hcitool

TLDR

Scan for Bluetooth devices

$ hcitool scan

Output the name of a device by MAC address

$ hcitool name [bdaddr]

Fetch information about a remote Bluetooth device

$ hcitool info [bdaddr]

Check the link quality to a Bluetooth device

$ hcitool lq [bdaddr]

Modify the transmit power level

$ hcitool tpl [bdaddr] [0|1]

Display the link policy

$ hcitool lp

Request authentication with a specific device

$ hcitool auth [bdaddr]

Display local devices

$ hcitool dev

SYNOPSIS

hcitool [options] command [command-parameters]

hcitool is a Bluetooth Host Controller Interface tool for monitoring, configuring connections, and sending commands to Bluetooth devices. It provides low-level access to Bluetooth functionality for diagnostics and advanced configuration.
The tool can discover nearby devices, query device information, manage connections, and configure link parameters. It operates at the HCI layer, below the higher-level profiles like A2DP or HFP.

PARAMETERS

scan

Scan for discoverable Bluetooth devices

dev

List local Bluetooth adapters

name bdaddr

Get remote device name

info bdaddr

Get remote device information

lq bdaddr

Get link quality

tpl bdaddr type

Get/set transmit power level

Display link policy

auth bdaddr

Request authentication

con

Display active connections

cc bdaddr

Create connection

dc bdaddr

Disconnect

CAVEATS

Deprecated in favor of bluetoothctl in modern BlueZ versions. May require root privileges for some operations. Some features depend on Bluetooth adapter capabilities.

HISTORY

hcitool is part of the BlueZ Bluetooth protocol stack for Linux. While functional, it's considered legacy and bluetoothctl from BlueZ 5 is recommended for most operations on modern systems.