Nearby doesnt seem to be working again with beacons again?

[craigahunter]

Hi, I am wondering if the Nearby using beacons has been disabled again. I have reset the Android phone (lollipop) back to factory state after it is not picking anything up. It does show during a scan that bluetooth beacons are recognised but no notifications appear. I have even used a new beacon with a new secure URL and still nothing.

I know a few months ago Nearby was disabled and I am thinking this may have been done again. It seems to work so consistently on Apple devices but is very much hit and miss on Android. I think this will be a big point that prevents consumer uptake if its going to be so inconsistent. Please advise if you can, kind regards Craig

[oninross]

~Experiencing the same thing also. I swipe down and I dont see any notifications of nearby beacons.~

I just noticed this. #880

[scottjenson]

Sorry, that was an old warning that was supposed to be taken down. Things are working fine and that page has been updated.

[oninross]

Hi @scottjenson, I am not seeing anything on my notifications drawer. It was working a few weeks back until I wanted to do a check today. I have my locations and bluetooth enabled, the Nearby icon lights up but no notifications. Here is a screen shot. What did I miss now?

[craigahunter]

Hi @scottjenson the physical web (used via google) still works although sporadically and I have to reset at times. The nearby however has not worked at all in quite some time. As I stated above I have reset the phone, installed any updates but it simply does'nt show anything. I've never had any problems with IOS but my android phone is very inconsistent. The device is picking up beacon signals when I scan with bluetooth only so the device is fine that way...just no nearby! Thanks

[scottjenson]

Sorry to hear you hare having so much trouble. There is a simple test to help diagnose the problem: if you go into Settings>Google>Nearby and get the list view and tap the refresh button, do you see your beacon? This test confirms that the basic plumbing is working. I hope that is the case.

If so, then it boils down to getting notifications. You'll need the latest version of Google Play Services (10.0/84 I believe) Also notice that notifications only show up after you wake up the phone. Try these things and get back to me please.

Scott

On Thu, Feb 2, 2017 at 1:15 PM, craigahunter notifications@github.com wrote:

Hi @scottjenson https://github.com/scottjenson the physical web (used via google) still works although sporadically and I have to reset at times. The nearby however has not worked at all in quite some time. As I stated above I have reset the phone, installed any updates but it simply does'nt show anything. I've never had any problems with IOS but my android phone is very inconsistent. The device is picking up beacon signals when I scan with bluetooth only so the device is fine that way...just no nearby! Thanks

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[oninross]

Hi @scottjenson,

I did your tests, yes I am seeing the list with no problem. I checked Google Play Services and the version is what you said. I have woken up my phone a few times with no avail. 95% of the time the notification does not show up.

[scottjenson]

Would you mind sending me the short url you are testing?

[oninross]

@scottjenson

Here you go http://bitly.com/beacon01

[scottjenson]

Sorry, one more thing: is your beacon showing up in the list view?

On Fri, Feb 3, 2017 at 4:19 PM, Nino Ross Rodriguez < notifications@github.com> wrote:

@scottjenson https://github.com/scottjenson

Here you go http://bitly.com/beacon01

— You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/google/physical-web/issues/882#issuecomment-277398744, or mute the thread https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ABAbuhsBoRVMmuagIF5Cdyjk27dvbSGuks5rY8QcgaJpZM4Lmzs6 .

[oninross]

it is showing up in the list view. i go to setting > google > nearbly, i see the list. just not in the notifications drawer

[scottjenson]

I just programed my own beacon to http://bitly.com/beacon01 and confirmed that it is showing up in the list view but not notifications. I'm exploring why that is. One thing you can do as a potential workaround is to change the URL redirector to https://cbrbus.com.au/busstop/3410 (or something similar) to just test out a different URL

One trick I use is to just add a parameter onto the end (like &x) but that seems to break your server.

Scott

[oninross]

@scottjenson thanks for the information. I will try the parameter for now.

Just a clarification, doesnt beacons hold only a number of characters for the URL? That is why it is suggested to use a URL shortener. I may have misunderstood it.

