Does my treadmill have FTMS Bluetooth?

FTMS, Insight

by SvB

The world of Bluetooth can be a bit of a black box. This article aims to bring some light to the FiTness Machine Service (FTMS) Bluetooth protocol. We will be focusing on the basic requirements to identify, get data and control your treadmill via Bluetooth.

If you are wondering what FTMS is, have a read here.

What will I need?

To connect to your treadmill can evaluate the Bluetooth you will require the nRF Connect app by Nordic Semiconductors This will enable you to connect to any Bluetooth device, get data from it and send it commands. A powerful tool.

In this guide we will be using the Android nRF Connect app as it has a few more features compared to the iOS version.

Finding the FiTness Machine Service (FTMS)

In order for us to test the treadmill’s FTMS capabilities we need to:

Find the Bluetooth services the treadmill has.
This might take some trial and error if not obvious.
Connect to it using the nRF Connect app by tapping on “Connect”
Once connected, look for the word “Fitness Machine”

If you have come this far successfully your treadmill is at least indicating it might have FTMS. The next few steps will drive into what functionality it actually has.

WARNING: Not all manufacturers have implemented the entire FTMS feature set!

Reading data

Next, we will be testing what data the treadmill is sending from the treadmill to any FTMS app.

Click on the “Fitness Machine” discovered in the step above
At this stage
a) connect your heart rate monitor to your treadmill
b) safely start the treadmill manually and set speed to 1 km/hr and incline to 1%
This will bring up a list. Find “Treadmill data”
Click on the ↓↓↓ arrows on the side of the word.

All the data that is available from the treadmill will now be displayed. The list below provides the data you would want to see.

Must-haves:

Time (total time, in seconds)
Distance (total distance, in meters)
Speed (instantaneous, in km/hr)
Incline (current incline, in %)

Ideally:

Heart Rate (instantaneous, bpm)
Calories (total, Calories)

Controlling the treadmill

Now, the cool stuff, let us see if you can control the treadmill. This will take some more advanced steps but stick with us here.

Controlling speed

Safely start the treadmill manually and set speed to 1 km/hr and incline to 1%
Find the “Fitness Machine Control Point” in the list below “Fitness Machine”

We are now going tell the treadmill to increase the speed to 2 km/hr. Be safe!
Click on the ↑ arrows on the side of the word.
In the input field type called “New value” enter 02C800 and press send

02 – let the treadmill know you are sending it a speed change request
C8 – is hexadecimal for 200 which is 2 km/hr at a resolution of 0.01 km/h
00 – spacer

If the treadmill speed increased to 2 km/hr your treadmill has FTMS capabilities that can control the treadmill’s speed.

Controlling incline

Safely start the treadmill manually and set speed to 1 km/hr and incline to 1%
Find the “Fitness Machine Control Point” in the list below “Fitness Machine”

We are now going to tell the treadmill to increase the incline to 2%. Be safe!
Click on the ↑ arrows on the side of the word.
In the input field type called “New value” enter 031400 and press send

03 – let the treadmill know you are sending it a incline change request
14 – is hexadecimal for 20 which is 2% at a resolution of 0.1 %
00 – spacer

If the treadmill speed increased to 2% your treadmill has FTMS capabilities that can control the treadmill’s incline.

Controlling start

Stop the treadmill manually
Find the “Fitness Machine Control Point” in the list below “Fitness Machine”

We are now going to tell the treadmill to start. Be safe!
Click on the ↑ arrows on the side of the word.
In the input field type called “New value” enter 07 and press send

If the treadmill started your treadmill has FTMS capabilities that can start the treadmill.

Controlling stop

Start the treadmill manually
Find the “Fitness Machine Control Point” in the list below “Fitness Machine”

We are now going to tell the treadmill to start. Be safe!
Click on the ↑ arrows on the side of the word.
In the input field type called “New value” enter 08 and press send

If the treadmill stopped your treadmill has FTMS capabilities that can stop the treadmill.