When an iOS Device goes into "sleep mode", even a configured VPN is, unfortunately, turned off.
A customer that wants an app for his iPad has to use VPN for security, so anything must be done through VPN. The app has to synchronize a lot, but the iOS device might turn off the VPN by itself. That's why I just need to trigger it again every time i need an internet connection (or keep it alive).
Do any of you guys have anything in mind?
Even using Private API is ok (the app will only be distributed to a customer, not through App Store).
Or using any app like Cisco AnyConnect would do the job.
Two ideas:
1) You can create a configuration profile with VPN on demand. This require client certificat authentication though. My guess that if some application will try to access domains or hosts defined in VPN on demand section in sleep mode, VPN will be turned on.
Update: At some moment Apple was sued regarding VPN on demand, so I believe they dropped this feature and after returned it back modified. It's good idea to read this article for iOS 7: http://support.apple.com/kb/ts4550
2) Idea which I offered for this question (iOS6 toggle WiFi on non-jailbroken device). Here is the copy of text from there:
I think it make sense to look at SystemConfiguration.framework.
It has set of API to work with different connection interfaces, which are defined here: http://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#documentation/Networking/Reference/SCNetworkConfiguration/Reference/reference.html
This one is private API.
Update: I believe there were some changes in SystemConfiguration and Apple tightened security around this framework.
3) Apple may grant to some applications additional entitlements, so they can build functionality which no other application can build. As example, VPN client companies (like Cisco) got special entitlements to build what in iOS called "VPN plugins", which is essentially VPN client.
Its now possible to do with NetworkExtension framework available in iOS 8 and up.
If you go to project settings->capabilities you will find "personal VPN". By turning it on you get the framework added to your project.
There is little to no official documentation, but you can check out the WWDC video here https://developer.apple.com/videos/wwdc/2015/?id=717
Related
This question was asked a couple of years ago (iOS app Blocker possibilities) and I'm wondering if there is anything that has changed in IOS since this question was answered in 2017 that would allow a third party app to prevent an app from being opened or used (that doesnt use the Device Enrolment Program)?
As mentioned in the linked post, the freedom app prevents the use of other apps via a VPN. I am wondering if there is a more straightforward means of a third party app blocking other apps or whether sandboxing means that the use of a VPN is the only way of a third party app blocking other apps?
I am not an expert, but it seems like Freedom is routing an iPhone's network traffic through a "local" VPN. This means that, while you could open an app like Chrome and navigate to google.com, Freedom's VPN would not forward the request.
I haven't installed or tested the app, but their website is carefully worded: "Install App Blocker" to install the Freedom app blocker. This blocks content on other browsers like Google Chrome and for apps."
I read "blocks content" to mean you can open the app, but it will fail to load content without a network connection. I haven't tested, but I suspect that you could still use "offline" apps.
Here is a screen grab of their website.
As you noted, Apple's mobile device management (MDM) solution is capable of preventing apps and other activities. Here is the list for MDM restrictions, and a list of Supervised restrictions.
It's my belief that a third-party app cannot prevent another app from functioning. Freedom is playing a network trick. To stop an app from actually booting would require a jailbreak. But I haven't explored this space in depth.
Yesterday, I submitted my app for review, but I got this message from Apple:
We discovered one or more bugs in your app when reviewed on iPad iPhone running iOS 9.3.2 on Wi-Fi connected to an IPv6 network.
Specifically, upon review we have found the application still experiences a loading issue and unable to review the application content.
My app uses ionic framework, how can I fix this problem?
I already used domain to access my server, but this problem still exists.
Yes. According to apple's policy , your application must supports IPV6. so, please check your application supports IPV6. Supporting IPv6 in iOS 9
To test, if your application supports IPV6 or not please check this ,
Supporting IPv6 DNS64/NAT64 Networks
To check with creating follow this steps , which indicate on apple's page .
To set up a local IPv6 Wi-Fi network using your Mac
1) Make sure your Mac is connected to the Internet(with ethernet), but not through Wi-Fi.
2) Launch System Preferences from your Dock, LaunchPad, or the Apple menu.
3) Press the Option key and click Sharing. Don’t release the Option key yet. (don't forget to press option key)
4)Select Internet Sharing in the list of sharing services.
5)Release the Option key.
6)Select the Create NAT64 Network checkbox.
7)Choose the network interface that provides your Internet connection, such as Thunderbolt Ethernet or Only Ethernet.
8)Select the Wi-Fi checkbox.
