Estimote FAQs

You probably know by now what tags and attachments are used for (and if that's not the case, check out this article! ). Now, let's quickly go through the ways you can associate both with Estimote beacons.

First of all, log in to the Estimote Cloud and find the beacon you want to configure (they're not in there? We've got you covered). Then either:

click on the "Settings" button to the right to edit a single beacon or

check the boxes to the left of the beacons to select multiple ones. Then, click on "Edit" in the menu above.

Adding tags

Once you've opened the beacon settings, you'll see the "Tags" field to the right. Click on it and a list of already added tags will show up, along with a button for adding new ones. Select either option and save the settings.

Note that, unlike with the other beacon settings, you don't need to connect to the beacons to apply those tags as they are fetched from the Estimote Cloud the moment a beacon is encountered.

Adding attachments

Attachments can be added in the "Beacon Attachment" menu. Simply insert a "key" and its "value" and save changes. There's no limit in terms of the number of attachments a beacon can have.

Similarly to tags, attachments also don't need to be synchronized with beacons like other beacon settings. This allows you to edit the attachments remotely, even if you have already deployed the beacons thousands of miles away. Check the documentation mentioned in the Cloud for more details.

Beacons broadcast 2.4 GHz radio waves that are susceptible to environmental factors. Antenna orientation, interference, human bodies, metal obstacles: all of these can reduce signal range and stability. Take them into account when deploying beacons.

Below we share some of the best practices for beacon placement, settings, and avoiding interference. Weve also covered them in more detail on our blog: read the UX for the real world post. However, its always best to test and experiment yourself to achieve the best results.

Beacon placement and orientation

Try to create a line of sight between a beacon and users phones. The easiest way to achieve that is to place beacons above crowds and objects. Our data science team has been experimenting with different orientation and determined that the most effective placement for optimal signal propagation is vertical, with the little dot facing upwards (like in the picture below). Installing beacons on ceilings also works well.

Potential sources of wireless interference

Obstacles and interference

A signal can also be blocked and absorbed by obstacles. Metal and water will have the strongest effect, significantly reducing beacons range. Remember that human body is made of water: thats why its so important to place beacons properly when deploying in crowded places.

Below are some common material types and their interference potential.

Low interference potential: wood, synthetic materials, and glass

Medium interference potential: bricks and marble

High interference potential: plaster, concrete, and bulletproof glass

Very high interference potential: metal, water

Please refer to the article for more details.

Estimote Cloud offers analytics to help track beacon activity across your apps.

Please note that there are two versions of Estimote Analytics available. Version 2.0 is only accessible through Estimote SDK and RESTful Cloud API. Version 1.0 also has a corresponding UI in Estimote Cloud (the Analytics button you might have noticed in the dashboard at cloud.estimote.com ), but it will be deprecated in the future.

In the future, Analytics v2 will completely replace Analytics v1.

Analytics v2

With Estimote Analytics v2, you can measure:

interactions with beacon regions ( Monitoring )

interactions with individual beacons ( Ranging )

number of visits

unique visitors

To get started with Estimote Analytics:

go through our analytics app integration tutorial

read our Analytics v2 announcement blog post,to learn why we've revamped our analytics engine and how you can use it

familiarize yourself with Cloud API documentation,to learn whatendpoints are currently available to retrieve the analytics data (and let us knowabout any additional endpoints you'd want!)

Analytics v1

Download EstimoteiOS SDK and addthe following code toyour apps implementation. Analytics is disabled by default.

Objective-C

[ESTCloudManager setupAppID:@"xxx" andAppToken:@"yyy"];

[ESTCloudManager enableAnalytics:YES];

Swift

ESTCloudManager.setupAppID("xxx", andAppToken: "yyy")

ESTCloudManager.enableAnalytics(true)

Confused about the App ID and App Token? Read what they are and where to find them.

We recommend to put the codeabovein your AppDelegate, in the application:didFinishLaunchingWithOptions: method. Remember that you can only gather analytics data from the beacons you own, i.e. the ones that are assigned your Estimote Account and appearing on your Estimote Cloud dashboard. The full list is downloaded by the SDK at the time of the App ID/Token setup, and cached on the device. If after this point you add more beacons to your Account, make sure the appredoes the setup procedure.

Now, start beacon region monitoring for all the regions that you want to keep a track record of. Every time an enter event happens, it'll be immediately recorded in Estimote Cloud.

Objective-C

[self.beaconManager startMonitoringForRegion:

[[CLBeaconRegion alloc] initWithProximityUUID:ESTIMOTE_PROXIMITY_UUID

major:123 minor:456 identifier:@"cash registers 1"]];

...

-(void)beaconManager:(id)manager didEnterRegion:(CLBeaconRegion *)region {

NSLog(@"didEnterRegion, will automatically record an enter");

}

-(void)beaconManager:(id)manager didExitRegion:(CLBeaconRegion *)region {

NSLog(@"didExitRegion, will automatically record an exit");

}

Swift

beaconManager.startMonitoringForRegion(CLBeaconRegion(

proximityUUID: NSUUID(UUIDString: "B9407F30-F5F8-466E-AFF9-25556B57FE6D"),

major: 123, minor: 456, identifier: "cash registers 1"))

...

func beaconManager(manager: AnyObject!, didEnterRegion region: CLBeaconRegion!) {

NSLog("didEnterRegion, will automatically record an enter")

}

func beaconManager(manager: AnyObject!, didExitRegion region: CLBeaconRegion!) {

NSLog("didExitRegion, will automatically record an exit")

}

Estimote "1.0" Analytics works only with beacon regions defined with proximityUUID, major and minor. Regions that skip major orminor will not trigger a ping. If you want region based analytics, consider the "2.0" Analytics.

How to check your Analytics data?

After enabling Analytics in your app, you can check analytics data of a beacon by going to theCloud web panel( cloud.estimote.com ) and clicking on the Analytics button.

Secure UUID

Youll see a chart listing number of pings. The X axis scale presents days - right now,thedefault range shows two months: thecurrent and the previous one.

The number of pings is the total number of times devices with apps using Analytics entered this beacons range. The date on the chart corresponds to the timezone of your beacon. Please keep in mind that Cloud Analytics will record a ping only if the user has Internet connection available on their mobile device.

You can extract more data with our Cloud API. Estimote Analytics is also fully integrated with .

GPIO stands for General Purpose Input/Output. Its a standard interface used to connect microcontrollers to other electronic devices. For example, it can be used with sensors, diodes, displays, and System-on-Chip modules. Estimote Location Beacons (Hardware Revision F2.3 and later) are equipped with GPIO. It allows for providing external power supply, remote control of connected devices, broadcasting more contextual data, or defining contents for custom Bluetooth data packets.

Support for GPIO is availablein the latest verionsof Estimote app and SDK.

GPIO can be used in three modes:

input

output

UART interface

GPIO input

This is the default mode, in which the beacon receives input from the connected device via GPIO. You can imagine a button broadcasting its status (on/off) through the beacon.

In this configuration, the beacon will broadcast received data in the Estimote Telemetry packet. This means information about binary states of two GPIO pins. In other words, the beacon will be advertising two 0/1 values.

If you want to learn how to enable Estimote Telemetry, read:

What is a beacon protocol? Can beacons broadcast multiple packets simultaneously?

GPIO output

In the output mode, beacon delivers data to the connected device via GPIO. You could for example switch a LED lamp on or off with the beacon controlled from a mobile app.

In this configuration, the beacon will deliver data from two pins about their binary states to the connected device.

UART

If you configure GPIO as an UART interface, youll be able to define custom advertising packets for an Estimote Beacon. This feature will soon be enabled in the SDK.

How do I access GPIO?

Estimote Beacons are equipped with 4 pin GPIO connector. The position of pins is marked by four dots on the side of a beacons enclosure. To connect, you need to puncture the enclosure with cable connector.

If you do not want to puncture the enclosure, you can remove the PCB through the Y-shaped opening in the beacons base.

Do Estimote Proximity Beacons and Estimote Stickers have GPIO?

No, GPIO is available only in Estimote UWB Location Beacons and Estimote Location Beacons.

Are you new to beacons and overwhelmed by our Getting Started Guide ? Have no fear! We've covered some of the most popular questions about how beacons work below. Let's take a closer look!

What is a beacon?

A beacon is a tiny device that broadcasts Bluetooth data packets. Think of it as a lighthouse that you place in a harbor. It sends its signal in the form of light to nearby ships. The light itself is meaningless, but when picked up by the captain of a ship, they can determine which lighthouse the ship is approaching and can roughly estimate how far from shore the ship is. The captain can then perform specific actions based on this data - they can change the direction of a ship, start preparations for arrival or even sound an alarm if they're dangerously close.

Now, imagine that instead of a lighthouse, you place a beacon and instead of ships, people with mobile devices are wandering around. Instead of light, a beacon is sending a Bluetooth signal, and the captain's knowledge about what to do when they sees a lighthouse we replace with a dedicated mobile app installed on a smartphone. Just like light, the Bluetooth signal itself is meaningless but with the knowledge of how to interpret it (a mobile app), you can build virtually anything.

our dedicated guide

Do I really need a mobile device?

Yes. You need a device that is able to receive the Bluetooth signal sent by beacons and also interpret it. What would be the point of a lighthouse if the area wasn't even visited by ships, right? ;-) So whether you want to track people or objects, log or welcome visitors to your event or automate a process, there needs to be a mobile device in the equation. Most commonly smartphones are used, and our beacons are compatible with both iOS and Android devices. Raspberry Pi is also a good example thanks to our support for Android Things. Wecan'toffer support for devices running other systems, but weve compiled a list of tools for integrating them ! Beacons themselves cannot receive any data packets from other beacons (the only exception is mesh networking which we covered in our documentation but lets not focus on it now).

Do I really need an app?

Yes, but you can also try out some limited features without one. Our beacons and software are optimized to work best with native applications for iOS or Android. So if you want to create a great product solving a real problem, you're going to need a mobile app (check Developer Docs to see how to get started)

If you're not a developer or don't have a team that could build an app for you, there are several options available out there. Check out .

What is it that a beacon sends?

Beacons send Bluetooth data packets that can only be understood by the compatible devices. These packets are definitely not notifications or any other media, instead they are seemingly random sets of letters and digits. Beacons broadcast them with a certain strength in every possible direction (just like a lighthouse 'broadcasts' light). In each packet, beacons "introduce themselves" by sending their unique identifiers as well as certain additional data. The exact look of those packets and their capabilities is determined by certain protocols such as Estimote Monitoring, iBeacon or Eddystone. (Note: With Google discontinuing Nearby Notifications starting on December 6th, 2018, users will no longer be able to receive notifications through Eddystone-URL.) Almost every iOS and Android Bluetooth-enabled device is compatible with each of these protocols.

What happens when a mobile device receives a beacon packet

As we discussed above, the packets wouldn't make much sense if they just showed up on a screen. Luckily though, there are thousands of mobile apps built for beacons that know exactly what to do when a packet is received. The moment a packet arrives, a corresponding app is immediately launched and the first thing it does is ask the Estimote Cloud for additional context (e.g. instruction on what to do about this particular beacon). The Cloud, also in the matter of milliseconds, returns the necessary information and the app performs the programmed activity - displays a notification, logs someone's visit, changes occupancy of a room, etc. In order to do that, it will often have to communicate with its own server (in addition to the exchange with the Estimote Cloud). This is why internet connection is necessary for any interaction to take place. Although this might seem like a lot of steps to perform a simple action, all of them are taken almost instantly. On top of the internet connection, Bluetooth needs to be enabled on the user's device in order to receive the packets in the first place.

If youre into cars and still havent paid a visit to Porsche factory in Leipzig, its high time to update your vacation plans. Not only you will see how some of the worlds most beautiful automobiles are made, you also get to take one for a spin on an on-road circuit. And now Porsche has released an app that uses Estimote Beacons to make your visit even better.

Porsche Leipzig has a brand-new app that helps make sure you have a great time from the moment you set your foot in the Customer Centre. Thanks to Estimote Beacons, you will receive additional information about the facilities youre visiting at the moment. Dont worry if you get lost checking out all the automotive wonders: Porsche Leipzig app also uses beacons for indoor navigation. When you approach one of the cars in the museum, you get more information. Youll be able to check specs, learn additional details, and watch videos.

Apart from the microlocation features, the app lets you share memories from your ride on the on-road circuit and takes advantage of Augmented Reality to let you uncover more than the naked eye can see. What, youre booking a flight to Leipzig now? Good,don'tforget to download the app first

Want to see how other automotive brands are using Estimote Beacons? Check our projects with BMW and Daimler.

Estimote Proximity Beacons and Estimote Location Beacons are two different beacons, but they are both compatible with a Proximity-type use case. This split represents two different approaches. Lets dig into the differences a little, shall we?

Proximity beacons for a Proximity use case

Estimote Proximity Beacons are designed to attach to fixed points in a venue, and provide an app with location context. Mobile apps with beacon support can then detect the smartphone coming in and out of range of a beacon, and act on that information.

