I am newbie with iBeacon and need some help. Already found some useful info from other topics but still searching for answers.
Is there a way to receive notification about my state at position right after app is killed or after I switch ON bluetooth? Now I got notifications only after state changes.
Example: I need to have notification when I got to point 'A'. But I got there and realized that my bluetooth is OFF. I switched bluetooth ON and didn't get anything because iBeacon thought I am 'INSIDE' from beginning. This happens when app is not foreground (but not 100% times, sometimes iBeacon 'rescan' and send his state again).
I need to somehow manually refresh iBeacon state and get methods didDetermineState or didRangeBeacons to work. I tried to stop and start monitoring after app is killed to forces the notification, but doesn't seem it works. I know there is a way to get this 'refresh' after turning ON display, but it could be perfect to also get it in other situations when needed.
Lots of location and beacon events can wake up an app that is running in the background, but relatively few events are sent to apps that have been killed via the task switcher or were never launched since boot.
The only bluetooth events capable of launching a non running app are:
didEnterRegion (for CLBeaconRegions)
didExitRegion (for CLBeaconRegions)
Other events received only by foreground/background running apps:
didDetermineStateForRegion
CoreBluetooth device discovery
CoreBluetooth power state changes
The last one is the event you care about, but it just won't be sent to apps that are not running. One alternative may be to rely on other location events like Significant Location Change, which launches a non-running app when the user moves "significantly" (e.g. to the next cell tower). You could register for these events and check Bluetooth state at that time. This may be the best you can do.
Related
Can iOS receive iBeacon packet in sleep state and wake up the app?
I killed an app and restarted, then kept the phone in sleep mode. The device was was in beacon region when device reboot and I kept the device screen off after reboot.
My iOS app is not waking, so I suspect its not receiving iBeacon packet.
I checked the system log and found that the didEnterRegion procedure is not getting called.
Does app wakeup works incase of force terminated app and does iOS receive iBeacon packet in reboot and immediate sleep state?
If I make screen on then it starts working immediately but if screen is off after reboot its not receiving iBeacon packet.
Yes, iOS CoreLocation will launch your app on region entry or region exit, and works even after force termination after iOS 7.1.1. You will only get the appropriate callback if you set up your CLLocationManagerDelegate in the AppDelegate's didFinishLaunchingWithOptions method. If you do not set this up in that method, then CoreLocation will not know to make the callback after app launch.
Testing entry events across an app restart can be a little tricky, so here are a few tips to avoid pitfalls:
If is critical that your app think that it is "outside" the region when it was last running. If it was "inside" the region when it was last running, it won't necessarily get another entry callback because it will think it never left. When testing, make absolutely sure you get a didExit callback or a didDetermineState callback that says it is out of region before you kill the app or reboot. Verify this with a NSLog statement, a local notification, or some custom UI indicator added to a screen of your app.
If you reboot an iOS device, CoreLocation is not fully initialized right away -- I have seen it take 5 minutes after the screen comes on before I get any callbacks. Be sure you wait long enough.
Once CoreLocation is fully initialized, region entry events typically happen within one second of when the beacon comes into range. However, if the limited bluetooth hardware assist pattern slots are all full on the device (typically this happens if you have a few other beacon apps that have used them all), then entry events fall back to software scans that happen only every 10 minutes or more. An entry event can take that long in such a situation. Make sure you wait long enough before assuming it isn't working.
I have an app that monitors iBeacons entry/exit events. When it receives an event it forwards the event off to a server. The app continues to work (e.g., the server continues to receive updates) after the user minimizes and/or force closes it (so it works correctly in the background).
However, after a phone has been away from any iBeacons for a sufficient amount of time (e.g., overnight) and is brought near iBeacons again, the app stops receiving enter/exit updates until the user opens it up again (brings it into the foreground). If the user minimizes/closes the app at that point, updates continue to work correctly in the background.
Is anything that I need to do to allow long running monitoring updates in the background? After a while does iOS stop background monitoring?
Note: I am running iOS 9.3.1
iOS Apps are supposed to be able to detect beacons indefinitely in the background when they have been granted "always" location access.
This is the second report I have heard like this, so I wonder if it is a bug or a change in a new iOS version. Reporting your iOS version would be helpful.
One possibility: the network calls may be being blocked and not the beacon detections. You could test this hypothesis by adding NSLog statements to :
Log on beacon detection
Log on successful and unsuccessful connection to the server.
Once you add the above, reproduce the issue where you don't see events on your server. Then connect your phone to XCode and go to Devices, and look at the recent NSLog output to see:
Is there a line indicating the beacon was detected?
Was the server connection successful or not?
If you find it is the network connection that is failing, you may be able to correct the situation by requesting additional background network permissions.
EDIT: One other thing you might try when a detection is not made is launching a different beacon scanner app in the foreground like Locate. This will force an OS bluetooth scan and it might kick off your app's detection. If this works, it would tell you that bluetooth scanning had been suspended across the phone.
I am trying to create an app that wakes up to background mode whenever it detects a new peripheral that advertises a pre-defined service. I want the wakeup to happen even if the user minimized the app, the app was suspended, the app was killed by the user or the app was killed by the system. Obviously I also want the app to be accepted to the app store (so don't suggest solutions like adding all possible UIBackgroundModes and run in the background forever...).
