How Do I Change The Bluetooth Beacon Name?

Some manufacturer apps allow you to change the beacon Bluetooth name, others don't. Sometimes this changes the whole name and sometimes things like the device id or a fixed id are pre-pended or appended to the name. It depends on the manufacturer. In some cases the name changes but the configuration app and/or phone Bluetooth software can't see the change until the phone is re-booted. Often, the phone's built in Bluetooth stack doesn't pass through changes in the name.

In the cases where the beacon pre-pends or appends a string, this is usually because the name is being used by the configuration app to determine something, for example compatible beacons able to be connected, in the configuration app.

While we try to let you know in our quick start guides what's possible with changing naming, this often goes out of date as firmware and apps change. The best way to know is to try it yourself.

The non-conformity of name-changing functionality across beacon types/versions together with unreliability of seeing name changes in apps means that apps shouldn't rely on a particular name or the ability to change a name. We have found it's best to avoid such functionality in apps and use the iBeacon or Eddystone ids instead.