# Galaxy Buds Client: an unofficial manager built on Samsung’s earbud protocol > Reimplements control of Samsung Galaxy Buds over their proprietary RFCOMM serial protocol in a cross-platform desktop and Android manager. The author reports recovering the message format by analyzing the earbuds’ binary stream and disassembling Samsung’s official Android apps, and publishes partial packet notes for the 2019 Buds and the Buds+. Beyond the official app’s settings, it exposes battery statistics, diagnostics, factory self-tests, hidden debug information and firmware flashing for supported models. - Type: Case study - Targets: App · Protocol - Category: Independent reconstruction cases - Relationship: Independent reconstruction project - Sources reviewed: 2026-10-19 - Added to the catalog: 2026-10-19 - Original resource: - Primary source: - Catalog page: - Record JSON: - Chinese version: [简体中文](https://awesomerea.org/zh/resources/galaxy-buds-client-protocol-case/index.md) ## Requirements & limits - **Prerequisites:** Requires the user’s own Galaxy Buds paired over Bluetooth; earbud firmware and Samsung’s official apps are not part of the repository. Firmware flashing and downgrades download builds from the author’s firmware service, behind an in-app disclaimer and a model-compatibility check meant to avoid bricking. Release notes say the app can share protocol data through an on-demand crowdsourcing feature to support models the author does not own, and sends crash dumps to Sentry; both can be disabled in settings. - **Prerequisites:** Builds from one solution with the .NET 10 SDK (global.json pins 10.0.300) and Avalonia, targeting Windows 10 build 19041+, macOS 12+, Linux and Android 7.0+ (API 24); Linux Bluetooth uses a bundled BlueZ D-Bus library. Release 5.2.1 attaches unsigned Windows and macOS installers and Linux x64/ARM portable binaries; the README also lists Flatpak, AUR and winget packages, and the Android version is sold on Google Play. - **Scope:** Reviewed at the 2026-10-01 master head, 72 commits after release 5.2.1 (2026-06-07). Device specifications in source cover Galaxy Buds models from the original 2019 Buds through the Buds4 series. The protocol notes say they are incomplete and point to the source for details; this is an independent client, not recovered Samsung source, and features vary by model. - **Testing evidence:** An NUnit test project decodes captured extended-status packets from seven models and checks message and spatial-audio parsing; the reviewed CI workflows build and publish binaries without running those tests. Protocol and feature behavior on real earbuds remains author-reported. - **License:** GPLv3 (LICENSE); the README states the project is not affiliated with or supervised by Samsung. Samsung firmware, apps and trademarks keep their own rights. ## Primary sources 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. ## More in Apps - [Wino Mail: recreating Windows Mail and Calendar](https://awesomerea.org/resources/wino-mail-case/index.md) · Case study - [ScooterLink: reconstructing Honda RoadSync’s handlebar-button protocol](https://awesomerea.org/resources/scooterlink-honda-roadsync-case/index.md) · Case study - [iX500 Scan: a macOS client for the reverse-engineered ScanSnap Wi-Fi protocol](https://awesomerea.org/resources/ix500-scan-scansnap-wifi-case/index.md) · Case study - [WristBeam: reconstructing Garmin’s watch protocol for a Mac companion](https://awesomerea.org/resources/wristbeam-garmin-watch-protocol-case/index.md) · Case study - [usque: an open reimplementation of Cloudflare WARP’s MASQUE mode](https://awesomerea.org/resources/usque-warp-masque-client-case/index.md) · Case study - [Webamp: a browser reimplementation of Winamp 2](https://awesomerea.org/resources/webamp-winamp-reimplementation-case/index.md) · Case study ## About this entry The description was reviewed against primary sources. Original editorial content: MIT. Linked projects, papers and assets retain their own rights and licenses.