--- title: "ANT+ vs Bluetooth for Fitness Sensors (2026)" canonical: "https://aifitnessapi.com/devices/ant-plus-vs-bluetooth" cluster: "Connected Devices" primary_query: "ant+ vs bluetooth fitness sensors" last_reviewed: "2026-08-14" description: "The ANT+ certification program is reported to have wound down in 2025. What that changes for new apps, and where ANT+ hardware still matters." publisher: "AIFitnessAPI — independent, not sponsored" cite_as: "\"ANT+ vs Bluetooth for Fitness Sensors (2026)\", AIFitnessAPI, https://aifitnessapi.com/devices/ant-plus-vs-bluetooth" --- # ANT+ vs Bluetooth for Fitness Sensors (2026) > For a new fitness app in 2026, Bluetooth Low Energy is the default radio and ANT+ is a compatibility question about hardware your users already own. Widely quoted reporting from January 2025, citing thisisant.com, said the ANT+ membership and certification programs would be discontinued on June 30, 2025, with certification applications accepted only until March 31, 2025; the same coverage reported that device profiles and documentation remain available to developers and that existing ANT+ devices are unaffected. We could not reach the official page through our proxy, so treat those dates as reported rather than verified. BLE APIs are first-class on both iOS and Android, whereas receiving ANT+ on a phone has historically needed extra hardware or platform-specific plugins, which you should verify against current vendor documentation. The practical answer: build on BLE, and treat ANT+ as an ecosystem you interoperate with rather than a second radio you design around. - Canonical: https://aifitnessapi.com/devices/ant-plus-vs-bluetooth - Last reviewed: 2026-08-14 - Publisher: AIFitnessAPI (https://aifitnessapi.com) — independent, not sponsored - Cite as: "ANT+ vs Bluetooth for Fitness Sensors (2026)", AIFitnessAPI, https://aifitnessapi.com/devices/ant-plus-vs-bluetooth --- Every few months someone asks whether their new fitness app should support ANT+ alongside Bluetooth. In 2026 the answer is easier than it used to be, but the reasoning matters more than the conclusion, because the thing that changed is a program rather than a protocol. ## The short version Build on Bluetooth Low Energy. Treat ANT+ as a question about hardware your users already own, not as a second radio you design your architecture around. That is judgement, and the rest of this page is the evidence behind it plus the parts we could not verify. ## What is reported about the ANT+ program This section is graded *reported*, not verified. The official ANT+ page was unreachable through our proxy when we checked, and what follows comes from multiple consistent notices published in January 2025 — DC Rainmaker, the5krunner, and community forum threads including TrainerRoad — all quoting thisisant.com. Per that widely-quoted announcement: the ANT+ membership and certification programs were to be discontinued on June 30, 2025, with certification applications accepted only until March 31, 2025. The same coverage reported that ANT+ device profiles and documentation would remain available to developers, and that existing ANT+ devices are not affected. Requirements under the EU Radio Equipment Directive were cited in that coverage as a driver. Read carefully, none of that is "ANT+ stopped working." Radios in the field keep transmitting, profiles reportedly stay published, and a sensor bought in 2023 does not become inert. What reportedly ended is the organizational apparatus — membership, certification, the logo program — which is exactly the part that matters if you were planning to build and certify new ANT+ hardware, and much less of the story if you are writing an app that reads sensors. If you want to know whether any of this has moved since, we track platform and program changes in [the changes tracker](/changes) rather than editing dates into a page and hoping readers notice. ## Why BLE is the default anyway Even before that announcement, BLE had the argument. Bluetooth Low Energy is a first-class platform API on both phone operating systems: Core Bluetooth on iOS, described by Apple as a framework to "communicate with Bluetooth low energy and BR/EDR ('Classic') Devices" and covered in [Core Bluetooth for fitness devices](/devices/ios-ble-fitness-devices), and the equivalent stack on Android. No dongle, no plugin, no extra hardware in the user's pocket. The other half of the argument is the profile ecosystem. The Bluetooth SIG publishes standard services for exactly the sensors a fitness app cares about: Heart Rate (0x180D), Cycling Power (0x1818), Cycling Speed and Cadence (0x1816), Running Speed and Cadence (0x1814), and the Fitness Machine Service (0x1826) for gym equipment. Those are the same identifiers whether you are reading them from a native iOS app, an Android app, or — on Chromium browsers — [a web page](/devices/web-bluetooth-fitness). Writing against a published profile rather than a vendor SDK is what lets one integration serve many devices; see [Bluetooth heart rate monitors](/devices/bluetooth-heart-rate-monitor) and [cycling sensors](/devices/cycling-sensors-power-cadence) for the per-profile detail. ## Phones and ANT+ Receiving ANT+ on a phone has historically required more than the phone: additional hardware, or platform-specific plugin software, or a device whose manufacturer shipped ANT+ support. We are deliberately not