We have had enquiries asking whether beacons can advertise while they are connected to. Beacons usually just advertise. However, when you setup via the manufacturer configuration app or in special cases, devices (or apps) fetching beacon values requires a (Bluetooth GATT) connection. During this time, beacons stop advertising. This means that, during this time, other devices, and hence apps, can’t see the beacon and can’t connect.
Beacons are based on standard Systems on a Chip (SoC) provided by one of four manufacturers : Dialog, Nordic, Texas Instruments and NXP. These manufacturers provide standard base software/firmware that is used by the beacon manufacturers. There was a time when the base software didn’t support advertising during connection. More recently, advertising during connection has been become possible but no beacons, we know of, support this yet. Note also that even when beacons do eventually support this, devices, and apps, won’t be able to connect if a connection is already in progress. The advertising will be set as non connectable.