What is Beacon Technology? | GroundTruth (2024)

What is Beacon Technology? | GroundTruth (1)

Beacons are small physical devices, which broadcast a radio signal that can be detected by smartphones. They work when a piece of code is added to mobile apps that enable Smartphone Bluetooth technology to detect a beacon’s specific signal. The app is programmed to seek out this signal when the device approaches associated locations. Using this technology lets store owners and others to gather data or to personalize, location-based ads to people who are in or near their premises. For example, if a potential customer is in an electronics store and the store has a special sale on computers, a beacon could be placed in the computers section alerting the customer of the sale on their mobile phone when they pass by the section.

There are many use cases for using beacon technology. However, beacon marketing is limited in its ability to scale, provide customization and it’s precision. Learn how GroundTruth’s location-based marketing solutions take beacon technology to the next level.

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What is Beacon Technology? | GroundTruth (2024)

FAQs

What is Beacon Technology? | GroundTruth? ›

Beacons

Beacons
Bluetooth beacons are hardware transmitters — a class of Bluetooth Low Energy (LE) devices that broadcast their identifier to nearby portable electronic devices. The technology enables smartphones, tablets and other devices to perform actions when in close proximity to a beacon.
https://en.wikipedia.org › Bluetooth_Low_Energy_beacon
are small physical devices, which broadcast a radio signal that can be detected by smartphones. They work when a piece of code is added to mobile apps that enable Smartphone Bluetooth technology to detect a beacon's specific signal.

What is an example of a beacon technology? ›

For example, when a retailer installs beacons in their shop, they all have unique IDs registered to their dedicated app. The ID can trigger the app to perform any action the retailer has assigned to it. Or be used to gather user analytics to understand how to optimize a specific space.

What is the purpose of a beacon? ›

A beacon is an intentionally conspicuous device designed to attract attention to a specific location. A common example is the lighthouse, which draws attention to a fixed point that can be used to navigate around obstacles or into port.

How does the beacon system work? ›

When a user with a smart device is in the same area as a positioning system with beacons in place, the nearest beacon will send a code and message to the smart device. The message will then appear as a notification on the smart device via a mobile app. For beacons to work, there needs to be: At least one beacon device.

Who uses beacon technology? ›

Nordstrom. Nordstrom, a Seattle-based retailer, connects online and in-store shopping experiences using beacon technology. Nordstrom's mobile app sends beacon-enabled notifications to inform customers when items added to the shopping cart are available in the store the customer is passing by.

What is the difference between RFID and beacon technology? ›

RFID, unlike BLE beacons, does not use batteries or batteries, functioning as a magnetic reader. They are usually used in the form of labels, and can be attached to objects or mobile equipment. RFIDs can also come in the form of wearable objects such as wristbands and badges.

Are beacons still used? ›

The discontinuation of Eddystone-URL and Google Nearby, a related service, led to a broader assumption that all forms of beacon technology were becoming obsolete. However, this isn't true. iBeacon, Apple's beacon technology, is still very much in use. iBeacon operates differently from Eddystone-URL.

What is a beacon in WIFI? ›

Wi-Fi beacons are relatively short, regular transmissions from access points (APs) with a purpose to inform user devices (clients) about available Wi-Fi services and near-by access points.

Why do we need beacons? ›

Asset tracking: beacons can tell us where our belongings and objects are at all times.

What is beacons AI used for? ›

Beacons.ai is an AI-powered link aggregator, link in bio, and social media marketing tool. The platform relies on artificial intelligence to allow users to add links within their profile and compile them into a link in bio URL that users can add to their social media bios.

How do beacons work in real life? ›

Bluetooth beacons work by transmitting packets of data that are picked up by a compatible receiving device via radio waves. These packets of data are either self-contained or are triggers to events on the receiving device such as push notifications, app actions, and prompts.

What is the difference between a beacon and a GPS? ›

As you can see, GPS trackers are generally larger than Bluetooth beacons, so they can be fitted with larger, longer-lasting batteries. On the other hand, BLE beacons are designed for low-power consumption. As mentioned, they utilize Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology, which is optimized for energy efficiency.

What is a digital beacon? ›

Beacons are small physical devices, which broadcast a radio signal that can be detected by smartphones. They work when a piece of code is added to mobile apps that enable Smartphone Bluetooth technology to detect a beacon's specific signal.

What is the alternative to beacon technology? ›

Top 10 Alternatives to Beacon Technologies Recently Reviewed By G2 Community
  • The Free Website Guys. (955)4.9 out of 5.
  • KlientBoost. (350)4.8 out of 5.
  • INFUSE. (227)4.5 out of 5.
  • webdew. (200)4.9 out of 5.
  • SmartSites. (191)4.9 out of 5.
  • WebFX. (183)4.9 out of 5.
  • CIENCE. (175)3.8 out of 5.
  • SmartBug Media. (137)4.8 out of 5.

How much does a beacon cost? ›

BLE Beacons at Rs 250/piece | Electronics and Electrical in Chennai | ID: 20136631455.

Who invented beacon technology? ›

In the year 2013, Apple coined the term 'Beacon'. Beacon is now referred to as 'iBeacon' by industry experts. Beacon is small pieces of hardware used to send radio signals to nearby devices.

What is a technical beacon? ›

A beacon is a small hardware device that provides the exact location of another device, as well as the sending of data (e.g., push notifications) within a certain, often relatively short, range of about 50 meters. Beacon hardware is often implemented into smartphones.

What is an example of a web beacon? ›

Web Beacon is a tool to track all the behaviors of users on the website. For example: the time spent on each page, the effectiveness of some promotional campaigns by e-mail, etc... This data is very useful for companies that want to optimize their marketing strategy and increase user engagement.

What is a beacon in Internet? ›

A beacon — also called a web beacon or web bug — is an HTML-embedded object that tracks user behavior on a web page. The beacon operates similarly to a cookie, except it's usually an embedded image and is very tiny or entirely invisible to users. Beacons communicate statistical information back to a web server.

What is a beacon in Wi-Fi? ›

Wi-Fi beacons are relatively short, regular transmissions from access points (APs) with a purpose to inform user devices (clients) about available Wi-Fi services and near-by access points.

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