I’d like to get a feel for how many are interested in iBeacon support in VeraMate. I’ve previously not put this on my development list as I haven’t seen much interest to this point. But I’d like to see if that has changed.
Just got a set of Estimotes to compensate for flaky behaviour of current geofencing solutions - so yes, that would make Veramate a one stop shop for me. That could be one impressive app. Push the button 
To add the comment here too : The percentage looks to be skewed to what I expected, where not many have picked it up yet (especially considering the bias of the forum)… that being said, my package from Estimotes just arrived yesterday.
I’ll be playing with them, and might have a version ready in the next couple weeks.
Have you had any time to play around with the estimote developers kit. Waiting for this function 
thanks for your great support and service. Best regards Tinraz
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Hi Tinraz - I’ve been playing with them, but there have been a couple bugs which I’ve had to focus all my energy 
I’ve yet to decide whether to wrap them into the next major release I’m working on, or an interim, depending on how quickly I can get a good implementation.
Quite eager myself to be able to use VeraMate with them Estimotes now also have some low footprint iBeacon stickers which will also be awesome for a HA setup
I tried to get VeraMate to work with my modified SticknFinds but that didn’t quite work so I’m looking at getting some Estimote iBeacons.
You who have these, what kind of RANGE are we talking about? Thought I could perhaps use them instead of geofencing as a way of sensing presence, but I don’t want my home to go into lock down mode when I go to the other side of the house… 
I read 70 m. somewhere in long mode, but I assume this is in a best case scenario.
Is it possible for you phones to pick up the signal outside you house? When you are sitting in your car at the driveway?
In my mind, they’re better for use in short range settings. I’m using the estimotes in the 5-10ft range to detect when we go to bed, move around the house, etc… I think you’d really kill the battery quickly if you tried to put them at that distance.
FWIW, though I haven’t tried these with veramate yet, if it’s anything like geofencing, I’ll likely end up using multiple apps to trigger the switch. So far, with iviri, they’re working ok, but definitely not reliably enough to be really useful.
My initial goal is to be able to set up a pleg which determines if either my SO or I are home with the geofence, if we are in bed with ibeacon and then modulate automated lighting using this. (e.g. if we’re both home and in bed, don’t turn on the bedroom/bathroom lights if there’s movement. If one of us is awake, let motion sensors trigger lights on, etc…) So far, this has resulted in way too many sleepless nights, as the phone loses contact with the ibeacon, thinks we are awake and the pets trigger the motion sensor. : The other downside so far is that it takes a bit to register entry to/exit from the ibeacon, even with the settings maxed out. Hopefully these things will get better with time.
Just downloaded veramate this weekend to see if I can get things a bit more reliable, before my SO kills me or worse, shuts down my HA project!
ETA, would love to hear how others are using them and any experiences they may have–I feel like these could be really useful if I can get them working better!
Hi,
I am using the iBeacon functionality in the latest release together with a Sensoro. I can register it using the UUID but detecting the distance is a hit and miss. Frequently the distance is reflected in VeraMate as ??
Any tips on how to improve this? Has this been tested with Sensoro iBeacons?
Thanks
[quote=“aalmans, post:8, topic:182092”]Hi,
I am using the iBeacon functionality in the latest release together with a Sensoro. I can register it using the UUID but detecting the distance is a hit and miss. Frequently the distance is reflected in VeraMate as ??
Any tips on how to improve this? Has this been tested with Sensoro iBeacons?
Thanks[/quote]
Sorry for the delay replying, I’ve been travelling so haven’t had the chance.
I have noticed the distance/iBeacon is periodically not able to be detected by the iOS, which is why VeraMate has had to utilise code that takes that into consideration. You will only notice the ?? in the registration screen however, which shows exactly what iOS is detecting. This should still allow the trigger to occur as expected though, as VeraMate scans multiple times to make sure the location is detected more accurately.
Well I have tried the geofance and find it not so accurate with many false triggering (have not yet tried the newly released 8.5 ver though) instead I im now using the iPhone locator plugin very successfully. One of the reason for this is my preference not be depended on activating scenes from my phone (sensitive to communication issues) but let Vera work it independently as per checking my location in a more stable communication environment.