[oninross]

@scottjenson by the way, I just remembered that the parameter method did pose some issues for me before. Instead of hardcoding the variables in the html, I initially used the query params method (for more flexibility). However, after a while, nearby couldnt detect it anymore.

In addition to the said issue, this might pose a bigger issue if the beacons go live long term. If initially the beacons are working fine then a few weeks or months down the line the beacons are not discoverable.

[scottjenson]

It's only the final URL that matters, I was suggesting you add a parm to the final crbus.com. I was just suggestion you change the redirected URL to a new one.

[oninross]

@scottjenson okies. thank you so much for your help :) Really appreciate it

[scottjenson]

I've confirmed that your beacon is being lowered and not notifying. I'm looking into why this is. Can you confirm a few things for me? Is this beacon live or are you just debugging at this point? Are there many folks that might be near this beacon?

This will provide valuable feedback to the ratings team, thanks,

Scott

[oninross]

@scottjenson for this project, it is not yet live. We are about to push this for research and data gathering as soon as our material is ready to use.

FYI, I changed my URL shortener and added the parameter for safety. So far so good :) will keep you posted if i see any problems.

[ferencbrachmann]

@scottjenson I can confirm the same thing happened to one of my personal pages @ b3m.it/B2000038

[shailesh17mar]

@scottjenson Same here, yesterday our messages suddenly stopped sending messages. They were working perfectly fine day before that. When you say 'your beacon was lowered' could you shed some more light on it? Are there some guidelines that we should follow.

[craigahunter]

Hi Scott, sorry for the late reply i have been away. I have tried it on my particular device and its not working. I have switched nearby on and off but still nothing. It isn't even populating the list using Google settings like you suggested. The device uses Android 6.0.1 I have checked google play services settings and the device is using version 8.7.03 (no options are active to allow me to disable, update, or force stop). My main concern is the consistency of operation between devices if I am to introduce aspects of the physical web to business's so just ironing out the problems so to speak. Thanks again.

[adriancretu]

GPS 8.7.03 is one year old; way before Nearby was introduced, you'll need v10.0.84 or newer.

[scottjenson]

Thank you Adrian, that is correct. We totally appreciate not all devices have the latest software, but Nearby has been active nearly 6 months now, the number of devices with it is growing quickly.

[mcizol]

Same issue with Huawei P8 Lite 2017, Android 7 Google Play Services version: 10.2.98

I found a short-term solution, which may not work in some devices because of disabled "force stop" button..

• force stop google play services
• then refresh nearby app and you will see again the beacons around you.

[Chri82]

Notifications of my beacons do not appear. Only when I go into "Settings" => "Google" => "Nearby" finally found the link and suddenly appears also in the pull-down notifications

[chetstriker]

Device: Pixel XL Google Play Services: 10.2.98 Android 7.1.2 BETA I've recently stopped receiving beacon notifications in the notification drop down. If i click the "nearby" button it shows up, but not in the notification bar by itself anymore, this possibly might have stopped working after receiving the last android 7.1.2 BETA update but can't verify. The "notify you when links are available" option is selected along with "nearby links available". I also tried to use "clear data" and have rebooted a few times. Google play services showing "force close" grayed out, so that test isn't an option. Would love to know if there is anything else I can try to get this to work again since I'm doing a demonstration of an app utilizing beacons in a couple of days.

[stelliot]

I have the same problem with notification drop down after re-installing and my Samsung S6. Before the re-install it worked fine. I can see the beacons in the nearby app.

Current versions which doesn't work

Google Play Services: 10.2.98 Android: 6.0.1

[thejohanmagnusson]

I have stopped receiving notifications for beacons since a couple of days ago. This is on three different devices.

Device: Nexus 5X (two phones) Google Play Services: 10.2.98 Android 7.1.1

Device: Nexus 6P Google Play Services: 10.2.98 Android 7.1.2 BETA (Didn't get notifications on 7.1.1 either, upgraded yesterday)

Location and Bluetooth is on and nearby is set to show notifications for beacons on all devices.

I can see the the preview in the nearby app on all devices. For some reason the nearby icon in the quick settings show as disabled, if I go to edit the quick settings nearby shows as enabled if I have just been in the nearby app, otherwise it's shows as disabled here also.