The Proximity approach involves tagging certain areas (a hotel lobby, a restaurant table, an airport gate, etc.) with a markera beaconrecognizable by smartphones. Using Estimote Monitoring, your app can simply detect when it is in the proximity zone, figure out which beacon it is, and act accordingly. For instance:you'veplaced a beacon at an airports ticketing desk. When your app-equipped smartphone comes within the designated range of the desk, your phone knows where you are and will open up the check-in portion of the app. From here, you can choose your seat, tell the airline how many bags you have to check, and maybe even pick your meal preference for the flight. Magic!

Estimote Proximity Beacons have Estimote Monitoring enabled by default. This enables you to monitor for the unlimited number of beacons, use software to dynamically manage and group beacons, and get reliable enter/exit events in your app. Its the backbone of our Proximity SDK! Learn more here.

Integrate proximity detection to your app with our step-by-step tutorials:

iOS

Android

Weve even built simple app templates to get you launching your Proximity based apps in a matter of minutes! Check them out in the Cloud and hit the ground running.

Estimote Proximity beacons also support Estimote Connection, Estimote Telemetry, iBeacon and Eddystone protocols. Keep in mind, however, you can only have one of these packets enabled at a time with Proximity beacons: Estimote Monitoring, iBeacon, or Eddystone.(EDIT: With Google discontinuing Nearby Notifications starting on December 6th, 2018, users will no longer be able to receive notifications through Eddystone-URL.)

Location

Location beacons were originally built for a totally different use case, specifically asset tracking and Indoor Location, but happen to also be compatible with our Proximity SDK, Estimote Monitoring, and a Proximity use case. Both Long-range Location Beacons and Location Beacons with UWB also support multi-packet advertising, mesh networking, have built-in sensors, and a range of 200m, as well as a longer default battery life (up to 5 years, versus up to 2 years). Location Beacons can broadcast multiple packets simultaneously. Besides Estimote Monitoring, iBeacon and Eddystone, there are other packets available:

Estimote Connection

Estimote Indoor Location

Estimote Telemetry

To learn more about the packets, read: What is a beacon protocol?

Location Beacons have additional sensors/features:

Ambient light sensor

Magnetometer

Real-Time Clock

GPIO port

Which beacons do I pick?

Proximity beacons are simply the best, and go-to beacon, for when your app needs to detect that its near a specific area of interest or object. Proximity beacons have the necessary features for most use case. If you need to know if the user is in the lobby, or if you want your client to get content pinged within 70 meters of a site, go for Proximity beacons. Theyre straightforward, easy to pick up, small, and lightweight.

Location beacons are good for when your Proximity use case is slightly more complex and you need that little extra boost to help it be effective. For example, lets say you have a Proximity use case that involves pinging users in a place with a lot of potential signal interference (glass, metal, etc.) With an increased range of up to 200 meters, and a boosted battery life of up to 5 years, Location beacons help cut through that noise. If you were to use a Proximity beacon for the same type of use case, you may drain the battery in as little as 6 months blasting it at max settings.

Because of this, some clients like to buy Location beacons for their Proximity deployments when they are buying in bulk and at scale, due to their longer default battery life.

Stickers are not an ideal product for a Proximity use case: due to their relatively small range of about 7 meters, and relatively short battery life of about 6 months to one year. They were built for a different use case entirely! Right now, they are compatible with our Nearable packet, as well as iBeacon and Eddystone.(EDIT: Google has discontinued Eddystone as of December 6th, 2018.) Stickers are happiest when they are used for asset tracking.

The Apps section ofEstimote Cloud is where you can download app templates, manage API access, and share your beacon networks with third-party projects.

The App Templates work on the top of Proximity SDK and Estimote Monitoring, so remember to enable it on your beacons.

Creating an app and downloading an App Template

You can think of each app as a separate project with Estimote Beacons. Setting up an app in Estimote Cloud will automatically generate an Xcode/Android Studio project with Estimote SDK implemented. You can also choose from templates that have basic functionality already implemented.

To create an app in Estimote Cloud:

log into Estimote Cloud at cloud.estimote.com

go to the Apps section and then Add New App

choose a template with predefined featuresor a blank app

choose your preferred programming language

name your app and select which beacons should be associated with it

click Download template

Analytics

Atemplate will download to your computer automatically. You will also see the app listed in Estimote Cloud.

Available templates:

Notification

Proximity Content for a Single Beacon

Proximity Content for Multiple Beacons

Your Own App

Configuration

Universal Template

GPIO

NFC Stamps

Do I have to download App Templates from Estimote Cloud to build my own beacon-enabled app?

No, you can build your app with Estimote SDK from scratch if you want to.

Keep in mind that to access some of the features of Estimote platform (see below) you will need to use an API credentials ( App token and App ID ). SeparateAPI credentialsare created for each app, but youdon'tneed to download a template to access them.

To create API credentials for an existing app:

log into Estimote Cloud at cloud.estimote.com

go to the Apps section and then Add New App

choose Your Own App

name your app

generate the app along with App ID and App Token

The app will be listed in the Apps section now. You can use its API credentialsto access Estimote API with Estimote SDK.

Accessing apps and API credentials

Each app has anApp ID and App Token assigned. These values are used to connect to theEstimote Cloud API: they work as a sort of login and password in Estimote SDK.

You will need to use them if your app does any of the following:

connects to beacons

changes beacon settings

interacts with beacons with Secure Monitoring enabled

uses

You can find the ID and Token of each app in the Apps section and in the settings of each app.

Ranging beacons works always when the app is running, either in the foreground or in the background. However, as soon as the user navigates away from the app or locks the screen, iOS will suspend the app. At this point, ranging stops working until the app is woken up againwhich can happen for numerous reasons, e.g.:

the most obviousthe user opens the appagain,

you're doing monitoring and an enter/exit event comes, waking the app into the background for a few seconds so that it can handle the event,

you're using background app refresh and iOS wakes the app into the background to allow it to fetch fresh content,

etc.

In other words, ranging works just fine in the background, but iOSapps simply aren't given the luxury of running in the background for extended periods of time.

Note that this "ranging works in the background" is different from what most people and resources call "monitoring working in the background". When you start monitoring for beacons, it's the iOS itself that performs the duty, not your app. As a result, even if the app gets suspended or terminated, iOS itself still monitors for beacons. If an enter/exit event happens, iOS will then launch your app to handle the event. Because of that, for long-term beacon detection, monitoring is the recommended way.

To be strict, we should be saying that"ranging works when the app is running (doesn't matter whether in the foreground or the background)" and "monitoring works even if the app is not running".

Short-term background ranging

It's perfectly fine and "legal" to perform short-term background ranging, within the regular background execution capabilities of an iOS app. For example:

You can use the fact that iOS wakes/launches your app into the background for a few seconds to handle monitoring enter/exit events, and use those few seconds to range for beacons.

You can start a background execution task to extend the time your app can spend in the background. The empirical limit as of iOS 9 seems to be 3 minutes, but you should use the backgroundTimeRemaining property to know for sure how much time your app has in the background before iOS force-terminates it. You can use all this time in the background to perform ranging.Imagine for example that you enter a venue, and monitoring triggers an enter event. iOS wakes your app into the background to handle the event, but only gives it a few seconds to do that. The app can then start a background task to extend this time, and start ranging to determine whether the user is moving further into the venue (getting closer to the beacon), or just peeked inside it and immediately leaves. Once you establish that, perform an appropriate action and finish the background task, so that iOS puts the app back to sleep and doesn't forcefully terminate it.

Continuousbackground ranging

If short-term background ranging is not enough, you need to find a way to keep your app running in the background longerby using Background Modes. However, keep in mind that the use of Background Modes is heavily regulated by Apple! They only accept apps using Background Modes when it's justifiede.g., an app using the "audio" background mode needs to be playing music in the background, etc.

The only Background Mode which remotely makes sense in the context of beacons is the "location" background mode. Even then though, there must be clear value for the end user coming from the use of background ranging, value that can't be fulfilled at all with monitoring. Youll also have to lay this value out in the review process. Users should also be provided with an easy way to opt-out of this kind of service.

If youre planning to use the "location" background mode to do long-term ranging without a major user benefit (for example just to trackusers movements for your analyticsi.e., you're the beneficiary, not the user), you will most certainly have your app rejected.

Also, keep in mind the power consumption and performance implications of having your app continuously running in the background with ranging enabled (which keeps the radio going). Nobody wants their app uninstalled because users found out it eats up their batteryand slows their devicedown. For the "location" background mode, Apple requires you to add a boilerplate "Continued use of GPS running in the background can dramatically decrease battery life." line to your app description.

I'm aware ofthedownsides and the risk of rejection from the App Store, how can I do it anyway?

If you're sure you need persistent background ranging for beacons, you'll need to activate the Background Modes capability for your applicationspecifically, the Location Updates mode.

Note that for startRangingBeaconsInRegion to work in the background you'll also need to start Standard Location Updates via CLLocationManager's startUpdatingLocation (meaning you need both a CLLocationManager and an ESTBeaconManager in your app).

Note: In iOS 9, you also need to set theallowsBackgroundLocationUpdates property of your CLLocationManager to true.

Note: Even with background location updates running, iOS can still suspend the app if it doesn't detect any changes in the location. ( Quote from Apple : "Enabling this mode does not prevent the system from suspending the app, but it does tell the system that it should wake up the app whenever there is new location data to deliver.")

Does it work on Android, too?

Unlike iOS, Android doesn't restrict background processing. We still recommend against running ranging in the background for the very same reasonsbattery consumption, performance, and privacy. If you're absolutely convinced you need it to provide the best user experience to the user of your app, you can simply start ranging, and it'll continue even if the user leaves the app.

Just as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are standards of radio communication, beacon protocols are standards of BLE communication. Each protocol describes the structure of a data packet beacons broadcast.

Currently, Estimote supports twelve protocols:

Estimote Monitoring

Estimote Connection

Estimote Location

Estimote Telemetry

Nearable

iBeacon

Eddystone UID

Eddystone EID

Eddystone URL

Eddystone TLM(Note: With Google discontinuing Nearby Notifications starting on December 6th, 2018, users will no longer be able to receive notifications through Eddystone-URL.)

Generic Advertiser

Estimote Monitoring is the default protocol in both Location and Proximity Beacons and it was built as a mix of Estimote Location and iBeacon, taking the best features of both protocols. It offers various improvements in accuracy and beacon detection and is currently the most reliable protocol broadcasted by our beacons. Learn how to enable it here.

Estimote Connection allows you to connect to a beacon and change its settings. You cannot turn it off.

Estimote Location is brand new packet, design specifically to work with our Indoor Location SDK.

Estimote Telemetry is a packet that broadcasts information from sensors, GPIO, battery state, and firmware version.

Keep in mind that the Location packet is only supported by Estimote Location Beacons.

Nearable is our own protocol we use in Estimote Stickers to include more sensor data in a single packet. You can read about it elsewhere in our Knowledge Base.

Eddystone and iBeacon were developed by Google and Apple respectively. All Estimote Beacons can broadcast these. To learn about the differences between them, visit Estimote Developer Portal.Estimote Connection, Estimote Location, Estimote Telemetry are protocols that were introduced with Estimote Location Beacons.

Generic Advertiser is the name we use for packets that you can configure. In practical terms, you can use this protocol to broadcast data with any structure you like, and they key your app to react to that data however you want. It gives you a bit more flexibility than the default packets, but on the other hand it does require more tweaking from you, as well.

Send multiple packets

Estimote Connection packet is enabled by default on all Estimote Beacons.Estimote Location Beacons and Estimote Proximity Beacons (hardware rev. J1.6)can broadcast multiple beacon packets simultaneously. You can choose from the following list:

Estimote Monitoring

iBeacon

3 Eddystone packets (UID, URL, TLM)(Note: Google has discontinued Eddystone as of December 6th, 2018.)

Estimote Location (only for Location Beacons)

Estimote Telemetry

Each packet can be configured individually, meaning you can set different advertising interval, and broadcasting power for each and every one of them.

Note! When you connect to a beacon, it stops broadcasting Connection packet, all the other packets are still transmitted.Keep in mind that the more packets you use, the shorter battery life you get.

Web Bluetooth is a technology that allows websites to communicate directly with nearby Bluetooth devices. Instead of downloading a mobile app and having it sync with devices, web pages can now push and receive data directly from a paired device, whether its a beacon, a fitness tracker or a smart light bulb.

We use Web Bluetooth to facilitate a connection between an LTE Beacon and Estimote Web IDE. Its used to connect to a beacon for the first time and push a first micro-app onto it. You would also use Web Bluetooth to push any subsequent updates or new apps onto a beacon. Its perfect for the prototyping stage when you have a beacon nearby, but once you reach the deployment stage, pushing updates over LTE is a better choice.

Unfortunately, not all the browsers are compatible with Web Bluetooth yet (namely, Safari and Firefox, among others.) It's yet to be determined if those browsers will implement support in the immediate future, so we recommend Google Chrome as the most reliable browser for using Estimote Web IDE.

Some other browsers that support Web Bluetooth include:

Chrome v. 56 and newer

Opera v. 43 and newer

Android browser v. 67

Opera mobile v. 46

Chrome for Android v. 70

Samsung Internet v 6.2

From our experience, Chrome v.71 and higher works best.For the most comprehensive summary of working with Web Bluetooth, please refer to Web Bluetooths Implementation Status file on Github.

Working on a Windows machine?