Yet I find the iBeacon very interesting for working INSIDE my house with the expectation to have reliable and accurate detection in various house areas. For this obviously Veramate can excell. I’m trying now an ApriliBeacon device but find the installation and pairing with the veramate not so intuitive. As brought up here it’s not very clear how to set the distance trigger and to actually get use of this. I understand we should expect improvements in veramate in this issue soon. Generally speaking I’m very satisfied with this App! Thank you.
[quote=“Bobhaskils, post:10, topic:182092”]Well I have tried the geofance and find it not so accurate with many false triggering (have not yet tried the newly released 8.5 ver though) instead I im now using the iPhone locator plugin very successfully. One of the reason for this is my preference not be depended on activating scenes from my phone (sensitive to communication issues) but let Vera work it independently as per checking my location in a more stable communication environment.
Yet I find the iBeacon very interesting for working INSIDE my house with the expectation to have reliable and accurate detection in various house areas. For this obviously Veramate can excell. I’m trying now an ApriliBeacon device but find the installation and pairing with the veramate not so intuitive. As brought up here it’s not very clear how to set the distance trigger and to actually get use of this. I understand we should expect improvements in veramate in this issue soon. Generally speaking I’m very satisfied with this App! Thank you.[/quote]
8.5 should be better with GeoFence accuracy, and prevent the false triggerings. The problems are using low battery techniques means a higher probability of not triggering, but trying to increase accuracy obviously has a battery drain. Anyway, I’m constantly tweaking it to make it better.
iBeacon pairing is a bit tricky definitely - Apple make this very difficult since we can’t scan for any and all iBeacons around, instead, you need to know the UUID (akin to the manufacturer) meaning a bit of technical know how. Frustrating, but I’ve tried extensively to find a work around. In any event, I’ll be looking to work on the UI to make it more intuitive.
I was hoping you could explain to me how iBeacon functionality works within VeraMate. I have just purchased a few of these and want to use them to notify Vera when we arrive home. I do not currently use VeraMate and wanted to understand how they integrate.
Thanks
V
I need to update the FAQ with some information for this. Basically, you need to register an iBeacon with VeraMate (you need the UUID to do this - some manufacturers VeraMate knows about, otherwise you simply type the UUID in), after which you can select a particular scene/some devices to be activated.
There are 3 different ranges able to be detected: immediate, near, and far. When you setup a activation, you choose which range should cause the trigger if you enter, or exit.
That’s pretty much it.
Hi and thanks for a great app.
I have noticed a massive improvement in geofencing reliability since last update. Just some feed back for you.
My actually question is that I have purchase blue cats ibeacons. I can see them after scan but after I register beacon I want and close out of scanning page it no longer sees the beacon. I have to rescan.
Is this an issue with a lot of beacons? Do you have any beacons you can suggest? My main purpose for beacon is to unlock door when I get home through Vera.
Any help would ne appreciated…
Vas
[quote=“vas5150, post:14, topic:182092”]Hi and thanks for a great app.
I have noticed a massive improvement in geofencing reliability since last update. Just some feed back for you.
My actually question is that I have purchase blue cats ibeacons. I can see them after scan but after I register beacon I want and close out of scanning page it no longer sees the beacon. I have to rescan.
Is this an issue with a lot of beacons? Do you have any beacons you can suggest? My main purpose for beacon is to unlock door when I get home through Vera.[/quote]
I haven’t tested other iBeacons personally other then estimotes, although they should all work the same. Could you send diagnostics through the app, and I’ll see if I can find out what’s happening.
[quote=“veramate, post:11, topic:182092”][quote=“Bobhaskils, post:10, topic:182092”]Well I have tried the geofance and find it not so accurate with many false triggering (have not yet tried the newly released 8.5 ver though) instead I im now using the iPhone locator plugin very successfully. One of the reason for this is my preference not be depended on activating scenes from my phone (sensitive to communication issues) but let Vera work it independently as per checking my location in a more stable communication environment.
