nRF5 SDK v11.0.0
BLE & HCI/UART Bootloader/DFU
This information applies to the following SoftDevices: S130, S132, S332

The BLE Bootloader/DFU example projects demonstrate how to update the SoftDevice, bootloader, or application on an nRF5 SoC. This update process is called a Device Firmware Update, or DFU for short. The new SoftDevice, bootloader, or application image can be transferred over-the-air (OTA) using the Nordic BLE DFU Service.

The SDK provides several example projects that you can use as a starting point for developing your own DFU bootloader or application with DFU support. You can choose to use BLE transport (the default) or serial (HCI/UART) transport. If you want to use the ANT protocol instead, see Experimental: ANT Bootloader/DFU for documentation.

Note that if you program a DFU bootloader on the device, you must use this bootloader to install the application. Programming the application with other tools will not update the bootloader settings, which means that the application might not start. Erase the device if you do not want to use the DFU bootloader anymore.

The following sections describe the general concept of a DFU bootloader and explain how to use and adapt the BLE DFU bootloader examples that are included in the SDK:

For descriptions of the APIs and DFU procedures, see the Bootloader/DFU API section.


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