[scottjenson]

At this point, things should be working with the latest GPS. keep in mind that Nearby monitors notifications and if no one clicks on them, they will eventually stop creating notifications. So we strongly recommend that you test with a debug URL that you can use until you go live.

If your beacon shows up in the listview you're 99% of the way there. Most of the time, the notification doesn't show up because you haven't power cycled your phone. The scan only happens when you wake up.

[oninross]

Hi @scottjenson, do you mean that if the notification link isnt clicked for some time, it just doensnt show up anymore? That is my case now. I managed to broadcast a url in a beacon and im picking it up. But i didnt want to click it as i was enjoying just seeing that notification (yeah im weird). But now i have to go to Nearby just to see the link.

[thejohanmagnusson]

@scottjenson what is the time period for witch a notification stops being shown if no one clicks it? Feels as this can happen quite easy with beacons in remote areas were a interaction isn't expected to happen very often or like now when beacons are a very new thing, people aren't used to it and will less likely click these notifications.

My main use of beacons is for interaction with virtual functions in remote places and these will be clicked extremely seldom. A bit concerned that this de-notification could potentially ruin the whole experience and product since the user will not find it unless they explicitly search for itwith the nearby app.

[adriancretu]

Wait, so besides the fact that they are very difficult to even be noticed, now the notifications stop appearing all-together if not previously clicked, by other people? I really feel like there's a great need for some protocol or mechanism to allow users to actually be notified when something they want to see is nearby, instead of digging desperately through the multitude of steps and flows. Sure, let's make an app, but then why use PW in the first place?

[holgermertens]

Same here:

Most URLs are fine. But: There is one beacon URL, that Nearby did't show as notification. But it is shown if I let Nearby scan for beacons. The URL is also shown in the physical web app and there also as notification. The URL also pass the validator: https://beaufortfrancois.github.io/sandbox/physical-web/url-validator/ Confused.

[mjanke67]

I am seeing several issues described within this thread. I will comment that we have always been able to see Nearby Notifications within the drawer and Nearby app, but have (since 6.0) had issue getting Nearby Notifications within the Lock Screen and Status Bar. If you can see a Nearby Notifications within the Nearby app, but not within the drawer, the most likely cause is that Nearby has scaled down Notification triggers due to the screen being ON for awhile. Lock and then unlock the screen to boost Nearby's triggering of Nearby Notifications within the drawer.

A work around to getting Nearby Notifications in the Lock Screen and Status bar (works in 6.x.x only) is to set or enable Google Play Services (GPS) - App Notifications "Set as priority".

For Android 7.0+ devices (all that we have tested .... about 6), there is no way to see Nearby Notifications outside of the drawer (if the screen was recently unlocked or the device awoken) or the Nearby app itself. We cannot find a way to get Notifications within the Lock Screen or Status Bar. Within another Google group (https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/physical-web-discuss/GX4uBO57Reg), a Google resource suggests that the way GPS initiates notifications has not changed (with MIN notification priority). This resource suggests that the way notifications are handled within the Lock Screen and Status Bar in 7.0+ is different. It is for this reason, that we no longer see Nearby Notifications in these UI components. For us - this is critical as we do not expect users to look for notifications within the drawer or Nearby app. We expect the phone to NOTIFY them when a beacon is received. It would be awesome if Scott Jenson could help with this issue as it is (we believe) critical to the adoption of Nearby and our products that leverage Nearby.

[mjanke67]

I dug further to better understand Google's thinking on this matter and came across this interesting Scott Jenson interview on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbL7j7mvM9A

It is pretty clear in this interview that Google's intention for the Physical Web user experience is that users will walk into a space and look for Physical Web objects (including beacons) that are "Nearby" by dropping their Notification Drawer. They can then view and select Nearby Notifications. The implication is that the Status Bar / Notification Bar / Notification Area (too many labels for the same UI element) will not change to Notify the user when a Physical Web object has been scanned. And, of course, the Lock Screen will not Notify the user of any objects that have been scanned.

