Software maturity levels

The nRF Connect SDK supports its various features and components at different levels of software maturity. The tables on this page summarize the maturity level for each feature and component supported in the nRF Connect SDK.

Software maturity categories

The following categories are used in the tables to classify the software maturity of each feature and component:

Supported

The feature or component is implemented and maintained, and is suitable for product development.

Not supported

The feature or component is neither implemented nor maintained, and it does not work.

Experimental

The feature can be used for development, but it is not recommended for production. This means that the feature is incomplete in functionality or verification and can be expected to change in future releases. The feature is made available in its current state, but the design and interfaces can change between release tags. The feature is also labeled as EXPERIMENTAL in Kconfig files to indicate this status.

Note

By default, the build system generates build warnings to indicate when features labeled EXPERIMENTAL are included in builds. To disable these warnings, disable the CONFIG_WARN_EXPERIMENTAL Kconfig option. See nRF Connect SDK additions for details.

See the following table for more details:

Software maturity

Supported

Experimental

Not supported

Technical support

Customer issues raised for features supported for developing end products on tagged nRF Connect SDK releases are handled by technical support on DevZone.

Customer issues raised for experimental features on tagged nRF Connect SDK releases are handled by technical support on DevZone.

Not available.

Bug fixing

Reported critical bugs and security fixes will be resolved in both main and the latest tagged versions.

Bug fixes, security fixes, and improvements are not guaranteed to be applied.

Not available.

Implementation completeness

Complete implementation of the agreed features set.

Significant changes may be applied in upcoming versions.

A feature or component is available as an implementation, but is not compatible with (or tested on) a specific device or series of products.

API definition

The API definition is stable.

The API definition is not stable and may change.

Not available.

Maturity

Suitable for integration in end products.

A feature or component that is either fully complete on first commit, or has previously been labelled experimental and is now ready for use in end products.

Suitable for prototyping or evaluation. Not recommended to be deployed in end products.

A feature or component that is either not fully verified according to the existing test plans or currently being developed, meaning that it is incomplete or that it may change in the future.

Not applicable.

Verification

Fully verified according to the existing test plans.

Incomplete verification

Not applicable.

API deprecation

The Deprecated status is assigned to API that has gone through all maturity levels, but is being phased out. The deprecated API will be removed in one of future releases, no earlier than two releases after the deprecation is announced and only when the code has transitioned to not using the deprecated API. The experimental API can be removed without deprecation notification. Following Zephyr’s guidelines for API lifecycle, the API documentation informs about the deprecation and attempts to use a deprecated API at build time will log a warning to the console.

Application support

The following subsections indicate the software maturity levels of the support for applications.

Note

Features not listed are not supported.

nRF5340 Audio

The following table indicates the software maturity levels of the support for the nRF5340 Audio application.

nRF5340 Audio application feature support

Feature

Description

Limitations

Maturity level

Broadcast source

Transmitting broadcast audio using Broadcast Isochronous Stream (BIS) and Broadcast Isochronous Group (BIG).

Play and pause emulated by disabling and enabling stream, respectively.

The following limitations apply:

  • Basic Audio Profile (BAP) broadcast, one BIG with two BIS streams.

  • Audio input: USB or I2S (Line in or using Pulse Density Modulation).

  • Configuration: 16 bit, several bit rates ranging from 24 kbps to 160 kbps.

Experimental

Broadcast sink

Receiving broadcast audio using BIS and BIG.

Synchronizes and unsynchronizes with the stream.

The following limitations apply:

  • BAP broadcast, one BIG, one of the two BIS streams (selectable).

  • Audio output: I2S/Analog headset output.

  • Configuration: 16 bit, several bit rates ranging from 24 kbps to 160 kbps.

Experimental

Unicast client

BAP unicast, one Connected Isochronous Group (CIG) with two Connected Isochronous Streams (CIS).

Transmitting unidirectional or transceiving bidirectional audio using CIG and CIS.

