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Pair Bluetooth Device from a Terminal

Pairing and connecting to a bluetooth device from a terminal is useful when you are working with a single-board computer and you don't have a monitor connected to it.

Start the Bluetooth control utility

Install bluetooth tools if you haven't:

$ sudo apt -y install bluetooth bluez bluez-tools

Start the control utility:

$ bluetoothctl

You should get into the bluetoothctl prompt mode:

rdu@rpi4:~ $ bluetoothctl 
Agent registered

Commands with the bluetoothctl prompt

  • Turn on Bluetooth
power on
  • Enable agent
agent on
  • Scan for nearby devices
scan on

Wait for the device you want to pair with to appear in the list. Once it appears, note down its MAC address.

  • Pair with the device
pair <MAC_ADDRESS>
  • Connect to the device
connect <MAC_ADDRESS>
  • Exit the Bluetooth control utility (or simply use Ctrl + D)
exit

Note you can also use the above command from the normal terminal prompt in the form: bluetoothctl + [command], such as 

$ bluetoothctl power on

Reference

  • [1] https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/connecting-to-bluetooth-devices-via-cli/
  • [2] https://www.baeldung.com/linux/bluetooth-via-terminal