Message Access Profile

Commands and D-Bus checks for validating Bluetooth MAP message access on an AGL target.

MAP validates message browsing and message transfer from a paired phone. BlueZ exposes MAP through the OBEX service org.bluez.obex, so these checks use obexctl and OBEX D-Bus APIs.

Before running this test, complete the Profile GAP flow so the adapter is powered on and the remote phone is paired and trusted. On most phones, message access also requires an explicit permission prompt on the phone. If obexctl is missing from the target image, see Install OBEX on Yocto.

For D-Bus examples, replace F8:7D:76:9D:9B:6B and /org/bluez/obex/client/session0 with the values from your target.

Check OBEX support#

MAP requires the BlueZ OBEX daemon. On many Linux images, OBEX runs as a user D-Bus service.

obexctl --version

Sample output:

obexctl: 5.84

Check that the OBEX service can be activated:

busctl --user tree org.bluez.obex

Sample output:

`-/org
  `-/org/bluez
    `-/org/bluez/obex

Verify remote MAP UUID#

Use bluetoothctl to confirm that the phone advertises MAP server support.

bluetoothctl info <bt_address>

Example:

bluetoothctl info F8:7D:76:9D:9B:6B

Sample output:

Device F8:7D:76:9D:9B:6B (public)
	Name: Phone
	Paired: yes
	Trusted: yes
	UUID: Message Access Server (00001132-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)

Connect a MAP session#

Start an interactive obexctl session:

obexctl

Connect to the phone with the MAP target:

connect <bt_address> map

Example:

connect F8:7D:76:9D:9B:6B map

Sample output:

Attempting to connect to F8:7D:76:9D:9B:6B
[NEW] Session /org/bluez/obex/client/session0
Connection successful

Using D-Bus:

busctl --user call org.bluez.obex /org/bluez/obex org.bluez.obex.Client1 CreateSession sa{sv} F8:7D:76:9D:9B:6B 1 Target s map

The returned object path is the session path used by later MAP calls.

Browse message folders#

In obexctl, use the generic folder commands to inspect the MAP folder tree:

ls
cd telecom
ls
cd msg
ls

Using D-Bus:

busctl --user call org.bluez.obex /org/bluez/obex/client/session0 org.bluez.obex.MessageAccess1 ListFolders a{sv} 1 MaxCount q 20

Sample output:

aa{sv} 4 1 "Name" s "inbox" 1 "Name" s "sent" 1 "Name" s "outbox" 1 "Name" s "deleted"

Change the working folder:

busctl --user call org.bluez.obex /org/bluez/obex/client/session0 org.bluez.obex.MessageAccess1 SetFolder s telecom/msg
busctl --user call org.bluez.obex /org/bluez/obex/client/session0 org.bluez.obex.MessageAccess1 SetFolder s inbox

List messages#

List messages in the current folder or a named subfolder.

Using D-Bus:

busctl --user call org.bluez.obex /org/bluez/obex/client/session0 org.bluez.obex.MessageAccess1 ListMessages sa{sv} "" 3 MaxCount q 20 SubjectLength y 80 Fields as 5 Subject Timestamp Sender SenderAddress Read

Sample output:

a(oa{sv}) 1 "/org/bluez/obex/client/session0/message0" 5 "Subject" s "Meeting update" "Timestamp" s "20260525T093000" "Sender" s "Alice Example" "SenderAddress" s "+60123456789" "Read" b false

List available message filter fields:

busctl --user call org.bluez.obex /org/bluez/obex/client/session0 org.bluez.obex.MessageAccess1 ListFilterFields

Download a message#

After listing messages, use the returned message object path to download a message in bMessage format.

Using D-Bus:

busctl --user call org.bluez.obex /org/bluez/obex/client/session0/message0 org.bluez.obex.Message1 Get sb /tmp/message.bmsg false

Sample output:

o "/org/bluez/obex/client/session0/transfer0"
a{sv} 3 "Status" s "queued" "Name" s "message.bmsg" "Filename" s "/tmp/message.bmsg"

Monitor the transfer:

busctl --user get-property org.bluez.obex /org/bluez/obex/client/session0/transfer0 org.bluez.obex.Transfer1 Status
busctl --user get-property org.bluez.obex /org/bluez/obex/client/session0/transfer0 org.bluez.obex.Transfer1 Filename

Update the inbox#

Ask the remote phone to refresh its inbox before listing messages again.

Using D-Bus:

busctl --user call org.bluez.obex /org/bluez/obex/client/session0 org.bluez.obex.MessageAccess1 UpdateInbox

Mark a message as read#

If the phone allows it, mark a message as read through the message object.

