How to measure Bluetooth signal strength in OS X

One of the most standardized wireless connections and one that we really use constantly in our peripherals, phones ... is the Bluetooth connection. At first this wireless connection protocol was primarily intended for the content exchange and it was used as something secondary in the synchronization of devices.

However, today, the version of the protocol has advanced a lot, reaching 4.0 and reviewing aspects such as the speed of data transfer and the distance at which it can be transferred, making it much greater, but it has not arrived alone and is that Wi Fi Direct is also very present today in multiple devices, in any case it has not yet reached the heights of popularity of Bluetooth, so the succession to the throne will still be late.

Returning to the topic, as you already know in our Mac by default we use the bluetooth connection to connect both the wireless keyboard and the magic mouse, apart from other devices as I have already mentioned, but sometimes for some reasons or others they do not work as well as we would like to lose connection. Hence we will see what happens.

The Bluetooth protocol uses a radio as a means of communication just like Wi-Fi, so the intensity in the broadcast signal and reception must be optimal. On Bluetooth devices it is translated as a Strength Indication Signal (RSSI) and is set with numerical values. This stability can fluctuate depending on the situation or interference from other radio waves, however there are some standards to check if it is good or bad:

• 0 to -60: It's good
• -61 to -70: It is normal
• Less than -90: Bad

There are multiple ways to check it, but one of the simplest is to go to System Preferences> Bluetooth, there you would have to hold down the Alt key or option for the values ​​to appear, that simple, with that we can rule out problems with power of the radio signal.

More information - An Apple patent shows content transfer by proximity

Source - Cnet