iBeacon is a protocol designed by Apple that sits on top of, or uses, the Bluetooth LE protocol. Think of Bluetooth LE as a standard mechanism for sending a short amount of information that can be anything. In the case of iBeacon this ‘anything’ is the UUID, major, minor and a power calibration value called the measured power. We have a post explaining these iBeacon values.
Category: faq
Can I Use My Phone as Bluetooth Beacon?
A question that often arises is, “Can I use my phone as a Bluetooth beacon?” The answer is ‘yes’.
Before we get into the details, it’s essential to understand what a Bluetooth beacon is. In simple terms, a Bluetooth beacon is a small wireless device that transmits a periodic signal to other Bluetooth-enabled devices within its range. This technology is often used for indoor positioning, sensing and other location-based services.
Technically, yes, a smartphone can function as a Bluetooth beacon. Both Android and iOS platforms offer apps to turn your phone into a beacon transmitter. However, there are some caveats.
Using your phone as a Bluetooth beacon can be a significant drain on your battery. Beacons are designed to be low-energy devices that can run for years on a single battery. Your phone, on the other hand, has many other functions that consume power, so using it as a beacon will lead to the need for frequent charging.
The range of a dedicated Bluetooth beacon can be up to 100 metres, depending on the model and settings. A smartphone’s Bluetooth range is generally much shorter, limiting its effectiveness as a beacon.
While there are apps such as Locate Beacon, Beacon Simulator (for iOS), Beacon Simulator, nRFConnect (for Android) that can turn your phone into a beacon, these are often not as reliable or feature-rich as dedicated beacon hardware. You won’t be able to change all the settings such as power, advertising period and advertising type as you would with a dedicated hardware beacon. Additionally, running such an app in the background may interfere with other phone functions and some phones eventually close long running services.
Despite these limitations, there are scenarios where using your phone as a Bluetooth beacon could be useful. If you’re a developer or a business looking to experiment with beacon technology, using a phone can be a cost-effective way to test your ideas before investing in dedicated devices.
While it’s possible to use your phone as a Bluetooth beacon, it’s generally not the most efficient or reliable method for most applications. However, for personal use or small-scale use, it can serve as a convenient alternative. If you’re considering implementing beacon technology on a larger scale, investing in inexpensive dedicated hardware is usually the better option.
How Far Can a Bluetooth Beacon Measure Distance?
A common misconception is that beacons can measure distance. In reality, beacons, with the exception of some specialist social distancing beacons and sensor beacons with an additional distance sensor, are designed to send signals rather than receive them.
Instead, measuring distance happens on the receiving end. Devices such as smartphones are equipped to detect these beacon signals. When a beacon sends out its Bluetooth radio signal, the receiving device knows the received signal strength (RSSI). This RSSI can be used to infer the distance between the beacon and the device.
In the proximity of a few metres, the variation in RSSI is significant enough to deduce the distance with a reasonable degree of accuracy. However, as the distance increases, the variation in RSSI becomes less pronounced. This means that while you can determine if a beacon is close or far away, pinpointing an exact distance becomes challenging.
For example, the iOS programming API, CoreBluetooth, provides classifications for the detected beacon signals. These classifications are ‘immediate’, ‘near’, and ‘far’. They don’t give a precise measurement in metres or feet but rather a general idea of the beacon’s proximity.
In terms of maximum range, depending on the specific beacon, it can be detected from distances up to 50m or even 100m. However, as mentioned earlier, at these longer ranges, the RSSI doesn’t provide a clear indication of exact distance. Instead, it offers a more general sense of whether the beacon is nearer or farther away.
What is the Difference Between iBeacon and Eddystone?
iBeacon, a standard developed by Apple, was introduced in 2013 as part of the iOS 7. It’s based on Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), a power-efficient variant of Bluetooth technology. The strength of iBeacon lies in its background support on iOS devices, which allows for easier detection of beacons.
Google introduced Eddystone in 2015. This protocol for beacons was developed to embrace a broader range of uses. Eddystone offers multiple frame types to cater to various data needs like URLs, unique identifiers and sensor data. One most distinctive feature of Eddystone was the Eddystone-URL, where the beacons could send out a web address. However, this has been limited by the discontinuation of Google Nearby in Android.
Despite the differences in their design and features, both iBeacon and Eddystone share common ground in their use of standard Bluetooth advertising. They send different data in the same standard Bluetooth advertising packets. This shared aspect of technology ensures that they can both communicate effectively to both iOS and Android.
While Eddystone’s versatile frame types and open protocol initially made it appealing, it has seen a decline since the discontinuation of Nearby in Android. Currently, most new systems requiring smartphone applications to detect a beacon opt for iBeacon.
However, when it comes to locating and detection using gateways rather than smartphones, iBeacon vs Eddystone becomes less relevant and the beacons’ Bluetooth MAC addresses are usually used. The advertising packets can instead be used for sensor data, for example, temperature and humidity.
View iBeacon Beacons
View Eddystone Beacons
View Sensor Beacons
Can I Set the Maximum Distance the Beacon Transmits?
Many people inquire about adjusting the transmission distance of a beacon. They often wish to either conserve battery or restrict the range at which a beacon is detectable.
While some third-party platforms and SDKs offer distance settings, it’s a misconception to think you can directly set the distance. What you’re actually adjusting is the transmission power, which in turn influences the transmission distance. But since this involves radio waves, which are prone to reflections and interference, it’s impossible to guarantee that a specific power will equate to a precise distance.
