OBEX (abbreviation of OBject EXchange, also termed IrOBEX) is a communications protocol that facilitates the exchange of binary objects between devices. It is maintained by the Infrared Data Association but has also been adopted by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group and the SyncML wing of the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA). One of OBEX's earliest popular applications was in the Palm III personal digital assistant. This PDA and its many successors use OBEX to exchange business cards, data, even applications.
Although OBEX was initially designed for infrared, it has now been adopted by Bluetooth, and is also used over RS232, USB, WAP, and in devices such as Livescribe smartpens.
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OBEX is similar in design and function to HTTP in providing the client with a reliable transport for connecting to a server and may then request or provide objects. But OBEX differs in many important respects:
OBEX is the foundation for many higher-layer "profiles":
| Classification | Profile |
|---|---|
| IrDA | Point and Shoot profile |
| Infrared Financial Messaging (IrFM) profile | |
| Bluetooth SIG | Generic Object Exchange Profile |
| Object Push Profile (phone to phone transfers) | |
| File Transfer Profile (phone to PC transfers) | |
| Synchronization Profile | |
| Basic Imaging Profile | |
| Basic Printing Profile | |
| OMA | SyncML binding |
Currently supported on Android devices in 2.1.