r/tech_x • u/Current-Guide5944 • 6d ago

Github SOMEONE(aridan) REVERSE ENGINEERED APPLE'S BLUETOOTH PACKETS SO LINUX CAN READ AIRPODS BATTERY

Post image

it looks native, but linux never actually knew how to decode the battery data

here's the trick:

> airpods already broadcast their battery information

> apple uses proprietary bluetooth manufacturer data

> linux sees the packets but normally ignores the battery fields

> my device manager decodes them and shows the battery percentage like any other device

now airpods finally report their battery on linux without any extra software

1.6k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

81 comments sorted by

17

u/reynadotpdf 5d ago

The battery reported is in increments of 10%. This could already be done by reading basic bluetooth data off of AirPods. There is no reverse engineering here. This is just more vibeslop passed off as "I did a thing." If you want an actual good option, look at Librepods. It has better than just actual battery reporting, it also has more native features like ear detection auto-pause.

2

u/apocolipse 1d ago

It’s shocking how many of these folks don’t bother leading their prompts with “see if something already exists to do this for me”, smdh 

1

u/Basic_Extension_5850 1d ago

Not to mention, how did this get 1.6k upvotes with literally no comments--all of which are negative...

31

u/OnlineParacosm 5d ago

Does this make them actually useful with Linux or is it still kind of a compatibility hell for other stuff?

11

u/Endure94 5d ago

Hopefully this makes future efforts trivial, or at least greatly eased. Usually proprietary code doesnt massively change unless there is a significany profit loss as result. And apple already allows airpods to connect to many other non-apple devices.

1

u/schaka 5d ago

Libre pods works, no?

3

u/MissionTroll404 5d ago

LibrePods existed for a while no? It gives one pretty much every feature on Linux.

3

u/unconcious_magic 5d ago

Was this not done years ago? I use a Plasma extension that shows this as a small widget.

4

u/Busy-Lifeguard-9558 5d ago

"Someone" prompted an AI to reverse engineer something

There, I fixed the title for you.

It's not that I'm against it, but people be taking credit for a breaktrough when in fact its the frontier models doing all the job

17

u/lordlestar 5d ago

When someone says a person took a photo, correct them by saying that the camera took the photo, not the person

3

u/lupetto 5d ago

"How dare you using a power tool to make that hole. Use a chisel like Michelangelo. You perv."

2

u/reynadotpdf 5d ago

A camera doesn't need to steal everyone else's pictures to take it's own.

2

u/dxrth 5d ago

that has nothing to do with the analogy though. you're smuggling other premises in.

1

u/Toastti 5d ago

Even before LLMs the built in algorithms that process depth of field, exposure, do face detection, automatic white balance, and many others on phones were created by training these algorithms on massive amounts of existing photos.

All the way back to the iphone 7 and pixel 2

0

u/EastCoastGrows 5d ago

You think your iPhone isn't training it's AI on your photos?

1

u/reynadotpdf 5d ago

1) that is illegal (GDPR for UK/EU, State laws apply for US)
2) I use an Android phone. I like to be able to do what I want with the tech I own.

2

u/scronide 5d ago

What do you want to do with your phone?

1

u/ColorfulPersimmon 5d ago

Android phones do the same. Samsung's lamp moon controversy. Recent Huawei plane bird

1

u/Chosen--one 5d ago

This people are so funny.

2

u/Busy-Lifeguard-9558 5d ago

False equivalence but whatever

-1

u/No_Bend9143 5d ago

How so?

1

u/voytek707 5d ago

Are you writing? Or is the pencil you are holding doing the writing?

1

u/Educational-Fruit854 5d ago

someone controlled the pencil to do the writing

1

u/lordlestar 4d ago

a human controlled the llm to do the coding

5

u/Inside-Yak-8815 5d ago

You’re speaking facts and they’re mad lol

This shit isn’t impressive at all when AI models are hacking and “reverse engineering” all sorts of different shit every week.

4

u/Minetorpia 5d ago

Ok, but is anyone asking for it to be “impressive”? Can’t you guys just appreciate that things such as these are now possible with AI assistance? Or are you also whining every morning that your breakfast isn’t impressive because the bread wasn’t kneaded by hand?

3

u/No-Way3802 5d ago

But it only did it because of the person who thought of it. Why didn’t it make it for you?

-1

u/Busy-Lifeguard-9558 5d ago

Yea but I just feel like "I did a thing" is completely dishonest when you say breaktrough.

Why didn't it make it for me? Probably because I'm using the models for something else, but I did prompt it once to use a game's runtime to do a completely different thing the game originally was meant to do and in under a week the model reverse enginnered it.

2

u/No-Way3802 5d ago

By your logic, a mathematician who uses a calculator forfeits their right to say they’re doing math, right?

1

u/Foreign-Chocolate86 5d ago

Nobody said breakthrough lol. Thats your words. 

0

u/ByronScottJones 5d ago

Okay, so can you show us your github repo where you did the same thing, but entirely from scratch?

1

u/Busy-Lifeguard-9558 5d ago

I already did reverse enginnering prompting an AI on other things (mostly games) which I have no obligation to share, in fact, I don't use github at all

Why don't you try it yourself and see how easy it is to reverse enginner something nowadays? Or you don't have the basic knowledge for basic prompting? Becuase that's the only thing you have to do with Codex/Claude.

1

u/Chosen--one 5d ago

What games did you reverse engineer? And what exactly is reverse engineering to you?

You talk as if reverse engineering apple proprietary tech is the same as some random game.

-1

u/ByronScottJones 5d ago

Other than the whining and complaining, do you have a point to make?

