Check Bluetooth Adapter Version on Linux

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In this article, we’ll look at how to find out the version of the Bluetooth adapter on a Linux computer or laptop.

In Ubuntu and Debian distros you can use tools from the bluez package to manage Bluetooth devices and connections.

In order to install this package, run the command:

sudo apt install bluez

Run the following command to display the MAC addresses of your Bluetooth adapters and their versions:

btmgmt info | awk 'BEGIN{split("1.0b 1.1 1.2 2.0 2.1 3.0 4.0 4.1 4.2 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3",i," ")}$1=="addr"{print $2"\tBluetooth: V"i[$4+1]}'

You can also use the deprecated hciconfig and hcitool utilities to get Bluetooth info. On Ubuntu Linux, open a console and run the command:

hciconfig -a

Find the lines:

  • LMP Version
  • HCI Version

hciconfig - linux get bluetooth HCI and LMP version

Determine the Bluetooth version according to the table. In our example, HCI number 0x6 corresponds to Bluetooth version 4.0.

HCI number Bluetooth version
0 (0x0) 1.0b
1 (0x1) 1.1
2 (0x2) 1.2
3 (0x3) 2.0
4 (0x4) 2.1
5 (0x5) 3.0
6 (0x6) 4.0
7 (0x7) 4.1
8 (0x8) 4.2
9 (0x9) 5.0
10 (0xa) 5.1
11 (0xb) 5.2
12 (0xc) 5.3

You can also get the version number of LMP on a connected Bluetooth device by its MAC address.

First, you need to display a list of connected (paired) Bluetooth devices with MAC addresses:

bluetoothctl devices

Then you can get the LMP version by device’s MAC address:

hcitool info AA:2B:21:31:23:BE
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