If you are working on a Windows, youll need Windows 10 for Web Bluetooth to work.Make sure toenable Experimental Web Features in chrome://flags. It's not required but helpful in our experience. You can also usechrome://bluetooth-internals to troubleshoot and check if Chrome recognizes Bluetooth.

When scanning for LTE Beacons using Web BLE on a Windows machine, you will see the beacons on the list along with other Bluetooth devices (e.g. headphones).

Ifyou'veopened this article, chances are that you entered the Configuration menu in the Estimote app, found your beacon, but couldn't establish a connection. If that happens, there are several possible scenarios and things you can do about it.

Scenario I - the app told you that "beacon doesn't belong to [your_email_address]

It seems the beacon is not added to your Cloud account. No worries! It's fairly simple to add it. Follow these steps. If the beacon is already added to your Cloud but you're still getting this error message, simply log out and log back in. It should work now!

Scenario II - you can't connect because of a "server error"

Apparently, the app wasn't able to fetch the data of your beacon from the Estimote Cloud. The most common reason is a poor internet connection. If you can improve it, please do so and retry. The issue could also be on our side, so just wait for a few seconds and try again. Restarting the device also wouldnt hurt! If the problem persists, definitely let us know.

Scenario III - the connection is timed out

If that happens, try again a few times and see if there's an improvement. Consider also our Quick Connect options in the Estimote apps:

shake a beacon to connect (will work only if Shake to Connect is enabled).

connect with NFC by tapping on the beacon with your phone.

When using Estimote Stickers, make sure you're nudging them when trying to connect.

If the problem persists, let us know. Please be sure to include:

the beacon's identifier

your Cloud account

steps you have taken

If you have a lot of beacons, they may be hard to keep track of. With Estimote SDK, you can add GPS location to your beacons. Location of beacons is stored in Estimote Cloud, where we translate the raw latitude and longitude into a human-readable (and easily searchable!) address.

Assigning GPS location

You can do that in two ways:

through Estimote Cloud

through Estimote SDK

Estimote Cloud:

log into your account at cloud.estimote.com

check beacons you want to tag with a GPS location

click Edit

enter location address in the Geo location field and save the changes

Can I store locations in Estimote Cloud?

Estimote SDK:

ESTCloudManager class has two methods that assign geolocation:

assignCurrentGPSLocationToBeacon:completion: - where location is obtained internally using single CLLocation manger scan.

// don't forget to set the app token!

ESTCloudManager.setupAppID("", andAppToken: "")

cloudManager = ESTCloudManager()

cloudManager.assignCurrentGPSLocationToBeacon(beacon) { (location, error) in

if error != nil {

println("error: \(error)")

} else {

println("successf: \(location as! CLLocation)")

}

}

assignGPSLocation:toBeacon:completion: - if you prefer to fetch the location yourself.

Managing locations in the cloud

In Estimote Cloud dashboard, you can search your beacon list by location address. And in the Locations tab, you will see a list of addresses to which your beacons are assigned. You can remotely manage beacons in each location.

Read more about remotely managing beacon settings.

Locations tab also stores all locations saved to the cloud with Indoor Location SDK. To learn more, read:

Theres a handful of terms that will help you better understand how beacons work. Most of them describe signal characteristics and the way beacons communicate with mobile devices:

Broadcasting Power

Advertising Interval

RSSI

Measured Power

Proximity zones

Broadcasting Power and Beacons Range

Broadcasting Power (or Transmit Power) is the power with which the beacon broadcasts its signal. In Estimote Beacons, you can change it with the Estimote SDK, the Cloud interface, or the app. The value ranges from-40 dBm to+4 dBm.

Note that there are some exceptions:

Proximity Beacons ordered before mid-2016 (hardware revision "D") have theminimum value of -30 dBm.

Location Beacons (hardware revision "F") support the minimum value of -30 dBm.

Location Beacons with long range (hardware revision "F3.3") have themaximum option of +10 dBm.

Broadcasting Power directly impacts signal range. The more power, the longer the range. Increasing the power can also make the signal more stable, but keep in mind it can have a negative effect on battery life.

The beacons range is technically up to 70 m (+ 4dBM) for Proximity Beacons and up to 200 meters for Location Beacons. In real-world conditions, however, you should expect up to 40-50 m and 120-150 m respectively.

Estimote Stickers have a range of up to 15 m.

Advertising Interval

Beacons do not broadcast constantly. They blink instead. Advertising Interval describes the time between each blink. Just as with Broadcasting Power, Advertising Interval on beacons can be adjusted with Estimote SDK, Cloud, and the app.

The value ranges between 100 ms and 2000 ms. The shorter the interval, the more stable the signal. Keep in mind that adjusting Advertising Interval significantly impacts the battery life.

In the case of Estimote Stickers, the interval is adjusted automatically, depending on the stickers state.

RSSI

RSSI stands for Received Signal Strength Indicator. It is the strength of the beacon's signal as seen on the receiving device, e.g. a smartphone. The signal strength depends on distance and Broadcasting Power value. At maximum Broadcasting Power (+4 dBm) the RSSI ranges from -26 (a few inches) to -100 (40-50 m distance).

RSSI is used to approximate the distance between the device and the beacon using another value defined by the iBeacon standard: Measured Power (see below).

Due to external factors influencing radio wavessuch as absorption, interference, or diffractionRSSI tends to fluctuate. The further away the device is from the beacon, the more unstable RSSI becomes.

Read How precise are Estimote Beacons? for more information.

Measured Power

Measured Power is a factory-calibrated, read-only constant which indicates what's the expected RSSI at a distance of 1 meter to the beacon. Combined with RSSI, it allows you to estimate the distance between the device and the beacon.

Proximity zones

Estimote Monitoring allows you to establish your own proximity zones with a code and enable interactions when a user enters or leaves each zone.

Rather than adjusting the broadcasting power or relying on the pre-defined zones that come with iBeacon, you can define the unlimited numbers of zones per beacon at different distances to trigger different actions.

As for iBeacon proximity zones, there are fourfixed proximity zones for estimating thedistance to a beacon. Keep in mind, these are approximations.

immediate (very close to the beacon)

near (about 1-3 m from the beacon)

far (further away or the signal is fluctuating too much to make a better estimate)

unknown.

Estimote Beacons are assigned to your account when you order a dev kit. Each beacon can only be assigned to a single user at a time.

To configure beacons' settings and build apps with them, you need to be authorized and beacons need to beassigned to your Estimote Cloud account. The only exception is the Development Access Mode.

If your beacons are in Development access mode, you don't need to transfer them. Simply share them with your peers, they will be able to connect and configure beacons. They won't be, however, able to change the ownership of the beacons or the access mode - only the owner can do that.

The other access mode available is Deployed & Protected mode. It only allows the owner of the beacons to connect to them and modify their settings.

How do I transfer beacons to others?

Log into your Estimote Account at cloud.estimote.com.

Check the beacons you want to transfer.

Click Transfer at the top of the screen

Type the email address of the new owner. Remember that there must be an Estimote Account under this email address: otherwise, itwon'twork.

Thats it! The new owner can already access the beacons with their email address. Keep in mind that you can't transfer beacons that are in a mesh network. First of all, you will need to remove them from the mesh (remember to connect to them with the Estimote app to update the settings). Once they're out of mesh, you can follow the steps above and transfer them to another account.

I can't detect beacons in the Estimote app.

Don't have beacons on your account?

Use Estimote iOS / Android app to claim them:

Open the Estimote app and go to the Configurationscreen

Log into your Estimote account

Tap on the beacon that you want to connect to (either on the radar or on the list). The app will probably say that it doesnt belong to you.

Tap Claim in the top right corner.

The current owner (if there's any) will receive an email notification, prompting them to transfer the ownership to you.A single click in the email will do and the beacons will show up in your account.

If you're facing issues with the beacon detection or connection in the Estimote app, check out the following articles:

I can't connect to beacons in the Estimote app.

Estimote iOS app allows you to turn one of your iOS devices into a Virtual Beacon that acts like a physical Estimote Beacon.

Virtual Beacon limitations:

you cannot modify the range or other settings

UUID is fixed to8492E75F-4FD6-469D-B132-043FE94921D8

Major and Minor values are randomized on first launch and then remain fixed

You can't use a virtual beacon with Estimote Indoor Location SDK.

Please note that only iOS devices can be turned into Virtual Beacons.

Idon'thave stickers yet. Can I start developing an app anyway?

Is there a Virtual Sticker, too?

There is no Virtual Sticker feature in our app. However, Estimote SDK allows you to simulate nearable interactions in your own project. To learn how to do that, read:

It might happen that a procurement or administration department purchased the beacons and passed them on to you when they arrived. In that case, they probably used their own email address to make the purchase and it's obviously different than the email address of your Cloud account.

Or perhaps someone at your company bought the beacons and was using them a long time ago but you have no idea who that was or where do they belong now.

Cases differ but if any of these sounds familiar, here are the possible solutions.

Have the current owner transfer the beacons

If you know the current owner of the desired beacon(s), you can ask them to transfer the beacons to you. All they need to do is log into their Cloud account, select the right beacons and click on "Transfer" above.

Android

Once they click on it, a new window will pop up where they need to insert your Cloud account's email.

Once they do, beacons will appear shortly on your account.

Claim the beacons

If you don't know the owners or they don't have a Cloud account, you can try to claim them.First of all, get the Estimote app for either iOS or . Log in, open the Configuration menu and find the beacon that you're trying to claim. Click on it, you'll see that it doesn't belong to you. Now, simply click on the claim button.

Proceed with all the other beacons that you want to claim. Shortly after, the person that owns these beacons will receive an email like this:

They can then approve the transfer(s) and the beacons will show up in your Cloud account. Give it a day or two and if you don't have any response, follow the laststep below. Keep in mind that if an email address is inactive (e.g. because an employee left the company and their email account was deleted), no email will be sent and claiming will be impossible.

Reach out to us and we'll sort it out

If none of these methods work, we'll need to assign the beacons manually to you. Please reach out to us at [email protected] and include the following details:

an email address that you suspect beacons might belong to

the identifiers of the beacons

an email address associated with the Cloud account that the beacons should be added to.

If you're transferring beacons between the accounts with the same domain name, we have no problem moving them just with the details from above. If you're transferring beacons from a different domain or to a generic domain name (Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo etc.) we would ask you to tell us a bit more about why you want to transfer the beacons. It's a security measure aimed at preventing the takeovers of beacons.

Please keep in mind that by far the fastest ways to sort out the ownership, in this case, are the two methods described above. We'll be happy to help if for some reason they don't work for you.

It's possible to place the beacons outdoorsasthey'resplashproof and dustproof. Keep in mind, though, that they're not 100% waterproofand we don't recommend exposing them to the heavy rain or other extreme conditions. If water gets under the adhesive backing, it can destroy the PCB of a beacon, effectively bricking the device. Also, heavy rain can affect signal propagation.

Because of that, consider placing a beacon under a roof or in another place where it won't be exposed to a heavy rain. An alternative would be to get some custom case to protect a device. Make sure the material it's made of doesn't affect the Bluetooth signal in any way as it would deteriorate the reliability of your use case. If you're interested in our best practices for placing beacons, check out this article.

Optimal operating temperature for the battery is 23C (73F). Extreme temperatures -over 60C (140F) or below -10C (14F)can reduce battery life. We didn't test beacons in those extreme temperatures so can't guarantee that our devices will work properly. If you have tried, we would love to hear about your experience, let us know!

The Estimote Proximity technology together with Proximity Beacons enable lots of possible use cases. They work in a similar fashion and rely on so-called enter/exit events. In the code of your app, you specify a beacons range (e.g. 3 meters). Then, once a user's device enters this range (enter event) or leaves it (exit event), you can trigger virtually any action in your app.

Let's explore some common use cases!

Talk to us

Contextual notifications

Send push notifications to users' devices with content relevant to their current micro-location.

provide extra context ("You are viewing Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa, painted in 1503...")

send relevant information at a specific time (a feedback form that appears as someone leaves the venue)

personalize an experience ("Hello Mary, it's great to see you again at our restaurant. Please take a seat!")

fetch relevant data at a specific time ("The next meeting in this room starts in 5 minutes")

Zone-based positioning

Detect which area users are in and guide them to a place of interest. Follow their steps to manage flows, create insights, and optimize interactions.

run heatmaps ("the spices department received 1530 visits yesterday, while the dairy department was visited 3205 times")

offer wayfinding ("you're facing the lobby, turn left to reach the restaurant")

give users insights into their visit ("during the conference, you visited companies X, Y and Z. Would you like to ask them any additional questions?")

Presence detection/verification

Check if the right person is in the right place. Log visits and allow access only to verified users.

verify people (allow visitors to enter a gym once they are identified with the app)

know who is where (find your employees within seconds)

log people the moment they cross a gate ("Tom checked in at 9:04:24 AM")

trigger events when specific people enter a room (launch a conference call with Mary the moment Mark enters room XYZ)

Software automation

Trigger specific events as users interact with beacons.

optimize production (launch a certain process the moment an operator approaches a workstation)

make your office smarter (start a video with Jess once Mike steps into the conference room)

save customers time (automatically validate tickets when a user enters a bus)

What are some examples of successful beacon use?

Tesco : triggering relevant notifications with promotions and loyalty offers in-store.

RightHear app : a sound-powered guide for the visually impaired throughout various venues.

