Bluetooth LE - Prevent Windows from automatically discovering & reading from all characteristics after PairAsync

Question

This method to pair and exchange bond keys results in the Windows BLE stack automatically enumerating and reading a bunch of characteristic values. We want to prevent this behavior and only have the application read from characteristics we ask it to or Windows may need to read for OS functionality.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/uwp/api/windows.devices.enumeration.deviceinformationpairing.pairasync?view=winrt-22000#windows-devices-enumeration-deviceinformationpairing-pairasync(windows-devices-enumeration-devicepairingprotectionlevel)

For example - after PairAsync, here is Windows discovering and reading characteristics that the application did not ask it to discover/read, aren't standard characteristics in the Device Information Service or the database hash, and couldn't possibly contribute to any Windows features.

This is not desired behavior for our devices or application, and at a minimum is a waste of time and power/increases the surface area for bugs. If there is a problem reading one of these characteristics, Windows gets stuck disconnecting, connecting, waiting 30 seconds for a response, over and over.

Is there a way to disable this behavior, so Windows does not start re-enumerating the entire GATT database and reading characteristic values?

Answer 1

Hi @EricP-8687 ，

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A!

This method to pair and exchange bond keys results in the Windows BLE stack automatically enumerating and reading a bunch of characteristic values.

This behavior has been in the Windows pairing APIs for a long time and is retained for compatibility reasons.

Currently, there is no plan to update this behavior. If you own the remote device, it is recommended to verify/change the characteristic that is causing the issue.

Thank you.

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