Dchs Flutter Beacon

Flutter plugin to work with iBeacons.

An hybrid iBeacon scanner and transmitter SDK for Flutter plugin. Supports Android API 21+ and iOS 13+.

Features:

Automatic permission management
Ranging iBeacons
Monitoring iBeacons
Transmit as iBeacon

Installation

Add to pubspec.yaml:

dependencies:
  dchs_flutter_beacon: latest

Setup specific for Android

For target SDK version 29+ (Android 10, 11) is necessary to add manually ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION"/>

and if you want also background scanning:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_BACKGROUND_LOCATION" />

and if you want to broadcast beacons:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.BLUETOOTH_ADVERTISE" />

Refer to the example for more detailed information.

iOS 13+ Beacon Visibility Issue

On iOS 13 and later, beacons may only appear briefly before being lost. To mitigate this issue, try increasing the setBetweenScanPeriod parameter to a value greater than 0:

await flutterBeacon.setScanPeriod(1000);
await flutterBeacon.setBetweenScanPeriod(500);

Persistent Beacon Detection Using Cache

If you want beacons to persistently appear in the results, you can enable the tracking cache and set a maximum tracking age. For example:

await flutterBeacon.setUseTrackingCache(true);
await flutterBeacon.setMaxTrackingAge(10000);

Android Debug Mode - Developer Options

When using Android in debug mode, some developers have reported improved beacon recognition by disabling the "Bluetooth A2DP Hardware Offload" option in the Developer Settings. Disabling this feature can make beacon detection more reliable.

Setup specific for iOS

In order to use beacons related features, apps are required to ask the location permission. It's a two step process:

Declare the permission the app requires in configuration files
Request the permission to the user when app is running (the plugin can handle this automatically)

The needed permissions in iOS is when in use.

For more details about what you can do with each permission, see:
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/corelocation/choosing_the_authorization_level_for_location_services

Permission must be declared in ios/Runner/Info.plist:

<dict>
  <!-- When in use -->
  <key>NSLocationWhenInUseUsageDescription</key>
  <string>Reason why app needs location</string>
  <!-- Always -->
  <!-- for iOS 11 + -->
  <key>NSLocationAlwaysAndWhenInUseUsageDescription</key>
  <string>Reason why app needs location</string>
  <!-- for iOS 9/10 -->
  <key>NSLocationAlwaysUsageDescription</key>
  <string>Reason why app needs location</string>
  <!-- Bluetooth Privacy -->
  <!-- for iOS 13 + -->
  <key>NSBluetoothAlwaysUsageDescription</key>
  <string>Reason why app needs bluetooth</string>
</dict>

iOS Troubleshooting

Example code works properly only on physical device (bluetooth on simulator is disabled)
How to deploy flutter app on iOS device Instruction
If example code don't works on device (beacons not appear), please make sure that you have enabled
Location and Bluetooth (Settings -> Flutter Beacon)

How-to

Ranging APIs are designed as reactive streams.

The first subscription to the stream will start the ranging

Initializing Library

try {
  // if you want to manage manual checking about the required permissions
  await flutterBeacon.initializeScanning;
  
  // or if you want to include automatic checking permission
  await flutterBeacon.initializeAndCheckScanning;
} on PlatformException catch(e) {
  // library failed to initialize, check code and message
}

Ranging beacons

final regions = <Region>[];

if (Platform.isIOS) {
  // iOS platform, at least set identifier and proximityUUID for region scanning
  regions.add(Region(
      identifier: 'Apple Airlocate',
      proximityUUID: 'E2C56DB5-DFFB-48D2-B060-D0F5A71096E0'));
} else {
  // android platform, it can ranging out of beacon that filter all of Proximity UUID
  regions.add(Region(identifier: 'com.beacon'));
}

// to start ranging beacons
_streamRanging = flutterBeacon.ranging(regions).listen((RangingResult result) {
  // result contains a region and list of beacons found
  // list can be empty if no matching beacons were found in range
});

// to stop ranging beacons
_streamRanging.cancel();

Monitoring beacons

final regions = <Region>[];

if (Platform.isIOS) {
  // iOS platform, at least set identifier and proximityUUID for region scanning
  regions.add(Region(
      identifier: 'Apple Airlocate',
      proximityUUID: 'E2C56DB5-DFFB-48D2-B060-D0F5A71096E0'));
} else {
  // Android platform, it can ranging out of beacon that filter all of Proximity UUID
  regions.add(Region(identifier: 'com.beacon'));
}

// to start monitoring beacons
_streamMonitoring = flutterBeacon.monitoring(regions).listen((MonitoringResult result) {
  // result contains a region, event type and event state
});

// to stop monitoring beacons
_streamMonitoring.cancel();

Under the hood

iOS uses native Framework CoreLocation
Android uses the Android-Beacon-Library (Apache License 2.0)

Author

Flutter Beacon plugin originally was developed by Eyro Labs.

DCHS Flutter Beacon is an updated version of the original plugin, now ported to Kotlin by Dario Cavada. For inquiries or support, feel free to reach out at dario.cavada.lab@gmail.com (https://www.suggesto.eu)