If beacons don't appear on the radar or the list in the Estimote apps for iOS/Android, there are usually several possible reasons for that:
- the battery inside a beacon has depleted and depending on the type of device you have, might need a replacement
- there was an issue with Bluetooth on your phone or with the Estimote app, either of which could have affected beacon scanning.
In order to figure out where the problem really is, please try the following steps and check if beacons appear again after each of them.
- Log out of the app and log back in
- Remove the Estimote app and install once again the latest version from the App Store / Play Store. You might want to restart the phone as well.
- Try to detect a beacon/Sticker with a different device. If possible, try also on a different operating system (if you're on Android, try on iOS or the other way around).
- Use any BLE scanner for your OS and see if you can detect your beacons. Nordic has excellent apps for scanning available here for iOS and here for Android but feel free to try any other scanners if you prefer. Beacons will show up as 'EST' or 'Estimote" on the list, anything else that pops up must be some other Bluetooth devices. If you have any other beacons that work properly, make sure you move them as far as possible from the mobile phone so that you don't detect them accidentally.
If you followed these steps, chances are your beacon popped up again and you should be good to go. Those must have been some temporary issues which might appear once in a while due to the complexity of BLE signal. If you'd like to learn more about the topic, check out this article in our documentation.
If nothing pops up even on a BLE Scanner, this means that batteries in your devices are, unfortunately, dead. The next steps will depend on the type of beacons you have.
- All the beacons have replaceable batteries. Remove the tape, open the enclosure and remove the used batteries. Get the new ones (most electronic stores should have suitable batteries) and insert them into an enclosure. Your beacons should now show up on the radar/list!
- if you have the first-generation Proximity Beacons (hardware rev. D3.4), you won't be able to open the enclosure without cutting it first. Once it's open, remove the PCB with a battery and insert a new battery. The beacon should come back to the world of the living! And if you need a new enclosure, let us know.
- Stickers' battery cannot be, unfortunately, replaced without destroying the PCB. If your Stickers died, you'll need to get the new ones or try different beacons instead. If you need help choosing the right type, let us know your use case and we'll help you decide on the best option out there.
In rare cases, beacons might appear in the BLE scanner but are nowhere to be seen in the Estimote app. This is especially true for some older Android devices or first-generation Proximity Beacons. If that happens in your case, please send us:
- beacon's identifiers
- your Cloud account
- steps you have taken to troubleshoot
We'll see if that's a known problem and will do our best to address those issues.