5 Bluetooth Beacon Trends to Watch Out for in 2021!

Bluetooth was often associated with wireless headphones, music players, Wi-Fi, and other personal devices that make use of the low-power technology in a short-range. Nowadays, Bluetooth low energy technology has evolved to be an alternative to Wi-Fi to establish communication seamlessly between two devices. It has turned out to be more useful when compared to other conventional methods, which many people count on.

Recent highlights

The COVID 19 pandemic has resulted in an upsurge in the mobile apps usage by all age groups. It has successfully prompted even the non-users to get online and perform any transaction. It could be from finding their desired restaurants to locating a food item at their nearest grocery shop. It even found its application in finding their gate in the airports.

Since beacons exclusively function with a Bluetooth beacon app, the technology has perceived quite a huge demand in its usage, ideal for all vertical businesses. The growth projection of worldwide beacon technology market demand is 45.5% CAGR from 2019 through 2024 and is expected to reach $ 10.2 billion by 2024. It can support marketers in developing and optimizing their strategies.

Five latest beacon technology updates in 2021

BLE beacon technology has evolved drastically over the current years. Here are some of the latest beacon app technology updates to keep an eye on.

#1 Beacons for contact tracing

The two tech giants, Apple and Google, revealed a framework for COVID-19 contact tracing. It helps to effectively track and downsize the spread of COVID-19 virus. It uses a Bluetooth beacon app that helps governments, and health officials to keep a check on the spread of the virus strain. The contact tracing beacon-based application utilizes an Exposure Notification programming interface API for the apps to interact with. The power of Bluetooth is harnessed to help identify the virus exposure notification.

A smartphone running a beacon app android with Exposure Notification API will sporadically use Bluetooth to connect with other phones with a random beacon. The beacon frequently deviates from improving the security aspect. Meanwhile, the list of beacons is stored by the phone that it links with nearby.

A list of keys is downloaded by the system that has people with positive status at least once a day. Every device checks against the beacons list that is already recorded from its server. If a match is recognized between the stored beacons and the positive diagnosis list, the user will be informed by notification and advised.

Although the system does not rely extensively on smartphones, it surely helps to review an individual’s location history and find out if by chance they have come in contact with an affected person.

#2 Wearable bracelets to follow social distancing

Now that the spree has almost subsided, many businesses plan to recommence on-site operations. To prepare their employees with fresh, anti-pandemic gear, wearable tech comes into the picture to prevent the virus spread. Many companies are going forward with wearable bracelets that enable employers to track and maintain social distancing in workplaces with the Bluetooth beacon app’s help.

The bracelets’ hardware contains proximity sensors and GPS for location tracking. It is aided by Bluetooth and ultra-wide-band radio connectivity, a built-in LTE, and a rechargeable battery.

When the status is updated by a person that indicates possible infection, the bracelet sends notifications to others they have been in contact with depending on location-data history and proximity. A health dashboard lists a detailed log of possible contacts for centralized handling. One good example is TraceSCAN by Facedrive that uses wearable technology to contain the virus’s spread.

#3 Remote ordering at restaurants

As pubs and restaurants start gearing up for their safe reopening, technologies like beacons and QR Codes are being set up for ordering securely to control the virus’s spread. A mobile ordering app called OrderPay, an order and payment platform, joined numerous popular chains in the UK to support them in meeting their social distancing necessities.

It uses the ‘tap and go’ method, which enables the customers to serve themselves. It decreases the contact with staff and helps to avoid long queues. Simultaneously, it operates with beacon technology that supports servers to find the guests without going through their restaurant’s entire space. It facilitates easy and quick table service.

#4 Easy tracking of lost items

It is very common to misplace things like socks, keys, mobile phones, or even find parked vehicles in a parking lot. Beacons can identify any lost item for the users, given that the device and the lost item are within the beacon’s range.

A Bluetooth-aided beacon app developed by an Israeli start-up called Wiliot can help retrieve lost socks from the washer! The chief product is a -stamp-sized Bluetooth beacon. The beacon can attach to appliances, medicine bottles, clothing, and even wallpapers. The beacon communicates the location of the missing item. When combined with sensor pads, it can recognize its weight and temperature to send the user an alert of the missing item. No wonder it could make you feel like Sherlock!

#5 Enhanced asset and inventory management

A Bluetooth beacon has been developed by a company called Apptricity, which offers asset and inventory tracking management. It can communicate signals beyond 20 miles. The asset and inventory management usually has a labor-intensive technology like passive RFID scanning or barcodes bounded by distance and the person directly scanning the code, causing the possible human error.

Bluetooth beacons can locate an item’s position and send updates to the equipment that requires a routine check-up or maintenance. The newest Bluetooth beacons are accurate and help several companies track their inventory and assets, devoid of any mishaps.

Wrapping it up

Beacons come with multiple actions assigning features in a single beacon. It also permits the developers to edit code by adding them to the beacon dashboard. Using this advantageous feature, one can seamlessly build beacon apps and assign multiple interactions to those locations.

With so much the Bluetooth beacon apps can offer, numerous industries are placing themselves to pull out the most from this Bluetooth low energy technology. It improves the strategical front to gain more market share and caters to the users in more than one way to craft a seamless consumer journey.

With major tech players in action like Apple and Google recommencing beacon-based apps in 2021, this year might witness the technology come back for quite many applications stretching from remote ordering, contact tracing, and help hassle-free indoor navigation.

Reach to our BLE beacon app development experts for turn-key projects and to know more about our services.