The following limitations apply:

  • BAP unicast, one CIG with two CIS.

  • Audio input: USB or I2S (Line in or using Pulse Density Modulation).

  • Audio output: USB or I2S/Analog headset output.

  • Configuration: 16 bit, several bit rates ranging from 24 kbps to 160 kbps.

Experimental

Unicast server

BAP unicast, 1 CIG with 2 CIS streams.

Receiving unidirectional or transceiving bidirectional audio using CIG and CIS.

Coordinated Set Identification Service (CSIS) is implemented on the server side.

The following limitations apply:

  • BAP unicast, one CIG, one of the two CIS streams (selectable).

  • Audio output: I2S/Analog headset output.

  • Audio input: PDM microphone over I2S.

  • Configuration: 16 bit, several bit rates ranging from 24 kbps to 160 kbps.

Experimental

Protocol support

The following table indicates the software maturity levels of the support for each protocol:

nRF52810

nRF52811

nRF52820

nRF52832

nRF52833

nRF52840

nRF5340

nRF9160

nRF9161

Bluetooth

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

-

-

Bluetooth Mesh

-

-

-

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

-

-

HomeKit

-

-

-

-

Supported

Supported

Supported

-

-

LTE

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Supported

Supported

Matter

-

-

-

-

-

Supported

Supported

-

-

Thread

-

-

-

-

Supported

Supported

Supported

-

-

Wi-Fi

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Zigbee

-

-

-

-

Supported

Supported

Supported

-

-

Bluetooth features support

The following table indicates the software maturity levels of the support for each Bluetooth feature:

nRF52810

nRF52811

nRF52820

nRF52832

nRF52833

nRF52840

nRF5340

nRF9160

nRF9161

Bluetooth LE Peripheral/Central

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

-

-

Connectionless/Connected CTE Transmitter

-

Supported

Supported

-

Supported

-

Supported

-

-

LE Coded PHY

-

Supported

Supported

-

Supported

Supported

Supported

-

-

LLPM

-

-

-

Supported

Supported

Supported

-

-

-

HomeKit features support

The following table indicates the software maturity levels of the support for each HomeKit feature:

Feature

nRF52810

nRF52811

nRF52820

nRF52832

nRF52833

nRF52840

nRF5340

nRF9160

nRF9161

HomeKit - OTA DFU over Bluetooth LE

–

–

–

–

–

Supported

Supported

–

–

HomeKit - OTA DFU over HomeKit

–

–

–

–

–

Supported

Supported

–

–

HomeKit commissioning over Bluetooth LE with NFC

–

–

–

–

Supported

Supported

Supported

–

–

HomeKit commissioning over Bluetooth LE with QR code

–

–

–

–

Supported

Supported

Supported

–

–

HomeKit over Bluetooth LE

–

–

–

–

Supported

Supported

Supported

–

–

HomeKit over Thread FTD

–

–

–

–

–

Supported

Supported

–

–

HomeKit over Thread MTD SED

–

–

–

–

–

Supported

Supported

–

–

Thread features support

The following table indicates the software maturity levels of the support for each Thread feature:

nRF52810

nRF52811

nRF52820

nRF52832

nRF52833

nRF52840

nRF5340

nRF9160

nRF9161

Thread + nRF21540 (GPIO)

-

-

-

-

-

Supported

-

-

-

Thread - Full Thread Device (FTD)

-

-

-

-

Supported

Supported

Supported

-

-

Thread - Minimal Thread Device (MTD)

-

-

-

-

-

Supported

Supported

-

-

Thread 1.1

-

-

-

-

Supported

Supported

Supported

-

-

Thread 1.2 - CSL Receiver

-

-

-

-

Supported

Supported

Supported

-

-

Thread 1.2 - Core

-

-

-

-

Supported

Supported

Supported

-

-

Thread 1.2 - Link Metrics

-

-

-

-

Supported

Supported

Supported

-

-

Thread 1.3 - Core

-

-

-

-

Supported

Supported

Supported

-

-

Thread FTD + Bluetooth LE multiprotocol

-

-

-

-

-

Experimental

Experimental

-

-

Thread MTD + Bluetooth LE multiprotocol

-

-

-

-

-

Supported

Supported

-

-

Thread Radio Co-Processor (RCP)

