Can I turn my new 4th gen AppleTV into an iBeacon? - ios

Question

I read you can write apps for the new AppleTV. I read it runs a version of iOS. I read too that it has bluetooth capabilities.
Question, very simply, could I turn my AppleTV into an iBeacon, albeit a very expensive one? :)

Answer 1

The way you make an iOS device broadcast is, you create a CLBeaconRegion object with the UUID, major and minor you want to broadcast, call its peripheralDataWithMeasuredPower method, and pass the dictionary you obtain this way to CBPeripheralManager's startAdvertising method.
Now, tvOS lacks the CLBeaconRegion class, but has the CBPeripheralManager complete with the startAdvertising method. This means you should be able to generate the dictionary to pass to startAdvertising on an iOS device, take a loot at its content, and replicate it in your tvOS app.
In fact, people have already been doing it with OS X Mavericks in the past (I think Apple blocked this in Yosemite): http://www.blendedcocoa.com/blog/2013/11/02/mavericks-as-an-ibeacon/
Note: I haven't tried this method myself. It's entirely possible Apple blocked this trick on tvOS just liked they did on OS X.

Answer 2

Seeing as people "jailbreak" (or outright install Linux on) Apple TVs, you can install pretty much anything. Since iBeacon is a standard Apple opened (and for which there is open source code), I'd say the answer is "yes".

Answer 3

Ok, I got around to testing this at last, with the result ok, some promise. Here is the details, tvOS doesn't have CLRegion, will not compile, so the official route for iBeacon don't work.
Did however get it to see the iBeacon with this code; so there is hope... maybe not with iBeacons, but Bluetooth...
This is the BLE code I used...
import Foundation
import CoreBluetooth
class BLEManager {
var centralManager : CBCentralManager!
var bleHandler : BLEHandler // delegate
required init() {
self.bleHandler = BLEHandler()
self.centralManager = CBCentralManager(delegate: self.bleHandler, queue: dispatch_get_main_queue())
}
}
class BLEHandler : NSObject, CBCentralManagerDelegate {
override init() {
super.init()
}
func centralManagerDidUpdateState(central: CBCentralManager) {
switch (central.state)
{
case .Unsupported:
print("BLE is unsupported")
case .Unauthorized:
print("BLE is unauthorized")
case .Unknown:
print("BLE is unknown")
case .Resetting:
print("BLE is reseting")
case .PoweredOff:
print("BLE is powered off")
case .PoweredOn:
print("BLE is powered on")
central.scanForPeripheralsWithServices(nil, options: nil)
default:
print("BLE default")
}
print("centralManagerDidUpdateState")
}
func centralManager(central: CBCentralManager, didConnectPeripheral peripheral: CBPeripheral) {
print("didConnectPeripheral")
}
func centralManager(central: CBCentralManager, didDiscoverPeripheral peripheral: CBPeripheral, advertisementData: [String : AnyObject], RSSI: NSNumber) {
print("\(peripheral.name) : \(RSSI) dBm")
}
func centralManager(central: CBCentralManager, didFailToConnectPeripheral peripheral: CBPeripheral, error: NSError?) {
}
func peripheral(peripheral: CBPeripheral, didDiscoverServices error: NSError?) {
print("didDiscoverServices")
}
func peripheral(peripheral: CBPeripheral, didDiscoverCharacteristicsForService service: CBService, error: NSError?) {
print("didDiscoverCharacteristicsForService")
}
func peripheral(peripheral: CBPeripheral, didUpdateValueForCharacteristic characteristic: CBCharacteristic, error: NSError?) {
print("didUpdateValueForCharacteristic")
}
func peripheral(peripheral: CBPeripheral, didUpdateNotificationStateForCharacteristic characteristic: CBCharacteristic, error: NSError?) {
print("didUpdateNotificationStateForCharacteristic")
}
func centralManager(central: CBCentralManager, didDisconnectPeripheral peripheral: CBPeripheral, error: NSError?) {
print("didDisconnectPeripheral")
}
}
With these lines in the viewontroller
var bleManager: BLEManager!
class ViewController: UIViewController {
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
// Do any additional setup after loading the view, typically from a nib.
bleManager = BLEManager()
Need to say a special thank you to rhythmic-fistman who helped me with the code!