iBeacons in iOS7

matttye

Has anybody heard about this?

It's one of the least talked about features in iOS7. In fact, despite keeping up with the news about iOS7, I only read about this yesterday.

Read this page for a decent writeup about this new feature.

I think the possibilities for this are awesome.

If anyone has owned Android phones with NFC support and used NFC tags (little stickers that you can touch your phone to to perform certain tasks), this should be a familiar concept. iBeacons powered by small coin-cell batteries could be used to do the same things (if Apple allows this via the software), but they work at various ranges, so you could theoretically set one up so that it performs tasks as soon as you enter you house, or perhaps just a certain room in your house. Some examples given are that they could turn on lights when you enter a room, or they could be used to give you information about an exhibit in a museum when you go near it.

The only thing I don't like about this vs. NFC is that iBeacons will have to have a power source to work, whereas NFC tags don't. This will obviously drive up the price of any accessories.

I think this is probably the biggest feature in iOS7 though. Perhaps that's why nothing much has been said yet, because Apple are keeping a tight rein on what it will actually be capable of at launch.

Kite2010

Probably will be useful for Apple to be turned on by default to track every move you make

matttye

Kite2010 wrote: »

Probably will be useful for Apple to be turned on by default to track every move you make

This is micro-location tracking rather than location tracking. With this form of tracking it has no idea where the device is geographically, it only knows where the device is in terms of proximity to the iBeacon.

In other words, it couldn't provide any useful tracking data to Apple. Plus Apple won't be the ones in control of where iBeacons are placed anyway.

JJ_Egan

Its to go with your new Apple I Watch to be announced at the September conference .

matttye

JJ_Egan wrote: »

Its to go with your new Apple I Watch to be announced at the September conference .

Maybe!

Although this has so many uses even without an iWatch.

DevCoder

I've been playing a bit with iBeacons with two iPads running iOS7 (Beta 6),whilst it's quite clever, the requirement for power is going to be annoying.

Of course the benefit is the range is far more than NFC.

Trying to implement it in security scenarios.

redux

I think you need to find better examples than things that can already be done more simply with other sensors, such as PIR for stairs and corridor lighting

Home security might be a possibility, but I can't quite see employers modifying their existing entry systems for the sake of iPhone users. Especially not if they don't allow cameras.

Imagine losing your phone, then being unable to get into the house.

matttye

krisdorey wrote: »

I've been playing a bit with iBeacons with two iPads running iOS7 (Beta 6),whilst it's quite clever, the requirement for power is going to be annoying.

Of course the benefit is the range is far more than NFC.

Trying to implement it in security scenarios.

I agree. The power thing won't be an issue for technical reasons, as BLE tags can be powered by a coin cell battery for months. It's just going to keep the price much higher than NFC tags.

Interesting potential anyway

matttye

redux wrote: »

I think you need to find better examples than things that can already be done more simply with other sensors, such as PIR for stairs and corridor lighting

Home security might be a possibility, but I can't quite see employers modifying their existing entry systems for the sake of iPhone users. Especially not if they don't allow cameras.

Imagine losing your phone, then being unable to get into the house.

If an app is created so that the phone can be programmed to do things when it connects with a specific iBeacon (similar to 'NFC Task Launcher' on Android), I can think of so many uses. One of my favourites is a car stereo that acts as an iBeacon (powered by the car itself), and when you turn your car on and your phone connects, it automatically starts music playing via bluetooth, and opens maps.

Any useful ideas are clearly going to be highly subjective though. For instance, you might have no use for my idea above, but I do. That's why these things should be customisable, otherwise people won't buy them.

---

Most electronic lock systems I've seen have a key (or keypad) backup.

Plus doesn't that risk already exist if you lose your key?

NFH

It would be useful to instruct iPhones to go automatically into silent mode when entering cinemas, theatres, concert halls, churches, libraries etc.

matttye

NFH wrote: »

It would be useful to instruct iPhones to go automatically into silent mode when entering cinemas, theatres, concert halls, churches, libraries etc.

It would, but for security reasons I doubt that can ever happen, unless they are limited to changing only certain settings.

I'd think most kinds of automation will need to be set from the phone itself. I.e. if each tag has a unique ID, an app could perform certain tasks when it connects to a tag matching that ID. That way the commands are on the phone itself, and the tags can't be hacked or set up maliciously.