Bluetooth 6.1 Announced With Support for Enhanced Privacy, Better Battery Life

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) recently announced the latest Bluetooth 6.1 standard, and it is designed to protect user privacy while using devices that offer support for the wireless connectivity protocol. New devices with Bluetooth 6.1 support could arrive by 2026, and could deliver improved power efficiency enabled by the latest standard. The Bluetooth SIG recently moved to a bi-annual release schedule, which means that we can expect the next version of Bluetooth to release in the second half of 2025.

Bluetooth 6.1 Adds Randomised RPA Timing for Improved Privacy

The latest Bluetooth 6.1 Core Specification announcement states that there are two notable changes to the wireless communication protocol. The first change will improve the privacy of devices that are connected using Bluetooth 6.1, while the other will improve battery life on devices that rely on the wireless communication protocol.

Bluetooth 6 arrived last year with support for changing the MAC address of a device to protect user privacy, using a Resolvable Private Address (RPA). This is done at a fixed 15-minute interval, which could allow malicious users to track users by identifying the randomised address as it is generated.

In order to resolve this issue, Bluetooth 6.1 adds support for randomised RPAs. As a result, the RPA is updated between 8 minutes and 15 minutes, and the value is picked randomly. This makes it much harder for a malicious user to track other Bluetooth devices, as it becomes difficult to predict when a device's address will be randomised.

You can read more about how Bluetooth 6.1 protects user privacy in the detailed document published by the Bluetooth SIG. The document also reveals another benefit that will be available on devices with Bluetooth 6.1 support.

These randomised RPA requests will be handled by the wireless chip (controller) on devices that support Bluetooth connectivity, instead of relying on the processor. As a result, smaller devices like truly wireless stereo (TWS) headsets, fitness trackers, smartwatches, and portable speakers could offer better battery life.

Customers might have to wait for several months before new devices arrive with support for Bluetooth 6.1. Meanwhile, the Bluetooth SIG recently announced that it has switched to a new bi-annual release schedule, which means the next version of Bluetooth should arrive by the end of 2025.