Chrome adds UI for controlling Web Bluetooth connections

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Calendar icon Updated August 16th, 2020

Calendar icon Published August 16th, 2020

by Surur Davids
updated on Aug 16th, 2020 published on Aug 16th, 2020

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bluetooth chrome

Chrome has long supported Web Bluetooth connections, but till now has not included a UI which allowed users to control permissions to devices by web pages.

Now in the latest Chrome Canary version of Chrome 85 Google has introduced a new flag, “Use the new permissions backend for Web Bluetooth“, which brings web Bluetooth connections in the usual website permissions UI.

Users are now able to enable and disable permissions for access to web Bluetooth on a site by site basis in Site Settings on either a temporary or permanent basis, and revoke connections if required. Chrome has also updated its BluetoothAdapter API, to allow persistent connections rather than connections which are automatically removed after 3 minutes of inactivity.

bluetooth chrome

Google’s Web Bluetooth Persistent Permissions will be compatible across Windows, Mac, Linux, ChromeOS, and Android.  There are still very few sites which use Web Bluetooth, but adding better support for the feature will enable much more powerful PWAs and potentially displace native apps on some platforms.

via TechTSP

More about the topics: chrome, google, web bluetooth