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.

1. iBeacons for Everyone!
From iOS to Android!
James Montemagno!
Developer Evangelist, Xamarin!
@JamesMontemagno!

2. Who is this guy?!
James Montemagno!
Developer Evangelist, Xamarin!
@JamesMontemagno !
!
http://motzcod.es!
MyStepCounterApp.com!

3. What is an iBeacon?
• Apple calls it:
• “A new class of low-‐powered, low-‐cost
transmitters that can notify iOS devices of
their presence.”
• What does this mean?
• Devices that can notify apps of exact device
proximity and location awareness that was
never before possible.

4. What is it really?
A Device
• What you place around and will
transmits data to your app.
An API
• What you use to detect the devices in
your apps.

5. Devices

6. • Your iOS 7.0+ Device
• iPhone 4S, iPad 3rd Gen+, iPad Mini,
iPod Touch 5th Gen+
• Even your Mac!

7. • Not your Android device… yet.
• Android L introduces this.

8. • Cute Little Devices You Buy
• Estimotes
• Nearables & Beacons
• Radius Networks –RadBeacon
• Roximity
• Onyx Beacon
• ….About 100 other ones

9. How they work

10. Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy!
§ Used for all communication!

11. “Fun” Bluetooth Stats!
Spec
Classic Bluetooth
Bluetooth LE
Distance/Range
100 m (330ft)
50 m (160ft)
(theoretical)
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
<30 mA
<15 mA
Consumption
Power Consumption
1 mW
.01 – .5 mW
Latency
100ms
6ms
Voice
YES
NO

12. • GATT (﴾Generic Attribute Profile)﴿
• UUIDs!
• Flow:
Client
• Ini*ate
commands
&
requests
• (Computer
/
Phone)
Server
• Receives
GATT
commands
• (Temperature
Sensor
/
iBeacon)
-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐Attributes -‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐
Characteris*cs
• Data
value
transferred
• BaDery
Voltage
Service
• Collec*on
of
related
Characteris*cs
(perform
a
specific
func*on)
• Temperature
measurements
&
*me
intervals
Descriptor
• Provides
addi*onal
informa*on
about
characteris*c
• Units
(F
vs
C)
• Op*onal
How BLE Works!

13. iBeacons Transmit!
• UUID – Universally Unique Identifier
• Region:
• Major Number
• Minor Number

14. They do NOT!
• Push Notifications to Receivers/Devices
• Track Users

15. API

16. Region Monitoring
Ranging

17. Region Monitoring!
• Notified on entry/exit of
region
• Works if phone is locked
• Works if app is in
background

18. Ranging!
• Search for all Beacons with specific properties
• Works in foreground
• Proximity Monitoring
• Immediate – Centimeters/Held up to beacon
• Near – 1 to 3 meters
• Far – In detection range
• Unknown – Proximity can not be determined
or ranging has just begun.

19. Ranging in Action!

20. What can find iBeacons?!
• Your iOS 7.0+ Device
• iPhone 4S, iPad 3rd Gen+, iPad Mini, iPod Touch 5th Gen+
• Your Android Device
• Android 4.3+ (﴾JellyBean)﴿ Devices
• With BLE!
• Nothing on Windows Phone or Windows 8 yet L

21. What can we
do with them?

22. iBeacons Transmits!
• UUID – Universally Unique Identifier
• Region:
• Major Number
• Minor Number

26. Apple Store!
http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/12/06/first-look-using-ibeacon-location-awareness-at-an-apple-store

27. An example!

28. So much more!!
• Museums
• Scavenger Hunts
• Athletics
• Restaurants
• About a gazillion other things!

29. iOS Demo

30. Why C#?
Why Xamarin?

31. Automatically test your app on!
hundreds of mobile devices !
Create native iOS, Android, Mac and
Windows apps in Visual Studio and C#

32. Architecting !
Mobile Apps!

33. The Silo Approach!
Build App !
Multiple Times!

34. The Write-Once-Run-Anywhere Approach!
Lowest Common!
Denominator!

35. Xamarin’s Unique Approach!
Native With !
Code Sharing!

36. Windows APIs!

37. iOS APIs | 100% Coverage!

38. Android APIs | 100% Coverage!

39. iOS Demo

40. How iOS 7.1 Changed Everything!
• Background Notifications!
• Location Permissions (﴾opt-‐out)﴿

41. What’s new in iOS 8!
• More Opt-‐In Features
• Never
• Always
• When App is Open
• Enhanced Home Screen
• Indoor location tracking

42. How iOS 8 Broke Everything!
• Must Request Authorization
1. RequestWhenInUseAuthorization(﴾)﴿;
2. RequestAlwaysAuthorization(﴾)﴿;
• Must add message to Info.plist

43. Android Development!
Estimote SDK
Radius Networks iBeacon Service

44. Android Demo

45. Resources!
• Code:
• https://github.com/jamesmontemagno/iBeaconsEverywhere
• Xamarin.com
• Estimote.com
• Android Bluetooth Docs:
• http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/connectivity/bluetooth-‐le.html
• iOS Beacons Docs:
• https://developer.apple.com/ibeacon/Getting-‐Started-‐with-‐iBeacon.pdf

46. Get Started Today: xamarin.com/download!

47. Find Me:!
@JamesMontemagno | @XamarinHQ!
http://motzcod.es | http://blog.xamarin.com!
Q & A!
!
Get your free C# t-shirt:!
xamarin.com/shirt!