Some beacons can be used to detect a button press. This is useful for lone worker, SOS or paging type applications. There are two main mechanisms:
Keypress Shown in Advertising
Depending on the beacon, this can be setup either to only advertise when the key is pressed (button triggered) or advertising all the time and the advertising changes. The former is better for longer battery life while the latter is better when you need to continuously know the beacon is working.
Advertising can be detected:
- In apps using standard Apple and Android Bluetooth APIs
- On single board computers such as Raspberry Pi
- Using Bluetooth to WiFi/Ethernet gateways that send the advertising to a server
- On Macs and PCs using built in Bluetooth (on laptops) or using a Bluetooth dongle
- On any devices that have a USB connection, using a scanning dongle
Keypress Detected via a GATT Connection
A few beacons allow a keypress to be notified to a connected application. Apps on iOS and Android, applications on single board computers and desktops/laptops can connect to a Bluetooth Service Characteristic to be notified when there’s a key press. Connection suspends advertising and prevents the button device from being seen/connected to from other devices.
Beacons
| Beacons | via Advertising | GATT Connection | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| iBS01, iBS04, iBS01G, iBS01H, iBS01RG,iBS01T, iBS03G, iBS03RG, iBS03T | Yes | No | Button press is in the advertising data. |
| iBS02M2 | Yes | No | Can connect your own button. |
| M52 Plus, M52_SA Plus, M52-PA, U1, UL1 Thin | Yes | No | Button triggered broadcast. |
| S1, i7, D15N, E2, B10, P1 Plus, B7 | Yes | No | Set any of the advertising types to trigger on a button double or triple press |
| F6 Tracker Beacon | No | Yes | via SDK |
| MWL01 | Yes | No | AoA beacon. Button press is in the advertising data. |
| STiE10, STiE9 | No | Yes | Long pressing OFF does not cause the beacon to turn off but instead puts the beacon into ‘SOS’ mode where the configured advertising is stopped and the ‘SOS’ can be detected in the configuration app or your custom app and the ‘SOS’ state cancelled. |
| W2-P5202D3 | Yes | No | Button triggered advertising. |
| FSC-BP103 | Yes | No | Advertises more often. |
| F1, B1 SOS Button, B2 Button, W7, K11, K21, K3 | Yes | No | Advertises differently when button pressed. |
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