-

-

-

-

Supported

Supported

-

-

-

Thread TCP

-

-

-

-

-

Experimental

Experimental

-

-

Matter features support

The following table indicates the software maturity levels of the support for each Matter feature:

nRF52810

nRF52811

nRF52820

nRF52832

nRF52833

nRF52840

nRF5340

nRF9160

nRF9161

Matter - OTA DFU over Bluetooth LE

-

-

-

-

-

Experimental

Supported

-

-

Matter Intermittently Connected Device

-

-

-

-

-

Experimental

Experimental

-

-

Matter commissioning over Bluetooth LE with NFC onboarding

-

-

-

-

-

Experimental

Supported

-

-

Matter commissioning over Bluetooth LE with QR code onboarding

-

-

-

-

-

Experimental

Supported

-

-

Matter commissioning over IP

-

-

-

-

-

Experimental

Supported

-

-

Matter over Thread

-

-

-

-

-

Experimental

Experimental

-

-

Matter over Wi-Fi

-

-

-

-

-

-

Supported

-

-

OTA DFU over Matter

-

-

-

-

-

Experimental

Supported

-

-

Zigbee feature support

The following table indicates the software maturity levels of the support for each Zigbee feature:

nRF52810

nRF52811

nRF52820

nRF52832

nRF52833

nRF52840

nRF5340

nRF9160

nRF9161

OTA DFU over Zigbee

-

-

-

-

-

Experimental

Experimental

-

-

Zigbee (Sleepy) End Device

-

-

-

-

Experimental

Experimental

Experimental

-

-

Zigbee + Bluetooth LE multiprotocol

-

-

-

-

Experimental

Experimental

Experimental

-

-

Zigbee + nRF21540 (GPIO)

-

-

-

-

-

Experimental

-

-

-

Zigbee Coordinator

-

-

-

-

Experimental

Experimental

Experimental

-

-

Zigbee Network Co-Processor (NCP)

-

-

-

-

Experimental

Experimental

Experimental

-

-

Zigbee Router

-

-

-

-

Experimental

Experimental

Experimental

-

-

Wi-Fi feature support

The following table indicates the software maturity levels of the support for each Wi-Fi feature:

nRF52810

nRF52811

nRF52820

nRF52832

nRF52833

nRF52840

nRF5340

nRF9160

nRF9161

Bluetooth LE Co-existence

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

STA Mode

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Scan only (for location accuracy)

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

SoftAP Mode

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Security Feature Support

The following sections contain the tables indicating the software maturity levels of the support for the following security features:

  • Trusted Firmware-M

  • PSA Crypto

  • nRF Secure Immutable Bootloader

  • Hardware Unique Key

Trusted Firmware-M support

nRF52810

nRF52811

nRF52820

nRF52832

nRF52833

nRF52840

nRF5340

nRF9160

nRF9161

Full build

-

-

-

-

-

-

Experimental

Experimental

Experimental

Minimal Build

-

-

-

-

-

-

Supported

Supported

Supported

PSA Crypto support

nRF52810

nRF52811

nRF52820

nRF52832

nRF52833

nRF52840

nRF5340

nRF9160

nRF9161

PSA Crypto APIs

-

-

-

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

nRF Secure Immutable Bootloader

nRF52810

nRF52811

nRF52820

nRF52832

nRF52833

nRF52840

nRF5340

nRF9160

nRF9161

Immutable Bootloader as part of build

-

-

-

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Hardware Unique Key

nRF52810

nRF52811

nRF52820

nRF52832

nRF52833

nRF52840

nRF5340

nRF9160

nRF9161

Key Derivation from Hardware Unique Key

-

-

-

-

-

Supported

Supported

Supported

Experimental