External Bluetooth adapter support

[Satoshi]

The built in Bluetooth in the Steamdeck has pretty poor range and is resulting in a poor experience while docked to a TV. I'd like to use a USB Bluetooth dongle however the device does not seem to support other Bluetooth adapters. It recognizes the adapter however I cannot get it to pair to any devices. I've tried two different adapters as well.

[mongole]

Is there any update on this topic? I also want to use a USB Bluetooth dongle. Are there any compatible ones with antennas?

[Volitan]

I would like this too as I seem to be getting a lot of interference all in the places I have put my dock. I'd love to run a USB cable under my rug to the other side of the room with a Bluetooth dongle to fix this as I've tried 3 different controllers (Xbox, dual sense, sn30 pro) and they all have some kind of issue.

[Navi1199]

I know this forum is kind of old but I hope this information helps someone. I recently bought an ivoler dock so I can prop my steam deck near the TV, after a few minutes I instantly had connectivity problems.... I would say my steam deck and TV is about 8 to 10 feet away. I did have another dock, it's a USB UTECHSMART hub, when I connected to that hub all the connectivity issues went away... the issue may not be with the steam deck Bluetooth but maybe the dock you're using. In my case the ivoler was aluminum that's my guess to why it didn't work. Because the utechsmart is a hub and not a dock it doesn't block the decks Bluetooth receiver. Maybe try a different dock? Hope that helps someone

[Vthyarilops]

Kinda necro bumping this, but I managed to get my bluetooth dongle working, essentially I forgot all my controllers in game mode, went into desktop (checked the BT MAC address of the steam deck for identification purposes before connecting the dongle, it was called "steam deck" while the other ended up as "steam deck #2"), in configuration I unchecked enabled for the built in BT, clicked on the second adapter and went back, add new device, enabled pairing and found a controller, after I disconnected the dongle and the controllers should disappear from the list if you paired to the right interface, if not go back and try again. I got 3 DS4's to pair properly and had to re pair the 4th one as it kept pairing to the builtin bluetooth, I seemingly had to keep disabling the builtin BT between each pair attempt to make it pair more reliably, hope this helps and isn't just overly confusing to read

[Tyler]

Thank you Vthyarilops. That worked for a few of my devices as well. I really hope there are some improvements made on this front soon, specifically to improve the quality of the docked experience. BT is a bit better on the OLED vs. the LCD model, but still has its issues when docked, maybe from AC line noise. In any case, boosting signal will almost always help with this and I'd like to be able to.

[Vthyarilops]

Unfortunately I had to actually give up on using the external adapter as after some recent client update it started causing complete system crashes, so I'm stuck with the ♥♥♥♥♥♥ built in bluetooth again but at least don't have random disconnects and crashes

[Tyler]

I did some more searching and found a Linux compatible plug+play BT 5.0 adapter on Amazon that actually works as a primary BlueTooth adapter on my Deck. I just have to enable it, then disable the built-in adapter and then pair all of my devices to the new USB adapter.

All of my devices are working so much better from a distance, and since it is USB I can run it off the end of an extension cable to put it in the best place for maximum range. I tried a few others that did not work. If anyone is interested in the adapter that does work, here it is:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0B2737HPS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[thejagermaestro]

Originally posted by Navi1199:

I know this forum is kind of old but I hope this information helps someone. I recently bought an ivoler dock so I can prop my steam deck near the TV, after a few minutes I instantly had connectivity problems.... I would say my steam deck and TV is about 8 to 10 feet away. I did have another dock, it's a USB UTECHSMART hub, when I connected to that hub all the connectivity issues went away... the issue may not be with the steam deck Bluetooth but maybe the dock you're using. In my case the ivoler was aluminum that's my guess to why it didn't work. Because the utechsmart is a hub and not a dock it doesn't block the decks Bluetooth receiver. Maybe try a different dock? Hope that helps someone

Dude THANK YOU. I have the same dock, for over a year I've been just accepting that my bluetooth was not great, occasionally googling it to see if solutions had been found yet. After seeing your post I took it out of the dock and laid it on the shelf where the dock normally sits. Difference is night and day. Have you found another dock that doesn't cause these issues yet?

