July 25, 2019 by Reginald Watson
Learn how to connect your Raspberry Pi 3 WiFi using an Android Phone through Bluetooth.
If you have been using a Raspberry Pi for a while, you might have come across several situations where you need to connect and reconnect the Wi-Fi network for the Pi. Doing so might require you to connect your Pi to a monitor, keyboard, and the whole shebang or to configure it directly on the memory card using another machine.
In this tutorial, I wanted to show you an easy way to configure the Wi-Fi network for your Raspberry Pi using just an Android phone through Bluetooth.
Using this technique, you no longer have to worry about switching between Wi-Fi networks on a headless Raspberry Pi.
To start, you’ll need:
Enter the following commands in the Raspbian terminal step by step, starting with installing Bluez, a Python Bluetooth library:
$ sudo apt-get install python-bluez
Start the Bluetooth daemon in compatibility mode, edit /etc/systemd/system/dbus-org.bluez.service, by typing the command below:
$ sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/dbus-org.bluez.serviceand modify the ExecStart param
ExecStart=/usr/lib/bluetooth/bluetoothd –C
Load serial port profile:
$ sudo sdptool add SP
Restart your Pi:
$ sudo reboot
After rebooting, pair the Pi’s Bluetooth with your Android phone.
Pairing Bluetooth:
Turn on your phone's Bluetooth and pair your phone with the Raspberry Pi. Next, on your Pi, enter:
$ bluetoothctl
power on
discoverable on
scan onYour phone will appear in the list of available devices. Take note of your phone’s address.
trust <PHONE_ADDRESS>
pair <PHONE_ADDRESS>
To exit the Bluetooth ctl, enter the quit command:
quit
You can also skip the above setup if you find you can easily set up Bluetooth using the UI of Raspbian.
After the Bluetooth pairing, add the Python script directly into Raspbian by typing the nano command and copying/pasting the source code:
$ sudo python run.pyYou can also directly copy the run.py file here.
Next, you can run the script. But first make the script executable:
$ chmod +x run.pyTo run:
$ sudo ./run.pyAfter executing this, now you need to open the android app. To do this, download and install the app using the .apk file here.
Select Raspberry Pi in the Bluetooth paired devices. Enter the SSID, PSK and hit the start configuration button. Within a few seconds, your Raspberry Pi’s Wi-Fi should connect, as shown in the images below.
To run this script on startup, edit /etc/rc.local and add:
(sleep 10;/path/to/script/./run.py)&
Source code (run.py)
#!/usr/bin/env python
import os
from bluetooth import *
from wifi import Cell, Scheme
import subprocess
import time
wpa_supplicant_conf = "/etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf"
sudo_mode = "sudo "
def wifi_connect(ssid, psk):
# write wifi config to file
cmd = 'wpa_passphrase {ssid} {psk} | sudo tee -a {conf} > /dev/null'.format(
ssid=str(ssid).replace('!', '\!'),
psk=str(psk).replace('!', '\!'),
conf=wpa_supplicant_conf
)
cmd_result = ""
cmd_result = os.system(cmd)
print cmd + " - " + str(cmd_result)
# reconfigure wifi
cmd = sudo_mode + 'wpa_cli -i wlan0 reconfigure'
cmd_result = os.system(cmd)
print cmd + " - " + str(cmd_result)
time.sleep(10)
cmd = 'iwconfig wlan0'
cmd_result = os.system(cmd)
print cmd + " - " + str(cmd_result)
cmd = 'ifconfig wlan0'
cmd_result = os.system(cmd)
print cmd + " - " + str(cmd_result)
p = subprocess.Popen(['hostname', '-I'], stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
out, err = p.communicate()
if out:
ip_address = out
else:
ip_address = "<Not Set>"
return ip_address
def ssid_discovered():
Cells = Cell.all('wlan0')
wifi_info = 'Found ssid : \n'
for current in range(len(Cells)):
wifi_info += Cells[current].ssid + "\n"
wifi_info+="!"
print wifi_info
return wifi_info
def handle_client(client_sock) :
# get ssid
client_sock.send(ssid_discovered())
print "Waiting for SSID..."
ssid = client_sock.recv(1024)
if ssid == '' :
return
print "ssid received"
print ssid
# get psk
client_sock.send("waiting-psk!")
print "Waiting for PSK..."
psk = client_sock.recv(1024)
if psk == '' :
return
print "psk received"
print psk
ip_address = wifi_connect(ssid, psk)
print "ip address: " + ip_address
client_sock.send("ip-address:" + ip_address + "!")
return
try:
while True:
server_sock=BluetoothSocket( RFCOMM )
server_sock.bind(("",PORT_ANY))
server_sock.listen(1)
port = server_sock.getsockname()[1]
uuid = "815425a5-bfac-47bf-9321-c5ff980b5e11"
advertise_service( server_sock, "RPi Wifi config",
service_id = uuid,
service_classes = [ uuid, SERIAL_PORT_CLASS ],
profiles = [ SERIAL_PORT_PROFILE ])
print "Waiting for connection on RFCOMM channel %d" % port
client_sock, client_info = server_sock.accept()
print "Accepted connection from ", client_info
handle_client(client_sock)
client_sock.close()
server_sock.close()
# finished config
print 'Finished configuration\n'
except (KeyboardInterrupt, SystemExit):
print '\nExiting\n'I love challenging myself by creating new projects using different microcontrollers to see what I can come up with.