I suggest that this approach will only work when the Physical Web has been adopted by retailers, system integrators and others to an extent where many users are aware of the Physical Web and how it works and will expect Physical Web objects to be Nearby. Otherwise - why would they go looking for them and how would they know were to look for them on their Android devices. In the interview - it is clear that Google is taking the long view on Physical Web adoption and do not wish to alienate users by sending them too many notifications (i.e. when there are many Physical Web objects scannable nearby). I can understand their apprehension and I respect their desire to keep users happy. I also believe that their approach is feasible IF users (someday) understand how the Physical Web works and are able to view Nearby Notifications frequently within their drawer (otherwise why look). I would suggest that until that level of Physical Web adoption occurs, users simply won't drop their drawers to check for scanned Nearby objects. Ultimately, the Physical Web adoption may never grow because it has been setup for future and not current levels of adoption. To address this - it is key that users retain their ability to view Nearby Notifications in both the Status Bar and Lock screen. To ensure that users don't get offended by too many notifications, disable their display within the Lock Screen by default but give them the ability to enable notifications on the Lock Screen if they so desire. This same control (or another) could be used to enable display of an icon within the Status Bar when a notification has been added to the drawer. With this level of control in place, interested users can be shown or taught how to get notified by Physical Web objects. Disinterested users will leave Status Bar and Lock Screen notifications disabled (their default state) and will be unaffected.

Another key point that I would raise is that Nearby Notifications did exist within the original deployment of Nearby within Google Play Services (GPS) and were removed without warning after my company and others built product around the Nearby featureset. Removing original service features without discussion or warning is (choosing my words carefully) - very very uncool.

The last point that I think is worth mentioning is that the GPS notification controls (the controls on the "APP NOTIFICATIONS" configuration screen for GPS) are currently very misleading. The "On lock screen" control shows "Show content" even though GPS notifications are handled in a non-standard way and are blocked from this screen. Moreover, when viewing the Nearby Notifications within the Nearby app, they are always shown as "Muted" regardless of whether the user mutes, or unmutes these notifications. I have attached a couple of screen caps showing these misleading elements.

I hope that a conversation around how Nearby Notifications are handled within Android can occur and that Google is not set on the current approach.

Feedback from others with a vested interest in this topic can only help.

[montelco]

@scottjenson I'm quite concerned by the direction of things. My company has put a lot of time and effort into making a platform for small businesses to spread awareness through the power of the Physical Web. I've found that users on Samsung devices are spotty at best with regard to notifications. Could you shed some light on how exactly the service determines how URLs are squashed? If a device is rather low to no traffic, will it just stop? How then would someone discover it? I can't help but to feel a bit concerned by this.

[curryrussell]

It FULLY appears that all notifications have completely stopped in Android again. Is anyone else seeing this? Or is your working?

It shows up in Nearby, just not in the notifications area.

[ferencbrachmann]

Works here. Although occasionally we experience quite similar issues.

[limooi]

Mine's working here as well. Android 6.0.1

[mjanke67]

We have given up on the Physical Web. It no longer functions as a meaningful mechanism for notifying users that web content is available nearby.

We now support nearby notification for users using our own iOS and Android background apps (launched by beacons). This provides for a level playing field between iOS and Android, makes for simple user opt-in (everybody knows how to install and app quickly and painlessly) and gives us far better control of notifications. They show up everywhere along with audio and vibration ... even on the Always On Display on some phones including Samsung Galaxy S*.

[craigahunter]

HI @scottjenson ive noted you've been a bit quite on the subject of the physical web lately. It's understandable that your a very busy guy so I respect that. As there are a few poeple still putting their time and other resources into this is it safe to say that the physical web is still progressing as their are a few people on here who seem to be giving up over a few issues.....or are you looking into these issues and ways of maybe addressing them. The main issues seems to be:

1. Inconsistency with it working on devices
2. Adoption of the physical web and the "dropping off" of undiscovered or unused beacon links (I would expect this to be a large amount at this stage and therefore counter intuitive . Could we please receive an update or some comments on your feelings about these issues at the moment. Thanks again

[scottjenson]

Sorry for my silence but I'm no longer working on the Chrome team and no longer working on the Physical Web project. This was obviously a big passion of mine and it's frustrating that i can no longer support you folks. I've always said that the Physical Web could only work if it was an open standard supported by many players. I strongly hope others continue with the Physical Web. The Eddystone standard isn't going anywhere and you can still find beacon URLs through Android Nearby.

