Bluetooth Low Energy Background Data (iBeacons)

Question

I am currently writing an application that uses BTLE to pass small strings of data between 2 or more phones.

Currently in the foreground I am passing though: CBAdvertisementDataLocalNameKey and CBAdvertisementDataServiceUUIDsKey. I am able to recover (via NSLog) the string passed through the CBAdvertisementDataLocalNameKey when the app is in the foreground.

However when the app is in the background, the CBAdvertisementDataLocalNameKey is not passed through. The BTLE UUID is still passed through along with the RSSI integer, the CBAdvDataChannel and the CBAdvDataIsConnectable.

After combing through what seems to be an unending circle called Apple Documentation, I have found no way to pass a small string while the app is in the background. It seems to me that they wouldn't allow BTLE in the background if there was no way to pass data.

My question is does anyone know a workaround to pass data in the background with BTLE or a method that may allow me to do so? Any help or tips would be appreciated.

Edit: I should make clear that the Library I am trying this with is called Vicinity https://github.com/Instrument/Vicinity which uses CoreBluetooth to get around the background limitations of CoreLocation.

Answer 1

You might get some use out of this project, which lets devices share arrays of strings (such as userIDs) over Bluetooth LE, even while backgrounded: SimpleShare

It can still share data while the app is in the background because it only sends the data when a device subscribes to the advertised bluetooth characteristic by changing the characteristic's value to send each piece of data. You don't need the name key to transfer the information.

Hope that helps!

Answer 2

iBeacons are not made for transmitting data between two devices. BLE beacons are used to determine the current location of an iDevice. to unique identify the beacon it broadcasts the advertising data, wich contains an uuid(32 hexdigits), a major(4 hexdigits) and a minor number(4 hexdigits). thats all. if you want to transfer data you have to use any other service.