Theengs open-source tools to decode BLE sensors work on ESP32, Raspberry Pi, Android phone, etc…

Theengs is a manufacturer agnostic open-source set of tools to decode BLE sensors and integrate those into smart home and IoT solutions such as Home Assistant with notably support for autodiscovery to automatically create the sensor.

Theengs can be installed on various hardware from ESP32 to an Android phone or a Raspberry Pi SBC, and the solution currently supports close to forty BLE sensors from various companies including Xiaomi, Honeywell, and RuuviTag.

There are six components:

• The Theengs Decoder library developed in C++ for portability and translating data from sensors into human-readable data using the JSON format.
• The Python-based Theengs Gateway acting as a BLE to MQTT bridge for Home Assistant, OpenHAB, and NodeRED integration. It relies on the Theengs Decoder library and publishes the sensors broadcasted BLE information to an MQTT broker.
• The OpenMQTTGateway is also BLE to MQTT bridge, but instead of targetting Linux-capable hardware like Raspberry Pi or a PC, it’s made for lower-end hardware such as ESP8266, ESP32, or Arduino (Microchip AVR) boards.
• The Theengs Explorer, also written in Python, is designed to discover new BLE sensors and show their raw advertisement data and decoded data. The Explorer is still under development and should help users add new BLE devices to the project.
• A Home Assistant addon
• An Android mobile app. That’s a paid app (175 THB here, or about $4.75), but it’s also open-source and relies on the Theengs Decoder library to read broadcasted data from BLE devices and display those to your mobile device.

Note that you don’t necessarily need to use the mobile app, as you could run an OpenMQTTGateway on an ESP32, or the Theengs Gateway on a Raspberry Pi, or the Theengs App on an Android phone or tablet. Each acts as a local BLE to MQTT gateway with the Android app capable of displaying the sensor data without integration with a home automation gateway.

Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)

Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.

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