# AltBeacon/android-beacon-library

Allows Android apps to interact with BLE beacons

Repository: https://github.com/AltBeacon/android-beacon-library
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/android-beacon-library
Language: Java
License: Apache-2.0
License Family: permissive
Last push: 2026-01-16T23:33:24+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 51/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 62, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4419, "days_push": 229, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 2910, forks 827 (observed 2026-08-28T04:07:29.214234+00:00)

## What it is
An Android library that provides APIs for apps to detect and interact with Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons. It supports monitoring for beacon appearance/disappearance and ranging updates at approximately 1Hz, with configurable parsing for AltBeacon and other beacon formats.

## Use cases
- detect BLE beacons from an Android app
- get notified when beacons appear or disappear
- ranging updates to estimate distance to beacons
- build indoor positioning with iBeacon or AltBeacon
- parse custom or proprietary beacon advertisement formats
- background beacon monitoring on Android

## When to choose
- you are building an Android app that needs to detect or range BLE beacons
- you want an open-source alternative to iOS CoreLocation beacon APIs on Android
- you need to work with AltBeacon, iBeacon, Eddystone, or custom beacon layouts

## When to avoid
- you need beacon support on iOS or other non-Android platforms
- you need general-purpose Bluetooth scanning beyond beacon advertisements
- your project is not on the Android platform

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: active
- function: sdk, developer-tools
- domain: android-tools, iot, mobile-development
- platform: jvm
- tags: bluetooth-low-energy, beacons, proximity, altbeacon, ibeacon, ranging, monitoring, android-library, android, mobile

## Member repositories
- AltBeacon/android-beacon-library (main) score 51

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:29.214234+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T07:34:16.184074+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/AltBeacon/android-beacon-library (fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:29.214234+00:00, sha e50c2a680ddd)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.