How does Bluetooth work?
27th August 2025
From cars to headphones, Bluetooth is essential for keeping you connected to your devices: but how does it work?
I expect that most people using this will have used Bluetooth at some point today. Allowing us to connect our phones to headphones or speakers, keyboards and mice to our PCs as well as giving us control over connected Internet of Things (IoT) devices, Bluetooth is very common. But how does it work?
Inspired by Harald “Bluetooth” Gormsson, a 10th century Viking king, the name was chosen as he was known for uniting warring factions: Bluetooth is designed to unify communication across different devices, so the metaphor feels apt.
Even in the creation of Bluetooth this unification was present, as representatives from various organisations joined together to work on the technology. First being released in the late 90s/early 2000s, Bluetooth is now present in most of our electronic devices – but how does it work?
Pairing: Bluetooth uses radio waves to connect one device to another. They must be paired to ensure a secure connection (the devices exchange encryption keys to ensure this).
Frequency hopping: by using frequency hopping spread spectrum, Bluetooth rapidly switches between 79 wave channels to avoid interference and efficiency.
Master-slave architecture: one device – usually your phone – is the master while the other – your headphones, for example – is the slave. The master controls communication and channel hopping.
Profiles: depending on the device being connected to, Bluetooth uses different profiles to establish communication, such as A2DP for audio streaming, HID for keyboards and mice, as well as HFP – or hands-free profile – for cars.
Bluetooth reduces the number of cables you need, is secure with encryption, is widely supported (linking together anyone nearby) and is convenient to use. Sometimes distance can be an issue if the master device is too far away, but any drawbacks can’t outweigh the benefits.
If you would like to learn more about how Bluetooth works, please contact Interfuture Systems HERE.
YouTube: https://youtu.be/RyTALRBvutA