Auto unlock with iOS

[Maxim]

Hi, i am actually working on a smart lock and i want to implement an Automatic Unlock. This functionnality can be really useful, because the door unlock even if your smartphone is in your pocket.

On my smart lock, using the NRF52832 (S132), i have a push button outside my door. When I press the button the advertsing packet is updated: 1 byte is updated from 0x00 to 0x01 during 20 seconds then return to 0x00. The NRF52 send an adverting packet every 600ms.

I am actually able, only with android, to scan every seconds and unlock my door if the advertising packet has changed even if my app is closed, this service is running in backgroud. (The power consumption is really high ~40mA according to my smartphone, but it's not a problem).

But my problem is with iOS where it's a pain to get this service running in background with no possibility to scan if the screen is lock, and it's worst if the app isn't launched...

So is there a smarter solution for this problem (use my smartlock as a beacon, proximity detection...) or i must resign and forget this option for my product.

Thanks you !

[endnode]

Oh sure there are some ways. As you probably know there are plenty of such BLE locks in the field already so you can simply go and learn from these companies (who invested 5+ years of know how into it;). Yes, advertising iBeacon and use it as kind of geo-fancing helps. Some companies use reverse GAP&GATT roles or dual (so each device can use whatever is more convenient for given app and operating system). In addition there are other tricks how to keep iOS app alive or to be more precise how to restart it on various events if system kills it in the meantime. But I'm afraid this is not the best forum to discuss as it has very little to do with BLE itself but it's more about iOS development. There are better forums full of "experts" on that matter...

[Hung Bui]

I'm no iOS expert, but there was some discussion here and some information here.