In modern times, Bluetooth plays a crucial role in connecting devices seamlessly. From fitness trackers to smart home devices, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) allows devices to communicate efficiently while reducing power consumption. However, with the rise of wireless communication, ensuring security has become a key concern. Two core concepts of Bluetooth security are Pairing and Bonding, which are often misunderstood in the context of BLE.

Ensuring that devices pair and bond securely is critical for protecting sensitive data. Improper implementation of these processes can lead to several types of attacks. For example, attackers can intercept communications and steal valuable information.

In this blog, we’ll explore what pairing and bonding are, why they are important for security, and how they work in practice, particularly for mobile applications.

Introduction

As I mentioned in the previous post, CoreBluetooth allows us to create applications that can communicate with BLE devices such as heart rate monitors, body sensors, trackers, or hybrid devices.
There are two roles to play in the CoreBluetooth concepts: Central and peripheral.

• Central: Obtain data from peripherals.
• Peripheral: Publish data to be accessed by a central. We can make a Bluetooth device plays as a peripheral from either firmware-side or software-side.

In this post, I will show you how to create a peripheral by using our own identifiers. Also using another device, as a central, to connect and explore our services. Let’s get it started.

The Core Bluetooth (CB) framework allows iOS and MacOS apps communicate with BLE devices. Your apps can discover, explore, and control the BLE devices, such as heart rate monitors, trackers or hybrid watches.

Image 1. BLE devices (Source from Google)