Samsung devices use randomized MAC addresses about espresense

[InToSSH]

Any updates on this? Have a Samsung A32 and can't track it. It changes the MAC address like 20 times per hour and the ID is the same like MAC.

This was mainly an issue with Samsung smart watches. If you have a phone, easiest way is to install an iBeacon app which transmits the UUID and you can track that with ESPresense. This is what I am doing right now with my phone, I am using the official Home Assistant app as a beacon transmitter.

[InToSSH]

I installed the HA app on my Galaxy Watch 4, but I don't see it... What does the id look like? @ChristianKnorr "give Access (settings/senors) to Bluetooth / BLE-Transmitter" this is in the HA app on smartphone? I already do that. On the watch are there any settings to change ? Thanks

In the watch HA app, go to Settings -> Manage sensors -> Bluetooth sensors -> Turn on BLE transmitter

[anaisbetts]

[DTTerastar]

Yeah, samsung is a big place. There are tvs which aren't random, so this code is good for that. The SmartTag's are helped by this code as well. But yeah a watch that is random that's not a good. Is there any characteristics that make the watch identify-able?

[DTTerastar]

Do you see the name in mqtt?

[anaisbetts]

@DTTerastar I have active scanning turned off because turning it on destroys the battery on the watch (i.e. < 6hrs use vs ~36hrs normally). I see samsung:[MAC] show up in MQTT

[DTTerastar]

That scan is for a "Bonded" device so it's not what we see on our side unfortunately. I'll verify I can get what I need if you run the verbose firmware.

[anaisbetts]

Here's the output with verbose firmware, doesn't seem much different:

0 New   | MAC: 4b50eb31169b, ID: samsung:4b50eb31169b                              
0 New   | MAC: 4e4e4e6fec47, ID: sid:0xfe9f                                        
0 New   | MAC: 03318e8c4d12, ID: sid:0xfd5a                                        
0 New   | MAC: fb3fae2ace2f, ID: md:0059:8                                         
1 Close | MAC: 03318e8c4d12, ID: sid:0xfd5a                                        
1 Left  | MAC: 03318e8c4d12, ID: sid:0xfd5a                                        
0 New   | MAC: 64a1ea9ec321, ID: exp:20                                            
0 New   | MAC: 53aed97bef30, ID: samsung:53aed97bef30                              
0 New   | MAC: 15627ea7947f, ID: apple:1307:11                                     
0 New   | MAC: 1d2637302b2c, ID: exp:20                                            
0 New   | MAC: 5e7c25e7962e, ID: samsung:5e7c25e7962e                              
0 New   | MAC: 4e8d77b19679, ID: 4e8d77b19679                                      
0 New   | MAC: 72ff4f45b423, ID: apple:1005:9-7                                    
0 New   | MAC: 007c2deb41d5, ID: samsung:007c2deb41d5                              
0 New   | MAC: 54d27264b18d, ID: apple:0631:21                                     
0 New   | MAC: 7cdc19216971, ID: apple:0f11:25                                     
0 New   | MAC: 65eb3ed281fd, ID: exp:20                                            
0 New   | MAC: 13853ead1ec1, ID: microsoft:70496e52b64f89df1aa3f0796b914963bf7534f8941e9d
0 New   | MAC: 09247c71e5a0, ID: microsoft:ac13c38f51d2df53ed9e6bde21c36e936fc6b70e5ecf7a

[DTTerastar]

I just added the verbosity needed, are you able to flash master, or do I need to release it?

[DTTerastar]

I released v.1.6.3 with this, so after autoupdating it should be in the serial output.

[DTTerastar]

Any chance to look at the data?

[bachoo786]

hey @anaisbetts @DTTerastar I am having the same issue with my Samsung Galaxy Active Watch 4 and Samsung S20 phone. I have installed Espresense however the MAC Id for my Samsung devices keep changing.

How can I get the correct MAC ID? Can someone please help?

Thanks.

[DTTerastar]

BTLE does that on purpose to stop bad actors from tracking you. The only way to track a device with random macs is to instead look at the rest of what it's broadcasting and come up with something we can track. ESPresense tries to make the id something based on the manufacture data (those ids start md:*) or service data (those ids start sd:). If you're not see ids like that from ESPresense you'd need to use nrf connect to try and find something you can track. Some devices might just be so stealthy you can't do it. One thing to try is installing the COVID tracking app. That will get you an id exp:20.

[InToSSH]

I also have Watch 4. I was trying to install some iBeacon simulator app, but from what I have found the Wear OS doesn't expose an API for this. Is there any debugging I can do to see if it would be possible to get any data which would help to identify it? I noticed that when I go to BT settings, making the device discoverable I can see the name of the watch in ESPresense.

[haozgit]

Complete Local Name attribute from Galaxy BLE beacon is fixed. How can leverage this as detection instead of using MAC in espresense ? Any idea ?

[InToSSH]

@haozgit I found this too, but I think the Complete local name is only visible when the watch is in pairing mode or already paired to a device.

[DTTerastar]

Connect w/ nRfConnect and if you can find any open services that return something trackable I can add it. But otherwise i'm sol.

[kankadev]

Any updates on this? Have a Samsung A32 and can't track it. It changes the MAC address like 20 times per hour and the ID is the same like MAC.

[ChristianKnorr]

My solution:

• Install home assistant APP to Galaxy Watch 5 Pro
• give Access (settings/senors) to Bluetooth / BLE-Transmitter
• in espresense you get an iBeacon
• install this via https://espresense.com/home_assistant

For me it works for one ESP32, more i can't test, i ordered

[xmow49]

I installed the HA app on my Galaxy Watch 4, but I don't see it...
What does the id look like?
@ChristianKnorr "give Access (settings/senors) to Bluetooth / BLE-Transmitter" this is in the HA app on smartphone? I already do that. On the watch are there any settings to change ?
Thanks

[ChristianKnorr]

I installed the HA app on my Galaxy Watch 4, but I don't see it... What does the id look like? @ChristianKnorr "give Access (settings/senors) to Bluetooth / BLE-Transmitter" this is in the HA app on smartphone? I already do that. On the watch are there any settings to change ? Thanks

In lovelace I have a sensor: sensor.christians_galaxy_watch_5_pro

[sdetweil]

but it reports the changing mac, with the fixed UUID.. how do we define the UUID as the linkage?

New    | 781fe5253993 | iBeacon:b09c1e2e-8b00-45c4-8369-49cbb6479a11-100-40004

(from the espresense esp32 console)..
but it isn't broadcast to mqtt..

the UUID matches what is shown in the HA sensors, bluetooth config. but the mac changes on every report.