In a 2021 project, Raphael Baron took apart one AliExpress M6 smart fitness band, identified its Telink TLSR8232 chip, dumped its stock firmware and built custom firmware that turned the band’s screen into a display for readings from a separate Bluetooth soil sensor. The work shows what can be done with that particular unit—not that every band sold as “M6” has the same hardware, or that its stock fitness and health readings are accurate.
What was inside the M6 band?
Baron’s project concerned a unit he bought from AliExpress in 2021 for around $6, a historical price rather than a current one. He noted that “M6” could be confused with Xiaomi’s Mi Smart Band 6; the devices are distinct, and the generic M6 name does not establish that two listings share a design.
In his teardown, Baron reported finding a Telink TLSR8232, a 0.96-inch color display measuring 160×80 pixels, a LiPo battery of approximately 100 mAh and a vibration motor. He suspected the heart-rate sensor was fake; that is his assessment, not an independently verified sensor test. The project report describes the TLSR8232 as a 32-bit tc32-family chip running at 24 MHz, with 16 kB SRAM, 512 kB internal flash, BLE and SWS. These observations and specifications describe the documented unit and the report’s account, not every product marketed as M6. Baron’s project report contains the teardown and technical details.
The case came apart easily in Baron’s experience. He questioned the IP67 marking printed on its box, but did not report a water-resistance test; the teardown therefore provides no evidence that this unit—or other M6 listings—can safely be submerged.
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How did he access the chip and dump the firmware?
The board exposed pads that Baron mapped with a multimeter and the chip’s documentation. The key interface was Telink’s SWire, also called SWS: a single-wire, asynchronous, half-duplex interface used for programming and debugging. Because both sides must agree on timing, incomplete documentation and bus-timing mismatches made communication a central challenge.
Baron’s account covers command and data framing, reads and writes, and a speed-control register. At points, the CPU did not respond until he reset it and issued CPU-stop commands. Reset was not available at a convenient exposed pad, so he had to reach the reset pin with delicate soldering. This describes his setup; it is not a universal procedure for every TLSR8232 board.
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He built an alternative programmer based on an STM32 Blue Pill development board and used a Python client to communicate over SWire. With that route, he controlled the SoC’s internal flash interface and reported creating a 512,000-byte dump of the stock firmware. Accessing a flash dump is not the same as having a drop-in replacement firmware: the subsequent work required identifying the board’s connections and building for the chip.
What did the custom firmware do?
Baron used Telink’s TLSR8232 SDK and a tc32 toolchain packaged in Docker to compile code. He first demonstrated GPIO output with a blink, then traced the capacitive button input to GPIO_PC2. He mapped the display connections and drove the 160×80 SPI TFT, which uses an ST7735 controller. Those pin assignments are specific to the board he examined and should not be assumed for another M6-branded band.
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He also demonstrated BLE in two roles. In peripheral mode, custom firmware exposed a service that toggled an LED when written to. In central mode, it listened for broadcasts from a separate b-parasite BLE soil sensor, recognized the device address, decoded battery voltage, temperature, humidity and soil-moisture fields, and displayed the readings on the band.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What is the practical result—and what is not established?
The project’s useful result is a tiny, repurposed sensor console: a low-cost band screen and BLE radio displaying readings from another device after hardware-specific reverse engineering and firmware work. It is not an upgrade that demonstrates the band’s ordinary fitness functions, nor evidence that its stock heart-rate or other health measurements are reliable or medically validated.
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Baron framed the work as understanding the hardware, communicating with it, dumping its original firmware and running code that used GPIO, the color screen and BLE. His account is a detailed individual project, not independent testing of measurement accuracy, battery life, durability or water resistance. Hackaday’s July 8, 2021 summary also describes the soil-sensor display demonstration.
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What to check before attempting the project on another M6
- Confirm the board, not just the name. Generic M6 listings may use different boards. The documented AliExpress unit’s TLSR8232 cannot be assumed from a listing title or product photo alone.
- Identify the programming interface and reset access. The SWire pads and reset arrangement matter; the author’s wiring and recovery steps may not transfer to another revision.
- Verify the display and connections. The documented 160×80 ST7735 screen and GPIO_PC2 button mapping are observations from one unit, not a guaranteed pinout.
- Expect firmware-toolchain work. The project used a Blue Pill-based alternative programmer, a Python client, Telink’s SDK and a tc32 toolchain in Docker. It is not a simple consumer-app firmware update.
- Treat seals and health claims cautiously. The reported teardown was not a water-resistance or fitness-accuracy test, and opening a wearable can compromise any seals it has.
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