evening with a FIRST Robotics team, and a few extra things going on, my updates are a little less frequent at the moment – sorry!)