Bluetooth Beacons
Awesome Bluetooth Beacon 
¶
A curated list of awesome iBeacon and Eddystone Bluetooth beacon resources, open source projects, libraries, tools and tutorials.
Eddystone by Google¶
Eddystone A platform for marking up the world to make your apps and devices work smarter by providing timely, contextual information.
- Google Developers Beacons Portal
- Eddystone Protocol Specification & Tools
- Advertising frame types
- Eddystone-UID
- Eddystone-TLM
- Eddystone-URL
- Eddystone Validator
- Eddystone GATT Configuration Service & Google Nearby API and Proximity API (by Nordic Semiconductor)
- Web Bluetooth Eddystone Configurator
- Eddystone Branding Guidelines & Logos
Physical Web¶
The Physical Web is an approach to unleash the core superpower of the web: interaction on demand. People should be able to walk up to any smart device - a vending machine, a poster, a toy, a bus stop, a rental car - and not have to download an app first. Everything should be just a tap away.
- Physical Web - Walk up and use anything - Official Github repository
- Video: Introduction to the Physical Web - Ubiquity Dev Summit 2016
- URL Validator 1, URL Validator 2
- Physical Web Getting Started Guide for Developers
- Physical Web Implementation Status
- Physical Web Branding Guidelines & Logos
- IEEE: Enabling the Internet of Things by R. Want, B. Schilit, S. Jenson
- Exploring the Physical Web (Without Buying Beacons)
Proximity Beacon API by Google¶
- Beacons 101-- Getting Started with the Google Beacon Platform - Video Ubiquity Dev Summit 2016
- Get Started with Beacons - This guide explains the steps required to start using Bluetooth low energy (BLE) beacons to provide proximity-based experiences for your users.
- Proximity Beacon API - A cloud service that allows you to manage data associated with your BLE beacons using a REST interface
- Nearby - Build simple interactions between nearby devices and people
iBeacon Resources by Apple¶
iBeacon for Developers From welcoming people as they arrive at a sporting event to providing information about a nearby museum exhibit, iBeacon opens a new world of possibilities for location awareness, and countless opportunities for interactivity between iOS devices and iBeacon hardware.
- iBeacon for Developers
- Getting Started with iBeacon (PDF)
- iBeacon Artwork and Specifications
- iOS: Understanding iBeacon device compatibility
- iOS 7: Understanding Location Services
- Apple AirLocate Sample Code (iOS8 fix)
iBeacon for Developers¶
- Building Applications with iBeacon
- Cisco iBeacon FAQ
- 5 Minute Overview - What is iBeacon? by ThoughtWorks
- A Semi-Technical Lowdown on Working with iBeacons
- CapTech Webinar: iBeacon Demystified
- 5 fundamental misconceptions about Beacon technology by RadiusNetworks
- Ask a Dev: What Are the Limitations of Beacons?
- What's the Difference Between Beacons and Geofencing?
- Guide to iBeacon Hardware by beekn.net
- Developing an iBeacon App by beekn.net
Hacks & Cool Apps¶
- Empowering vision impaired people to navigate the world independently (an open standard)
- Google Glass & Beacons
- 10 awesome things you can do today with iBeacons (by Twocanoes)
- PunchClock An in/out tracking app for iOS 7+ that uses iBeacon and Geofencing.
- The Geofancy iOS app Helping you to get the best out of your automated home, geofencing, iBeacons at your hand.
- LaunchHere for iOS - iBeacon based app shortcuts
- Traveling with Beacons: Checked Luggage Made Easy
Installation & Radio Planning¶
- Brooklyn Museum: Positioning Visitors with iBeacons & Getting Visibility on the iBeacon Problem
Beacon Discovery & Configuration Tools¶
- ScanBeacon - A ruby gem that allows you to scan for beacon advertisements using IOBluetooth (on Mac OS X) or a BlueGiga BLE112 device (on mac or linux)
iOS¶
Beacon Scanner Apps¶
Swift¶
- iOS Eddystone Scanner Sample Application
- Swift based iBeacon App Development with CoreLocation on Apple iOS ⅞
- Udemy: iBeacon development for iPhone
- HiBeacons A nice iBeacon demo app in Swift.
- PubNub.com - Two-Way iBeacon Communication with Swift Programming Language
- iOS & OSX Bluetooth library for RxSwift
- JMCiBeaconManager - An iBeacon Manager class that is responsible for detecting beacons nearby.
- BeaconKit - Beacon detection framework using CoreBluetooth, supporting Eddystone-UID, Eddystone-URL, AltBeacon.
