Bluetooth beacons embedded within devices allow IoT objects to broadcast information to nearby mobile devices. These low-power sensors with technology like Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) — the one-way communication from objects to nearby devices — let our mobile phones listen for signals when we’re close to an IoT object. BLE is different from traditional Bluetooth technology in that it’s cheaper, requires less power (one beacon can go three years without a charge) and is ideal for simple applications and quick pops of data, like sending a coupon to a nearby mobile phone or detecting a patient’s location in a hospital room.

In 2013, Apple launched iBeacon, a low-power bluetooth sensor that can be embedded in objects and picked up by nearby iOS or Android devices running apps that have been programmed with the Core Location APIs. Another popular BLE beacon is AltBeacon, a free option with more data capacity than iBeacon. While both iBeacon and AltBeacon rely on databases for their functionality, Google’s URIBeacon project delivers URLs (similar to a QR code) rather than packets of information from a database, so it’s easier to update, reconfigure, and has the entire web as its database.