When/how are changes pushed to beacons

BLE Beacons
1

I am trying to figure out how the interaction between the cloud and the beacons goes.

When are settings checked and updated with beacons? I have made some changes in the cloud, and launched the Estimote App, but those changes are not synchronised to the beacons it seems. Maybe there is a cache and I need to wait longer, but I just like to understand when it is supposed to happen.

Is it on ranging beacons (and when the SDK detects known beacons it checks) or only when connecting specifically?
This is only important as I would like to monitor battery life (using the devices of the users). But is using the Estimote SDK for ranging enough, or do I actually have to connect to the beacon to have the cloud db updated?

Thanks!

2

I think it takes a bit of time, now 15 minutes later they updated, but I still like to have an understanding when it happens.

3

Hi there,

To save remaining battery life in the cloud, you need to connect to the beacons. That’s because battery level is not broadcast in the standard iBeacon packet: it’s only exposed after connecting to a beacon.

If you schedule setting changes via Estimote Cloud though the Estimote app will automatically connect to beacons to save the changes on them. Sometimes it takes longer than expected, as it’s a more complex process than it looks from the outside. This is something we’re planning to address in the future releases to decrease the time needed to update beacon settings in the background.

Cheers.

4

Thanks Wojtekb, the tis good to know.
Can I assume that it will remain like that, that you need to connect to get the better level, in the foreseeable future?

I already have a date field in my DB with the last update, so in that case I will just add a trigger that if somebody has internet access and the last check was more then a week ago the device should connect. Just connecting is enough?
e.g.:

@property (nonatomic, strong) ESTBeaconConnection *beaconConnection;

self.beaconConnection = [[ESTBeaconConnection alloc] initWithBeacon:foundClBeacon delegate:self startImmediately:YES];
5

Yes, connecting is enough, but you also need to be logged in to your Estimote Account when you connect. The mechanics will remain like that in the foreseeable future :smile:

Cheers.

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