Simulate iBeacon with macOS

Question

I have the latest Mac Mini 2012 model.

I want to use it as beacon and tried to use this project to do so: https://github.com/timd/MactsAsBeacon

I've set up proper UUID, major, and minor but my app doesn't recognize it.

This mac supports bluetooth 4.0 but, it didn't work as a beacon.

Answer 1

My company has released a similar app that is just a simple command line interface for broadcasting iBeacon, which you can find on github: iBeacon-CLI. This might be helpful to try for troubleshooting.

You might also want to use System Information to verify that your hardware supports BLE, sometimes plugging in external Bluetooth modules can mess with what the system thinks is available.

This can be done by:

1. Going to Applications/Utilities
2. Double click "System Information.app"
3. Click on "Bluetooth" on the left column under "Hardware"
4. Verify it says "LMP Version: 0x6"

If you do use an external Bluetooth device, When you install it you may need to force the system to be able to recognize it and switch the Bluetooth stack to use it. The way to do that is to run the following command in terminal.

sudo nvram bluetoothHostControllerSwitchBehavior="always"

The only other thing I would suggest is re-checking that you have the same UUID in your app and in the iBeacon software on the Mac. Most of the time I have problems is simply because have fat-fingered that.

Answer 2

Yes, this mac can transmit iBeacon. I have the same model and had success with BeaconOSX

P.S. I use Mavericks