Furthermore, the app is crucial for overcoming the limitations of legacy operating systems. An older Windows 7 machine, which has poor native support for BLE, can be transformed into a capable BLE gateway with the right dongle and its accompanying application. The app essentially replaces the OS’s Bluetooth stack with a more modern, feature-rich alternative.

When selecting a BLE dongle and app, compatibility is key. High-end dongles often come with their own proprietary SDKs and apps (common in industrial automation). However, for general use, dongles based on the series or the TI CC2540 are popular because they are supported by free, robust applications like Nordic nRF Connect or TI SmartRF Studio .

Because the operating system’s native Bluetooth stack is often locked down or abstracted, specialized apps are used to bypass these limitations and talk directly to the dongle’s chipset.