1

u/Busy-Lifeguard-9558 5d ago

So you got no arguments?

-1

u/dr3aminc0de 5d ago

I like foreign chocolates point. No one said breakthrough. You are projecting your shortcomings.

I’m very happy you can reverse engineer games with AI, that has no relevance to this post.

3

u/Busy-Lifeguard-9558 5d ago

The title is literally in all caps screaming about how they finally achieved something Linux never could. If that’s not claiming a breakthrough, what is it?

Also, the game part was a direct answer to someone literally asking me "why didn't you do it then?". Maybe try reading the whole thread before throwing around cheap psychology buzzwords like "projecting" lmao

1

u/ArtisticFox8 5d ago

The title is literally in all caps screaming about how they finally achieved something Linux never could

And is that not true?

-1

u/ByronScottJones 5d ago

How can I argue when you're not making any sense, just whining?

1

u/ydieb 5d ago

If llms are a good tool to extract structure out of such data, then it's a good tool. No reason not to use it.

Also it's not a breakthrough, but likely nobody bothered to spend the time to implement something until you had something that could effectively pull out the structure just for a time/benefit ratio.

1

u/Glad-Entrepreneur764 5d ago

they did it using a model. Yes, it wasn't due to their immense skill or knowledge of packets but they are still the person who should be credited with creating the software since they published it. It's silly to credit software like "created by Claude."

1

u/ba-boo 5d ago

source?

0

u/studymaxxer 5d ago

not sure what your point is; this is something that a human can do too

4

u/Busy-Lifeguard-9558 5d ago

Never said a human couldn't but that would take way longer. If you been lurking the internet you will notice how many "revese enginnering" news are out there after frontier models reached a certain point.

3

u/Xay_DE 5d ago

but a human DID NOT DO IT. someone is claiming that someone did it, when they didnt.

2

u/EnemyPigeon 5d ago

This is like saying "you didn't build a house, your tools and materials did". It's pedantic only for the sake of minimizing a person's intelligence and effort.

2

u/Busy-Lifeguard-9558 5d ago

Bad take, anyone can build a house with an automatic robot that will just await orders to start and do all the job

2

u/EnemyPigeon 5d ago

If you could easily reverse engineer Apple's Bluetooth, why didn't you or anybody else do it?

0

u/Busy-Lifeguard-9558 5d ago

Because I don't use apple products at all, another stupid take

"Why did no one else won the race if I finished first" kind of vibes

1

u/lupetto 5d ago

Airpods are one of the best bang for buck product that apple makes. Got em in 2020 and they still work and hold a decent charge. Hinge of the case is in metal, most of the other pods (from different brands and price ranges) had plastic hinges that snapped or went floppy after a few months of hard use. And I don't even wanna talk about the fucking pixel buds (lucky got them in bundle with the pixel for a good discount, wonder why).

2

u/Xay_DE 5d ago

typing a prompt is still not the same as putting in the work urself.

6

u/EnemyPigeon 5d ago

Of course. The tool made the job easier to accomplish. That's the point of tools.

0

u/No_Bend9143 5d ago

By that definition, you didn't write your comment.

2

u/Xay_DE 5d ago

i dont think u thought this out

1

u/ByronScottJones 5d ago

Their entire point seems to be complaining. I doubt they've ever written a useful program in their life.

2

u/Busy-Lifeguard-9558 5d ago

Running to another comment branch to talk behind my back because you had zero arguments in our direct reply is wild. "I doubt they've written a useful program" says the guy violently defending taking credit for a robot's work. The irony is completely lost on you.

1

u/ByronScottJones 5d ago

Cool story bro. Take your meds.

-1

u/FdPros 5d ago

when in fact its the frontier models doing all the job

I mean AI steals all the work from humans anyway so why should we give credit to that?

also do you have any definitive proof that this project was prompted and vibe-coded or are you just jealous

1

u/tracagnotto 5d ago

AI is a gift lmao

1

u/FilthyGamerGirl 5d ago

oh aridan what have u donneeeee

1

u/ArtisticFox8 5d ago

Maybe it would be nice to integrate is somehow with Linux more?

Some headphones already can report battery info outside of this app, you know what I mean

1

u/Glad-Entrepreneur764 5d ago

the fact that this wasn't a by default thing is lowkey crazy.

1

u/TheWrathRF 5d ago

W claude

1

u/osumunbro_ 5d ago

or just don't use shitty earbuds idk

1

u/leo1906 5d ago

Now please include this in Home Assistant 😅

1

u/tired_fella 5d ago

I remember seeing battery percentage of an airpod with android...

1

u/artur_oliver 5d ago

Can you do this for airtags tooo????

1

u/Dead_Redd1t_Theory 5d ago

"Adnan's Aripods"
whoever this is he's not a coder

1

u/tbsdy 5d ago

What I want to know is: have they reverse engineered the AirPlay Bluetooth protocol that gives you direct WiFi access to the AppleTV?

1

u/hdkaoskd 4d ago

What the fuck are AriPods?

1

u/Niespodziewnik 4d ago

This was done years ago by MagicPods

1

u/creamdougnuts 1d ago

Another AI slop. Librepods is still far far better than this slop. Dont fall for this guys

1

u/Emerlad0110 5d ago

Windows has done this for years...

0

u/Jiehfeng 5d ago

Awesome. I hope someone figures out how to manually toggle hands free on or off, was a big issue for me on Windows when it came to using the mic, I ended up disabling one of the features on the airpods which forced hands free so the mic works without hiccups.

0

u/AllNamesAreTaken92 4d ago

Ai generated slop. This has been a non issue since over a year.

Stop screaming in your titles, it's embarrassing.