[craigahunter]

Hi Scott,

Well thank you for getting back to us and I hope your next project is exciting for you. Has the project effectively been "shelved". Or has it been passed to the hands of the public to develop?

As your probably aware many people are starting new businesses or creating ideas based on the physical web and if it is going to end up like "betamax video" then maybe we should all consider this.

Or perhaps the google chrome team are continuing the project in your absence?

If this is something you could answer then that would be great as I am concentrating a business based on the physical web so I'm a bit worried :)..

I wish you all the best for the future and I hope you can reply to my final message just for your opinion on the future of the physical web.

Kind regards

Craig Hunter

On 28 Aug 2017, at 21:36, Scott Jenson notifications@github.com wrote:

Sorry for my silence but I'm no longer working on the Chrome team and no longer working on the Physical Web project. This was obviously a big passion of mine and it's frustrating that i can no longer support you folks. I've always said that the Physical Web could only work if it was an open standard supported by many players. I strongly hope others continue with the Physical Web. The Eddystone standard isn't going anywhere and you can still find beacon URLs through Android Nearby.

— You are receiving this because you authored the thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or mute the thread.

[scottjenson]

Chrome should have specified many months ago their intended direction on the Physical Web. While I can't speak for them any more, everyone in this community has pretty much figured out that it's clearly not a high priority item for them.

I've always said that the Physical Web project was 'free like the air' type of project. It was setup so that it could continue even if Google dropped support. So I do hope people understand that any Eddystone beacon can broadcast any URL and any scanner can find it. There is nothing stopping anyone from building experiments/research/products on top of this.

Of course, the value of using URLs (instead of fixed IDs tied to only your database) is that it encourages an inter-operable space. Most single projects won't likely get this value if they are just a 'one off' type of approach. What will really help is if a group of projects feel like having a common shared way to describe objects.

I still feel strongly in this approach, especially in AR and IoT use cases and will personally continue to explore this space.

[oninross]

Hi @scottjenson, I tried finding any news or update about this. Couldn't find it :(

[Himen007]

Hi @scottjenson ,

We are developing a proximity marketing webpanel using Eddystone UID which is interacting with the google dashboard. We registered the Eddystone UID beacons from our panel to google dashboard with message and URL. So far it was working fine and we are able to get the near by notification in all our smart phone's near by app as well as in notification bar.

But suddenly we are now facing an issue like we are able to discover the URL and message for all the registered Eddystone UID beacons in near by app. but somehow the notification is not generated in the notification bar for all the Eddystone UID. We checked in different forum but we are not getting any help from that.

Can you please suggested what could be the issue.

Thanks, Himen

[dipbiswas]

Hi @Himen007,

Were you able to make these work? I am facing the exact same behavior as you described for the last few days. I had around 100 beacons in 1 project and they stopped showing up in the notification bar since a week.

I created a new project and added a beacon. It shows up both in the nearby app and in the notification bar. The ones in the older project show up only in the nearby app but not in the notification bar.

Like others in the group here, my use case is to show them in the notification bar.

[ferencbrachmann]

@dipbiswas Do you use URL shortener?

[dipbiswas]

@ferencbrachmann, Yes. We use EddystoneUID and some of these beacons use URL shorteners.

[ferencbrachmann]

Do you have your own shortener or use some existing service?

[dipbiswas]

We use our own shortener.

On Sep 26, 2017 6:59 PM, "Ferenc Brachmann" notifications@github.com wrote:

Do you have your own shortener or use some existing service?

— You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/google/physical-web/issues/882#issuecomment-332360017, or mute the thread https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ALUypocGjvk49S8IuS1i78PdtXJ91yTHks5smYHUgaJpZM4Lmzs6 .