Guggenheim Museum : a proximity-based audio guide that takes visitors on a journey from artwork to artwork.

Andy Frain : check-in system for security guards in multiple venues.

St. Michaels Church : contextual notifications to engage visitors

Where can you use proximity?

Essentially anywhere, but certain industries have been particularly successful. Here is a short list!

offices (smart office, checking-in employees, booking conference rooms)

retail (loyalty programs, proximity marketing)

hospitality (personalization, loyalty, automatic ordering, proximity marketing)

museums (wayfinding, audio guides, notifications with extra context)

events (checking-in visitors, heat maps, personalization, treasure hunts)

logistics (checking-in employees, presence verification, automating deliveries)

security (presence verification, checking-in employees)

accessibility (wayfinding, visit insights)

airports (automated payments, check-in, wayfinding, heat maps)

transportation (driver's verification, automatic ticket validation)

sports (personalization, presence verification)

real estate & showrooms (notifications with product details, interactive experience)

There are so many others! Curious to know if your use case is feasible? !

Estimote Stickers (Nearables) are another version of our beacons. Theyre much smaller and pack a battery-powered ARM CPU equipped with an accelerometer, temperature sensor, and a Bluetooth Smart radio. While original beacons were designed for venues and static objects, Nearables turn everyday items into smart objects.

What is Nearable protocol?

Nearable protocol is our own Bluetooth data protocol, developed for Estimote Stickers to broadcast more contextual information in a single data packet. Namely, sticker's predefined context and sensor data.

Nearable protocol includes the following data:

sticker type (for example fridge, dog, computer etc.)

sticker ID (numerical value)

orientation in space

motion in X, Y, Z

temperature

broadcasting power (used to calculate proximity)

battery level

To learn more about developing apps interacting with nearables, visit our Developer Portal.

estimote.com

Whats inside?

Stickers are a monolith piece with a small PCB inside and one adhesive side.

Broadcasting Power is set by default to -12dBm which results in a range of up to 7 meters and about 6 to 12 months of battery life. You can set it to the maximum value of 4 dBm, which results in a range of up to 15 meters, just keep in mind that the responsiveness might be less satisfying with that setup and the battery will drain much faster (keep in mind its not replaceable).

Advertising Interval is controlled by an adaptive algorithm that ensures responsiveness when stickers are in use, and power savings when not. By default, Interval is set to 2.6 seconds when the sticker is static and changes to a lower value when it's put in motion. You can change the static Advertising Interval to any value between 100 ms and 5,000 ms.

To support configurable settings, stickers should be running firmware version SA1.1.0 or newer. You can update stickers with the iOS or Android app as well as with SDKs.

Stickers also have an accelerometer and temperature sensor. They are waterproof, however, extreme weather conditions can impact performance. For example, heavy rain can limit the range and very high/low temperature can decrease battery life.

How to develop an app for stickers? What's new in comparison to beacons?

You can find Estimote SDK on GitHub. You can use ranging and monitoring with stickers, just like in the iBeacon standard. However, instead of UUID, Major and Minor values, the sticker regions are defined by sticker type (for example fridge, dog, computer etc) and sticker ID.

It's important to note that in case of region monitoring, there is no limit to the number of sticker regions an app can be monitored for at the same time. On top of that, triggers allow you to add another layer of context to your app, based on timestamps and data from the accelerometer and temperature sensor in the sticker.

Alternatively, you can change the primary packet to iBeacon and follow the same logic as you would with Estimote Beacons. Or, set a sticker to Eddystone-URL and broadcast a link to a webpage.(Note: With Google discontinuing Nearby Notifications starting on December 6th, 2018, users will no longer be able to receive notifications through Eddystone-URL.)

How can I adjust stickers settings?

Currently, you can change settings for:

Broadcasting Power

Advertising Interval

Transmitted packet

Packet details

To adjust settings on a sticker:

open our Estimote app and log into your account

tap on a sticker you want to adjust. Make sure it's assigned to your account

if you need to transfer beacons to your account, read how to do that here

tap on the value you want to edit

nudge the sticker to connect: only when it's in motion will it become connectible

input the new value

Visit Estimote Developer Portal to learn more about the tech behind stickers.

To order Estimote Stickers go to

To set up a location with Estimote Indoor Location, you first need to configure your beacons. The app will do this automatically. If it returns Missing beacons screen, it most likely means that the beacons are:

too far from the phone

not assigned to your Estimote Account

not properly configured (see here how to configure them)

When shipping beacons, we automatically assign their ownership to the email address used during the purchase. In the configuration phase, Indoor Location app will only look for beacons assigned to you.

check out this one

To confirm if the beacons work properly and are assigned to the email address you're currently logged in with:

make sure youre in the range of the beacons

open the Estimote app (the regular app, not the Indoor app)

go to the Configurationsection

log into your Estimote account

Find each of your beacons on the radar or list and tap on them, this will initiate the connection.

If the connection is properly established, beacons work properly so likely they're not configured in the right way. If you believe that's not the case, contact us!

If you can't detect your beacons on the radar/list, check this article. If you're facing issues with the connection, .

Most of our beacons these days come with an NFC (Near Field Communication) module. That includes:

Proximity Beacons (hardware revisions G1.8, G1.12, and J1.6)

Location Beacons (F3.3)

Location Beacons with UWB (I1.2)

In certain situations, the NFC on your beacon can be a great addition to your Bluetooth-enabled interactions. Think about the moments when you need to:

prompt an explicit action instead of just detecting presence in beacon's range (e.g. making a payment, redeeming a coupon)

trigger an interaction at a very short range (down to centimeters) in order to, e.g. differentiate items placed right next to each other (e.g. displaying more information about products in an electronic store)

We have the touch events with NFC covered in our documentation. Please note that this article covers only NFC interactions, not a seemingly similar RFID standard. Our beacons don't use RFID.

Hundreds of modern smartphones are equipped with NFC and dozens of new devices are joining the club every month. Youllfind the most up-to-date list of NFC-compatible devices here.

Reading data from NFC

For reading the NFC data from beacons, you can use the built-in iOS and Android APIs.

The iOS version is available in the form of an app template in the Estimote Cloud. Download it and try some simple interactions right away.

You'll find the Android version here. It's also described in more detail in the documentation we mentioned earlier.

A brief overview of the NFC [NDEF - NFC Data Exchange Format] records you can read from our beacons can be found here (these include the beacon identifier and the MAC address of the connectable packet among others).

Writing data to NFC

When it comes to writing data into the NFC, it works a bit differently. Youdon'twrite the data to the beacons NFC tag as you would do with most regular writable NFC tags. Instead, you configure the beacon to broadcast your custom NDEF records or message via our beacon configuration APIs:

EstimoteNdefMessage myCustomNdefMessage = new EstimoteNdefMessage( // ...deviceConnection.settings.nfc.data().set(myCustomerNdefMessage, // ...

Any NDEF records you configure will be broadcasted in addition to the beacon identifier and the MAC address mentioned earlier.

At this point in time, NFC configuration is only available in the Estimote Android SDK.

Estimote Beacons arrive switched on and can not be completely switched off. There is no power button. The small recessed pit is simply part of the industrial design and does not serve any functional purpose.

Learn how to enable conditional broadcasting

Conditional broadcasting

The beacon cannot be turned off, but if you need to stop it from broadcasting for testing or preserving battery life, you can do that with conditional broadcasting. It makes beacons go mute if specific conditions, based on sensor readings, are met.

Currently, there are three conditional broadcasting modes:

Flip to Sleep: beacon is mute when its on its back

Motion Only: beacon is mute when its still

Motion UUID: beacon is always on (therefore does not conserve battery), but broadcasts a different UUID when in motion

Location Beacons additionally support:

Dark to Sleep mode: beacon is mute at certain light level.

Scheduled advertising: beacon broascasts only during set period.

.

Maintaining a staff and staying aware of their needs is one of the main functions for management. At all levels of a company, managers need to keep track and be aware of employee needs, for many reasons,they'reresponsible for them and their work. Even such trivial things such as tracking work time is very important for companys culture and helps improve team flow. All Hours service offers a great attendance tracking software for small businesses, and theyve decided to implement Estimote Beacons to their solution.

ReachPlus perfectedmicro-location alerts with Estimote Beacons

The All Hours App ( @AllHoursCom ) allows time clocking using a mobile phone. Beacons provide a fixed microlocation, which helps maintain employees daily work schedules by having a precise check-in location. This will be a new major feature.

An employees presence will be registered automatically at work when they arrive near a beacon. While the mobile device doesnt need to have a constant Internet Connection to record attendance, the app will synchronize whenever it has a chance to briefly connect to its mobile data or Wi-Fi. A manager constantly has access to all beacon data through a web browser which makes the entire experience a breeze.

The beacon functionality has not been launched yet, but itll be available for both Android and iOS.

We have chosen Estimote because it supports both generic and Apple interface. And because of developer support. And because it looks good on the wall - mentioned Andrija Pusic.

David Sakelsek was the lead developer. Andrija Pusic, as the product manager, and Tone Stanovnik, as the general manager, were responsible for whole concept.

Check-ins are not enough? Learn how.

Important: This guide describes the monolithicEstimote SDK, from Estimote/iOS-SDK The proximity detection features in that SDK, are now obsolete in favor of the newEstimote Proximity SDK, available at Estimote/iOS-Proximity-SDK and Estimote/Android-Proximity-SDK

_____

Apps can be running in the background or even be killed (removed from the app switcher on iOS) and keep Monitoring for beacons.

Region Monitoring allows an app to determine when it enters and exits the range of a beacon region. To get a better grasp of how regions work, take a look at another article in our Knowledge Base: What is a beacon region?

Background Monitoring on iOS and Android

To make Monitoring work in the background on iOS, your app needs to request always authorization for accessing Location Services. Learn about handling Location Services.

Remember that exiting a region has a built-in 30-second delay, to avoid false positives. During those 30 seconds, the app cannot receive any signal from the beacons in particular region to trigger an exit event. Also, when the phone is locked, Monitoring is less responsive, so both enter and exit events might launch with a delay. Thats because iOS reduces Bluetooth scanning frequency when the device is locked, to preserve the battery.

After an exit/enter event, the app is woken up and remains active for 10 seconds.Background Monitoring on Android is described in a separate article.

Monitoring when the app is killed (iOS only)

Even if the app is not running, location events (related to the beacons in this case) are handled the same way as any other app launching events. Every time a phone enters or exits a region while the app is terminated, it will be automatically launched.

application:didFinishLaunchingWithOptions: method (of AppDelegate class) is called with UIApplicationLaunchOptionsLocationKey key existing in launchOptions parameter.

When you verify this key exists (so location was the reason that your app was launched) you should create new instance of ESTBeaconManager class, set delegate to AppDelegate object (or any other object that is working as ESTBeaconManagerDelegate and was created before this event occurred) and start monitoring.

Region you are passing to the startMonitoringForRegion: method is not important, as ESTBeaconManager delegate will receive the most recent region information. You can just pick any of the ones your app registered in iOS. After Monitoring is revoked, app will automatically receive most recent entered/exited region event in beaconManager:didEnterRegion: or beaconManager:didExitRegion: method.

Sample code:

- (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:(NSDictionary *)launchOptions

{

if([launchOptions objectForKey:@"UIApplicationLaunchOptionsLocationKey"])

{

self.beaconManager = [ESTBeaconManager new];

self.beaconManager.delegate = self;

// don't forget the NSLocationAlwaysUsageDescription in your Info.plist

[self.beaconManager requestAlwaysAuthorization];

[self.beaconManager startMonitoringForRegion:[[ESTBeaconRegion alloc]

initWithProximityUUID:ESTIMOTE_PROXIMITY_UUID

identifier:@"AppRegion"]];

}

return YES;

}

-(void)beaconManager:(ESTBeaconManager *)manager didEnterRegion:(ESTBeaconRegion *)region

{

UILocalNotification *notification = [[UILocalNotification alloc] init];

notification.alertBody = @"Enter region";

notification.soundName = UILocalNotificationDefaultSoundName;

[[UIApplication sharedApplication] presentLocalNotificationNow:notification];

}

-(void)beaconManager:(ESTBeaconManager *)manager didExitRegion:(ESTBeaconRegion *)region

{

UILocalNotification *notification = [[UILocalNotification alloc] init];

notification.alertBody = @"Exit region";

notification.soundName = UILocalNotificationDefaultSoundName;

[[UIApplication sharedApplication] presentLocalNotificationNow:notification];

}

Just like with background Monitoring, after an exit/enter event is triggered, the app is woken up and remains active for 10 seconds.

Ranging

Remember that Ranging, the method used for approximating distance from individual beacons, should be used in the foreground (when the app is active on screen). For more information, read the following articles:

What are region Monitoring and Ranging?

Is it possible to use beacon Ranging in the bakground?

Edtech visionary and ADE Paul Hamilton shows how iBeacons can be used in education to create learning zones. This is one of the first examples in the world and it's just a tip of the iceberg!

More videosofPaul Hamilton an edtech pioneer and the first person in the world to implement iBeacon technology in education sector here.

Also, be sure to visit JNXYZ Education website. It's the go-to resource base for anyone interested in how Beacons can help education improve and innovate. You'll find useful links, use cases and list of people involved in developing this technology.

