I am currently programming an app for my school.
During the lesson the teacher needs to send and stream data to the students. There is a case in which one of the students streams the data to everyone else. The teacher uses an iPad and every student uses one.
My question is: How could this be realized without a local network or an internet connection?
Two solutions came to my mind when thinking about it:
Multipeer Connectivity. The problem with this solution is the limit to 8 devices. I have read that you can open multiple sessions at a time but I am worried that 30 devices are too many.
Having the teacher-iPad open a hotspot which the other iPads join. This hotspot will be used as a local network to communicate (as far as I know, this works on Minecraft PE). This would only be an option if the hotspot and it's password could be configured by the app, otherwise it would be too complicated to use in a lesson.
Thanks a lot for reading my text. I hope that you can help me.
Your devices need to transmit using wifi or bluetooth. I have a recollection that MCSession stopped being able to use bluetooth a few years ago. MCSession may work only if all devices are on the same wifi network.
Probably you can first use Multipeer Connectivity to setup the network, then use a hotspot or other solution afterward.
For example, using Multipeer Connectivity to send the wifi name and password to other devices. Once a device receives the setup information, you can disconnect it so that other devices can get connected.
Related
I want to send data from 4-7 iPads to a MacBook and back for an application I plan on making that uses all devices and I want to avoid using a server for exchanging data. Also I would like to avoid connecting the devices over a local wifi network, as I would like my application to work regardless of wifi availability.
Is there a way of doing this using Bluetooth or a wired solution? Or maybe something else?
I think your best way is using apple Multipeer Connectivity, you can connect up to 7 nearby devices via Bluetooth, Wifi, or creat a local Wifi: https://developer.apple.com/reference/multipeerconnectivity
The theory in question is that I have a device that emits its own WiFi network. In order to communicate with this device, you must be connected to that WiFi network, but as it does not provide internet, your connection options are blocked.
What would be ideal, is to connect to this device, collect data from it, and transmit/push this data to a server located online via whatever means.
This question has been asked before, but the responses and questions I found were a few years old, and the OS has been updated a few iterations since then.
Is it possible, via Swift or Objective C within a mobile iOS app to utilize the connection of WiFi, but use carrier data to transmit that collected data?
I would use the BlueTooth API for this. However, there are two restrictions: 1) you cannot connect to a BlueTooth device in a captive network, and 2) you will not be able to connect to Android devices via BlueTooth.
i am working on an App that uses wifi network to pass data from one ipad to another ipads .
i have already referred the following sample code about:
http://mobileorchard.com/tutorial-networking-and-bonjour-on-ip
The above sample code connects Devices using wifi and can exchange messages using Cfnetworking and Bonjour.
My problem is that i am not able to see Active Servers all the time .While Some times it Shows me Active servers and i can easily connect with and Exchange Messages but when i relaunch or open the app after some time it doesn't show me active servers so i am unable to connect and exchange messages. The same problem occurs in the sample code available from above link having tutorial on to Send data over wifi to another Devices.
I am Stucked up over here where i am unable to connect with active Devices all the time because not able to access those servers.
In chatty sample code same problem occurs where you can see active chat room's and connect with but some times you will not be able to see those active chat rooms availabe even if there are active servers who have already started new chat room where all Devices are connected to same wifi network.
Any help would be highly Appreciable , Thanks in advance.
Any chance the wi-fi interface on the device is going to sleep from disuse? Or that the user roamed to a different Wi-Fi access point with the same name that isn't bridged via Bonjour?
Have you considered using Multipeer Connectivity instead of using Bonjour directly? IIRC, that API would let you communicate even if the devices are not on the same Wi-Fi network, which is probably what you want anyway.
I have a situation where I would like to communicate between 2-4 devices over the 3G network (it should also work over WLAN, but 3G solution is critical).
Every device (except one) asks for a GPS-location every ~5 seconds, but when this process is cancelled by the user of that device, one device needs to be informed of this event.
I was thinking that one device could act as a server, and the rest as clients that should connect to the server. Is this possible over the 3G network?
I've also read about push-notifications, is this relevant here? Can you receive notifications without disturbing the user with a popups etc?
Are there other ways?
Basically I would like to use apple "standard" solutions (if there are any) before diving into eventual socket-programming or anything similar...
What I would like to avoid is to have a webserver or some similar "3rd-party" solution, because I don't want many users to simultaniously connect and "pull" from the same external server in a final solution...
UPDATE:
Basically my application will have thousands of users that will need to be informed if an even occurs. Also this happens simultanously ~5 second, what would be the best solution to reduce load and avoid spamming?
I was thinking that one device could act as a server, and the rest as
clients that should connect to the server. Is this possible over the
3G network?
It could work, but having a dedicated server would be a better choice
I've also read about push-notifications, is this relevant here? Can
you receive notifications without disturbing the user with a popups
etc?
In your case no, since you will need a server to communicate with apple
Basically I would like to use apple "standard" solutions (if there are
any) before diving into eventual socket-programming or anything
similar...
There are no standard solution, other than you should probably rethink about using a dedicated remote server for this
iPhones can't communicate directly with each other using 3G. You can access the internet through the 3G, but you can't do peer-to-peer as you are suggesting. If you were close enough, you could use bluetooth, but I expect you are too far away.
You would have no way of detecting the one device that acts as a server from the other devices. The IP address could (and probably would) change every time the device connects to a mobile data network. You would need a central server to co-ordinate all of the clients.
You have multiple questions, but I'll try to address as many of them as I can:
I was thinking that one device could act as a server, and the rest as
clients that should connect to the server. Is this possible over the
3G network?
No, you cannot run a server on a iPhone/iPad that is accessible over 3G without an external website acting as an intermediary. (You can run one that is accessible over Wi-Fi, but this does not solve your problem as stated.)
I've also read about push-notifications, is this relevant here? Can
you receive notifications without disturbing the user with a popups
etc?
Push requires you (or a third party contracted by you) to have a web server, so if you want a server-free solution it is not relevant here.
Are there other ways?
Over 3G you will, under the current Apple restrictions, always need an external server.
Basically I would like to use apple "standard" solutions (if there are any) before diving into eventual socket-programming or anything similar...
Diving won't help you here. Even using low-level socket programming you will not be able to run a server on an iPhone accessible over 3G without an external website to aid in establishing a connection.
You can try using GameCenter. The mechanism of network games in Game Center allows connect up to four players with no third-party solutions.
I am looking for a solution to be able to send location data between two iPhones. I looked into Bluetooth data exchange but it is only a 10 meter range.
I have looked at Bonjour, however I haven't seen anything yet that would allow you to broadcast as a server over a 3g network. Is this possible?
Would I be able to use the Game Center for sharing data that is non game related?
Thanks In Advanced...
Not true. GameCenter just passes data. It has no concept of whether the data is game date, location data, or whatever.
Also, I dont think you can't use Bonjour to find devices over 3G. I believe you have to use a game center match invitation for devices not on the same local subnet.
If both devices are connected to the same wifi network, you can use Bonjour.