Version Release Notes

Release date March 01, 2021

Wave API

New Feature – Wave API

• A new API that can be used in a web page or mobile app to receive customer arrival notifications. The API specification for it is here.
• Webhook support added.
• Hello screens support added.

More information on Wave API and how to integrate it is here.

Canvas

Enhancements

• A new section to view & configure webhooks for different Bluedot Events added. More details here.
• A new section to Setup & configure your Hello Screens added. More details here.
• DestinationId has been made a Zone level attribute and no longer is only tied to accounts that have Tempo enabled.
• An information card has been added when clicking a fence in the Zone map view.

Bug fixes

• Fixed an issue where circular fences of radius 5m and smaller could be created.

Config API V1.2.0

Changes

• Projects endpoint
  • The Tempo object from the Project JSON structure has been removed.
  • Single object limitation on the Webhooks JSON array removed.
  • Two new Webhook types, tempo and wave added to the Webhooks JSON array.
  • Webhook type trigger is renamed to geoTrigger
  • Existing Tempo Webhooks have been moved to the Webhooks JSON array.
• Zones endpoint
  • The Tempo object from the Project JSON structure has been removed.
  • DestinationId field has been made available in the main Zone JSON body for all methods.

Bug fixes

• Fixed an issue where circular fences of radius 5m and smaller could be created.

Deprecation

• PATCH method for all endpoints is deprecated.
• Tempo JSON object in the Projects endpoint is deprecated in POST and PUT methods.
• Tempo JSON object in the Zones endpoint is deprecated in POST and PUT methods.

Webhooks

Enhancements

• A new Webhooks to receive Wave API events has been added. More details here.

Hello Screens

Enhancements

• Wave API events with destinationId will be displayed in the Arrived section of Hello Screens.

---

Release date February 25, 2021

Point SDK for Android V15.3.2

• Fix crash on entry event when using androidx.lifecycle 2.3.0+.

Release date February 22, 2021

Point SDK for Android V15.3.1

• Fix Geo-triggering foreground notification not displaying on pre-Oreo devices.

---

Release date January 29, 2021

Point SDK for iOS V15.4.1

Bug fixes

• Fixed an issue that caused false-positive exit events.
• Fixed a rare crash when the MRT has expired of a Zone.

---

Release date January 21, 2021

Canvas

Enhancements

• Updated Canvas UI branding and design

Config API

Enhancements

• Pagination and Search added to the /projects GET method. The API specification for the /projects endpoint is here.

Bug fixes

• Fixed incorrect error response sent for /sessions endpoint requests with invalid payloads.

---

Release date December 21, 2020

Point SDK for Android V15.3.0

API Update

This release contains a complete overhaul of the APIs for SDK initialization, GeoTriggering session management, and Tempo session management. Existing APIs for SDK authentication and session management, and associated classes, are deprecated.

Please see the Migration Guide for more details.

The deprecated APIs will be removed in the next major release (16.0.0).

Bug fixes

• Removes the usage of explicit wakelocks.
• Package names preserved when obfuscating to prevent name collisions.
• Remove coarse location permission requirement from deprecated API methods.
• Removed the use of JobIntentService.

Point SDK for iOS V15.4.0

API Update

This release contains a complete overhaul of the APIs for SDK initialization, GeoTriggering session management, and Tempo session management. Existing APIs for SDK authentication and session management, and associated classes, are deprecated.

Please see the Migration Guide for more details.

The deprecated APIs will be removed in the next major release (16.0.0).

Bug fixes

• Fix SQL error when persisting notifications on older devices.
• Fix “Collection was mutated while being enumerated” crash.

---

Release date October 19, 2020

Point SDK for iOS V15.3.2

• Fixed a crash when registering Zone exits (aka Check-out).

---

Release date September 30, 2020

Config API

Enhancements

Zone search using custom data

Zones can be searched using the custom data added to it. Two new parameters (customDataKey & customDataValue) added to the GET Zones request. The API specification for the new update.

Analytics API

Enhancements

Entry (Check-in) aggregation count for a Project based on Zones
You can request aggregated entries count. This request returns the count of all entries (check-ins) in a Project within the given startTime and endTime values, aggregated by Zones. The API specification for the new endpoint.