Yet I find the iBeacon very interesting for working INSIDE my house with the expectation to have reliable and accurate detection in various house areas. For this obviously Veramate can excell. I’m trying now an ApriliBeacon device but find the installation and pairing with the veramate not so intuitive. As brought up here it’s not very clear how to set the distance trigger and to actually get use of this. I understand we should expect improvements in veramate in this issue soon. Generally speaking I’m very satisfied with this App! Thank you.[/quote]
8.5 should be better with GeoFence accuracy, and prevent the false triggerings. The problems are using low battery techniques means a higher probability of not triggering, but trying to increase accuracy obviously has a battery drain. Anyway, I’m constantly tweaking it to make it better.
iBeacon pairing is a bit tricky definitely - Apple make this very difficult since we can’t scan for any and all iBeacons around, instead, you need to know the UUID (akin to the manufacturer) meaning a bit of technical know how. Frustrating, but I’ve tried extensively to find a work around. In any event, I’ll be looking to work on the UI to make it more intuitive. :)[/quote]
Well I have now decided to try and use the Ibeacon with VeraMate. I have an “April Beacon 227A” device which with the corresponding App of the manufacturer I can identify the device. I’m not very clear what is the right format for the UUID. From the App it looks like:
E2C56DB5-DFFB-48D2-B060-D0F5A71096E0
I’m not clear if this is the minor/ major or what it is exactly but have tried to paste this in the scan tab but it does not response in any way just continue the scan.
What should I do further.
Thanks.
Update - I opened Veramate for location and now it has identified the Beacon. I have also tried activating a device by this and it has responded. My question is now how to set it up so that it can distinguish between Entry / Exit and how to set the trashold for Close /Near / Far so its applicable by Veramate.
Thanks again.
Apologies @Bobhaskils - my notifications seemed to have been missed some of these replies.
[quote=“Bobhaskils, post:16, topic:182092”]Update - I opened Veramate for location and now it has identified the Beacon. I have also tried activating a device by this and it has responded. My question is now how to set it up so that it can distinguish between Entry / Exit and how to set the trashold for Close /Near / Far so its applicable by Veramate.
Thanks again.[/quote]
I’m not sure what you mean by this - the setting for entry/exit is set when activating the iBeacon. And unfortunately there is no threshold to set for Close/Near/Far - these are set by Apple and can’t be changed; this will be due to the way it works, in that it doesn’t triangulate the iBeacon, it measures the strength of the signal, which is very “fuzzy”.
Hi everyone,
First off to the developer of VeraMate, thanks for putting together this app. I use it the most for remote control of my veralite from my phone.
I just started experimenting with ibeacons, well maybe I shouldn’t call them ibeacons. What I’ve done is taken a bluetooth 4 usb adapter similar to this one and following these instructions set it broadcasting like an ibeacon. In my case I’m using a pogoplug running debian as host.
In order to get VeraMate to see the beacon I need to manually enter the UUID and then voila I have a working beacon. At first I was getting fairly frequent changes in the “Distance” field some which is ok if I’m trying to detect presence; however, about 10% of the time the distance would be reported as ?? which would toggle my presence… not good. One solution I found has been to follow these instructions to increase the advertising frequency of the beacon. This seems to have stabilized my distance reporting. I only get the ?? when I am no longer in range of the beacon.
The beacon is working beautifully when Veramate is running in the foreground. As soon as I switch to a different app or close VeraMate I no longer get presence updates when I leave or enter my beacon’s coverage area. Two pieces of information that may be helpful, the location arrow is full when VeraMate is in the foreground and an outline when VeraMate is in the background. I know VeraMate is still running in the background because I can toggle lights from the Today screen. Also, when I am in range of the beacon I have a VeraMate logo at the lower left corner of the screen, so it seems that Veramate is seeing the beacon, but it isn’t toggling presence until I bring the app into the foreground.
Has anyone run into this behavior before? Could there be something I’ve overlooked in my configuration? Is VeraMate capable of detecting presence when running in the background?
Thanks in advance for your help.
-momanz
Glad you like VeraMate I haven’t had any reports of this, but I also haven’t checked for the last couple of versions, as there is a chance iOS9 changed some background running functionality - it definitely should work running in the background. I’ll look into it.
I’m very interested in using iBeacons to replace my current proximity solution which is the iPhone locater plugin. I have that app very dial in but in my case I have somewhat un-reliable cell service near my home so 20% of the time I’m not seen entering my home zone. Putting one of the Estimote beacons in my mail box sounds like it would be a great solution and would eliminate the battery drain of the GPS solution used with iPhone locator.