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.

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 

11. What can you do with iBeacons?

12. In the House

13. In Stadiums

14. In Stores

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

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

19. iOS Demo

20. What is Xamarin?
Unique Approach
• Native User Interface
• Native Performance
• Shared code across platforms
• C# & .NET Framework
• Full API Coverage

21. iOS Demo

22. How iOS 7.1 Changed Everything!
• Background Notifications!
• Wait? It couldn’t do this???
• Location Permissions (opt-out)
• Harder
• Better
• Faster
• Stronger
• Aka bug fixes…

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

24. Components/SDKs to the Rescue
Estimote SDK
Radius Networks iBeacon Service

25. Android Demo

26. 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/library/ios/documentation/userexperience/conceptual/
LocationAwarenessPG/RegionMonitoring/RegionMonitoring.html
• Or search for “Region Monitoring and iBeacon”
•Cool Raspberry-Pi project:
• http://developer.radiusnetworks.com/2013/10/09/how-to-make-an-ibeacon-out-of-a-raspberry-pi.html

27. Stalk Me:
•Twitter:
• @JamesMontemagno
•Blog:
• www.MotzCod.es
•GitHub:
• /JamesMontemagno
•Email:
• James.Montemagno@Xamarin.com