Briar Bluetooth not working in Android App Support

Bug Reports
1

REPRODUCIBILITY: 100%
OS VERSION: 4.6.011
HARDWARE: XA2
UI LANGUAGE: UK
REGRESSION: I do not understand this ??

DESCRIPTION:

In androi I use a messenger app called Briar.
Connecting to others via internet an Wifi works perfect.
But it does not seem to find bluetooth.

In Jolla bluetooth works just fine.
I.e. files are deleivered from my phone to another phone via bluetooth.

PRECONDITIONS:

STEPS TO REPRODUCE:

  1. Download F-droid / Briar
  2. Make a (test)account and also one on an other device or use the app of a friend
  3. Try to message via Wifi/internet
  4. Try connect via bluetooth

EXPECTED RESULT:

On other android phones the app works flawless on every way of connection.
So I would have expected connection via bluetooth on Jolla/ Android support either.

ACTUAL RESULT:

No message, Bluetooth is kind of greyed out.

MODIFICATIONS:

Just plain Jolla Sauna, Android Support and F-droid.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

I´ll try to upload screenshot tomorrow.

2

Afaik, Android Support has only access to transfering/controlling audio through Bluetooth, like headsets and handsfree devices.

1 Like
3

Thats true. Although, I have had success in the past sharing files and apps(apks) via Bluetooth using the app ‘SHAREit’. But thats about it.
And btw, its Sailfish OS. Jolla is the company that develops Sailfish.

4

Thanks for the tip.

And yes, you´re completely right: it´s about SFOS instead Jolla.

5

Ok, thanks…

That´s quite a bummer because the app is designed to exchange when there is no internet of wifi available. Like for reporters or activists in the bush-bush trying to get info to the ´open´ world…

6

There is briar desktop for Linux: https://code.briarproject.org/briar/briar-desktop. Maybe it is possible to compile this for Sailfish. But probably not touch friendly…

Ah, but the desktop version does not support connect via bluetooth. I wonder what’s the point then. Maybe this will come in the future.

7

Thanks for sharing this possibility.
I´ll dive into it a little further.
And otherwise I´m doing a feature request :slight_smile:

8

Please search the Forums and other places about the topic of AAS and Bluetooth. This has been requested, discussed, misunderstood and repeated a gazillion times.

It boils down to:

  • Jolla never announced or listed BT support in AAS. It is hence not a bug.
  • Somewhat recently, it is has been listed as a known issue, hence a feature request is not going to change anything IMO.
  • But most importantly, it is very much not trivial to implement and may be downright technically impossible.
2 Likes
9

Off course, I understand that is annoying that a certain question keeps popping up.

In my defense, I did my share of searching but perhaps not thorough enough.
A search with ´bluetooth android´ did not come up with much usefull for me.
I just did a search with ´bluetooth - android app support´ and that was a much bigger hit; there were some threads which could helped me from raising the question.

On the other hand…
I fell for AAS reading this: AppSupport - Jolla and the whitepaper
No mentioning of a list with known issues at all.
I guess that a lot of people do as I do, reading of a huge compatibility rate and lots of functionality that works out of the box (some do, others not like VPN apps ). With such a hallelujah-story there is no direct need to search on fora for know issues. And as you said, the issue with Bluetooth only recently was added so I wouldn´t have know it last year.

For me, it remains quite an issue.
I asked tht developers of Briar if they are familiar with the problem.
That was before I read your comment that it perhaps is technically impossible :-/
But as I learned from Th Lord of the Rings: there is always hop :slight_smile:

And than again, afterall SFOS + AAS is great alternative for phone OS´ses and I´m happy testing it further.

Thanks for your answer and again apologies for any unment annoyances.

1 Like
10

This is a very well known issue to users but maybe many people could find weird that Bluetooth is not supported in AAS.
By the way, NFC and USB are not supported either.
And yes, you are right. These are big issues preventing use of many essential apps.