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

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

Aleksander Nowakowski — Wed, 07 Apr 2021 08:08:14 GMT

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).

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

awneil — Wed, 31 Mar 2021 11:13:21 GMT

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/

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

Pret — Wed, 31 Mar 2021 11:03:41 GMT

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 ?

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

awneil — Wed, 31 Mar 2021 10:25:20 GMT

[quote userid="102088" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/73449/does-bt-smartphone-response-to-a-beacon-requires-a-dedicated-application-to-run-on-the-smartphone-bea"]The question is whether in order to do that the user must have the particular application running on his smartphone ?[/quote]

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

For example:

"TrackR" is, essentially, a beacon.

[quote userid="102088" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/73449/does-bt-smartphone-response-to-a-beacon-requires-a-dedicated-application-to-run-on-the-smartphone-bea"]does that require some specific way the firmware to get build for nRF52 devices ?[/quote]

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