Bluetooth Security Seriously Needed

[A Former User]

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[Oversoul225]

This post is deleted!

[jeffmccosker]

Yeah I'm calling BS on this one. My Bluetooth drops at about 10'. No way someone was running behind you and messing with the settings. Plus it has to be stopped to switch shapings so I'm not buying this story.

[A Former User]

I'm just now learning how to ride on my brand new board, so of course I'm within 10' of people when I'm right behind them holding onto the same benches they are sitting on.

The person who did it recognized that they did it and quickly helped me up and apologized.

I was not traveling fast, at a constant speed, or in the same direction for very long when it occurred. I'm brand new to this and it's going to take some getting used to.

[Franky]

@ReaperChambers yeah I agree this is either fishy or there is a misunderstanding and you just took a nose dive and assumed it was someone screwing with Bluetooth.

At least with the fm app, you can't change any settings unless you are stopped. Maybe with the OWheelBuddy app that is not the case?

[groovyruvy]

Would be nice if you could lock out other devices though. . . . .

[SeeTheInvisible]

You can at least lock out other devices while riding if you use apps like OWheelBuddy. This app stays connected even in background which means that no one can connect to your board -> the board supports just one Bluetooth connection at a time.

[A Former User]

@SeeTheInvisible

Thank you for the tip! Very much appreciated.

[A Former User]

@Franky

I honestly have no idea. I'm just now figuring out what can and cannot happen and when. I really dig the subtle intricacies.

I fell when the board kicked and accelerated extremely fast for 100ms ~ish with a sudden drop at the end. It was something to do with my not moving constantly, changing forward/ back direction, not having the pad 100% fully engaged constantly at low speed, and the settings being changed in the app causing what I'd describe as a temper tantrum style spaz moment.

I had to turn it off and back on is all. It was fine before and it has been fine after. Zero issues other than that one time. I'd love to try to recreate the event, but I really don't want to corrupt anything. So, I'll avoid it.

Using an app with a passive connection to block other connections is a great workaround, but a passcode for some kind of secure pairing needs Implemented sooner rather than later. After all, I don't see something this cool going away any time soon.

[drew]

@ReaperChambers how slow were you going and were the shoes flat? The motor will dissengage 3 mph and under if the sensor isnt fully covered.

[bmtka]

@ReaperChambers From what I know about bluetooth, it is and always has been really insecure. Since the connection is handled within the app and not via the bluetooth settings I don't see how they could reliably lock out unfriendly connections without making it difficult or impossible for our third party devs like @SeeTheInvisible and @kwatts to provide us with the much needed added functionality the official app so sorely lacks. This is a situation where the solution is probably worse than the problem. I promise you, the board will not switch modes on you while you're on it until you come to a stop. Try it. If you can reproduce otherwise, there is something wrong with your OW. If saboteurs are that much of a problem for you, just be sure your phone is connected before you take off riding.

I get how twitchy and unpredictable the board can seem when you're starting out. I've said before that OW has a very deceptive learning curve in that you get a lot of confidence early on before you understand a lot of the subtleties about how it operates. I thought there was something wrong with mine in the beginning because it seemed often unpredictable and would "spaz out" for what I thought was, like, no reason. Fortunately, that behavior turned out to be from rider error and went away as my riding improved. Even then, you will fall again if you push yourself (and you should) so at the very least wear a helmet and elbow pads.

[A Former User]

@drew

My shoes are so flat that I really need new ones as they are fairly dangerous on smooth wet surfaces. Zero tread left. Hydroplane hazard.

The board kicked and briefly accelerated, sensor side facing forward, so much harder than the low battery kick that it caused me to lose contact with the sensor just long enough to cause the immediate nose dive.

At least that's what I've been able to gather with what all I've been told on and off the forum anyways...

Something about the switching of the profiles with me being on it not really going anywhere must have caused the sudden erratic behavior and the introduction of my butt to the pavement.

[sidebox]

@ReaperChambers the problem remains that you cannot change profiles while the board is engaged and moving... so it would seem your problem stems from something else. Most likely just lack of experience. It will get easier. It's a little strange that you keep insisting hat this is the case when experienced riders keep telling you that it does not work that way.

