Bluetooth Low Energy (Bluetooth LE, colloquially BLE, formerly marketed as Bluetooth Smart[1]) is a wireless personal area network technology designed and marketed by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (Bluetooth SIG)[2] aimed at novel applications in the healthcare, fitness, beacons,[3] security, and home entertainment industries.[4] Compared to Classic Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy is intended to provide considerably reduced power consumption and cost while maintaining a similar communication range.
It is independent of classic Bluetooth and has no compatibility, but Bluetooth Basic Rate/Enhanced Data Rate (BR/EDR) and LE can coexist. The original specification was developed by Nokia in 2006 under the name Wibree,[5] which was integrated into Bluetooth 4.0 in December 2009 as Bluetooth Low Energy.
Mobile operating systems including iOS, Android, Windows Phone and BlackBerry, as well as macOS, Linux, Windows 8, Windows 10 and Windows 11, natively support Bluetooth Low Energy.