When using an app to detect beacons, you can employ the Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) to focus on those within a desired range. However, it’s challenging to precisely correlate RSSI with the actual distance.
Some wonder if they can set the distance in terms of centimetres, similar to NFC. Typically, this isn’t feasible because even at their lowest power setting, most beacons transmit over a distance of about a metre.
Rather than asking if the transmitter’s distance can be minimised, it might be more practical to configure the receiver to disregard detections from further away. By using the RSSI value on the receiving app or another Bluetooth scanning device, you can filter out distant beacons. Specifically, you can dismiss detections with an RSSI below a certain threshold, allowing you to focus on detections within a centimetre range.
We have an article on Choosing the Transmitted Power.
Can Bluetooth Beacons Track Individual User Data?
Bluetooth beacons themselves are generally not designed to track individual user data. They are small devices that transmit a Bluetooth signal at regular intervals, which can be picked up by smartphones or other Bluetooth-enabled devices within a certain range. The primary function of a beacon is to broadcast its presence and certain identifying information such as a unique ID.
However, the apps on your smartphone that interact with these beacons could potentially collect and store data about your location or behaviour. For example, a retail store might use beacons to send promotional messages to your phone when you’re near a particular product. The app on your phone that interacts with the beacon could collect data on which promotions you’ve seen, how long you spent in a particular area of the store and other information.
While the beacon itself is not tracking you, the software that interacts with it could be. It’s essential to be aware of the permissions you’re granting to apps on your phone, particularly those that request access to your location services.
Is it Possible To Use One App to Manage All Beacons?
There are lots of brands of iBeacon and Eddystone beacon. Each brand has its own management app. We have often been asked,
“Is it possible to have just one app to manage different brands of beacon?”
While it’s technically possible, there’s no incentive for anyone to create such an app. Creating just one app to manage one beacon brand, across iOS and Android is significant effort in itself.
Google identified this problem and created the Eddystone Configuration GATT Service. The idea is that if manufacturers used just this, apps and beacons would be inter-operable. However, people want to configure iBeacon as well as Eddystone. Manufacturers also want to allow users to configure and read sensor data. Also, using Eddystone Configuration GATT Service software in all future beacons does nothing to help manage the large number of beacons that are already out there.
As of writing this, in 7 years since Eddystone Configuration GATT Service was published, no apps have been published that work with the Eddystone Configuration GATT Service. However, the Nordic nRF Connect app does understand some of the Bluetooth Characteristics to better read these kinds of beacons. There hasn’t been a rush for manufacturers to use Eddystone Standard GATT.
Back to the question. It looks like there will be a separate app per manufacturer for the foreseeable future.
What is a Bluetooth WiFi Gateway?
A Bluetooth WiFi gateway is a device that connects Bluetooth devices to a WiFi network. It allows Bluetooth devices, such as sensors, beacons, or other IoT devices, to communicate with a WiFi network and exchange data with other devices on the network or remote servers or the cloud.
Bluetooth WiFi gateways have both Bluetooth and WiFi capabilities and are able to bridge the communication between these two technologies. They are often used in IoT (Internet of Things) applications, where they can be used to connect a variety of Bluetooth devices to a WiFi network, allowing them to communicate with each other and exchange data.
Bluetooth has a relatively short range of up to 100m, so using a Bluetooth WiFi gateway can allow Bluetooth devices to originate data over longer distances. Bluetooth WiFi gateways are easy to set up and configure, making them a convenient solution for connecting Bluetooth devices to a larger network.
The Manufacturer Site Says a Beacon Has a Particular Capability. Why Doesn’t the Version BeaconZone Sells Support This?
There can be several reasons why the specification for a beacon listed on our site doesn’t match that shown on a manufacturer’s web site or 3rd party sales platform.
- Beacon descriptions on many sites are often written by non-technical staff and non-English speakers. This means that there can be misunderstandings and errors.
- Some descriptions purposely over-fill descriptions with incorrect information or competitor’s product information so as to attract interest. The actual specification becomes clearer after you have asked the right questions or, in some cases, when you receive the beacons!
- Some descriptions are of cloned products with dubious provenance rather than products from the original manufacturer.
- It’s common for descriptions to mention optional features that are only available via manufacturing customisation. They are sort of saying the specification is possible, but you will find you have to pay a lot extra for a custom version.
We spend a long time assessing beacons and only list the features actually provided by the beacons we sell. We have a deep understanding of beacons that can be accessed via our support and consultancy services.
How to Read the AnkhMaway Sensor Data?
Since we have been selling the AKMW-iB003N-SHT and AKMW-iB004N PLUS SHT we have been getting a few questions regarding accessing the temperature and humidity data.
You should first read the manufacturer’s SHT20 User Guide (username and password supplied with your beacon).
If you are connecting via GATT to read the sensor data then you will need to set the beacon to be always connectable. The way to do this is (for some strange reason) only shown in the iB001M user guide:
So if you wish to transmit iBeacon and remain connectable, set the value to 0x82. Note that if you subsequently set the beacon ‘on’ or ‘off’ in the ‘simple’ configuration screen, accessed via the spanner icon (Android) or Configure option (on iOS), then this will overwrite your set value.
However, you might instead consider reading the sensor data from the advertising data which a) is much easier to program and b) uses much less beacon battery power and c) allows multiple apps to see the data at the same time.
There’s also an iOS example app in the BeaconZone AnkhMaway technical area.