Entry (check-in) filtered by installRef
A new field is added to the POST entry (check-in) count endpoint. Entries can now be requested for the installRef of the event. The API specification for the new update.

---

Release date September 29, 2020

Point SDK for Android V15.2.4

Enhancements

Bug fixes

• Fix more issues encountered when building and optimizing using Android Gradle Plugin 4.0.0+.

 

---

Release date September 15, 2020

Point SDK for iOS V15.3.1

• Fixed a rare crash when registering Zone entries & exits.

 

---

Release date September 1, 2020

Point SDK for Android V15.2.3

Release date August 31, 2020

Point SDK for Android V15.2.2

• Fixed a crash when resolving a Long value reported as null.

---

Release date August 19, 2020

Point SDK for Android V15.2.1

• Removal of the visible alarm clock icon during SDK operation. We have removed the use of the alarm clock from the SDK. When the new SDK is installed on devices running Android OS versions M and above the device’s native Alarm clock icon will not appear in the status bar.
• Fixed a crash when no location was available when the OS stopped detecting a beacon.
• A mitigation fix for the crash observed in the JobIntentService has been applied to the SDK.
• Fixed a registerReceiver crash that occurred when the Android SDK is run without the foreground notification on Android 9+.
• Fixed a bug which caused negative dwell time to be reported to the backend.

 

---

Release date July 20, 2020

Canvas

Enhancements

List view for Zones
We’ve added a new Zone list view in Canvas. You can view and search all Zones in your Project, from a single view and easily switch between the original map view and new list view.

---

Release date June 29, 2020

Point SDK for Android V15.2.0 & iOS V15.3.0

Features

New Feature – Bluedot Tempo

• A predictive time-based arrival technology that will allow businesses to receive real-time alerts to know when a consumer is approaching.
• Tempo updates can be delivered via a new dedicated webhook.
• New SDK API to start and stop tempo.
  • Android APIs
    • startTempoTracking 
    • stopTempoTracking
  • iOS APIs
    • startTempoTracking
    • stopTempoTracking

More information on Tempo can be found in our documentation here.

Note

There are no other feature enhancements or bug fixes added in this version.

Canvas & Config API

Features

New Feature – Bluedot Tempo

• Canvas support for Tempo is added.
• A new section to manage Tempo for a Project is added to Canvas.
• Config API support for managing destinations and the tempo webhook is added.
• Webhooks support for Tempo updates.

More information on Canvas support for Tempo can be found in our documentation here and for the Tempo webhooks can be found here.

---

Release date April 21, 2020

Canvas & Config API

Enhancements

Increased the Zone Custom Data limit
We increased the limit so you can now attach up to 20 fields to each Zone. You can attach any type of metadata to a location that’s relevant to your location-based campaign. Tagging details about the location, the business, target customers and the campaign can add valuable context. Learn more about Zone custom data here.

Point SDK for Android V15.1.0

Enhancements

DiskFullError error type added
The SDK will now catch and report the SQLiteFullException to the application using the DiskFullError error type.

Bug fixes

• Fixed a crash when the SDK tried to evaluate a Zone action that had two date range conditions and one-time active conditions.
• Fixed a crash when the SDK triggered a URL action in which the URL was provided in all caps.

Known issues in 15.x releases

• A crash can occur if no location is available when a beacon is lost.

Point SDK for iOS V15.2.1

Enhancements

Improvements to Enhanced restart mode
Improved the performance and reliability of SDK relaunch after the app is terminated. More details on enhanced restart can be found here.

Bug fixes

• Fixed a crash caused in the Background Task Manager

---

Release date April 07, 2020

Point SDK for Android V15.0.0

Enhancements

Increased the Custom Event Metadata limit
We increased the limit so you can now attach up to 20 fields to each event. Use Custom Event Metadata to add additional information to Check-in and Check-out Notifications; this could be a Username, 3rd-party platform ID, or Order Number. Learn more about Custom Event Metadata here.

Android SDK migrated to AndroidX
Support libraries used by the SDK have been upgraded to AndroidX. This means all apps that have the SDK integrated must upgrade their Android support libraries to AndroidX.

