Support for external Bluetooth adapters

[flyboat]

The built-in Bluetooth adapter is weak and does not work for couch multiplayer for me. Even though my TV is only maybe five feet away, inputs consistently get dropped and delayed. I have a USB Bluetooth adapter with an antenna that is strong enough to provide a reliable signal to the couch (I used it with the PC my SD replaced), but there does not seem to be any way to use that adapter for my controllers instead of the built-in one.

I know this is possible with a normal Linux box, but I can't seem to get it to work here. bluetoothctl just acts strangely and won't scan with the USB adapter despite seeing it. I'd like to see *some* way to use an external adapter rather than the built-in one.

[ftl]

We are also unable to use the Steam Deck for couch multiplayer because of the weak Bluetooth. Any chance we could get an update on the bug flyboat described?

[Prezidentas]

The antennas are on the bottom of the device. try laying the bottom (where the SD card slot is) towards the couch.

[ftl]

That does help a bit. Still, the only controller I'd call reliable is the Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2. The normal Xbox one, as well as the Switch Pro Controller aren't working properly.

Support for external adapters would help a lot.

[mongole]

Soo any update here? I do not want to re-arrange my deck and dock in strange ways just to get reliably bt connectivity. Can we use adapters with external antennas? Which are supported? Valve, please help.

[Buben]

I found it kind of works. There is a bug, that if i have plugged external bt adapter to my deck and scanning for devices, i see each available bt device twice.

Also, I'm not sure what adapter is certain device connected to.

This should be really improved. I found that build-in bt adapter is not great.