Objective-C¶
- Generic iBeacon Management and Utilities by KinveyLabs
- Replicates detecting and broadcasting iBeacons in the background
- RABeaconManager RABeaconManager is an easy to use library that allows you to detect Bluetooth Beacons and iBeacons in the foreground and background.
Stackoverflow Q&A¶
- iBeacon detection time in background
- iBeacon region monitoring AND proximity for >20 beacons?
- How to make iBeacon foreground ranging for CLProximityImmediate faster in iOS?
- Can we start iBeacon transmitter in background?
- How does iBeacon wake up our app?
- Use Core Bluetooth instead of iBeacon - Any Downsides?
Virtual Beacons¶
- Beacon Toy - Android App to advertise as Eddystone
- Android BLE advertising library
- Locate by Radius Networks - Virtual iBeacon
- Chrome App to advertise Eddystone packets - uses Eddystone Advertising Library
- Linux iBeacon broadcaster
- Quick Beacon
Android¶
Beacon Development¶
- Android Lolipop Bluetooth Low Energy Enhancements. Support OS-level scan filter & peripheral mode.
- iBeacon Scanner for Android, Docs & Blog post
- Android beacon library based on AltBeacon. Use a custom beacon parser for iBeacon device compatibility.
- BeaconKeeper The simple library for locating iBeacons in background
- Android & BLE
- DevBytes: Bluetooth Low Energy API in Android 4.3
- BLE SDK for Android
- Bluetooth LE Library for Android
- reelyactive-ble-android-sdk This SDK allows you to scan beacons and advertise as a beacon.
Beacon Scanner Apps¶
- iBeacon Scanner & code
- Beacon Scanner & Logger Android app that scans for BLE Beacons/iBeacons and logs the results to a file
- iBeacon Detector
- Bluetooth 4.0 Scanner
Beacon Advertiser Apps¶
- Beacon Simulator - iBeacon, Eddystone, AltBeacon
Stackoverflow Q&A¶
Cordova, Phonegap, Xamarin, Titanium¶
- Cordova iBeacon Plugin
- Using iBeacon with Xamarin.iOS and Xamarin.Android
- iBeacon advertising and scanning in a Titanium module
OS X¶
- iBeacon Scanning Utility App for OSX
- iBeacon Scanner - Scan for nearby iBeacons regardless of their UUID
- Beacon OSX - Mavericks as an iBeacon
- Electron Physical Web Scan - Mac OSX desktop app to scan for Physical Web (Eddystone) bluetooth beacons
- Electron Slide Beacon - Share links from your Mac using this app to broadcast them as an Eddystone URL (Physical Web) bluetooth beacon.
- BeaconKit - Beacon detection framework ns Swift using CoreBluetooth, supporting Eddystone-UID, Eddystone-URL, AltBeacon, iBeacon.
Linux¶
Node.js¶
- Node-RED nodes to interact with the Physical Web
- A node.js BLE (Bluetooth low energy) central module
- A node.js module for implementing BLE (Bluetooth low energy) peripherals
Windows¶
- Universal Bluetooth Beacon Library - open source library and links to apps to talk to Eddystone and iBeacon beacons
Bluetooth Low Energy¶
Bluetooth Smart & BLE Tools¶
- nRF Master Control Panel (BLE) nRF Master Control Panel is a powerful generic tool that allows you to scan and explore your Bluetooth Smart (BLE) devices and communicate with them.
- LightBlue Mac OSX (or iOS) LightBlue can test all of your devices that use Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy (also known as Bluetooth Smart, or Bluetooth Light).
- BlueSpeed for iOS by Punch Through Runs a Bluetooth LE speed test between 2 iOS devices
Web Bluetooth API¶
- Web Bluetooth Intro by Opera
- Web Bluetooth Demos
Beacon Developer Kits & BLE Chips¶
- Texas Instruments - BLE Portal
- Texas Instruments - SensorTag DeveloperKit
- TI SensorTag Android Sources
- Broadcom - WICED™ Sense Development Kit
- Dialog Semiconductor
- EMMicroelectronics
Proximity Trends & Outlook¶
- Wired 4 Reasons Why Apple’s iBeacon Is About to Disrupt Interaction Design
- Wi-Fi Aware™ - Wi-Fi Aware™ is a new Wi-Fi Alliance certification program that extends Wi-Fi’s capabilities with a real-time and energy-efficient discovery mechanism that provides an immediate on-ramp to rich here-and-now experiences.
Vendor-driven Beacon Standardization¶
- BeaconCtrl Setup and manage large beacon deployments with BeaconCtrl Open Source platform
- The Open and Interoperable Proximity Beacon Specification
Bluetooth, Apple, Google, iBeacon, Eddystone and other trademarks are the property of their respective trademark owners.
License¶
To the extent possible under law, Square Metrics GmbH has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to this work.