Remove the StartJobIntentServiceReceiver entry in the SDK’s Android Manifest file
The SDK no longer uses the following Android manifest entry: <receiver android:name="au.com.bluedot.point.net.engine.StartJobIntentServiceReceiver"/>

Overhaul to the SDK’s events reporting
We have redesigned the Event reporting architecture, implementing a more efficient retry strategy in situations of network failure. We have also reduced the data packet size sent from the SDK to the Bluedot backend on each notification event. This has no impact on the SDK check-in and check-out callbacks and does not require any integration changes other than taking this SDK update.

New Point SDK dependency path
The SDK dependency path has changed from release 15.0.0 onwards. The PointSDK package paths have not changed, only the dependency. The app integrating our SDK does not need to change any imports in code. For all new Point SDK, versions use the following path:  'com.gitlab.bluedotio.android:point_sdk_android:Tag'
Example of V15.0.0, use:

dependencies {
    implementation 'com.gitlab.bluedotio.android:point_sdk_android::15.0.0'
 }

API Deprecation

Please note, the ServiceManager.registerService() method has now been deprecated.

If you are still using this service, we suggest implementing the sendAuthenticationRequest method.

Third-party dependencies & licence information

The following third-party dependencies are added to the Bluedot Point SDK and their respective usage license are listed:

• json-simple – https://code.google.com/archive/p/json-simple/ – Apache License 2
• Moshi – https://github.com/square/moshi – Apache License 2
• Retrofit – https://square.github.io/retrofit/ – Apache License 2
• ThreeTenABP – https://github.com/JakeWharton/ThreeTenABP – Apache License 2

Known issues in 15.x releases

• A crash can occur if no location is available when a beacon is lost.

 

---

Release date April 02, 2020

Point SDK for iOS V15.2.0

Enhancements

Increased the Custom Event Metadata limit
We increased the limit so you can now attach up to 20 fields to each event. Use Custom Event Metadata to add additional information to Check-in and Check-out Notifications; this could be a Username, 3rd-party platform ID, or Order Number. Learn more about Custom Event Metadata here.

Overhaul to the SDK’s events reporting
We have redesigned the Event reporting architecture, implementing a more efficient retry strategy in situations of network failure. We have also reduced the data packet size sent from the SDK to the Bluedot backend on each notification event. This has no impact on the SDK check-in and check-out callbacks and does not require any integration changes other than taking this SDK update.

Note about integrating the SDK

The CocoaPod now requires git-lfs to be installed. To do so, please follow instructions https://git-lfs.github.com

---

Release date February 27, 2020

Point SDK for Android V14.0.3

Enhancements

Improved location handling
Improved the handling of erroneous location updates reported by the device. This improvement tackles incorrect location updates provided by the operating system and improves the way the location is processed within the SDK.

Bug fixes

• Fixed a bug where the app startup process was slowed down due to Bluedot rules being processed in the main thread.
• Fixed an error where SDK falsely reported a non-fatal error that Wi-Fi scanning is disabled on the device.

---

Release date December 05, 2019

Point SDK for Android V14.0.2

Bug Fix

To address distant location updates that could cause unintended zone triggers. This update mainly affects configurations where there are high zone distributions within a small area.

---

Release date October 30, 2019

Point SDK for iOS V15.1.2

Enhancements

Based on customer feedback we have re-added support for the following devices iPhone 5, 5c, 5S, iPod touch-5, iPad-4, iPad Air.

Please refer to our supported platforms list here to know which OS versions our SDK supports.

Release date October 03, 2019

Point SDK for iOS V15.1.1

Enhancements

Simulator slice added
The SDK is now available with the architecture slice x86_64 included in it.

---

Release date September 30, 2019

Point SDK for Android V14.0.0

Enhancements

Android 10 location permission changes incorporated
We have added the new background location permission ACCESS_BACKGROUND_LOCATION to the SDK’s Android Manifest file.
When requesting location permissions we recommend, the consuming app should explicitly request this permission which would prompt the user to provide “Allow all the time” access, otherwise, the user will only be prompted “Allow only while using the app” access.

