CODEWITHSUNDEEP
androidiosios4windows-mobilebluetooth
user523234
user523234

Reputation: 14834

bluetooth sdk on ios, android, windows mobile platforms

As a new entry into mobile devices development, I have a question: Can one develop an app that can communicate (sending data etc.) amongst ios devices via bluetooth? I have already read articles on private api stuff, so I only need to know things that can be put on app store. I can't seem to find any bluetooth class library on apple site for ios.

Upvotes: 2

Views: 2473

Answers (2)

Dennis Mathews
Dennis Mathews

Reputation: 6975

There are 2 ways:

  1. Peer to Peer using the Game kit APIs - for use of communication between 2 iOS devices. For gaming and other peer to peer applications

  2. If you are building a bluetooth accessory device you can join the apple MFi program and get access to APIs and mechanism to communicate with you accessory. See here

Upvotes: 6

Trevor
Trevor

Reputation: 10993

I know you're talking specifically about iOS which I know nothing about, but as you've tagged Android and Windows-mobile too, I'm assuming you're interested in all platforms.

Talking about Android which personally have experience with, yes you can exchange data with other devices over Bluetooth. A good starting point on Android is to use the Bluetooth Chat example, which demonstrates using the Bluetooth API to send arbitrary ASCII data over the RFCOMM layer (Serial Port Profile). Using this example application you can have two Android phones, or an Android phone and some other Bluetooth device that supports SPP talking in minutes.

I specifically chose an Android phone in the first place because my first main application involves making a Bluetooth connection to a third-party hardware device. My understanding was that the iOS API is more restrictive in terms of what you can do over Bluetooth; in fact, my understanding is that iOS doesn't allow you to open an SPP connection to any device that supports that profile. This is a showstopper as far as my application is concerned. However, as I said my iPhone knowledge is limited and this is just what I knew a year ago when buying my phone. Things could be different now.

Upvotes: 1

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