I'm working on a location related project. I found that iOS has iBeacon which can help the app to get the location data. I want to know if iOS Safari does have the access to it? Or any other similar bluetooth device which can be accessed?
Not yet. There is a proposal in W3C for a "web-bluetooth" specification which has been partly implemented in the chrome , opera and chrome-for-android browsers, although they need to be activated by the users in a somewhat convoluted manner. Like all these things, it'll take time for the committees to spin their wheels and for the browser makers to decide if they want to support it , and then implement it.
MDN docs: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Web_Bluetooth_API
Apple don't have this built in to Safari (yet), however there is a Web Browser app called WebBLE that implements 'Web Bluetooth' mentioned by Shayne.
Currently the app only supports a subset of the standard, but it's more than enough for most tasks. It's also Open Source so you could add it to a WebView in your own app if needed.
Having said all that, currently I don't believe Web Bluetooth supports accessing Advertising data - so while you can connect to Bluetooth LE devices and interact with them, you may not be able to get the actual Advertisements (which is kind of the point of iBeacon).
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My client wants a mobile-app that can run with no WiFi and no cellular network available. I think that a PWA gives them the most cost-effective way to meet their needs, accept that the app needs to know location even when there is no network available. To do this the PWA would need access to the true-GPS, i.e., the info gathered by the GPS chip talking to the satellites. It's my understanding that a PWA does not yet have this access and there is no date for when we can expect it. Could we buy or develop a native mobile app that delivered the GPS-info to my PWA? I've seen some discussion of this using Cordova, but I would like to avoid diving into that world if I can.
I put my Android into airplane-mode and took it for a walk around the block. The PWA that I had installed on the Android was still able to give me the updated location. So perhaps the discussions and complaints I see on stackoverflow, etc., regarding this not working, are out-of-date. BTW: In the navigator.geolocation options I have:
enableHighAccuracy: true
so hopefully the browser uses this as a hint to use the GPS-chip if available, and not care if there is no network available.
I have a working Android app that I'd like to port to IOS. I've started working through the Apple API references and am hopeful I can get some quick assistance.
Based on a specific time of day, I'd like to ideally toggle airplane mode so that the user cannot send or receive emails or calls. I appreciate that this can only be accomplished using private APIs which I want to avoid. As such, what other options are available to mimic the end result as closely as possible? Could the app turn off all notifications, or turn the screen off, or set brightness to zero, or disable the pop-up keyboard.
Knowing that Apple has locked down system wide settings, is there another creative idea that could I could employ?
No. Apple does not allow 3rd party apps to alter global settings like Airplane mode. Apps operate in a very limited "sandbox" where they have very limited access to system resources.
What you describe is not possible unless your app is running on a jailbroken (rooted, in Android terms) device.
Today I saw a news feature on the TeenSafe app. They showed features such as locking out an iPhone and eavesdropping on the text messages sent by a phone. I understand how this might be possible on Android but how can this be done on a non-jailbreaked iPhone?
This is interesting, but it sounds kind of scary though knowing someone else is tracking your every move. Anyway, I read their website and I saw this:
How does TeenSafe work
TeenSafe Control uses Mobile Device Management (MDM) Protocol, similar to the way corporations secure devices used on their networks in order to protect their network from Internet threats. An MDM certificate is installed on your teen’s iPhone and paired with the TeenSafe Control App on your iPhone, giving you the power to control it remotely. TeenSafe Control’s proprietary method of incorporating MDM makes it difficult for your teenager to disable or remove it. In cases where they find a way, we will alert you via email.
You can look up on Mobile Device Management to find out more.
Ok, I found out here:
http://www.bewebsmart.com/parental-controls/monitor-imessage-with-teensafe/
Basically, you need your teen's iCloud username and password and iCloud backup has to be enabled for the device. So no special magic here and it's not perfect.
I was trying to get a specific info before a IOS App development task which I searched but couldn't find anything relevant.
Wanted to know whether this requirement restricts (non compliance issue as per publish guidelines) the app to be published in App Store with features as below
User scans and lists all available wifi connections in a tableview
Selects one of the Wifi connection and connects on button click
Stores the password and SSID for future connections.
Would there be any compliance issue related to the same functionalities when submitting to IOS app store. One of my colleague have advised me about the same but not able to explain why? Which I tried to find out searching the internet, but too specific to find anything relevant. Deeply appreciate an Expert advise on this.
Thanks in advance.
I can't find anything in the Review Guidelines that would object your app idea: https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines
A couple of areas where you should have a more detailed look:
2.5.1 Apps may only use public APIs.
2.5.9 Apps that alter the functions of standard switches, such as the Volume Up/Down and Ring/Silent switches, or other native user
interface elements or behaviors will be rejected.
5.1 Privacy
Technically, I'm not sure if it's even possible to change the WIFI not via the settings app, so I'd have a look their first. (https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/1592/is-there-an-ipod-app-to-easily-switch-wifi-on-and-off)
I don't believe I've ever seen an app or a way to change SSID outside the Settings app. I explored a way to detect network changes, connects, disconnects, which work fine while the app is running. I was never able to influence how the user connected, just that a change happened. It also falls apart pretty quickly when the user backgrounds the app. Trying to keep a background task open long enough to poll the current connection fails pretty fast.
I wish Apple would provide some system level notification of Wifi connect events. This could be very useful to developers that want a little more control than Background App Refresh events.
I'm hoping to create a BLE advertisement on iOS where I can control the advertisement on a byte level.
One use case would be to mimic an iBeacon advertisement. What is the iBeacon Bluetooth Profile (I want to advertise while my app is in the background which is why I'm not using CoreLocation)
I do not see a way to do this with the Core Bluetooth API. Is this correct? Are there alternatives using private API's or jailbreaking?
As the others already pointed out, there is no API on iOS that allows you to do this.
You can advertise as an iBeacon, but only when your app is in the foreground. When in background, the advertisement is removed and therefore cannot be discovered anymore (except for other iOS devices which explicitly scan for that service UUID). Also see the documentation here: Core Bluetooth Background Processing
If you would share your use case and what you want to achieve, maybe there are other ways to realise it.
My experience with iOS is that if it is something is not exposed in the API, there is no way around, except jailbreaking. For Bluetooth low energy the API is at GAP/GATT level, and very little at the lower levels (if anything) is exposed. Advertising is a LL (link layer) feature.
To illustrate how restricted the access is: When scanning for BLE devices you will not have access to the advertiser's MAC address iOS. In Android you have it.
I do not see a way to do this with the Core Bluetooth API. Is this
correct?
Since you have to set Manufacture Specific Data in order to achieve this, if nothing has changed you will experience exactly the same issue that I did. Explained here:
The advertisement key 'Manufacturer Data' is not allowed in CoreBluetooth
It is not possible.