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I am trying to send notification to android devices by using a Eddystone URL.

What have i tried so far:

  1. I have tried transmitting a Eddystone URL using the altbeacon library.

  2. I have transmitted a Eddystone URL using the Locate App.

The above transmitted URL's are successfully getting detected in this Scanner app.

Google Docs says to register the beacon in the Beacon Tools App to send a notification. So i tried to register the beacon in the Beacon Tools App. But the beacon are NOT getting detected. This is happening because i am using my phone as a beacon?

If so, How can i show a notification via my beacon transmitter ?

EDIT

My Phone runs Android 5.1 with Chrome 51. I have enabled Physical web in the privacy settings too. I have tested it on over 2- 3 devices. But still no luck!

AruLNadhaN
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3 Answers3

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EDIT: This problem was fixed in release 2.9. Make sure you have upgraded to that library version if you are having this problem.

While detection of Eddystone frames on the iOS version of BeaconTools and Chrome work fine, the Android versions of these apps do not detect them. This is caused by the failure of the Android Beacon Library (version 2.8.1 and earlier) to include a separate Service ID PDU in the header to fully meet the spec. Apparently iOS versions of the apps were tolerant of this being missing, but Android versions were not.

A fix has been proposed here: https://github.com/AltBeacon/android-beacon-library/pull/401. I have verified this change allows detection of transmissions on both apps on Android.

I will be rolling a binary release of the library at the end of this week to include this change. If you need a quicker fix, please comment on the link above, and I will share a pre-release binary.

davidgyoung
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  • Does it mean we will have to wait for new releases of Chrome and Physical Web apps using the fixed library to get Eddystone-URL working? – Chris Jul 22 '16 at 14:56
  • No, only Android Beacon Library and the Android Beacon Locate app require updates for their transmitter output to be compatible with Google's Androud beacon tools and Android Chrome. – davidgyoung Jul 22 '16 at 18:44
  • After releasing the updated version. Update the Answer. So it will be useful for the other users! – AruLNadhaN Jul 23 '16 at 07:17
  • I've updated the answer with the link to release 2.9. – davidgyoung Jul 25 '16 at 20:25
  • @davidgyoung After using the latest release also it is not notifying via "Physical web pages nearby" from Chrome (51). But it is detected in the BeaconTools. – AruLNadhaN Aug 03 '16 at 15:14
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Understand that a transmitted Eddystone-URL will not automatically lead to a notification on a receiving device unless an app is present to detect and display the URL. Chrome for iOS and Android (49+) will notify you that "Physical web pages nearby", and tapping on that will bring up the details.

See here for more info on how this looks on Android.

davidgyoung
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I have successfully been able to scan for an Eddystone-URL beacon frame advertised by the Locate app version 2.7.1, and scan it in the BeaconTools app for iOS version 1.4, and detect it as a physical web transmitter using the Chrome Today widget on iOS with Chrome 51.0.2704.104.

I did not have to register the beacons with Google in order to have Chrome Today pick them up.

This suggests that this works in general, but there may be a device-specific issue or other configuration.

EDIT: While this works on iOS versions of these apps, it does not on Android versions. See my other answer.

Locate Transmitter Beacon Tools Scanner Chrome Today Detection

davidgyoung
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