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Has anybody used Samsung's Bluetooth LE APIs to make a Samsung Android device advertise as an iBeacon? This should be possible, but I do not have access to a device to try it.

If anybody has used it to make a Samsung Android device advertise as any other Bluetooth LE peripheral, I would like to know that, too.

EDIT: This is now possible on Android L. See here.

davidgyoung
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3 Answers3

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EDIT: this answer is about older Samsung phones with Android 4.2. Samsung devices with Android 5.0+ can advertise beacons successfully.

Unfortunately, @reTs and @duncan-c are right (+1 for each of them). The Samsung BLE SDK cannot send out real BLE advertisements as is required for iBeacons.

I was holding out hope because their documentation says "allowing applications to create and advertise Bluetooth smart services and characteristics". I wrote an app to prove whether this actually worked, and learned that their documentation is simply misleading. The Samsung BLE SDK will not make Samsung devices transmit advertisements over the radio.

See full details in this blog post.

davidgyoung
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  • I might add that the expression `GATT central role` is outright wrong! On GATT level, there are only two roles: Client and Server. On GAP level, there are mainly these two roles: Central and Peripheral (there are other two also - Broadcaster and Observer). What they meant to say is: `we support both GATT Client and Server roles, but only GAP Central role`. Obviously Observer is supported too. – Bogdan Alexandru Oct 09 '14 at 11:06
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http://developer.samsung.com/ble

You can view the official "Samsung BLE SDK Guide and Hints" on the above link.

On page 12, point 10, it said : "The current version of the SDK supports only the GATT central role. Peripheral roles may be supported in future releases."

reTs
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I'm told that with the current firmware it's not possible. (I'm not an Android developer so I haven't confirmed this first-hand.)

Duncan C
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