iPhone as a beacon

🎤 General Discussion iOS
1

I want to create an app that acts as a bluetooth beacon. From what I have done so far:

  • I can only advertise a iBeacon format data
  • I can only advertise if my app is in the foreground

first of all, is this true? or can I advertise any raw format?

secondly, apple documentation says it will not advertise when the app is in the background due to performance reasons, etc. but, my app can be distributed as an enterprise solution to my company, and these usability reasons are not that much of a concern - so, is there a way to advertise the discovery information in the background in my case?

rv

2

I don’t believe there is a way to force advertising a beacon in the background. Apple decided you just aren’t supposed to do it that way. Maybe there are non-public methods that could be discovered and for enterprise distribution it would not matter that you could not get your app approved by Apple.

But why not just use a cheap beacon that someone can clip to their ID badge or a lanyard or put in their pocket or whatever? Unless it is the phone itself you want to track this would seem to have a lot of advantages and few disadvantages.