[deaddoof]

Originally posted by thejagermaestro:

Originally posted by Navi1199:

I know this forum is kind of old but I hope this information helps someone. I recently bought an ivoler dock so I can prop my steam deck near the TV, after a few minutes I instantly had connectivity problems.... I would say my steam deck and TV is about 8 to 10 feet away. I did have another dock, it's a USB UTECHSMART hub, when I connected to that hub all the connectivity issues went away... the issue may not be with the steam deck Bluetooth but maybe the dock you're using. In my case the ivoler was aluminum that's my guess to why it didn't work. Because the utechsmart is a hub and not a dock it doesn't block the decks Bluetooth receiver. Maybe try a different dock? Hope that helps someone

Dude THANK YOU. I have the same dock, for over a year I've been just accepting that my bluetooth was not great, occasionally googling it to see if solutions had been found yet. After seeing your post I took it out of the dock and laid it on the shelf where the dock normally sits. Difference is night and day. Have you found another dock that doesn't cause these issues yet?

You should had RMA because usb ports have been known to interfer with WIFI.

https://www.usb.org/sites/default/files/327216.pdf

https://www.rshtech.com/blog/how-to-avoid-the-usb30-and-24-ghz-devices-interference-2

[Bambi]

Originally posted by Tyler:

I did some more searching and found a Linux compatible plug+play BT 5.0 adapter on Amazon that actually works as a primary BlueTooth adapter on my Deck. I just have to enable it, then disable the built-in adapter and then pair all of my devices to the new USB adapter.

All of my devices are working so much better from a distance, and since it is USB I can run it off the end of an extension cable to put it in the best place for maximum range. I tried a few others that did not work. If anyone is interested in the adapter that does work, here it is:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0B2737HPS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Maybe a dumb question but do you plug the dongle into the dock?

[falo]

Giving this thread a bit of a bump - would be great to have official support for this so that a dock can be aware that it should prioritise a secondary bluetooth controller over the default one. I still get some intermittent cutout when using controllers and a docked Deck, and there's only so much I'm willing to change my living room layout to compensate for poor bluetooth reception in the built-in.

[deaddoof]

Originally posted by falo:

Giving this thread a bit of a bump - would be great to have official support for this so that a dock can be aware that it should prioritise a secondary bluetooth controller over the default one. I still get some intermittent cutout when using controllers and a docked Deck, and there's only so much I'm willing to change my living room layout to compensate for poor bluetooth reception in the built-in.

Define poor reception. The build in reception isn't that poor. You cannot do seemless handoff with bluetooth stack. I use it all the time.

[Tyler]

Originally posted by Bambi:

Originally posted by Tyler:

I did some more searching and found a Linux compatible plug+play BT 5.0 adapter on Amazon that actually works as a primary BlueTooth adapter on my Deck. I just have to enable it, then disable the built-in adapter and then pair all of my devices to the new USB adapter.

All of my devices are working so much better from a distance, and since it is USB I can run it off the end of an extension cable to put it in the best place for maximum range. I tried a few others that did not work. If anyone is interested in the adapter that does work, here it is:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0B2737HPS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Maybe a dumb question but do you plug the dongle into the dock?

Yes. The USB dongle has a regular USB-A plug. Pretty much all docks have a few USB 2.0 or 3.1 type-A ports you can use. I have mine on the end of a USB extender cable that is double side taped to the underside of my desk to enhance the range and help it reach my keyboard when its on my lap.

I have Bluetooth devices paired independently on both the internal and external adapters. I make sure to add an "Ex" to each device name in the Bluetooth popup to indicate the pairing is with the external adapter so I know which will pair when I press the Connect button next to remembered devices. It actually ends up working really well.

[crushpunch]

Would love a non-hacky way to get more reliable bluetooth support while docked but would pay to simply add an external adapter as a workaround. I get lots of input lag while using 2 controllers connected via bluetooth. I've used DS4, DS5 Edge, and some 8BitDo Lite 2s. Lag gets worse as controller count goes up making couch coop a struggle.

[Fr34k]

Bumb +1 for this !!!

I want to use my BT Headset with Steamdeck. But the BT on the Steamdeck cant handle the microphone. So every Headset with Bluetooth is only a Headphone (without Mic).
When i want to use the internal Mic, my chat-partner always hear a loud "WHHOOOOSSSHHH" becaus of the fan, right next to the Mic.

So i thought using a Linux compatible BT 5.4 Dongle should solve my problem.
I already tried 3pcs of different BT Dongle - all Linux compatible. But nothing worked. My Headset is only a Headphone.

Any help on how to get a BT Dongle work on Steamdeck? Or how to get a BT Microphone working?