stating the current situation for any specific handset or vendor plugin, because we did not verify it this session. If ANT+ phone reception is load-bearing for your product, check the current vendor documentation before you plan around it. What is safe to say as judgement: whatever the details, this is a materially higher-friction path than BLE, where the receiving capability is simply present in the operating system and the API is documented by the platform vendor. ## Where ANT+ still matters Three situations, all of them about installed hardware rather than about protocol merit. Your users own Garmin-ecosystem gear. ANT+ receivers remain relevant mainly through that ecosystem, and a rider with a bike computer and a set of sensors already has a working chain that does not involve you. Their sensors dual-broadcast. Plenty of fitness sensors transmit on both radios. In that case your phone app connects over BLE and the question resolves itself — the user's head unit keeps using ANT+, your app uses Bluetooth, and nobody has to choose. They have a desktop or head-unit setup with a USB stick. If ANT+ is already working for a user there, nothing about the reported program wind-down asks them to change it. | Your situation | Reasonable default (our judgement) | |---|---| | New phone app, no hardware constraints | BLE only | | Users own dual-broadcast sensors | BLE from the phone; leave their head unit alone | | Users deep in Garmin-ecosystem hardware | BLE in the app, plus a pull-based sync from their platform account | | Desktop or head-unit setup already using an ANT+ stick | Change nothing on their side | For that third row, the sync route is often the honest answer for a phone app: rather than trying to receive the sensor, read the finished activity from the user's account. [The Garmin API](/integrate/garmin-api) covers that path, and [wearable data APIs](/fitness-apis/wearable-data-apis) covers the general shape of account-level integrations. ## What to actually decide Pick BLE for anything you are building new. Decide separately, based on who your users are, whether you also need an account-level sync to pick up sessions recorded on hardware you never talk to directly. Those two decisions are independent, and conflating them is how teams end up building a second radio integration to solve what was really a data-import problem. And keep the reported items labeled as reported. If a partner or a customer asks you to commit to something because "ANT+ is discontinued," the accurate sentence is that the membership and certification programs were reported to end on June 30, 2025, that profiles and documentation reportedly remain available, and that existing devices are unaffected. That is a smaller claim than the one usually made, and it is the one you can defend. ## FAQ ### Is the ANT+ certification program really discontinued, and do existing ANT+ sensors stop working? Reported, not verified by us. Multiple consistent notices published in January 2025, including DC Rainmaker and the5krunner and community forum threads, all quoting thisisant.com, said the ANT+ membership and certification programs would be discontinued on June 30, 2025, with certification applications accepted only until March 31, 2025. The same coverage reported that device profiles and documentation remain available to developers and that existing ANT+ devices are not affected, and cited EU Radio Equipment Directive requirements as a driver. We could not reach the official page through our proxy. So nothing in that reporting says sensors in the field stop transmitting; what ended is the membership and certification apparatus. [Permalink](https://aifitnessapi.com/devices/ant-plus-vs-bluetooth#faq-1) ### Can an iPhone or Android phone receive ANT+ sensor data without extra hardware? Historically this has needed more than the phone itself: additional hardware, platform-specific plugin software, or a handset whose manufacturer shipped support. We did not verify the current state for any specific device or vendor plugin this session, so check current vendor documentation before planning around it. What we can say plainly is that the comparison is lopsided. Bluetooth Low Energy reception is a documented, first-class platform capability on both iOS and Android, with Apple's Core Bluetooth and Android's equivalent stack, and needs no dongle or plugin. That asymmetry, rather than any claim about signal quality, is the practical reason new phone apps default to Bluetooth. [Permalink](https://aifitnessapi.com/devices/ant-plus-vs-bluetooth#faq-2) ### Should a new fitness app in 2026 implement ANT+ support alongside Bluetooth Low Energy? Our judgement is no, not as a second radio integration. Build on Bluetooth Low Energy and the SIG-standard profiles, which are documented, cross-platform, and available through first-class APIs on both phone operating systems. Then treat ANT+ as a compatibility question about hardware your users already own. Many fitness sensors dual-broadcast, in which case your app connects over Bluetooth and the user's head unit keeps using ANT+ with no conflict. Where users are deep in an ecosystem whose sensors you cannot reach, the better answer is usually an account-level sync that imports the finished activity, rather than trying to receive the sensor stream yourself. [Permalink](https://aifitnessapi.com/devices/ant-plus-vs-bluetooth#faq-3)