Eddystone
- Earlier Google’s Eddystone was called UriBeacon. It is a beacon protocol for open source beacons which could be manufactured by any industry at reasonable rates.
- Eddystone-URL does not need a custom app but needs a beacon browser .Advantage: you don’t need to develop an app.
- Eddystone has a built in feature known as Ephemeral Identifier (EIDs) which always keep changing and allow beacons for broadcasting a signal that can be recognized by authorized clients.
- It is flexible but needs more complex coding when it comes to integration, since it sends more packets of information compared to iBeacon.
- It is Android and iOS friendly. In fact, it is cross-platform and therefore, it is friendly with any platform that supports BLE beacons.
- It has additional features like Telemetry data which can be used by the company to handle large numbers
- They can report analytic data, remain battery power and firmware version.
- It is open source. Therefore, developers and businesses can add and access to it.
iBeacon
- iBeacon is a beacon protocol which has been manufactured into Apple’s iOS 7 and advance versions of the mobile operating system which allows an iPhone or iPad to connect to objects – called beacons – using Bluetooth. Beacons use a technology called Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE). It is part of Bluetooth 4.0 specification.
- On other hand iBeacon need an app to receive that particular UUID to be able to participate.
- While iBeacon does not have any feature like EIDs. The Signal communicated by a beacon is a public signal and can be identified by any iOS device and some Android devices with appropriate conditions.
- It is easy to implement.
- It is Android and iOS friendly, but native only for iOS.
- It is a registered software. Therefore, the specification is organized by Apple.
By Brijesh Kamani – Mr. Kamani is the CEO of Teksun Group