Location Beacons open up new opportunities to wirelessly control different devices with your app. Just connect a beacon to an item via GPIO port and voila! You are ready to manage the device with your app.

How does it work?

GPIO is an electronic interface that you can use to connect various devices to the Internet of Things. You can read more about the general concept here: What is GPIO?

To get started you will need:

Location Beacons (only Location Beacons have the GPIO port)

compatible iPhone or Android phone with Estimote app installed

Cables (jump wires). You can find them in any hardware store.

Device you want to connect it to (LED lamp, push button, etc.)

send us an email

Test it out with our Estimote app:

Go to the Estimote app

Tap on the beacon and scroll down to GPIO field

Check the position of the GPIO port pins on the beacon and available modes.

It looks like this:

You need to use the GND pin and one of the GPIO pins (GPIO0 or GPIO1).Under Configuration you can choose the mode you want to use. State field will tell you whether theres a connection with the external device or not.

Input mode allows you to turn your beacon into a receiver of the data, depending on the external device connected to it. A simple example would be a push button transmitting its status through the beacon, directly to an app.

To test it, connect the Location Beacon to the button with jump wires (we are using male-female wire, but you can use any depending on the idea). Once you are connected, pushing the button will change the State of GPIO pin to High.

Depending on what you want to do, you can choose one of three options for the Input mode:

Input No Pull sets the pin to Input without setting any default state.

Input Pull Down sets the pin to Input with the default state "low" if no input is connected

Input Pull Up sets the pin to Input with the default state "high" if no input is connected

Output mode turns the Location Beacon into a controller of the device connected. Location Beacons send data to the device via GPIO, making it possible to manage it remotely.Connecting it to the LED lamp is a simple way to test it. For this, the best way to go is the red one. Once again, make sure the wires connect the Location Beacon pins to the LED lamp legs.

Now changing the state from Low to High will turn on the LED lamp.

The data on GPIO state is broadcasted in the Telemetry packet and you can pick it up with our SDK 4.0 to make your app control the external device or receive data from it. Afteryou'vetried basic functionality of the GPIO port in Location beacons, imagine countless opportunities for remote control over various devices!

Now you know how to use GPIO port in Location Beacons, so go ahead and try it! It's easy as that:

Have a great idea on how to use GPIO and want to discuss it with us? Havequestions about GPIO that are not answered here? Post on our forums or !

Estimote platforms offer two layers of security:

cloud-based authentication protecting beacons from the unauthorized access

Estimote Secure Monitoring

Secure UUID is a legacy encryption option if you work with iBeacon.While authentication is mandatory, using Secure UUID is optional and is designed to work with iBeacon only.

Note that to use the most reliable proximity monitoring with security features, consider Estimote Monitoring and its security component.

Authentication

Every beacon is automatically registered in the Estimote Cloud and assigned to its owner in the factory, based on the email address using during purchase. If a user is not an owner of the beacon, theywon'tbe able to change any settings.

When you connect to a beacon with the Estimote app, you will see its basic properties like identifier or color. But to be able to configure beacons settings with the Estimote app, you need to be logged in to your Estimote Account and Estimote Cloud needs to authenticate you as the owner. If youdon'thave an account, you can sign up here.

The same applies to Estimote SDK, but instead of Estimote Account login and password, we use API tokens to authorize accessfor third-party apps.

We explain how the API token works in a separate article.

If you want to learn more about ownership management and transferring beacons between users, theres another article that will help.

remote settings update

Secure UUID

Enabling Secure UUID causes rotation of the beacons ID (UUID, Major and Minor) so its broadcasting unpredictable, encrypted values. We advise using it in the production environment, especially in case of large deployments. In order to use Secure UUID, you'll need to enable iBeacon protocol first.

By default the IDs that beacons broadcast(UUID, Major, Minor), used by apps to identify them, are visible to any device supporting Bluetooth Low Energy. This means anyone could piggyback on your beacon network. For instance, imagine youre a store owner and your customers are using your app that is integrated with beacons. Beacons broadcast their IDs, so your competitor can easily build an app that will show competing offers to your customers. Secure UUID solves that problem.

With Secure UUID enabled, the only way to resolve the beacons ID is via authorized access to Estimote Cloud which requires your username and password or the proper app ID & app token.

Estimote SDK detects whether Secure UUID is enabled on the beacon and automatically takes care of the decryptionyou are able to use ranging & monitoring as usual.

Pro tip: don't forget to change ESTBeaconManager to ESTSecureBeaconManager.

Estimote Monitoring currently doesn't offer any alternatives to Secure UUID but we're hard at work to implement it in the near future.

How to enable Secure UUID?

Its pretty easy. First, UUID rotation requires beacons to have Estimote firmware version 2.2 or later. All you need is log into your Estimote Account in the Estimote iOS app and connect to the beacon. Secure UUID will appear in the settings list.

You can also secure your beacons directly from Estimote Cloud dashboard. Simply go to beacon settings and set Secure UUID and save changes. The change will be applied via .

Exhilent iBeacon Office Demo made by Joey Janisheck shows how to use Estimote Beacons to trigger relevant information depending on the location in the office.

)

There are a few requirements a mobile device needs to meet to be able to receive signal from beacons.

Hardware

It has to support Bluetooth Smart (also known as Bluetooth Low Energy or BLE) and needs Bluetooth enabled to be able to detect beacons. Most mobile devices today ship with Bluetooth on by default.

You can find a comprehensive list of BLE-compatible devices on the official Bluetooth site.

If content in the app is fetched from the cloud, Wi-Fi or cellular connection is also required. Its also mandatory if the app uses Estimote Cloud API.

Software

BLE support was introduced in iOS 7 and Android 4.3. You need devices running these or higher versions of mobile systems to interact with beacons.

Also, remember that its not the smartphone itself that triggers actions based on proximity to beacons. Rather than that, its an app that detects beacons by using Estimote SDK or native frameworks by Apple (for iBeacon) and Google (for Eddystone ).

In case of iOS devices, the app also needs to ask for permission to use Location Services.

How to obtain Location Services authorization for iBeacon apps?

Related knowledge:

How does an Estimote Beacon work?

Other platforms

In theory, any device with BLE support can detect beacons. However, to interpret the signal, it needs Estimote SDK, Apples Core Location, or Googles Nearby API. (Note: With Google discontinuing Nearby Notifications starting on December 6th, 2018, users will no longer be able to receive notifications through Eddystone-URL.) If you want non-iOS/Android devices and tools to work with beacons (for example you want to use PhoneGap, or build an app for Raspberry Pi), you might need to create these tools yourself.

Theres also a lot of resources our amazing community of developers has already built. You will find them here:

How do I build my first app? Useful resources

We ship almost everywhere in the world via UPS and it is usually quite fast!

Proximity Beacons Dev Kit : 2-6 business days

Bulk Orders: Standard colors in Europe/Asia/Africa -1 week (Add one week for North America)

Custom colors- 2+ weeks (Add one week for North America)

Customers in India, Malaysia and the Middle East read here for more information about customs delays.

Please note:

UPS doesn't ship to PO boxes, so you need to provide a physical address.

Currently, wedon'tship orders to these countries/regions: Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, Crimea, Sudan.

Sometimes, if you can't find your beacons in the Estimote Cloud, you might need to use the Estimote apps for iOS or Android tofind a beacon's identifier. It works in a very similar fashion on both platforms and we explain the process below.

Open the app and go to the "Configuration" menu.

Find the beacon on the radar or the list and tap on it.

Once the beacons' settings load, find the "Identifier" down the list.

On iOS, you'll find it in the "Device" menu. On Android, you simply need to scroll down the list.

Long press on it to copy it to the clipboard.

Repeat it for the other beacons if necessary.

Proximity SDK ( iOS & Android ) enables your app trigger enter and exit events when around a place of interest marked with a beacon.

Lets say you placed a beacon at the reception. Integrate Proximity SDK into your app - it will now know when you enter or exit the reception area you have defined (read more about software-defined range here ). Itworks:

in the foreground - when your app is up and running;

in thebackground - when youre scrolling through a different app or when you have your phone in your pocket;

or when the app is killed.

Below, we cover the killed app case: how it works on different platforms, what are the specifics of testing, and what are the best practices for when you roll out the app to users. Make sure to read about running the app in the background here.

How to wake up the app when it's is killed and trigger events?

There are certain restrictions imposed by iOS and Android operating systems one needs to know when designing an app to work in the background, wake up from so-called killed state.They are introduced to improve user experience and optimize battery life.

General conditions

An app ends up in a killed state in several cases:

a user explicitly kills it

the system kills an unused app to free up device memory

the operating system kills an app to prolong battery life

The last two are especially common for Huawei and Xiaomi phones, as their OSes are designed to prevent unwanted app to reopen automatically.

Estimote Proximity SDK enables you to wake up from the killed state as long as you follow ground rules imposed by operating systems.The specifics may vary for different platforms but the ground rule is similar: the app can be restarted with Proximity SDK when a user enters the range of a beacon (again.)

iOS

On iOS, there are *two conditions* to wake up the app and trigger an event.

When testing, make sure that:

A user goesout of the rangeof the beacon or any other beacons in the venue, so theres a so-called full exit event.The user needs to get to the point when they are not receiving BLE signals from any of the beacons at the premises. This is not related to the software-defined zones but the actual, maximum range of beacons.For example, in the case of a single Proximity Beacon, it is approx. 70 meters.

A user stays out of the range of any beacons for several minutes.Try 5 to 10 minutes.

After the user enters the range again, an app gets restored.

Android

On Android, use Proximity Trigger.

Yes. Estimote Cloud allows you to access and adjust the settings of your beacons from anywhere.

In the cloud you can:

change beacons name

enable or disable packets

adjust Broadcasting Power and Advertising Interval

add tags

assign GPS locations

enable Power Modes

enable Secure Monitoring

check beacon's status ( broadcasting scheme, MAC address, hardware revision, firmware version)

Changes to names, tags, and GPS location will be applied immediately. Any other changes will be marked as pending untilthey'repropagated to beacons via the Estimote app or an app using the Estimote Fleet Management API.

Bear in mind that in order to access your beacons' settings in the Estimote Cloud, you need to:

have under 20 devices; or

have an active subscription (if you need one, contact us at [email protected] )

To remotely edit settings on multiple beacons:

Log in to your account at cloud.estimote.com

Check the beacons you want to edit

Click Edit

Adjust settings as you see fit and click Save changes

iOS Deployment App

Remember that name and Minor value can only be changed when editing a single beacon. To remotely edit settings on a single beacon:

Log into your account at cloud.estimote.com

Choose the beacon you want to edit and click Settings button next to its name

Click Edit Settings

Adjust settings as you see fit and click Save changes

When will the changes be applied to my beacons?

After the changes are confirmed, theyll be marked in Estimote Clouds dashboard as pending. To apply them to the beacons, you need to be in their range.

To propagate changes to beacons:

Open the Estimote iOS app and log into your Estimote Account in Estimote iOS app

Walk in range of the beacons

Properties will be adjusted automatically

The update to each beacon shouldnt take more than 10 seconds, but please note the app has to be active (running in the foreground). When the changes are confirmed, theyll be reflected in the cloud automatically.

Can I cancel pending changes?

Sure thing! Just go into the the settings screen of a beacon and click DeletePending Settings.

Do I have to use the Estimote app to apply the changes?

No. You can integrate our Fleet Management API into your own app, so that your staff or even end users can propagate the changes in settings to the beacons. For details, read:

Fleet Management API

You can also use our to have your settings applied to multiple beacons in quick succession.

EDIT: With Google discontinuing Nearby Notifications starting on December 6th, 2018, users will no longer be able to receive notifications through Eddystone-URL.

You already know that Estimote Beacons broadcast short identifiers over Bluetooth, and phones in their range can read them. If there's an app installed on the phone and it knows what to do when in range of a specific beacon, it will prompt an action. Eddystone-URL works a bit differently: beacons broadcast a short URL using the Eddystone URL packet instead, and a URL is displayed in the form of a silent notification on an Android device. This technology is called Physical Web, and it was created by Google. Yes, this means Eddystone URL technology is only compatible with Android devices and it's not available for iOS.

Keep in mind that Google no longer actively develops Physical Web technology, the basis for Eddystone URL. Eddystone-URL is still available on all our beacons but it looks like Nearby Notifications might be a better choice for app-less notifications.

What you need to get started with Eddystone-URL

any Estimote beacons

Android mobile device

Once you have both, follow the steps below to set up your beacons:

Enable Eddystone-URL packet on the Estimote Beacon

Open the Estimote app and log in

Go to "Configurations"

Connect to the beacon by tapping on it in the Radar or List view.

Scroll down the list of a beacon's details to enable the packet of your choice

You can also do it via the Estimote Cloud. Pick a beacon, click "Edit Settings", and go to the preferred packet on the sidebar to the left to enable it. Connect to the beacon in the app to apply the change.

Broadcast your own link

Now you can set up your own link. You can do it in the Estimote app the same way you've enabled the packet. Tap on the packet, type the URL you want to broadcast, and you are good to go! You can do it via the Estimote Cloudand in that case, make sure you apply the change by connecting to your beacon with Estimote app afterward. Your link should meet several requirements to be saved and, later, displayed. More on that below.

URL: what should the link look like?

