MacOS Bluetooth menu bar show BLE Devices

bluetoothmacos

My Bluetooth menu (the one in the menu bar) do not show the Bluetooth Low Energy devices, from example my Razer mouse, it just shows up if I alt/option + click the icon.

Does anyone know how can I make the menu show all Low Energy Bluetooth devices in the menu bar?

Best Answer

This is expected behavior.

BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) devices aren't broadcasting at all times like classic Bluetooth devices, they respond to "advertising packets" sent by the scanning device (your Mac).

BLE devices are detected through a procedure based on broadcasting advertising packets. This is done using 3 separate channels (frequencies), in order to reduce interference. The advertising device sends a packet on at least one of these three channels, with a repetition period called the advertising interval. For reducing the chance of multiple consecutive collisions, a random delay of up to 10 milliseconds is added to each advertising interval. The scanner listens to the channel for a duration called the scan window, which is periodically repeated every scan interval.

When you hold Option while clicking on the Bluetooth icon, you're telling it to "send the advertising packets to discover the BLE devices".

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