Stabilising BLE Connectivity for a Wearable Safety Device App
We audited and fixed the Android companion app for an SOS wristband used by older people. The app now reconnects reliably on popular phones and makes hands-free emergency calls, and we kept it current with store requirements in short maintenance stages.
Technologies used
Android, Kotlin, Java, Bluetooth Low Energy, Android Companion Device Manager
Tools
Jira, Google Play Console
3
Project members
23 months (in short stages)
Project length
Mobile App, IoT
Category
Healthcare / Senior Care
Branch
The challenge
Our client, a manufacturer of phones and safety devices for older people, sells a wristband with an SOS button. The wristband pairs over Bluetooth Low Energy with an Android app. When the wearer presses the button, the phone calls and texts the emergency contacts. For a product like this, the connection has to work every single time. On some popular Android phones it did not. After the wearer moved out of range, the band often had to be paired again. It did not always reconnect by itself when the SOS button was pressed. After a phone restart the app did not come back on its own, and users could not tell whether the band was connected. The app had been written by someone else, so we first had to understand the code before changing it.
Bluetooth issues rarely show up on the phone on your desk. They appear when the wearer walks out of range, the phone restarts overnight or the system puts the app to sleep. We reproduced each of those situations on the phones people actually use before we changed a line of code.
Key Features
- Code audit and root-cause analysis of the connection problems on popular Android phone brands
- Reliable automatic reconnection after the wristband goes out of range, with no manual re-pairing
- App restarts after a phone reboot and keeps the connection alive in the background
- Clear connection status for the wearer at all times
- SOS calls that start with the speakerphone already on
- Support for lightweight Android devices using the system companion-device mechanism, plus large system fonts and low-density screens
- Regular dependency updates and Google Play releases, including a second branded variant of the app
The result
We started with a short, capped audit: we reviewed the code, tested the app with the wristband on the phone models where users had problems, and proposed a plan and estimate for the fixes. In the next stage we reworked pairing, reconnection and background behaviour, fixed alarm messaging and added hands-free SOS calls. After that, the client ordered small, time-boxed stages as needed. We adapted the app to lightweight Android devices and accessibility settings, published a second branded variant, and kept the app compliant with Google Play requirements through regular dependency updates and releases. The whole scope was delivered by EMBIQ's own team.
- Stable connection between the wristband and the phone on the phone brands users reported
- No more manual re-pairing after the wearer leaves Bluetooth range
- Hands-free SOS calls and corrected alarm messages to emergency contacts
- App adapted to lightweight Android devices and large system fonts
- App kept compliant with Google Play requirements for almost two years
For a safety device, 'works most of the time' is not good enough. We kept this project small and focused: first an audit, then targeted fixes, then short maintenance stages whenever the platform or the store changed the rules.
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Agnes
business development specialist
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