Aerial — Bluetooth workbench for Mac

Bluetooth,
made visible.

Inspect every packet, mock any peripheral, record a session on the bench and replay it in the Simulator. Apple took Bluetooth out of the Simulator. Aerial puts it back.

PlatformmacOS 15+, Apple silicon
Price$79, once
Updates$39 a year, optional
StatusIn development · 2027
The problem

Simulators have no Bluetooth.

Apple removed Bluetooth from the iOS Simulator and never put it back. Every BLE app is tested on a phone, with a peripheral on the desk, by hand. The free tools scan and list. None of them record a session, replay it, or stand in for a device that is still being built.

What it doesSix things, no menu
Inspector

Every packet, decoded.

Services, characteristics, descriptors, MTU, connection intervals, in a tree you can read and a timeline you can scrub.

Record and replay

Capture on the bench. Replay in the Simulator.

A real session becomes a file. Play it back at speed or step by step, into a build that has never seen the hardware.

Virtual peripherals

The device, before the device.

Serve a GATT profile to the Simulator while the firmware is still being written. Script it in Swift or JavaScript.

iPhone and Watch as peripheral

The devices you have, as the device you need.

Aerial's companion turns the phone in your pocket into any peripheral your app expects.

Timelines

Reconnection, on one axis.

Backgrounding, out of range, reboot, and what your app did about each of them, side by side.

Export

Attach it to the bug.

PacketLogger-compatible traces, CSV, and a one-page report a reviewer can read without Aerial.

On device

Sessions are files on your disk.

Aerial runs on your Mac. Sessions are files you can put in a repo or a bug report. There is no Aerial account and no Aerial server; the companion talks to the Mac over your own network.

PriceOnce, plus optional updates
Once
$79

The Mac app, a year of updates, use it forever.

  • macOS app and the companion
  • All six things above
  • Never stops working
Updates
$39 a year

Optional, after the first year. New OS versions, new decoders.

  • Only if you want what is new
  • Cancel any time
  • The app keeps working
Teams
$10 seat / month

Shared sessions and mocks through a folder you control, invoiced. Bolted runs no server.

  • Shared mock library
  • Session hand-off
  • Invoice, not card

Prices are set for the first release and may change after it ships. Every licence includes a year of updates and never stops working. Every tool has a fourteen-day trial, no card.

Questions
Is it a sniffer?+

It is a workbench. Aerial sees what your Mac and the devices you own can see; it does not capture other people's traffic. For over-the-air capture you still need a radio sniffer, and Aerial imports their logs.

How do packets reach the Simulator?+

Through a debug-only package your app links, which forwards CoreBluetooth calls to Aerial over your own network. Release builds never link it, and the first Note about Aerial is on exactly this, with the code.

Which Macs?+

Apple silicon, macOS 15 or later. The companion needs iOS 18 or watchOS 11.

Why not free?+

Because the free tools stop at scanning. Aerial is the part after that, and it is maintained by people who need it every week.

One email

Tell me when Aerial ships.

One email when the first build is out. Nothing else.