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06 October 2011 02:38 PM

Johnny Ringo Sr. Member

Total Posts: 523

Joined 2012-11-15

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Are there any Ant+ dongles for Android devices, similar to the Wahoo key for iPhones?

If not, are there any plans known in this direction?
Else, is it feasible to custom build an Ant+ dongle for say recent HTC or Samsung Android devices?

Thanks.

31 October 2011 11:51 AM #1

Johnny Ringo Sr. Member

Total Posts: 523

Joined 2012-11-15

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I would think that if a driver for the already released ant+ USB stick were available all it would take is a micro usb adapter cable and you could use that on your phone.

Personally I'd prefer that to a "stick" that stuck out the side or bottom of my phone, less likely to be in the way.

Just tuck it into the back of my existing velcro pocket I stow my phone in while I work out and good to go.

I'm not sure why it's taken so long for a product to appear in the marketplace. there are a LOT of people using fitness apps on android phones.

01 November 2011 10:57 PM #2

old_man_biking Sr. Member

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As far as I know, Android versions up to 2.2 do NOT support using the USB port in master mode, i.e. plugging USB accessories into it and accessing them. So the problem is a missing Android kernel feature that can't be overcome by apps.

02 November 2011 09:01 AM #3

rohan Sr. Member

Total Posts: 129

Joined 2010-11-30

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That is correct:
"The Android 3.1 platform (also backported to Android 2.3.4) introduces Android Open Accessory support, which allows external USB hardware (an Android USB accessory) to interact with an Android-powered device in a special "accessory" mode."
http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/usb/adk.html

Mobile phones (Android and others) have typically not been built to support USB accessories, but using this approach it is feasible to custom build an ANT+ dongle. This however, is completely different than connecting a USB Stick to a PC - most significantly "Accessories must also provide 500mA at 5V for charging power".

23 November 2011 11:46 PM #4

ohyamat Newbie

Total Posts: 4

Joined 2009-11-04

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I want to use the ANT USB stick on Android tablet/phone, too.

So, I need
(1)the Android 3.1 or later platform with Android Open Accessory support
(2)to customize ANT Library (modify ANT Windows/MacOSX Library)

Is this right?

But, the (2) is too difficult for me.
I expect ANT Android Library on thisisant web site as Windows/MacOSX.

08 December 2011 03:05 PM #5

Johnny Ringo Sr. Member

Total Posts: 523

Joined 2012-11-15

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perhaps someone could devise an ant+ to bluetooth bridging device, instead of a dongle that hangs off the phone. this product from motorola looks like it might be capable, if the software is written properly: https://motoactv.com/

09 December 2011 06:29 AM #6

Johnny Ringo Sr. Member

Total Posts: 523

Joined 2012-11-15

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There will be an Android Dongle from Wahoo. Maybe only supported with 2.3.4 and higher, cause of the missing "Open Accessory API" in older versions.

I made an thread about this in the Mobile section!

01 February 2012 10:36 PM #7

Johnny Ringo Sr. Member

Total Posts: 523

Joined 2012-11-15

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Any ideas on when an ANT dongle will be available for Android phones?

02 February 2012 07:07 PM #8

rohan Sr. Member

Total Posts: 129

Joined 2010-11-30

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An API for programmers to utilize USB Host support (allowing you to connect dongles to your device) is available since Android 3.1 (ie. phones from 4.0) - however due to power requirements the feature is primarily for tablets, and won't be included in many phones. This is a good step forward, but no products have been announced...yet.

A Bluetooth to ANT bridge is also possible. While the MOTOACTV is nice, even with a rooted MOTOACTV applications can not make use of the inbuilt ANT as there is no API provided. Again no products to do this have been announced (but demonstrations with the TI CC2567 chip last year have shown how easy it can be done).

16 March 2012 03:54 PM #9

Johnny Ringo Sr. Member

Total Posts: 523

Joined 2012-11-15

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Google Tracks Android app supports BT accessories like heart-rate and cadence sensors, but most available products in that category are actually ANT+, not BT. I hope it doesn't go that direction in general for this type of Android accessories because the BT devices (as I understand it) have to maintain a 2-way connection, where the ANT+ devices are connectionless. In other words, I think ANT+ accessories broadcast and don't really spend battery power caring whether any devices are listening, and they wouldn't have to be reset (re-paired? re-linked?) upon losing a connection.

04 June 2012 05:08 PM #10

tekknow Newbie

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So it appears the answer is no, at least it was 4 months ago. Anybody have updated info? Anybody else considering switching to the iPhone over this issue?

05 June 2012 11:18 AM #11

rohan Sr. Member

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Dongle support for phones running 2.3.4 (ie. building new hardware to use Android Open Accessory API) is a different request than supporting an ANT USB stick on 3.1 or newer tablets/phones that provide a USB Host (or On-The-Go) connection.

ANT USB stick (the same that you use in a PC) support will be provided for Android, this should be in the near-future, but a timeframe for availability is not currently available.

05 June 2012 11:22 AM #12

rohan Sr. Member

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Joined 2010-11-30

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Hubschrauber wrote:

Google Tracks Android app supports BT accessories like heart-rate and cadence sensors, but most available products in that category are actually ANT+, not BT.

The My Tracks app by Google also supports ANT+ sensors; in fact it was one of the first Android apps to do so.

07 June 2012 04:55 AM #13

ifor Sr. Member

Total Posts: 122

Joined 2010-10-25

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There was a reference to Alpha support for this feature in the latest release of ANT radio servicies so there is work in progress by the look of things. Hopefully things will just work API wise but I expect there may be some issues with detection of availiability etc.

07 June 2012 08:49 AM #14

rohan Sr. Member

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Joined 2010-11-30

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That is correct. Developers will not need to change the way they use the API, however an API version update will generally be needed before existing applications which check for ANT support will work with removable USB hardware.

26 June 2012 02:39 PM #15

rohan Sr. Member

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Joined 2010-11-30

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USB Host support is here, with the ANT USB Service available on the Google Play store. This works with the standard ANT Radio Service (v3.0 now available) to link to an ANT USB Stick. Check the store description for some limitations.

Developers can find all the information they will need in the latest download of the ANT Android SDK. Currently available applications will need to be updated, but this is a drop-in change.
http://www.thisisant.com/pages/developer-zone/android-api

ANT Forum

Ant+ dongle for Android devices?