EDIT: With Google discontinuing Nearby Notifications starting on December 6th, 2018, users will no longer be able to receive notifications through Eddystone-URL.
Stickers aren’t the first thing we think of when working with proximity use cases. They’re happiest when used with an asset tracking use case, due to their small form factor and maximum range of about 7 meters! They should be placed on moving objects in a space to reach their full potential. However, if you’re drawn to Stickers and really want to work with them for a proximity use case, here are your options to make that magic happen.
Integrating Stickers with your proximity-based app
Note: Stickers are not currently compatible with our Proximity SDK, so you’ll need to use them with the legacy Estimote iOS/Android SDKs instead. Sorry about that! If you want to try the latest and most reliable proximity based technology, you’re best off with our Proximity beacons.
Estimote Stickers are happiest when used with our Nearable packet and API. We’ve outlined all the steps to implement it into your app on our Developer Portal. Long story short, Stickers were built to help track moving objects, so the Nearable API makes this process of triggers and rules crystal clear, while saving critical battery life to get the most bang for your buck. Hey, they’re here for a good time, not a long time!
We strongly recommend basing interactions on the Nearable protocol. Therefore, you should update your app with monitoring/ranging for sticker IDs.
To find out how to include nearables support in your app:
- learn what data do stickers broadcast
- read the SDK documentation
- find out more about nearables on Estimote Developer Portal
If you’ve already built an app with support for iBeacon, you can set the Stickers to iBeacon and they will work with your code out of the box. However: technically iBeacon requires a 100ms advertising interval, and that will kill your Sticker’s battery in a few weeks. So if you go this route, keep that in mind, or set to a higher interval and know that your reliability won’t be as nice. Or, best yet… go with Nearable, as aforementioned!
If you’ve built an app with an older version, and want to include stickers support, you’ll need to redeploy the application with a more recent SDK. You can find the latest release of Estimote SDK on GitHub.
Stickers for no-app notifications, AKA Eddystone URL
Estimote Stickers can alternatively be used to broadcast URLs to Android phones, using the Eddystone-URL packet. Keep in mind that reach with Eddystone-URL is limited to Android only phones, and in the form of low priority notifications to the Nearby section of the phone. It’s a particularly interesting idea if you think about an object broadcasting a URL to a website with more details about it: for example, a pop-up shop for an online only store selling specialty clothing or cosmetics. If you linger on a certain item, the Sticker will direct you to that specific product’s website. We often see this useful for proximity marketing use cases where you don’t want to build an app and broadcasting a simple link is sufficient. To learn more, check out Eddystone URL and Physical Web- All You Need to Know, as well as Can I use beacons if I’m not a developer?