Situm's solutions are only compatible with iBeacon Protocol for communication between devices. Broadcasting two protocols at the same time can impair the beacon's battery life. So, Situm always uses iBeacon for both Android and iOS.
Although Eddystone has similar fields they are not equivalent and, because of that, it is important to set up beacons with iBeacon Protocol.
"Introduced in iOS 7, iBeacon is an exciting technology
enabling new location awareness possibilities for apps"
- Apple
An iBeacon advertisement provides the following information via Bluetooth Low Energy:
Field | Size | Description |
UUID | 16 bytes | Application developers define a UUID specific to their app and deployment use case. |
Major | 2 bytes | Further specifies a specific iBeacon and use case. For example, this could define a sub-region within a larger region defined by the UUID. |
Minor | 2 bytes | Allows further subdivision of region or use case, specified by the application developer. |
On the other side, Eddystone is an open beacon format developed by Google
and can be detected by both Android and iOS devices. Different types of payload
can be included in the frame format:
- Eddystone-UID: A unique, static ID with a 10-byte Namespace component and a 6-byte Instance component.
- Eddystone-URL: A compressed URL that, once parsed and decompressed, is directly usable by the client.
- Eddystone-TLM: Beacon status data that is useful for beacon fleet maintenance, and powers Google Proximity Beacon API's diagnostics endpoint.
- Eddystone-EID: A time-varying beacon frame that can be resolved to a stable identifier by a linked resolver, such as Proximity Beacon API.
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