[A Former User]

@bmtka

Saboteurs. Lol! I was showing people my new toy and handing out some of the million cards that came with it. The whole board misbehaving thing was a strange accident. That guy and many others were downloading the app and watching videos. College just started, so tons of people with no homework yet.

I'm learning the nuances and I sincerely like this thing. I figure it's just as smart as the rider though, so I may be in trouble here too.

I'll update if anything else weird happens, but that was the one and only time anything has and it had a positive correlation with one gentlemen and his immediate realization that he connected to my device and may have hot swapped a setting that got me booted.

If not a really odd situation, I'd have not posted and would have simply talked to customer support. So, keep eyes and ears open for similar if goofballs out there want to try to recreate it. I'm sure someone will try.

[A Former User]

@sidebox

So I've been told and I've not viewed a screen where a profile change has occurred when the board was engaged. I'm simply relaying a single positive correlation between someone messing with it while I was on it, it misbehaving, and my need to reset it so that it would work again.

Many factors were involved I'm sure. Otherwise it would have been like all the other times I've crashed all on my own and I'd have just hopped back on with zero change in its function.

[sidebox]

@ReaperChambers changing profiles does not require a restart of the board. That is a false correlation. At this point it is highly unlikely that this went down as you were apparently told by this random person.

[bmtka]

@ReaperChambers said in Bluetooth Security Seriously Needed:

The board kicked and briefly accelerated, sensor side facing forward, so much harder than the low battery kick that it caused me to lose contact with the sensor just long enough to cause the immediate nose dive...

... the sudden erratic behavior and the introduction of my butt to the pavement.

Lol. That sounds like how I broke my wrist about 5 weeks after getting mine. I stalled out on a little step-up and basically this happened pretty much a day after I stopped wearing wrist guards. Keep your weight forward... hard lesson to learn.

It gets better. It does.

[A Former User]

@sidebox

The board errored out, experienced erratic behavior, and needed restarted. A guy told me directly that he thought he caused the problem.

That isn't very difficult to understand.

.

.

These forums are useless.

I'll just contact customer support.

[A Former User]

@bmtka

Ouch! I'm going slow and trying to not kill myself. Hopefully I don't experience anything else weird.

Thank you to some, but not to all.

Goodbye.

[sidebox]

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[kelp]

lol what a strange fellow. good luck

[thegreck]

These forums are useless because you posted a highly unlikely story that none of the experienced riders believe? Good luck with that whole logic thing.

[Leviathan]

The last thing anyone should do is berate or belittle anyone asking for help when this forum is supposed to be a community of individuals with a shared interest.

1. Bluetooth range widely varies. The one in my laptop has a 300-350ft range and doesn't lose connection to my board anywhere on the acre where I normally ride.

2. A simple hands on test confirmed that the riding mode can be changed while the Onewheel is being ridden so long as you are going slow. That's with both the Onewheel and OWheelBuddy apps.

3. It took less than 15 minutes of really trying, but severe kickback with an error requiring that the board be reset was experienced.

Recreating the event required a combination of changing the forward and backwards direction, a rapid change in contact status with the pressure sensitive pad(s), and a changing of the modes intuitively from "classic" to "elevated."

Shame on all who exhibited such childish behavior towards an individual seeking help. Be sure you look both ways when crossing the street.

[sidebox]

@Leviathan thanks for the shame, but I'll pass on your judgements. Apparently you didn't see his messages before he erased and edited them. He did not internalize any of the advice multiple people had given him. While one person used the initials BS, no one was openly hostile to him. It's great that you ran a test, but I did as well, and I was unable to recreate his issue at all. With sensors engaged, I was not able to get a change modes in use. If you did a bunch of forward and back motions and deactivated the sensor with a direction change or stop, great. That's not what he was claiming happened. Also, I didn't see him ask for advice at all. He simply echoed the call of many before him that they would like to see the Bluetooth secured. Despite his not actually asking for advice, he was advised that the best way to secure it in the meantime was to maintain a connection between his phone and the board, so that no one else could access his OW. He decided to take grave offense at a random point in time and write a snotty reply. It seems like there might have been a slight language barrier thrown in the mix, which probably didn't really help things. Again, I think your attempt at shaming those of us that chose to respond to him is entirely misplaced. Please point out who behaved childishly or belittled him in this thread, because I only really see the original poster as someone who acted childishly with his last post.