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BLE Scanner

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About

BLE Scanner is a command-line tool for scanning nearby Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) devices on Windows. The application supports two primary modes:

  • Print Mode: Scans BLE advertisements and prints results to the console, with an option to export them to a JSON file.

  • Top Mode: Displays the closest BLE devices in a table, ordered by signal strength (RSSI).

System Requirements

Installation

On Windows, BLE Scanner is available as a Scoop package, which automates installation and upgrades.

Using Scoop, installing the application is as easy as:

> scoop bucket add ble-scanner-cli https://github.com/relbis-labs/ble-scanner.git
> scoop install ble-scanner-cli

Usage

View Available Commands

Run the following to see available commands:

ble-scanner-cli

Example output:

BLE Scanner 1.0.0

BLE Scanner scans nearby Bluetooth Low Energy devices.

Usage: ble-scanner-cli [command] [options]

Options:
  --version     Show version information.
  -?|-h|--help  Show help information.

Commands:
  print         Scans BLE devices and prints the results to the console and a file.
  top           Scans BLE devices and displays them in a table ordered by RSSI in descending order.

Run 'ble-scanner-cli [command] -?|-h|--help' for more information about a command.

Scan BLE devices and print results

Run the following command:

> ble-scanner-cli print

Example output

...
{
   "Advertisement": {
      "DataSections": [
         {
            "DataType": 1,
            "Data": "42"
         },
         {
            "DataType": 255,
            "Data": "99:E3:EB:D8:F7:09:3F:9E:FE:C4:75:3C:C1:D9:B7:19:41:7E:BA:45:0A:15:8D:CC:DB"
         }
      ],
      "Flags": 6,
      "LocalName": "Device-4452",
      "ManufacturerData": [
         {
            "CompanyId": "004C",
            "Data": "97:33:94:5F:42:3A:02:07:44:CA:3E:CE:BC:4C:53:81:79:A0:0F:F2:4D:27:B8",
            "iBeacon": {
               "Uuid": "dd10efd2-1380-4afc-add4-a9edd937c5f8",
               "Major": 22338,
               "Minor": 45676,
               "TxPower": -59
            }
         }
      ],
      "ServiceUuids": [
      ]
   },
   "AdvertisementType": 0,
   "BluetoothAddress": "15:91:85:11:26:48",
   "BluetoothAddressType": 1,
   "IsAnonymous": false,
   "IsConnectable": true,
   "IsDirected": false,
   "IsScannable": true,
   "IsScanResponse": false,
   "RawSignalStrengthInDBm": -76,
   "Timestamp": "2025-08-25T14:06:22.0554039+01:00",
   "TransmitPowerLevelInDBm": null
}
...

Optional parameters:

  • --mac-address-filter <MAC Address> - Show only results from a specific MAC address.
  • Use --output-file-name <File Name> - Save results to a JSON file.

Scan BLE devices and display devices with the strongest signal at the top

Run:

ble-scanner-cli top

The screen will display a live-updating grid of detected devices, ordered by signal strength.

Example:

Top Command

To view details of a device, select it and press F3.

Example:

Device Details

Troubleshooting

Problem: The application cannot start scanning.

Solution: Ensure your system has a compatible Bluetooth adapter and that Bluetooth is enabled.

Changelog

See Releases

Data Collection

BLE Scanner may collect basic usage statistics for diagnostic purposes. It does not collect personal data or any information from scanned BLE devices.

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