Deprecation & Withdrawal

Introduction

Product interoperability is at the heart of the Bluetooth brand and is one of the core benefits of Bluetooth technology. Deprecation and Withdrawal (D&W) is designed to promote global product interoperability and quality by encouraging Bluetooth members to use the latest versions of Bluetooth specifications. This includes several important updates to the Bluetooth Qualification Policy, as well as the deprecation and withdrawal of older Bluetooth specifications and the adoption of maintenance releases for a number of active Bluetooth specifications.

The Board of Directors (BoD) encourages SIG members to work diligently toward bringing their products into compliance with the latest versions of Bluetooth specifications to promote interoperability, improve quality, and provide the best user experiences. The BoD would also like to thank Members for their important feedback on Deprecation and Withdrawal. To provide feedback, submit a support request and select BoD Feedback from the Category drop-down.

When a specification reaches the end of its useful life, the Bluetooth Special Interest Group may choose to deprecate or withdraw the specification. Deprecated and withdrawn specifications are no longer maintained by the Bluetooth SIG and are not updated with any further error corrections, clarifications, or feature enhancements. For more information on specification deprecation and withdrawal, see Section 8 of the Specification Management Process Document (SMPD).

Approved specification deprecation and withdrawal dates

To view the latest updates on deprecation and withdrawal dates, see the Specifications and Documents page on Bluetooth.com.

Deprecation and withdrawal impacts on the Qualification Process

Deprecation and withdrawal of specifications impact the options available to Members in the Qualification Process when using previously qualified Designs. The following table details these impacts by Design specification option.