Bluetooth Beacons are by no means a new technology, but they have become much more affordable in recent years, and can easily be purchased from Amazon. Their uses have only recently been recognized and are widely implemented by companies. So what exactly are these Bluetooth Beacons? What do iBeacon and Eddystone mean? Well, if you are wondering about this, we are here to tell you everything you need to know about Bluetooth Beacons, iBeacon, Eddystone and everything else.

Bluetooth beacons are basically just that – a "beacon" that uses Bluetooth. Bluetooth beacons are basically devices that use the Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) standard, to intermittently emit a signal that usually consists of a UUID, Minor and Major. That's actually all beacons do.

When a mobile device (Android or iOS) comes within range of a Bluetooth beacon, it recognizes the signal emitted by the beacon and can perform context-aware tasks based on what it receives. The beacon itself does nothing but transmit the signal. It does not take data from the mobile device, and contrary to popular belief, it cannot steal data from your mobile phone. If all this sounds confusing, don't worry, I'll explain this in detail soon.

So, what exactly is the difference between "iBeacon" and "Eddystone"?