macOS Home Assistant + Bluetooth: iPhone not detected by Bermuda / Passive BLE Monitor — is iOS app required?

Hi,

Let me clarify my setup first:

Home Assistant is running in Docker on Ubuntu.
Bluetooth is provided by the Mac mini’s built-in adapter and passed through to the container.

I’ve installed Bermuda and also tested Passive BLE Monitor. Other BLE devices are detected normally, but iPhones are not visible at all.

My goal is to use iPhone presence / proximity as a signal for room-level detection.

I have a few questions:

Does iOS require the Home Assistant Companion App (or any app) to be installed to be discoverable via BLE?

Can iPhones be detected passively by Bermuda / Passive BLE Monitor without any app?

Are there iOS privacy limitations that prevent BLE advertising in background or without foreground apps?

Is macOS Bluetooth passthrough officially supported / reliable for Bermuda, or is using ESP32 BLE proxies the recommended approach?

Current setup:

Home Assistant running in Docker on Ubuntu

Mac mini built-in Bluetooth passed through

Bermuda + Passive BLE Monitor

Other BLE devices are detected, but no iPhones

Looking for best practices here — especially for iOS-based presence detection with Bermuda.

Thanks!