I can add bluetooth-central to the UIBackgroundModes because my app fits the description here - it needs to communicate with a peripheral in the background.
I found some documentation here about State Preservation and Restoration. It describes a scenario where an app connects to a bluetooth door lock, and the connection breaks because the user went far away from the door. From what I understand, when the user returns to the door and the iPhone detects the door lock (by its MAC address, I suppose), it reconnects to the door lock and wakes up the app in Background mode (please correct me if I am wrong).
I don't want to preserve a connection to the peripheral (and waste its battery). I want the app to run scanForPeripheralWithServices that will wake up the app when a new peripheral is detected, even if the app was killed\suspended by the user\system.
I found a relevant answer here to a different question, saying I could simulate an app-termination-by-the-OS using kill(getpid(), SIGKILL); and then, if my app uses State Preservation & Restoration, it should wake up (right?).
When my app detects a new\old peripheral, I want it to create a quick connection, read some characteristics and disconnect. Unforetunately this is not possible with iBeacon Monitoring that does not give a Peripheral object (only a region). I know I can detect the peripheral by running scanForPeripheralsWithServices after my app enters the iBeacon region, but this feels strange - a direct continuous scanForPeripheralsWithServices that survives suspension & kill, would make much more sense.
Any ideas?
If you know for sure that this is not possible, and depending on iBeacon Monitoring is the only way, please let me know.
The key part of the question is:
I want the app to run scanForPeripheralWithServices that will wake up the app when a new peripheral is detected, even if the app was killed\suspended by the user\system.
Unfortunately, this is not possible with CoreBluetooth alone. If the user kills an app, it will not get new OS launch events from CoreBluetooth unless the user manually launches the app again.
Fortunately, CoreLocation does not have this restriction. Since iOS 7.1, it will launch a killed app to notify it of a Bluetooth beacon detection. This would allow you a few seconds of background running time to scan for peripherals.
I'm wondering if, in iOS8 with all possible background-modes turned on, the app will be woken up after termination to deliver location updates using the standard-location updates monitoring?
I've read all possible documentations, but I find it quite confusing because it at one point says the device will wake up the app, and at another point is says the device will not wake up the app when using standard-location updates.
My app needs continuous location updates with a movement-threshold of about 150 meters (max), and therefore the standard-location-monitoring seems appropriate. It also needs to keep getting these updates even if the app is terminated by the system, as it is crucial to the user.
I've come to understand that if using the significant change location monitoring the app will be woken up upon delivery of new data, but I'm still confused about the standard location monitoring when having requested Always authorization and having the background updates for location turned on.
Have anyone tested this, or know what happens? And if the app is not woken up after being terminated by the system, how can I solve that problem?
Thanks.
Standard location is something your app does. Thus your app needs to be running. It can operate in the foreground or you can even run in the background. But if your app is not running, it's not running; there is nothing to track.
Significant location monitoring and region monitoring, on the other hand, are done for you by the system, so it runs even if your app is not running, and you are woken up or launched to receive updates.
I am creating a private distribution app and I am wondering if it is possible, using any methods or private API's, to open my app when a bluetooth connection has been made.
What I have discovered so far is that with iOS 7 and the ability to use iBeacons you can enter into bluetooth proximity and you can have your app send a notification to allow the user to then open the app.
What I am hoping to do then is have the app running in the background and listen for an iBeacon connection and, if one has been made, actually launch the app without the users control instead of just sending a notification.
I realize this would never be allowed publically, however is there anything private I can look at to achieve this without jailbreaking? I know to launch some apps you can do [[UIApplication sharedApplication] openURL:[NSURL URLWithString:url]]; however I want my app to listen for an iBeacon and then open itself up.
Is there any way or work around to achieve this?
Moving app from background to foreground without user interaction is pain in the ass. Sorry, don't have a solution, just want to share some information:
I asked the same question here and posted a bounty on it and got no good response:
Show some UI from background in audio player or VOIP app on iOS
At some moment I found a solution with the help of another person. It was based on usage of GSEvent (sending clicks to UI). You can look following questions. However, as I know, in iOS 7 these API became protected by entitlement. So, this method is dead (most likely).
Using GraphicsServices.h/GSEvent as well as compiling CLI iPhone tools with Xcode
Use GSEvent to send touch event,but it's invalid.
Simulating System Wide Touch Events on iOS
iPhone, how to fire a button event in programmatically
Apps can use region monitoring to be notified when the user crosses geographic boundaries or when the user enters or exits the vicinity of a beacon. While a beacon is in range of the user’s device, apps can also monitor for the relative distance to the beacon.
In iOS, regions associated with your app are tracked at all times, including when your app is not running. If a region boundary is crossed while an app is not running, that app is relaunched into the background to handle the event. Similarly, if the app is suspended when the event occurs, it is woken up and given a short amount of time (around 10 seconds) to handle the event. When necessary, an app can request more background execution time.
For detailed info:
https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/UserExperience/Conceptual/LocationAwarenessPG/RegionMonitoring/RegionMonitoring.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40009497-CH9-SW1
There are two scenarios: you either want users to be able to do something with your device other then use your app, or you want them to always be locked into your app.
In the former case you should trust user. Just show the push, timer or location notification and let them decide to launch the app or not.
In the latter case just lock the device using guided access mode.