Code: https://github.com/jamesmontemagno/iBeaconsEverywhere
iBeacons are taking the world by storm allowing developers to leverage Bluetooth Low Energy to give their apps location support that can work just about anywhere including indoors. This give you the ability to enable any number of scenarios based upon device proximity that were never before possible. From retail stores to even sports including the Super Bowl and MLB, you will soon be finding iBeacons just about everywhere. Introduced as a core feature of iOS 7 iBeacon support has now found it's way to Android. You will learn what an iBeacon is, how they work, how you would want to use them, and how to get started making apps in both Android and iOS. All demonstrations will be coded in C#, but will be applicable to any iOS or Android developer in any language.
Tata AIG General Insurance Company - Insurer Innovation Award 2024
iBeacons for Everyone, From iOS to Android
1. iBeacons for Everyone,
from iOS to Android!
James Montemagno
Developer Evangelist, Xamarin
@JamesMontemagno
www.Xamarin.com
2. What is an iBeacon?
• Apple calls it:
• “A new class of low-powered, low-cost
transmitters that can notify iOS 7 devices of
their presence.”
• What does this mean?
• Devices that can notify apps of exact device
proximity and location awareness that was
never possible before.
3. How do iBeacons Work?
• Bluetooth 4.0 LE! (SMART)
• Low energy
• Long battery life
• 2.4Ghz Band
• Regions
• Enter/Exit regions for notifications
• Ranging
• Immediate, Near, Far
4. “Fun” Bluetooth Specs
Spec Classic Bluetooth Bluetooth LE
Distance/Range
(theoretical)
100 m (330ft) 50 m (160ft)
OTA Data 1-3 Mbit/s 1 Mbit/s
Application throughput .7-2.1 Mbit/s .27 Mbit/s
Security 56/128-bit 128-bit AES
Peak current
Consumption
<30 mA <15 mA
Power Consumption 1 mW .01 – .5 mW
Latency 100ms 6ms
Voice YES NO
5. How does Bluetooth LE Work?
• GATT (Generic Attribute Profile)
• UUIDs!
• Flow:
--------------Attributes --------------
6. What do we care about? (BLE vs iBeacon)
• UUIDs
• Unique Identifier that each iBeacon has
• Example: B9407F30-F5F8-466E-AFF9-25556B57FE6D
• Regions
• Major & Minor
• Unique region code that iBeacons can be
programmed to have.
• Example: 2755, 1
7. What can be an iBeacon?
• Your iOS 7.0 Device
• iPhone 4S, iPad 3rd
Gen+, iPad Mini,
iPod Touch 5th
Gen+
8. What can be an iBeacon?
• Cute Little Devices You Buy
• More on this later
9. What can be an iBeacon?
• NOT your Android device!
10. What can find iBeacons?
• Your iOS 7.0 Device
• iPhone 4S, iPad 3rd
Gen+, iPad Mini, iPod Touch 5th
Gen+
• Your Android Device
• Well some of them… maybe… Android 4.3+
• Nexus 5/4/7/10, HTC One & Max, Moto
G/X/RAZR/Ultra/Maxx/Mini, S4, Sony Xperia
• Nothing on Windows Phone or Windows 8 yet
16. What else???
• Museums
• Scavenger Hunts
• Athletics
• Restaurants
• About a gazillion other things!
17. Why should I care?
• Differentiates your app
• Clients will start to demand it
• So many uses untapped for context aware apps
• Because they are cool
• Because you should
• Or maybe not
• If you want to
18. Where to get iBeacons?
• Your iOS 7.0 Device
• iPhone 4S, iPad 3rd
Gen+, iPad Mini, iPod Touch 5th
Gen+
• Estimote
• 3 for $100, development kits
• Battery Powered (2+ years, watch battery)
• Super cute
• Radius Networks
• $19 - $30 per beacon
• USB powered
20. What is Xamarin?
Unique Approach
• Native User Interface
• Native Performance
• Shared code across platforms
• C# & .NET Framework
• Full API Coverage
23. State of Android iBeacons
• Is it built in?
• Kind of, not really…
• Samsung vs HTC vs Google
• Android 4.3 Changes the Game
• Kind of a development hot mess…
• Crippling Bug (Bluetooth has stopped working)
• Sometimes…?
• Different Implementations
Nokia in 2006 called Wibree (merged in 2010 with core standard)
Talk about interference of 2.4GHz Band
GATT (Generic Attribute Profile)
-&gt; Specification for sending and receiving short pieces of data known as attributes.
Talk about interference of 2.4GHz Band
GATT (Generic Attribute Profile)
-&gt;
Talk about interference of 2.4GHz Band
GATT (Generic Attribute Profile)
-&gt;The GATT protocol provides a number of commands for the client to discover information about the server.
Discover UUIDs for all primary services
Find a service with a given UUID
Find secondary services for a given primary service
Discover all characteristics for a given service
Find characteristics matching a given UUID
Read all descriptors for a particular characteristic
Talk about interference of 2.4GHz Band
GATT (Generic Attribute Profile)
-&gt;The GATT protocol provides a number of commands for the client to discover information about the server.
Discover UUIDs for all primary services
Find a service with a given UUID
Find secondary services for a given primary service
Discover all characteristics for a given service
Find characteristics matching a given UUID
Read all descriptors for a particular characteristic
Nokia has something…. And maybe will release it?
Let’s look at Xamarin and VS 2013 to build modern apps on
iOS, Android, and Windows
Let’s start with something familiar
UI build natively per platform, leveraging C#
C# + XAML
C# + XML
C# + XIB
One shared app logic code base, iOS, Android, Mac, Windows Phone, Windows Store, Windows
Let’s look at Xamarin and VS 2013 to build modern apps on
iOS, Android, and Windows
Let’s start with something familiar
Reboot device and your app still works!
Swipe close will still work
Let’s look at Xamarin and VS 2013 to build modern apps on
iOS, Android, and Windows
Let’s start with something familiar