bitty software: July 2020

One of the nice things about Bitty Data Logger is that you can use it without needing access to the internet. You can capture and chart data over Bluetooth from your micro:bit, export the data locally on your smartphone and then view it in a suitable application. This article will run through the basic process.

1. Scan and Connect

As usual, you must first scan to discover your micro:bit and then select it from the list of devices to connect to it.

Scanning for micro:bits. Select to connect.

2. Settings

Next, go into the Settings screen and ensure the right options are selected. The application will do its best to choose defaults which make sense given whatever code you are running on your micro:bit.

Select appropriate settings from the Settings screen

3. Capture some data

Press the Start button, capture some data from your micro:bit and then press Stop when you've captured enough.

Data capture

4. Review results and export

Go into the Results screen. You'll see your data at the top of the list of results files. Select your results file. If this is the first time you have viewed a results file, you will be asked to set an export preference. You can always change this in the Options screen by the way. To use your data offline, one of the easiest options is to select Save Locally.

Save Locally is a good export option for use with no internet access required

You could also use Copy/Paste so that data can be copied to the clipboard and then pasted into another application running on your smartphone. Alternatively, the Share option will allow you to select another application to send the data directly to when you export.

Note that the options offered under Data Export Preferences will vary depending on whether you are running on Android or iOS. The image above is a screen shot from Android. Here's what the same screen looks like on iOS.

Data Export Preferences on iOS

5. Using the Save Locally export option on Android

In the data results viewer screen, select Save Locally.

Save Locally on Android

A message will tell you where your data was saved.

Find the Downloads application or another file system browser application and launch it.

The Download application

Find your file, select it with a long press and then select Open With from the menu.

Select Open With to choose the application with which to view your data

Open with Google Sheets or similar.

Google Sheets works very well with Bitty Data Logger data

Your data will be presented, in this case within Google Sheets. Select a range of data to draw a chart.

Select a range of data for charting

Select the + button and add a suitable chart.

Add a chart

6. Sharing data with Apple Numbers

If you're running on an iOS device, the Apple Numbers spreadsheet application is a good tool for viewing your data. Select Share as the preferred data export option as shown above. View your results file and select Share to export it.