12 hours. 20 developers. 10 apps – Apps built during India’s first #BeaconHackDay Part II

The most rewarding part of organizing India’s first Beacon App Hack Day here at MobStac, was the chance to interact with 20 talented iOS developers who were bustling with app ideas. Watching them work their way through beacon-enabled apps that started off as ideas and 12 hours later turned into fully functional apps was staggering and addictive.

In order to foster beacon app development, all participants received Estimote beacons and were also offered an invite to use the Beaconstac platform, a beacon-agnostic software platform that enables beacon-triggered proximity messaging in mobile apps and analytics based on user behaviour.

We published a blog post talking about the two winning apps that took home huge prizes from our Beacon Hack Day. And as promised, we will take you through the other 5 apps.

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Teddy

Teddy is a beacon-enabled app that functions as a personal pet with a virtual life. Once the app is downloaded on the user’s iPhone/iPad, it will notify the owner if he or she accidentally leaves teddy behind and helps locate the pet as well. It can also keep track of other teddys around and will notify via the app when his or her friends are in the vicinity.

You can fork Teddy on Github here.

Teddy was featured on Hacker News, and the idea received accolades from developers around the globe.

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Office Buddy

This is an enterprise app that allows employees to figure out the exact location of their colleagues within office premises. It is particularly helpful if you work in a large office campus with a number of buildings. All that an employee needs to do, is to sign into the app as soon as he/she enters the campus. The app automatically updates his or her location to the backend based on the beacon that it is camping on, thus allowing other colleagues to locate them within the campus. Further, the app will also display important company updates that are contextually relevant to the user. It also allows businesses to capture the check-in and check-out time of employees based on data captured in the backend.

Check Office buddy on Github, in case you are interested.

Ocuepie

Ask anyone who has moved to a new city, and they will tell you that finding a great place to stay is one of the most difficult parts of shifting to a new city. You are bound to have a tough time finding the exact location, checking the place out and evaluating the entire experience and feel. This is where Ocuepie comes into the picture.

The app leverages BLE’s publishing capabilities to deliver contextual information right when it is needed, thus allowing for a better user experience. It also helps users to check how their furniture and other items will fit into the house using augmented reality, thus allowing for informed decision making. Further it also exploits BLE’s indoor navigation capabilities to navigate people inside the house.

You can check the app out here.

Fresh World

Beacons aren’t just about coupons and offers. These proximity detection devices allow users to easily engage with the digital world around them. Taking this ahead, Fresh World is an app that brings the ‘recipe of the day’ to the mobile device of the user, as soon as he or she enters the store where beacons are deployed. Once in store, the app displays different notifications asking users if they wish to purchase various ingredients of the recipe of the day, as he or she walks by the aisles within the store.

Here’s a preview of the app on Github, in case you are interested.

Crowd Stats

With the holiday shopping season almost here, most brand stores these days are bustling with people. Often, this makes it difficult for users to search for products as it hassles the entire shopping experience. With Crowd Stats, the user can check if a particular store is crowded before they even start from home thus allowing users to manage their time more efficiently.

Want to learn more about the app that made it big at Beacon Hack Day? Check out our developer blog. We will also be writing about the other apps in detail soon.

If you are planning a beacon pilot, take a look at Beaconstac, that includes everything you need to get started. Using Beaconstac you can set up your own campaign, without a developer’s help!