With Physical Web, the format of the URL matters. Make sure you link is:

Not too long

The Eddystone protocol provides 17 bytes for the URL packet. You might need a URL shortener.

Public

URLs must be public. If the page is not accessible from the Internet (e.g. it requires authentication or is only accessible from an internal network), it will not appear in the list of results.

HTTPS

All URLs must resolve to an HTTPS URL. Google requires all Physical Web pages be served over HTTPS due to security considerations. You may use a URL shortener that generates HTTP URLs as long as the shortened URL resolves to an HTTPS URL.

Finally, you can use the Physical Web URL Validator to verify your link.

I set up the beacons but I'm not receiving notifications, what's wrong?

Make sure you follow the steps below:

Open your device's Settings app. Tap Google Nearby Settings.

Tap the type of notifications that you want to control. Turn the Physical Web notifications type on.

Make sure you have Bluetooth on and Location enabled

If youre trying to send to Chrome browser as well as the Nearby section (not required), grant Location Permission for Chrome in the apps settings.

If you do not receive notifications in Chrome, open the browser and go to chrome://flags/ address. Tap Physical Web and choose Enable.

Remember that Googles Physical Web implementation only supports HTTPS addresses. HTTP URL will not be displayed.

To learn more about working with Eddystone URL, Nearby Notifications, and more, check out the following resources and articles:

Estimote Developer Portal: Physical Web

Googles Nearby Notifications

Below youll find the technical specification for Estimote Proximity Beacons, Location Beacons, Location Beacons with UWB, LTE Beacons, and Stickers.If you encounter problems with customs clearance and need to provide more in-depth documentation, please contact our Community Team.

Proximity Beacons

Identification (hardware revision)

J 1.6

MCU

Bluetooth SoCARM Cortex-M4 32-bit processor with FPU64 MHz Core speed512 kB Flash memory64 kB RAM memory

Radio: 2.4 GHz transceiver

Bluetooth 4.2 LE standardRange: up to 70 meters (230 feet)Output Power: -20 to +4 dBm in 4 dB steps, Whisper mode -40 dBmSensitivity: -96 dBmFrequency range: 2400 MHz to 2483.5 MHzNo. of channels: 40Adjacent channel separation: 2 MHzModulation: GFSK (FHSS)Antenna: IFA PCBAntenna Gain: 0 dBiOver-the-air data rate: 1 Mbps (2 Mbps supported)

Sensors

Motion sensor (Ultra-low-power, high-performance, 3-axis "femto" accelerometer)Temperature sensor

Additional features

NFC

RGB LED

Power Supply

2 * alkaline LR6 batteries (AA type) (replaceable)

Environmental Specification

Operating Temperature: 0C to 60C (32F to 140F)Storage Temperature (recommended): 15C to 30C (59F to 86F)Relative Humidity (operating): 20% to 80% relative humidityRelative Humidity (storage): 10% to 90% relative humidity, non-condensingSplash-proof

Materials

Non-ammableEnclosure: siliconeAdhesive layer: double-sided adhesive tape

Size and Weight

Length 69,5 mm (2.74 inches)Width: 46.4 mm (1.83 inches)Height: 24.7 mm (0.97 inches)Weight: 86 g (3.03 ounces)

Location Beacons

Identification (hardware revision)

F3.3

MCU

Bluetooth SoCARM Cortex-M4 32-bit processor with FPU64 MHz Core speed512 kB Flash memory64 kB RAM memory

Radio: 2.4 GHz transceiver

Bluetooth 4.2 LE standardRange: up to 200 meters (650 feet)Output Power: -20 to +4 dBm in 4 dB steps, Whisper mode -40 dBm, "Long range mode" +10 dBmSensitivity: -96 dBmFrequency range: 2400 MHz to 2483.5 MHzNo. of channels: 40Adjacent channel separation: 2 MHzModulation: GFSK (FHSS)Antenna: PCB Meander, MonopoleAntenna Gain: 0 dBiOver-the-air data rate: 1 Mbps (2 Mbps supported)

Sensors

Motion sensor (3-axis)Temperature sensorAmbient Light sensorMagnetometer (3-axis)Pressure sensorEEPROM Memory 1 MbRTC clock

Additional features

GPIO NFC

Power Supply

4 x CR2477 3.0V lithium primary cell battery (replaceable)High efficient Step-Down DC-DC converter

Environmental Specification

Operating Temperature: 0C to 60C (32F to 140F)Storage Temperature (recommended): 15C to 30C (59F to 86F)Relative Humidity (operating): 20% to 80% relative humidityRelative Humidity (storage): 10% to 90% relative humidity, non-condensingSplash-proof

Materials

Non-ammableEnclosure: siliconeAdhesive layer: double-sided adhesive tape

Size and Weight

Length: 62.7 mm (2.47 inches)Width: 41.2 mm (1.62 inches)Height: 23.6 mm (0.93 inches)Weight: 67g (2.36 ounces)

Location Beacons with UWB

Identification (hardware revision)

I1.2

MCU

Bluetooth SoCARM Cortex-M4 32-bit processor with FPU64 MHz Core speed512 kB Flash memory64 kB RAM memory

Radio: 2.4 GHz transceiver

Bluetooth 4.2 LE standardRange: up to 200 meters (650 feet)Output Power: -20 to +4 dBm in 4 dB steps, Whisper mode -40 dBm, "Long range mode" +10 dBmSensitivity: -96 dBmFrequency range: 2400 MHz to 2483.5 MHzNo. of channels: 40Adjacent channel separation: 2 MHzModulation: GFSK (FHSS)Antenna: PCB Meander, MonopoleAntenna Gain: 0 dBiOver-the-air data rate: 1 Mbps (2 Mbps supported)

Ultra Wideband (UWB)

IEEE802.15.4-2011 UWB compliantPrecision real time location systems (RTLS) using two-way rangingRanging accuracy (using two-ranging scheme)up to 25cmUsable ranging distance indoors- up to 30m (in real world conditions between 2 UWB beacons)Support for 6 RF bands from 3.5 GHz to ^.5 GHz

Sensors

Motion sensor: ultra-low-power, high-performance, 3-axis "femto" accelerometerTemperature sensorAmbient Light sensorPressure sensorEEPROM Memory 1 MbRTC clock

Additional features

GPIO

NFC

Power Supply

3 x CR123A 3.0V lithium primary cell battery (replaceable)High efficient Step-Down DC-DC converter

Environmental Specification

Operating Temperature: 0C to 60C (32F to 140F)Storage Temperature (recommended): 15C to 30C (59F to 86F)Relative Humidity (operating): 20% to 80% relative humidityRelative Humidity (storage): 10% to 90% relative humidity, non-condensingSplash-proof

MaterialsN

Non-ammableEnclosure: siliconeAdhesive layer: double-sided adhesive tape

Size and Weight

Length: 75.25 mm (2.96 inches)Width: 49.63 mm (1.95 inches)Height: 27.1 mm (1 inche)Weight: 98g (3.45 ounces)

Stickers

Identification (model number)

SB0

MCU

Bluetooth SoCARM Cortex-M0 32-bit processor 16 MHz Core speed256 kB Flash memory16 kB RAM memory

Radio: 2.4 GHz transceiver

Bluetooth 4.2 LE standardRange: up to 15 meters (50 feet)Output Power: -20 to +4 dBm in 4 dB steps, Whisper mode -30 dBmSensitivity: -93 dBmFrequency range: 2400 MHz to 2483.5 MHzNo. of channels: 40Adjacent channel separation: 2 MHzModulation: GFSK (FHSS)Antenna: Omnidirectional chip antennaAntenna Gain: 0 dBiOver-the-air data rate: 1 Mbps (2 Mbps supported)

Sensors

Motion sensor (Ultra-low-power, high-performance, 3-axis "femto" accelerometer)Temperature

Power Supply

1 x CR2020 3.0V lithium primary cell battery (not replaceable)

Environmental Specification

Operating Temperature: 0C to 60C (32F to 140F)Storage Temperature (recommended): 15C to 30C (59F to 86F)Relative Humidity (operating): 20% to 80% relative humidityRelative Humidity (storage): 10% to 90% relative humidity, non-condensing

Materials

Non-ammableEnclosure: polyurethaneWith an intrinsic adhesive layer

Size and Weight

Variable

LTE Beacon

Identification (hardware revision)

A1.1

MCU

Bluetooth SoC ARM Cortex-M4 32-bit processor with FPU Long range HW supportUSB support1MB Flash256kB Ram

RF interfaces

LTE Cat.M1/NB IoT with fallback to 2G (GPRS)/2.75G( EDGE) Bluetooth 5 LE with +20 dBm amplifier and LNA, embedded PCB antennaGNSS( GPS, COMPASS, GLONASS) - with embedded active patch antenna

Sensors

Motion sensor: ultra-low-power, high-performance, 3-axis "femto" accelerometerTemperature sensorBattery Fuel Gauge: precise battery state of charge estimation.RTC clock: full scale temperature compensated.Accuracy: 1.9 ppm ( 0 to +50C);Accuracy: 3.4 ppm ( -40 to +85C)

Additional Features

Programmable push button for specific use-cases such as alertsProgrammable RGB LEDs

Power supply

Rechargeable Li-Po 3.7V battery with PCM. Capacity: 800 mAhEmbedded battery IC chargerOperating Temperatures:

-Discharge:-10C ~ +55C (14F to 131F)-Charge: 0 C ~ +43C (32F to 109F)

USB-C connector

Compatible with USB 2.0 FSBattery charging feature - IC charger (5V -> 4.2V) on the PCB IP67 rating

Environmental Specification

Operating Temperature: 0C to 55C (32F to 131F) Storage Temperature (recommended): 15C to 30C (59F to 86F) Relative Humidity (operating): 20% to 80% relative humidity Relative Humidity (storage): 10% to 90% relative humidity, non-condensingSplash-proof

Materials

Non-flammable Enclosure: siliconeAdhesive layer: double-sided adhesive tape

Size and Weight

Length 90 mm (3.54 inches)Width: 90 mm (3.54 inchesHeight: 16 mm (0.63 inches)Weight: 57 g (2.01 ounces)

You might be also interested in learning if beacons can work outdoors.

Estimote Secure Monitoring offers multilevel protection against malicious attacks, based on packet sniffing, spoofing, and device tracking.

This guide describes, step by step, the process of enabling Secure Monitoring for Estimote Beacons.

Prerequisites

1 x computer with Android Studio.

1 x device with Android 5.0 or above.

1 x device with iOS 10.0 or above.

1 x Estimote Account ( sign up here ).

1 or more Estimote Location Beacons. Note that Estimote Secure Monitoring is supported only on devices with Hardware Version F3.3 and I1.2 (see Fig. 1 to determine the Hardware Version of your device in Estimote Cloud.)

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/estimote-deployment/id1109375679?mt=8

Fig. 1. Device details with highlighted Hardware Version.

Configure your beacons in Estimote Cloud

In order to enable Estimote Secure Monitoring on a beacon,you need to visit the Estimote Cloud and go to the beacon's settingsby clicking its name or theSettings button.

On Device Details page choose Edit Settings button (like shown in Fig. 3).

Fig. 3 Device details with Edit Settings button

Under theDevice Section, you can find theEstimote Secure Monitoring field,and have the option to turn it on using the dropdown list. Pick On option and Save Changes like shown in Figure 4

Fig. 4 Enabling Estimote Secure Monitoring for a specific device

Now your device has Pending Settings. You need to use Bulk Updater app to apply these settings.

Fig. 5 Device with Pending Settings

Sync settings from Estimote Cloud with Bulk Updater

Bulk Updater will update the firmware of your beacons to the latest version (which supports Estimote Secure Monitoring) and write Estimote Secure Monitoring settings to the device - the Beacon will be protected.

Download the app from this link:

Start with logging into your account into the Estimote Cloud. To do so, click the Account icon in the Home View (Fig 6). When in the Logging View, type in the email and password associated with your account (Fig. 7).

Fig. 6 Bulk Updater Home View with highlighted Account icon.

Fig. 7 Bulk Updater Logging View.

After you successfully log-in, the application will start scanning for beacons around you. Note that you need to be within a few meters from the beacons to apply settings. When scanning has been finished, toggle the switch to include updates for firmware (Fig. 8) and start the updating procedure - click Start Updating. Update Information screen shows the number of devices with Pending Settings - if you have enabled Secure Monitoring there should be at least 1 device and devices with a possible firmware update (all with Hardware Version F3.3 or G1.12 assigned to your account). The application will show you the progressof the firmware update and settings synchronization (Fig. 9), and will either return a success screen (Fig.10) or failure (Fig. 11). In case of a failure, you should repeat the sync procedure.

Fig. 8 Bulk Updater Home View with highlighted Update Firmware toggle button

Fig. 9 Bulk Updater Updating View in progress.

Fig. 10 Bulk Updater Update completed view - success.

Fig. 11 Bulk Updater Update completed view - failure.

After a successful settings synchronization, check if Pending Settings have disappeared from Cloud (Fig 5) and Secure Monitoring is ON. If not, repeat the synchronization procedure.

