Does BT Smartphone response to a beacon requires a dedicated application to run on the smartphone ?bea

[Pret]

Hi

This is probably not specific to Nordic, through talking about a beacon-type device based on nRF52 chip. The purpose of the beacon is to advertise its presence and once the user's smartphone sees it, it would engage certain action (like initiating a phone call to certain number or prompting the user to call that number).

The question is whether in order to do that the user must have the particular application running on his smartphone ? I.e. would this require the user to remember to have a particular app to get opened and running on his phone or probably it can be achieved without that requirement ? (probably at the level of Android or iOS in his smartphone)

If this can be achieved without the burden to remember have the app running on the smartphone, does that require some specific way the firmware to get build for nRF52 devices ? (like 52833)

Thanks to all wiling to respond

Alex

[awneil]

Pret said:

The question is whether in order to do that the user must have the particular application running on his smartphone ?

Yes, I think so - possibly as a background service.

For example:

"TrackR" is, essentially, a beacon.

Pret said:

does that require some specific way the firmware to get build for nRF52 devices ?

No - it would all be down to what the Central (ie, the phone) does.

[Pret]

Thank you very much!

So in fact, the app in the background can run silently all the time without disturbing the user or relying on him to turn it on and off ?

[awneil]

I'm not a mobile developer but, AIUI, it's a "background service" rather than a full app.

There is a separate app.

I guess you really need a mobile developer's forum for full details.

TrackR is a commercial product - nothing to do with me - I just used it as an example as it happened to be on my phone.

https://www.thetrackr.com/

[Aleksander Nowakowski]

Hello,

Like @awneil pointed, a custom app is required. It should scan in background. On Android 8+ you may use scanning with PendingIntent instead of a background service. This approach eliminates the need of setting the service to "foreground" in order to prevent it to be killed when the app is not open.

You may set any filter you want, so your device may advertise with any data, iBeacon, Eddystone, or your custom one that's using Service Data or Manufacturer Data fields.

This app would have to download some content when a beacon is detected (PendingIntent can e.g. display a notification, that some product is nearby).