Additional updates to the SDK’s manifest

• WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission has been removed.
• READ_PHONE_STATE permission has been removed.
• ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION permission has been removed.

Please note, as of this release we will no longer be providing the SDK as a standalone artifact to be downloaded from the website. Please consult the project setup documentation for how to integrate the SDK into your application.

---

Notes about iOS 13:

This SDK version will be compatible with iOS 13 and Bluedot recommends customers this to prepare their app for Apple’s public release in mid-late September. This version also supports Swift 4.2 and Xcode 10.2.

Bluedot has developed this SDK in line with Apple’s ongoing beta releases of iOS 13.

Bluedot expects Apple to release a final iOS 13 beta in early September, before the official public release. As such, you can expect another SDK update shortly after the public release which will support Xcode 11, Swift 5 and any additional changes Apple may make.

---

Release date May 09, 2019

Point SDK for iOS V1.13.3

Enhancements

This SDK release includes support for:

• Swift 4.2
• Xcode 10.2

Release date April 18, 2019

Point SDK for iOS V1.13.2

Enhancements

MRT Persistence:
Added in Minimum Retrigger Time (MRT) persistence when the user swipes app close to prevent unexpected re-triggers.

Updates to Enhanced app restart mode:
Increased reliability of check-in and check-out in Bludeot’s Enhanced app restart (i.e when the app is swipe closed or the device is restarted).
Note: In Bludeot’s Enhanced app restart, the MRT should be set to more than 2 hours (to avoid OS restrictions overlap).

Release date April 03, 2019

Point SDK for Android V1.13.2

Enhancements

Network communication improvements:
Improvement in network communication from the SDK to Bluedot backend (i.e trigger events, rule downloads).

 

Defect fixes

• Resolved a delay in event triggers being received on the backend (this is only relevant when the SDK is configured to allow the Android Location Foreground Notification).
• Fixed the issue preventing beacons re–triggering after an SDK rule download.
• Context changed to Application Context for registering & unregistering receivers to fix crashes in receivers.

Important notes:

When SDK v1.13.2 is installed devices running Android OS versions M and above the device’s native Alarm clock icon will appear in the status bar. We have reintroduced the use of AlarmManager again which was previously available in the v1.12.2  to improve trigger accuracy. This is a requirement from Android and related to the SDK use of the OS services AlarmManager and ALARM_SERVICE.

---

Release date January 30, 2019

Point SDK for iOS V1.13.1

Enhancements

Persistent InstallRef:
InstallRef is now persisted across the life of the SDK’s install on a specific device. Previously, the InstallRef would change if the SDK (i.e your app) was uninstalled and then reinstalled. If the Point SDK is installed twice on the same device, through two different apps, each installation would have its own unique InstallRef.

Defect fixes

Data Protection capability enabled:
If your app has iOS Data Protection capability enabled and you’re using Bludeot’s Enhanced app restart, the SDK will no longer crash after the phone has been restarted.

---

Release date January 23, 2019

Point SDK for Android V1.13.1

Enhancements

Enhancement in Beacon detection & triggering logic:
Improved the beacon detecting logic of the Point SDK. This will increase the trigger rate of beacons when the device is locked or when the app is in the background.

Defect fixes

Multiple Logout issue fixed:
Calling the Logout method mutiple times would result in multiple logout requests being received, which would eventually cause the SDK to crash. This is now fixed.

---

Release date December 06, 2018

Point SDK for Android V1.13.0

• Enhancements
  • On devices running Android O and above the persistent foreground notification in the notification tray, has been made optional for the SDK to function in the background or when it is swiped out. (The foreground notification is still required for use cases where triggering while moving at high speed is key.)
  • Point SDK lifecycle reformed to run in the background after swipe/device reboot.
  • Now compatible with API level 28 (Android P)
• Defect fixes
  • General minor defect fixes.

---

Release date December 3, 2018

Point SDK for iOS V1.13.0

• Enhancements
  • Enhanced restart mode
• Defect fixes
  • General minor defect fixes.

---

 

Archived Version Release Notes

The older version release notes can be found here.