Start Monitoring for devices with Estimote Secure Monitoring in Proximity SDK

Update Proximity SDK

Update this line in your build.gradle file:

> implementation 'com.estimote:proximity-sdk:0.3.0'

API changes:

ProximityObserver is now using Estimote Secure Monitoring by default. It scans for both encrypted/unencrypted EstimoteLocation packets. It is possible to disable it using .withEstimoteSecureMonitoringDisabled() when building the ProximityObserver. This will cause it to search only for unencrypted packets.

Long story short - yes, but in a very limited capacity. Beacons are not an end solution that can be purchased and deployed without any code. They need to be connected to a mobile app which means either building your own iOS/Android app or using one of the available third-party platforms.There used to be a third method available that would allow you to send silent notifications, in the form of URLs, to passers-by. That service, known as Google Nearby Notifications, has since been discontinued and is no longer available. As a result, end users need to have an app installed to be able to interact with beacons. This doesn't apply just to Estimote beacons, but to any other beacons and similar devices available on the market.The approach we currently recommend is to build your own mobile app, as it gives you the flexibility to create exactly the kind of solution you need.

In this article, we'll cover both approaches so that you can decide which works best for you!

Table of contents:

Sending notifications with an app

Content Management Systems

What should you choose?

Sending notifications with an app

Most proximity campaigns rely on notifications pushed to a user's smartphone or tablet. These can involve informing clients about promotions, educating museum visitors about nearby objects, or pushing content about a trade show in strategic places.

In-app notifications,triggered by entering or exiting a beacon's range, are the only way to send push notifications to users' phones. Whether the app is open or not (even if it's manually killed), a notification will show up on the screen once a user enters (or leaves) a beacon's range. You can also set certain conditions for triggering notifications e.g. to display a specific advertisement only to females under 30 (given they provide these kinds of details within the app) or to people who have previously visited a specific space (and interacted with the beacon placed there).

The customization options are almost unlimited. In order to receive notifications, users will need to enable Bluetooth and mobile data connection on their device. Weve built a Proximity SDK specifically for this use case, and have app templates available in the Cloud to make it easier than ever to hit the ground running.

Rover

Using ready-made software and services

If youre really into the idea of working with an app butaren'tkeen on starting from scratch, check this out! We have friends in high places here at Estimote and have developed some fantastic partnerships over the years. Plenty of dedicated and brilliant people have already built beacon-friendly platforms that allow you to easily integrate beacons into your business. They're available for a fixed monthly/annual fee and they'll get your apps up and running in no time. In some cases, you'll even have the support of a team of experts!)

Industry-specific software:

Cuseum create a museum app and engage your visitors (individual pricing)

CrowdCompass create great experiences for your event visitors (individual pricing)

Robin book meeting rooms in your office (from $99/month)

Beecon control your home and surroundings from an app ($8.99 one-time fee)

General purpose CMSes [Content Management Systems]: Create native apps for Android and iOS without the need to hire a developer!

Bleesk easily create proximity campaigns of any kind for both Android and iOS (from $15/month)

PencilCase allows you to take your designs and turn them into ready iOS app (from $25 monthly)

integrate your existing app with beacons and deploy updates from the browser (from $350 monthly)

The above list is not exclusive! There are many other tools available online that will work with Estimote Beacons. When in doubt, reach out to those developers to verify their compatibility. All our beacons can broadcast standard iBeacon packets that can be received and interpreted by thousands of mobile applications available online.

Which should you choose?

After reviewing all the options, you may still be wondering which route to take. Here's what our team suggests:

Go with your own app if:

you need customization and flexibility

you have access to developers or the resources to hire someone to build a solution for you

you need the ability to scale your solution and implement the new features in the future

you didn't find a suitable, 3rd-party tool

Go with a readymade solution or CMS if:

you don't have developers and expertise on how to build your own app

you're short on time and need to have a live app running soon

you found the features that work for your use case

We certainly hope the comparisons in this article helped you figure out which solution will work best for you. If you're still not sure, consider trying each of them and evaluating them down the road. If we can help with any advice or troubleshooting, give us a shout!

Access Mode allows you to choose between Developmentand Deployed & Protected mode, meaning you can either share your beacons with anyone or restrict the access to the owner only.

[email protected]

Access Mode is available for Location Beacons, Location Beacons with UWB and 2nd-gen Proximity Beacons.

Development mode

The Development Access Mode gives any app and user access to the beacon features usually restricted to the owner and authorized apps only such as configuration or secure advertising.It's great for prototyping,hackathons,sharing in general.You just pass the dev kit, with no need to transfer the ownership, and your colleague can access all the features.

Deployed & Protected mode

Once the beacons are publicly deployed, you can lock them down so that only the owner can access them. Switch the Access Mode flag in the Estimote Cloud to "Deployed & Protected." The changes go into effect immediately without having to propagate them to beacons. Only you and the apps you authorize will be able to access all the protected features.

How do I enable it?

At this point, Location Beacons with UWB are shipped with Developmentmode enabled by default. You can change it in the Estimote Cloud and the Estimote app. In the Estimote Cloud, click "Edit Settings", you will find Access mode under "Device" section.

In the Estimote app ( iOS and Android ), Access mode is available below the"Owner" field.

The Access modes is a great tool to collaborate on a beacon project or get to prototyping out-of-the-box. Have any comments or questions? We'd love to hear from you! Drop us a note at with "Access mode" in thesubject line.

We have many official and unofficial resellers who buy our beacons and then resell them on local markets. There are also various platforms that offer our beacons together with the access to the platform or as a complimentary service. Finally, you can find beacons on the popular sites like Amazon or eBay.

Out of all these sites, the only official channel we used to sell beacons on was Amazon.com. If you bought beacons from Amazon.com, they should have come with an activation code which you can use to add beacons to your account. Enter it here. If it doesn't work for some reason - please let us know! Keep in mind that we don't sell beacons on Amazon anymore.

Also, note thatthe offers of used/refurbished beacons anywhere on the web don't come from us. We recommend that you buy new devices to avoid any ownership issues.

If you have a chance, we strongly encourage you to purchase beacons directly from our website. We ship to almost any country worldwide and most beacons ship on a daily basis. Your beacons will also be automatically added to your Cloud account, without the need to claim or activate them. By buying from us, you make sure that you get the latest available product that works seamlessly with our platform.

If you bought beacons from any other site than Estimote.com or Amazon.com or purchased them from a physical store, the seller is solely responsible for transferring the beacons to your account. Reach out to them and have them arrange a transfer from their Cloud account. All they need to do is choose the beacons, click on "Transfer" and insert your email address. The beacon(s) will shortly appear on your Cloud account. If you bought from a 3rd party seller, we have no record of your transaction and might not be able to help - that's why it's best if you sort out the ownership with them directly.

Coupa Cafe is one of the coolest coffee shops around Palo Alto. What makes it so special is that crowds of founders, investors and Silicon Valley current and future stars go there often to discuss all-things-startup. An immeasurable amount of cool ideas was spawned there and the innovation is still happening! Coupa Cafe has just become the proving ground for Downtown app - a fantastic mobile solution, leveraging Estimote Beacons to bring dining and shopping experience to a new level.

from the App Store right now

Thanks to the Downtown iPhone app, customers at Coupa Cafe can place their orders easier than ever before. The whole friction associated with waiting in the queue has been removed, as all you need to do is tap on the iPhone to order snacks and a cup of good coffee. Your phone already knows youre there, because the Downtown app has been triggered by an Estimote Beacon nearby, so youll be automatically prompted to place the order. But theres so much more to the whole experience than just the ordering system! It allows for quick payments with a single click, pushing offers to users with context of time and location, or implementing dynamic pricing! Thats why its not just an interesting offering for managers at bars and restaurants, but an end-to-end solution designed to disrupt the whole process of shopping and ordering.

Whats the overall experience? Nothing could sum it up better than words of one of the Coupa Cafes customers and a user of Downtown app: Queuing up seems pointless after you experience the ease of ordering directly from your phone and seeing what you are about to eat. Its like being on Yelp and seeing the pictures of what the restaurant offers but being able to buy it on the spot through a one click-transaction.

Feel like checking out the new way shopping and dining out works? Download Downtown app !

The current version of Estimote Proximity Beacons (hardware revision J1.6) ships with 2 AAA alkaline batteries and Estimote Monitoring enabled by default. This allows for around 3 years of battery life on the default settings.

We recommend them for any kind of use cases based on proximity - detecting visits, identifying people, sending contextual information as users enter or leave beacon's range or automating processes.

Location Beacons (hardware revision F3.6) are shipped with four CR2477 batteries & Estimote Location enabled by default. This allows for up to 5 years of battery life.

Location Beacons are suitable for Estimote Indoor Location so use cases based on (x,y) position of a user - wayfinding, tracking assets etc. For proximity use cases, we strongly suggest the latest iteration of Proximity Beacons.

In practice, battery performance depends on a number of factors:

number and type of packets enabled

packet's settings

conditional broadcasting

environmental effects

Depending on the above, the beacon can live on a single set of batteriesfrom a couple of months to as long as five years, depending on the type of beacons.

Conditional broadcasting

Enabling conditional broadcasting makes beacons go mute if specific conditions, based on sensor readings, are met. If the beacon does not broadcast, it uses much less energy. Currently, there are three conditional broadcasting modes:

Flip to Sleep: beacon is mute when it's on its back

Motion Only: beacon is mute when its still

Location Beacons additionally support:

Dark to Sleep mode: beacon is mute at a certain light level.

Scheduled advertising: beacon broadcasts only during a set period.

Read more about conditional broadcasting and its benefits elsewhere.

Working environment

The ideal operating temperature is 23C (73.4 F). Battery life is significantly reduced above 60C (140F) and below -10C (14F).

Low battery level and beacons behavior

As the battery ages your Estimote Beacons will continue to operate, but as the battery level approaches a critically low threshold, the Bluetooth radio will begin to exhibit interrupted or truncated radio signals. Once this behavior is exhibited, the beacon will no longer be able to sustain radio presence and the device should be replaced or you may choose to disassemble the beacon and replace the battery, doing so will revive the hardware back to normal operation.

Keeping track of battery life

When you connect to your beacon with the Estimote app, information about its settings and battery life are sent to Estimote Cloud. The cloud not only stores this data but also calculates the remaining battery life. You can always look it up after logging in to your Estimote Account and clicking on a specific beacon.

If the battery is about to die in the next two weeks, you will be automatically notified via email to replace it.

Replacing the battery

If your beacons have already run out of juice,nothing to worry about you can easily replace the dead battery!

We are shipping beacons with removable enclosures now. You can simply replace the battery by removing the white adhesive, and remove the PCB through the Y-shaped (H-shaped for Location Beacons) hole in the beacon's base.

If you boughtEstimote Beacons before December 2015, you'll need to follow this flow:

You're going to need a sharp object to be able to cut the beacon open.

Buya new battery - 1000 mAh CR2477 coin battery (600 mAh CR2450 if you have hardware revision D3.3 or older).

Hold the beacon firmly with one hand, and cut along the top of the enclosure. Be extra careful!

Now you can remove the PCB through the hole and simply slide the old battery out from under the battery holder and replace it with the new one. The "+" side should be facing up.

Reach out to us at [email protected] and provide us with your shipping address. We will send you free enclosures to reskin your beacons.

Common Questions about the LTE Beacon Subscription

In this FAQ, you will find answers to common questions regarding the subscription for our LTE Beacons. For an overview of Estimote LTE Beacon, head toCommon Questions about the LTE Beacon. If you'd like to learn more about how to program it and about our Cloud-based IDE, check out our Introduction to LTE Beacon Programming article.

Why do I need the subscription?

It is necessary to enable communication between the Estimote Cloud and the LTE Beacon. This includes GPS and sensor data reporting, etc., as well as remote configuration through the Cloud IDE.

Can I try the subscription for free?

You get the first three months for free, including Cloud access, the 30 MB data plan and an unlimited number of pings [what are pings - here a link to the relevant article]. The subscription starts when you receive your order.

How much is the subscription fee?

The subscription plan is $2 per month for each LTE Beacon. We charge for the subscription up-front, monthly, starting the day after the trial expires. If you wish to change the card, you can do so via the Cloud interface.

Is the subscription plan necessary to use the LTE Beacon? What happens when my subscription is over?

Yes, it is necessary in order to access the beacons full functionalities and send data over LTE. Once the subscription is over, you will be able to use the beacons and gather data via BLE only. You will be able to program the beacon using the IDE, connecting through Web Bluetooth. However, you won't be able to receive or send any data over LTE.

Can I reactivate a previously canceled subscription?

No. You will be able to pause your subscription for a limited time, but once your sim card is deactivated, itwon'tbe possible to reactivate it.

What if I exceed my subscription plan data limit?

If you exceed the amount of data available in your plan, you will have the option to expand it, or wait until the plan is renewed.

I already have the SaaS subscription to manage my beacon fleet. Does that include the LTE Beacon subscription?

Our regular Cloud subscription and the LTE Beacon subscription are two different things. You pay for both separately.

What payment methods are available?

We accept payment via credit card.

What if my card is declined? Will the subscription be disabled?

If for some reason the cardyou'vebeen using is declined, you will be notified about the need to verify your payment info. There will be a 14-day grace period, so youwon'tautomatically lose your subscription.

Do you offer volume pricing?

Yes, we do. You can contact us directly and we will work with you on the best solution for your needs.

Do you offer educational/other discounts?

