Bermuda. Ble and iphone, has anybody got this working when screen is off

Third party integrations
1

Hi all, first post here. I use Bermuda ble for room presence. I have an android phone so no problems . My wife has an iphone and thats where my problem lies. I have her irk and I’m using the private ble integration along with Bermuda, which all works well as long as the iphone is active, as soon as the screen goes off ,thats when ble stops. I have tried all different solutions at present i have created a sensor that using a combination of things which store the last room as last ble . A timer then starts and if the iphone hasnt refreshed in 15mins it send a quiet notification to the iphone, which is enough to get a ble signal. This does work but its not ideal. I’m just wondering if anyone has solved this. Meant to say home assistant app is installed on the iphone and has all the settings as far a i can see , unless ive missed something ios version 26.6

2

Is it just the screen that’s going off, or is the phone sleeping?

Bermuda can only detect advertisements if the phone sends them. I don’t have an iPhone myself, but I believe there are restrictions on background advertising - it may be throttled while the phone is sleeping to conserve battery life. All phones seem to prioritise battery life over other useful stuff.

My (Android) phone sleeps for about 30% of the day and my watch is even worse. I have several trackers for Bermuda - phone, watch, tag on keys, tag in wallet etc.

Edit: To be clear, both phone and watch continue advertising when their screens are off - they only stop when they sleep.

3

I do believe its a ios throttling thing. All i know is with a very short period , i say about a minute of my wife stopping using her phone bermuda goes to unknown, so withers thats screen going off or sleeping im not sure, just know it stops ble.

4

On Android you can switch off the battery saver - that makes a difference.

5

There might be an issue with Bermuda or the iOS app. See: Companion app bluetooth beacon keeps disconnecting - #10 by NathanCu

I’m not at home to test it and won’t be for another 8 months or so.

6

FWIW I just checked and Bermuda and Private BLE both have continuous per-minute data from my iPhone for the last 24 hours. I do have an Apple Watch and I wonder if that keeps Bluetooth alive on the phone for HA?

7

Yes Provided you wear the watch on your wrist, that keeps it alive