Using D-Bus:

busctl --user set-property org.bluez.obex /org/bluez/obex/client/session0/message0 org.bluez.obex.Message1 Read b true

Push a message#

MAP can push a local message file in bMessage format to the remote phone. Treat this as optional unless sending messages is part of the AGL validation scope.

Using D-Bus:

busctl --user call org.bluez.obex /org/bluez/obex/client/session0 org.bluez.obex.MessageAccess1 PushMessage ssa{sv} /tmp/outgoing.bmsg outbox 3 Transparent b false Retry b true Charset s UTF-8

Sample output:

o "/org/bluez/obex/client/session0/transfer1"
a{sv} 3 "Status" s "queued" "Name" s "outgoing.bmsg" "Filename" s "/tmp/outgoing.bmsg"

Disconnect the MAP session#

In obexctl:

disconnect

Using D-Bus:

busctl --user call org.bluez.obex /org/bluez/obex org.bluez.obex.Client1 RemoveSession o /org/bluez/obex/client/session0

BlueZ OBEX Proxy XML#

Use this proxy XML as a compact reference for the BlueZ OBEX D-Bus interfaces used by the MAP commands above.

<node>
  <interface name="org.bluez.obex.Client1">
    <method name="CreateSession">
      <arg name="destination" type="s" direction="in"/>
      <arg name="args" type="a{sv}" direction="in"/>
      <arg name="session" type="o" direction="out"/>
    </method>
    <method name="RemoveSession">
      <arg name="session" type="o" direction="in"/>
    </method>
  </interface>

  <interface name="org.bluez.obex.Session1">
    <method name="GetCapabilities">
      <arg name="capabilities" type="s" direction="out"/>
    </method>
    <property name="Source" type="s" access="read"/>
    <property name="Destination" type="s" access="read"/>
    <property name="Channel" type="y" access="read"/>
    <property name="Target" type="s" access="read"/>
    <property name="Root" type="s" access="read"/>
  </interface>

  <interface name="org.bluez.obex.MessageAccess1">
    <method name="SetFolder">
      <arg name="name" type="s" direction="in"/>
    </method>
    <method name="ListFolders">
      <arg name="filter" type="a{sv}" direction="in"/>
      <arg name="folders" type="aa{sv}" direction="out"/>
    </method>
    <method name="ListFilterFields">
      <arg name="fields" type="as" direction="out"/>
    </method>
    <method name="ListMessages">
      <arg name="folder" type="s" direction="in"/>
      <arg name="filter" type="a{sv}" direction="in"/>
      <arg name="messages" type="a(oa{sv})" direction="out"/>
    </method>
    <method name="UpdateInbox"/>
    <method name="PushMessage">
      <arg name="sourcefile" type="s" direction="in"/>
      <arg name="folder" type="s" direction="in"/>
      <arg name="args" type="a{sv}" direction="in"/>
      <arg name="transfer" type="o" direction="out"/>
      <arg name="properties" type="a{sv}" direction="out"/>
    </method>
  </interface>

  <interface name="org.bluez.obex.Message1">
    <method name="Get">
      <arg name="targetfile" type="s" direction="in"/>
      <arg name="attachment" type="b" direction="in"/>
      <arg name="transfer" type="o" direction="out"/>
      <arg name="properties" type="a{sv}" direction="out"/>
    </method>
    <property name="Folder" type="s" access="read"/>
    <property name="Subject" type="s" access="read"/>
    <property name="Timestamp" type="s" access="read"/>
    <property name="Sender" type="s" access="read"/>
    <property name="SenderAddress" type="s" access="read"/>
    <property name="ReplyTo" type="s" access="read"/>
    <property name="Recipient" type="s" access="read"/>
    <property name="RecipientAddress" type="s" access="read"/>
    <property name="Type" type="s" access="read"/>
    <property name="Size" type="t" access="read"/>
    <property name="Status" type="s" access="read"/>
    <property name="Priority" type="b" access="read"/>
    <property name="Read" type="b" access="readwrite"/>
    <property name="Deleted" type="b" access="write"/>
    <property name="Sent" type="b" access="read"/>
    <property name="Protected" type="b" access="read"/>
  </interface>

  <interface name="org.bluez.obex.Transfer1">
    <method name="Cancel"/>
    <method name="Suspend"/>
    <method name="Resume"/>
    <property name="Status" type="s" access="read"/>
    <property name="Session" type="o" access="read"/>
    <property name="Name" type="s" access="read"/>
    <property name="Type" type="s" access="read"/>
    <property name="Time" type="t" access="read"/>
    <property name="Size" type="t" access="read"/>
    <property name="Transferred" type="t" access="read"/>
    <property name="Filename" type="s" access="read"/>
  </interface>
</node>

References#

BlueZ OBEX API: OBEX API
Install OBEX tools on AGL/Yocto: Install OBEX on Yocto