At the moment, wedon'toffer any discounts on the subscription plan. We do, however, offer educational discounts and competitive pricing for bulk orders on our hardware.

Couldn't find the answer to your question? Write to us at [email protected].

Estimote Indoor Location is software for mapping indoor environments that allows you to locate people or objects down to few meters. With the Indoor Location app, SDKfor iOS and SDKfor Android, developers can easily set up interactive locations and incorporate them into apps.

Indoor Location is based on beacons and advanced data science for establishing theposition of users and objects. Its degree of precisiondepends on the location's shape and size.

Does Indoor Location support Estimote Stickers? How does searching for nearables work?

Setting up your location

To start you need at least one Estimote UWB Location Beacon per wall. Its important to use Estimote UWB Location Beacons or Estimote Location Beacons - you cannot set up a location with Estimote Proximity Beacons, Estimote Stickers or beacons from other vendors.

There are two ways to create a location with Estimote Indoor Location:

with the app: good for testing and prototyping

with the SDK: good for building your own app

Read another article to learn How to set up a location?

Why Indoor Location SDK?

With the SDK, you can easily implement Indoor Location in your own app! The Indoor Location SDK enables you to:

set up a location manually (you can draw a room with coordinates)

embed a built-in Location View - a map of your location with your current position marked on it - think Apples Map View, but for indoor!

the Location View is fully configurable - customize its appearance, show and hide labels or leave a trace of your movement

get raw positioningdata - your coordinates (x, y) and orientation

save and load locations to and from Estimote Cloud

To get started visit Estimote Developer Portal.

The mapping wizard and the Location Builder API are currently iOS-only, so dust your iPhone off or borrow one from a friend.

Download Indoor Location SDK for iOS from GitHub.

After mapping your space you can choose to continue working on iOS or change to Android!

Download Indoor Location SDK for Android from GitHub.

Where can I use Estimote Indoor Location?

You can use it in retail to navigate your customer through shelves. In hospitals to guide doctors, patients and visitors. On airports, to show travellers to their gates: the possibilities are endless! Also, thanks to integration with nearables and the search for the physical world, you can create a new layer of interactions with apps.

Read more about nearables and Indoor Location:

Estimote Beacons ship with Estimote Monitoring enabled by default. This allows for the more reliable enter/exit events, quick configuration, unlimited number of beacon regions to scan for, and software-powered beacon management.

If you opt to use iBeacon instead, your beacon will receive a unique ID in iBeacon format which willconsist of three values: UUID, Major, Minor. Beacons with iBeacon enabled broadcast their iBeacon ID, which can then be recognized by mobile apps to trigger specific actions.

UUID is fixed, Major and Minor are randomized.

Default UUID: B9407F30-F5F8-466E-AFF9-25556B57FE6D

There are three ways to change the iBeacon ID:

Estimote app

Estimote Cloud

Estimote SDK

Its also possible to switch between iBeacon and Eddystone formats. When using Eddystone, a beacon is no longer broadcasting UUID, Major, and Minor values. Theyre replaced either with Eddystone-UID (consisting of Namespace and Instance values) or Eddystone-URL (consisting of a URL address).

To better understand the difference between Estimote Monitoring, iBeacon and Eddystone, check our Intro to Estimote APIs.

Can I use the same ID on multiple beacons?

Yes, you can set the same combination of UUID, Major, and Minor on as many beacons as you want.

Changing iBeacon ID with the Estimote App

To change the iBeacon ID:

Launch the Estimote app

Open the Devices screen

Log into your Estimote Account

ChoosetheList view and tap on tap on a beacon you want to edit

Go to 'Packets' and pick iBeacon

Tap on UUID/Major/Minor and input the new value

In the case of UUID, you can either manually input a new value or generate it through Estimote Cloud. Remember that if someone else has already claimed a specific UUID for their beacons, our collision detection system will prevent anyone else from using the same one. We explain it in more detail in the Can I claim a UUID for myself? article.

All changes will be automatically saved in Estimote Cloud.

How to enable Eddystone on Estimote Beacons?

Changing iBeacon ID with Estimote Cloud

Log into your Estimote Account on cloud.estimote.com then select the beacons you want to edit. Input new values, save changes, and that's it!

Switching to Estimote Monitoring or Eddystone

You can switch to Estimote Monitoring & Eddystone via the Estimote App, Estimote Cloud or programmatically, using the SDK. Read:

How to enable Estimote Monitoring

Bluetooth technology usesfrequency hopping spread spectrum (FHSS). This capability was designed to reduce interference between wireless technologies sharing the 2.4 GHz spectrum.

Properly configured WiFi network shouldnt interfere with the Bluetooth signal. The best practice for WiFi configuration is enabling WiFi on one of the following channels: 1, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. Otherchannels: 2, 3, 4, 13, 14 might cause interference with Bluetooth signal and its best to avoid them. When configuring three different WiFi networks the best solution is to use channels 1, 6 and 11. This helps to avoid the interference with Bluetooth Smart and between themselves.

Best practices for installing Estimote Beacons

Image source: http://www.element14.com/community/groups/wireless/blog/2013/08/23/bluetooth-low-energy

Beacons in close proximity

Interference between individual beacons shouldn't be a significant issue. If they're very close, though, due to RSSI fluctuations, you might not always get correct information on which one is closer to you.

Materials, obstruction, and reflection

If possible place Estimote Beacons above your audience to avoid wireless barriers or position them to provide a clear signal path. You can find advice for beacon positioning in this article:

.

Below are some common material types and their interference potential.

Low interference potentials: wood, synthetic materials, and glass

Medium interference potentials: bricks and marble

High interferences potentials: plaster, concrete, and bulletproof glass

Very high interference potentials: metal, water

EDIT: With Google discontinuing Nearby Notifications starting on December 6th, 2018, users will no longer be able to receive notifications through Eddystone-URL.

Eddystone is a BLE format developed by Google. Its open and multiplatform, so you can use it with both Android and iOS. There are four types of data a beacon can broadcast with Eddystone, described by three frames:

Eddystone-URL for broadcasting URL addresses

Eddystone-UID for broadcasting beacons IDs

Eddystone-TLM for beacon telemetry.

Eddystone-EID for security.

Looking for the technical details behind Eddystone? Take a look at our Developer Portal.

Estimote Cloud

Eddystone-URL and Physical Web

You may have come across the Physical Web without associating it with Eddystone. Eddystone-URL is the BLE format for the Physical Web.

How does it work in practice? Just imagine that you walk by a movie poster. Theres a beacon broadcasting an Eddystone-URL behind the poster: if you approach it and pull up your phone, you will get a notification with the link to thetrailer on YouTube in the browser.

What do you need to work with Eddystone-URL and Physical Web? Check out our guide.

Eddystone UID

E ddystone-UID is a format similar to iBeacon, but instead of UUID, Major, and Minor, it uses values called Namespace and Instance. Apps can be scanning for those values to trigger specific actions when in proximity to a beacon broadcasting Eddystone-UID.

Eddystone-UID contains an identifier of a beacon. An app installed on the phone can use the identifier to trigger the desired action, just like with iBeacon.

Eddystone EID

Eddystone EID is the secure variant of Eddystone UID. It's to Eddystone UID what Estimote's own SecureUUID is for iBeacon a way of making sure that only your own app will be able to recognize the beacon and serve content based on its unique (and changing) Namespace and Instance. Learn how to set it up here.

How to enable Eddystone on Estimote Beacons?

Proximity Beacons can be switched to Eddystone protocol and can only broadcast one packet at a time. With Location Beacons, you can broadcast multiple packets simultaneously : no need to pick.

You can use the Estimote iOS or Android appto switch to Eddystone.

Make sure your beacons have the latest firmware (3.1.1 and later).

Open Estimote app and log in

Go to "Devices"

Connect to the beacon by tapping on it in the Radar or List view.

Choose 'Packets' field

Tapthe packet you'd like the beacon to broadcast

Tick 'Enable' and it's done!

In Android version of the Estimote app, just scroll down the beacons details to enable the packet of your choice.

You can also do it via too. Pick a beacon, click "Edit Settings" and go to thepreferred packet on the sidebar to the left to enable it.

Howto enable Eddystone on Estimote Stickers?

Estimote Stickers support theEddystone-URL format.You can follow exactly the same flow. Make sure to update the firmware to the latest version first, and you are good to go.

Hereyoull find a list of apps and projects using Estimote beacons, tools, and software.Note that this is not a full and comprehensive list of all the projects out there with our beacons. There are so many more!Below are just the ones weve covered in our blog and on our Community Portal.

If you'd like your app included on our list, read these short instructions and reach out to us.

Art and Museums

Guggenheim Museum: The icon of modern art puts Estimote beacons on display Ca' Rezzonico, Estimote Indoor Location operating in a Venetian Wonderland Brooklyn Museum: bringing apps and UX design into an exhibition Success as a Service: exploring the collaboration between Estimote and Cuseum SonicPlanet used Estimote beacons to deliver 3D sound experience

...Click here to view more...

Retail

Tesco and Estimote, pioneering grocery stores of the future xdi360 brings more context to BMW World with Estimote beacons BeMaty enhances jewelry shopping withbeacons Beacon-drivencustomer journey is Blocco31's ace in the hole Notify Nearby converts 52% of users into potential buyers with Estimote

...Click here to view more...

Events

RedBull partners with byBORRE, CWI, and Nearables for an ultra-sensory experience Fiat Group launches beacons at the 2016 Mondial de l'Auto in France How Sephora uses beacons and Eventfuel to run events smooth FC Barcelona builds smart spaces at Camp Nou with beacons EXPO 2016 Antalya uses Estimote beacons in one of the world's largest microlocation projects

. ..Click here to view more...

Education

Using Nearables to tell better stories Church of St. Michael's inspires and nourishes with the MichelApp Somerset County breathes new life into libraries with a location-based app Woodland Education and Xplor Lightcurb and Estimote keep pushing school innovation in Kuwait

...Click here to view more...

Workplace and industry Seek! lets Nomtek find any device in the office Construction sites are safe and sounds with beacon-powered Buildstream RedEye using Estimote for sharing engineering data London Startup accelerators are getting beacons All-Hours attendance tracking software with beacons

...Click here to view more...

Hospitality and small business

Porsche Leipzig takes beacons for a ride in the Customer Centre Mobile Cloud Service at Manchester Airport's Group ChopChop: the full stack dining app Close.by lets business fight back with Merchant pairings Wisely uses Estimote to help restaurants enhance the dining experience

...Click here to view more...

Everyday life

Disabled communities finding quality of life improvements with beacons Internet of Pets: it's not only about Things Travel smarter with Duffler iBeacon Bag Create your own weather stationwith MyWeatherCenter and Estimote Stick to your diet thanks to beacons and Carrot Hunger

...Click here to view more...

Social

Searching for hidden treasure with Locatify and Estimote beacons Krumb - finally a social app that tells you what matters, only where it matters Zondr helps over 10,000 students in Illinois discover places and events 300,000 beacon interactions let BLINQ pick the hottest club in Zurich Share your real life moments with ReYou

...Click here to view more...

To see the full list of all the apps we've covered in our blog and community portal, just follow the breadcrumbs!

We'd love to know more about your use case and include you on our site, as well.

iBeacon has many faces. Its not just a tool for retail and hospitality: it can even come in handy in heavy industry. JBKnowledge uses Estimote Beacons as part of their Buildstream software. With Buildstream, construction companies keep track of whats happening on construction sites and make sure everything is progressing according to plan.

JBKnowledge maps construction sites with variety of sensors that give managers unprecedented, real-time insight into the conditions on-site. Nodes, beacons, and sensors gather data thats accessible on web and mobile. Buildstream integrates Estimote Beacons to track movements of construction workers. And when workers take photos with their phones, the pictures are automatically tagged with the location of the closest beacon to report progress or show arising problems.

We use the Estimote SDK in our mobile app to locate and recognize beacons on a job site. The SDK made it easy as pie to integrate iBeacon into our project, laying the foundation for the highly dependable location that makes Buildstream a powerful tool for job site tracking. said Graham Leslie, Research & Development Team Lead at JBKnowledge.

JBKnowledge has already deployed Buildstream with Estimote Beacons across several construction sites in Texas. The most recent deployment is in a high-profile building renovation in downtown Dallas, where worker tracking and photo tagging are critical for monitoring progress and efficiency.

Youre going to need an Estimote Account to manage your beacons and use most of the tools and features of our platform. You can sign up for an Estimote Account in two ways:

via estimote.com

via Estimote app ( iOS / Android )

To find about features we offer, read:

Do I have to use Estimote SDK? What are the benefits?

Signing up on the website

To sign up at estimote.com :

click sign up in the top right corner

register using the same email address you provided when placing an order for Estimote Beacons/Stickers

youll be logged in automatically and moved to Estimote Cloud dashboard.

How to transfer beacons and manage ownership settings?

Beacons are automatically assigned to the email address used during the purchase. If you sign up with a different email, you will need to transfer beacon ownership to the new account. To learn how to do that, read:

Signing up with a mobile app

open Estimote app

go to the Devices screen

tap Log in in the top right corner

register using the same email address you provided when placing an order for Estimote Beacons/Stickers

on Android, you will be logged in automatically. On iOS, you need to check your inbox for confirmation mail and click on the link to set up your password.