0

Like the question says, is there a number max of regions that can be RANGED (not monitored) at the same time? (One of my use cases might need me to range more than 20, that's why I'm asking this)

Thanks.

Herz Rod
  • 831
  • 8
  • 21

2 Answers2

3

I've not seen any reference in Apple's documentation, header files, or WWDC videos to whether there's a maximum number of beacons that can be ranged.

I just set up a small demo to range 100 regions, and it seems to work just fine:

for (int i = 0; i < 100; i++) {
    [self.locationManager startRangingBeaconsInRegion:[[CLBeaconRegion alloc] initWithProximityUUID:[[NSUUID alloc] initWithUUIDString:@"E2C56DB5-DFFB-48D2-B060-D0F5A71096E0"] major:1 minor:i identifier:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"com.beaconMonitor.%d", i]]];
}
James Frost
  • 6,960
  • 1
  • 33
  • 42
  • did you test that you can actually detect 21 different minor numbered iBeacons, or just that you don't get an error? Testing this would be relatively easy using a second iOS device or MacBeacon. Just change the minor of your transmitter 21 times and verify you get at least one callback with the code above. I have no access to a BLE-capable iOS device today or I would test myself. – davidgyoung Jan 20 '14 at 15:32
  • Yep, I've just tried this with 21 beacons, and also tested with beacons numbered 50, 75, 99. All seems to work fine. – James Frost Jan 20 '14 at 15:56
  • Cool, I'd call that conclusive then. – davidgyoung Jan 20 '14 at 18:13
  • Yes, I actually did the same test to see how many would be ranged. Also you could just print the self.locationManager.rangedRegions and see how many of them are actually beign ranged, thanks! – Herz Rod Jan 20 '14 at 21:07
0

The number of minor beacons you are able to identify by their minor number is 2^16-1 (65535) minor beacons. This is because the broadcast signal for minor regions are represented as four hex digits.

Refer to the iBeacon Protocol, What is the iBeacon Bluetooth Profile

Community
  • 1
  • 1
RudolphProd
  • 31
  • 1
  • This is not an answer to the question which was asked, which concerns *regions* rather than minor beacons *within* regions. Granted, using fewer regions and more numbers within each is generally a good idea - in most cases, a single business entity may be best served by using a *single* region. – Chris Stratton Jan 29 '14 at 17:20