Firmware Versions

Ruuvi sensors can run various different firmware programs, making it a versatile and highly customizable tool for your projects.

Currently available official firmware programs are as follows:

Ruuvi firmware
Eddystone firmware
Espruino firmware

Ruuvi firmware

All recent Ruuvi sensors are shipped with Ruuvi Firmware, which means that all Ruuvi sensors devices can be added to Ruuvi Station app straight out of the box.

Ruuvi firmware offers two operating modes: RAW and URL.

RAW mode (default): Ruuvi sensor broadcasts sensor data in high-resolution.
URL mode: Ruuvi sensor broadcasts sensor data in lower resolution.

The RAW mode uses “Manufacturer specific data” format of Bluetooth Low Energy advertisements to transmit the data. In this mode temperature, relative air humidity and air pressure readings are broadcasted once every second in high resolution. The RAW transmissions also include XYZ-acceleration data and battery voltage information. RAW mode has been the default mode for Ruuvi firmware since 1.2.xx.

The URL mode broadcasts Eddystone-URL messages with sensor values encoded into them. Until November 2018, Google’s ‘Android Nearby’mode triggered notifications of nearby devices without the need to install any applications.

We recommend to use RAW mode.

Eddystone firmware

Eddystone firmware transforms your Ruuvi sensor into a powerful Bluetooth proximity beacon.

Eddystone is an open-source beacon format from Google. It describes several different frame types that may be used individually or in combinations to create beacons that can be used for a variety of applications. Ruuvi sensors provide full support for Eddystone.

Espruino firmware

Espruino firmware transforms your Ruuvi sensor into Espruino Javascript interpreter.

Espruino offers an easy to use Web IDE and is a perfect tool for prototyping. Ruuvi sensor is officially supported by Espruino.

Managing and updating firmware

Firmware is the brain of your Ruuvi sensor.

Updating the firmware is easy and safe: no external programming tools or any previous knowledge are required. Keeping Ruuvi firmware up-to-date is also recommended since it gives you access to the latest features and enhances existing functionalities.

Device Firmware Update Over-the-Air (DFU OTA) can be done wirelessly using a mobile application.

Full instructions to manage and update the firmware can be found on the dedicated page.

Common Issues During Firmware Update

Cannot enter bootloader or update the firmware

Enable Bootloader mode

Open the RuuviTag enclosure, locate buttons B and R: keep button B pressed down and press the reset button R. Red indicator LED light will light up and stay on. This means that the RuuviTag is currently in Bootloader mode and ready for firmware update.

Firmware package

Check that the firmware package you are trying to update to your Ruuvi sensor is correct and not corrupted. Download latest officially supported packages from https://lab.ruuvi.com/dfu.

Ruuvi Sensor disconnects before firmware update is finished

Other BLE programs running

Quit all other Bluetooth LE applications running on your device and try running the update again.

Random error during firmware update

We have noticed that nRF Connect may in some cases disconnect during update process without any reason. This is possibly due to the amount of different types of Android phones available. Please try to run the update again.

RuuviTag LED indicator is green and nRF Connect tries to initialize RuuviTag but it fails

DFU connection

Device Firmware Update (DFU) connection may be stuck. Disconnect the battery from the RuuviTag, restart Bluetooth on your mobile device and try running the update again.

Other BLE programs running

Quit all other Bluetooth LE applications running on your device and try running the update again.