How do wifi / bluetooth bulbs pair with the mobile

Using Arduino Project Guidance
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I have been working on making a commercial-equivalent smart WiFi bulb. I cannot understand how the bulb pairs with the app on smartphone and gains access to the Internet through my personal modem. The bulb cannot communicate through the personal WiFi before getting paired, as it doesn't have the credentials. I tried to experiment with my existing commercial bulb and while putting it in reset mode, noticed -

  1. There wasn't any WiFi (that could be the bulb's AP) visible in the available networks list of my PC. Well, I don't know if it was a hidden network.
  2. There wasn't any Bluetooth device visible in the list that could possibly be the bulb.

So I want to know how the bulb communicates with the app -

  1. Does it act as AP (Access Point) and the app connects to it and gives it the credentials.
  2. Else, does the bulb use any other type of communication to pair with the app.
  3. Or, does it somehow just get to the smartphone and it all "mysteriously" works.

I would be happy if someone could explain the process to me. Also, the app scans for the available devices whenever I want to pair to a new device. Then, I can select the desired device and pair it. So, please also explain (if possible) how the scanning works.

No need to get to each technical detail, I just want to know the process. I will ask later if I need the tech details.

EDIT:
Also, Please explain how the same works with bluetooth.

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does your bulb depends on a hub ?

mine do. I've a box that is connected to my ethernet network and and that box speaks through a custom protocol and hardware (Zigbee, bluetooth, ...) to the bulb. The pairing is with the box, not the bulb

some other do have indeed wifi embeded.

if you go with WiFi your bulb initially is in AP mode and has a captive portal to collect the SSID and PWD or your network. Then it reboots and connects. There is a library to do just this (WifiManager)

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Basics:

Since the bulbs can’t directly connect to your home’s Wi-Fi network, the Hue Bridge is a hub that acts as the middleman of sorts. Your light bulbs connect to the hub, and the hub connects to your router.

https://www.howtogeek.com/247500/how-to-set-up-your-philips-hue-lights/

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Thanks (sorry for the late response)
My bulb doesn't depend on a hub.

BUT
@J-M-L said,
"if you go with WiFi your bulb initially is in AP mode and has a captive portal to collect the SSID and PWD or your network. Then it reboots and connects."

The AP should be visible in the list of available networks on my PC. But it wasn't. Why is it so?
Is it a hidden network?

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What’s your bulb’s Brandt / model ?

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@J-M-L
Syska - 9 Watt Color Smart Bulb

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It seems they have a dedicated app (Syska Smart Home App) for this lamp, possibly a hidden network and some sort of secure proprietary pairing process - even may be through BLE. The bulb can be driven by Google or Alexa so it must support those protocols once activated. You would need to find the technical doc for the bulb and study those API

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Thanks, but where can I find the documentation, Any Ideas?

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No idea - I don’t know that brand

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No Problem, I will use the AP method.
Thanks for the help.

Just let me know if you know how the same is done using BLUETOOTH

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It’s linely proprietary… there is no common standard that I know of

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