BlueCats RTLS & Cloud Services update
With our focus now solely on our isolation management software solution, we have made the decision to close down our RTLS & Cloud based services which includes our BLE Beacon mobile SDK & API and Loop Cloud. These services are now in deprecated state with these services ceasing operation on 1st March 2023.
For mobile application users still using the BlueCats SDK you will need to ensure your BlueCats beacons are configured and working in either Eddystone or iBeacon mode so that you can move to using native libraries in your app.
Transitioning to these native libraries in place of the BlueCats SDK.
There are generally two functions that the BlueCats SDK provides.
- Detection of the beacons. In this case since they are broadcasting as iBeacon there are many samples available for detecting beacons in this format and obtaining their iBeacon identifier.
- Matching of a specific beacon id to a location. It is likely that you would need to provide an API in your system to make this matching / lookup available if you currently rely on the BlueCats SDK beacon metadata for this information.
Here are some starting points for the native iBeacon libraries on the two platforms:
- https://developer.apple.com/ibeacon/
- https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/connectivity/bluetooth/find-ble-devices
We have created basic examples for iOS and Android. These should detect, filter, and parse the stable beacon Bluetooth address of your beacons these are as by BlueCats with no support or warranty
For replacement hardware, most Bluetooth beacon suppliers will support the iBeacon standard. As an example, Minew is a supplier that has a range of form factors and support for the iBeacon and Eddystone open standards and will allow you to continue using a mix of BlueCats and other beacon hardware:
https://www.minewstore.com/product-category/bluetooth-beacon/
Thanks
BlueCats Dev Team