9)Click Wi-Fi Options, and configure the network name and security options for your network.
10) Select the Internet Sharing checkbox to enable your local network.
11)When prompted to confirm you want to begin sharing, click Start
12) Now your mac mini is working as a hotspot and useing IPv6 NAT64 network
(looks like above image when hotspot created)
Now connect your iphone with your mac mini's hotspot. and Test your Application it's working properly or not.
I hope this answer is helpful you.
Edit :- Don't forget to add below frameworks.
1) WebKit
2) CFNetwork
You will find all the information on this link related to ipv6 policy. Supporting IPv6 DNS64/NAT64 Networks
We also faced the same issue.
Just registered your website with any CDN like cloudFlare and your app will be approved next time no need to shift the whole site to any other server. This is the easiest way to get approval from app store.
I think Apple has something wrong with this error!
I have an app (ionic app) rejected 3 times (during Nov 2016) for the same error and lastly accepted without making any change related to IPv6!
You may need to check your app for startup errors if you think that you have nothing to do with IPv6.
By the way: I did not check IPv6 compatibility on my app, and even more the app - in its inner views - has a connection to a webpage that hosted on a shared host with no IPv6 support!!
Please note that sometimes the mobile app works in the test environment but not in the Apple own test environment. Following this and this link can be very helpful in determining what's the problem with apple rejections.
It is clearly stated that the test environment is not exactly the same
My question regards a possible remote Parental Control system for iOS devices.
I understand how to apply web filtering options that would allow parents to whitelist and/or blacklist specific URLs and domains remotely on their children's devices via managed profiles and MDM server but is it possible to whitelist/blacklist certain apps from the iTunes store - i.e if the parents want to remotely block the installation of say Snapchat and Viber for example? It appears that filtering right now is only possible based on the iTunes "appropriate age" tag - i.e 4+
Thanks!
You can always blacklist apps using an Mobile Device Management software. When an app which is blacklisted is installed on the user's device, the device will show as not compliant. You can also find which all blacklisted apps are installed on the device. Then the admin can prompt the user to uninstall the app. If they are not complying the admin can lock the device until they agree to comply.By using an MDM you can enforce additional restrictions like block camera etc. For a more strict management you can put the Apple device on supervisory mode, which have more options for device restriction. iOS 9.3 goes a bit further in this area by preventing the blacklisted apps from being shown or installed.
No, that level of control is unavailable in iOS. The closest you can get today is to either set the appropriate app age or to use the app installation restriction to block the entire App Store (keeping in mind that on iOS 8, this restriction will also prevent app installation by MDM as well).
I'm going to develop few apps for iOS. Can they communicate to each other via sockets? Let's say one app runs as server (even in background mode) and another as client connects to server app and perform some communication. Does it violate any App Store rules? Any available IPC in iOS if my idea is not working for some reason?
Of course you can and it doesn't violate any rules.
Just just the CoreFoundation libraries.
There's no point in me describing it to you if it already has been all written in the official Apple documentation:
https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/NetworkingInternet/Conceptual/NetworkingTopics/Articles/UsingSocketsandSocketStreams.html
You can find here examples, all approaches and things you can and cannot do.
EDIT:
You didn't make that clear but it seems like you wanted the apps to run on the same device. You can do that but that would mean that one app has to run in background, and to do that you need some kind of hack (for example: background updating location mode ON) and that won't get past apple store. You need a very good reason to have your app ran in background (music in background, update location in background for fitness apps etc.)
Besides, it's a duplicate question:
iOS - Is it possible to communicate between apps via localhost?
As long as your apps are in the same app group, then yes, socket IPC is allowed. If not, then no. Sockets map to file descriptors (Berkeley sockets), and these files are sandboxed to the app or app group. More info: http://ddeville.me/2015/02/interprocess-communication-on-ios-with-berkeley-sockets
We were exploring various test suites for mobile automated testing and ran into this company called Perfecto Mobile. One of the features that blew me away was they are able to (without jailbreaking) effectively perform a "Remote desktop" on a physical iPad.
So, the iPad's screen is mirrored within a web application, it can register touch / swipe events on the web app and perform them on the device. The only relevant technical detail I have is that all this is being performed using commands sent over the USB cable.
I'm really curious as to how this is implemented and details on relevant Private APIs if any.
Thanks,
Teja
I'm not familiar with PerfectoMobile, but I can give you a few pointers on how this can be accomplished:
For the mirroring, one way would be to look at using AirPlay, the APIs are pretty well documented, but not to do what we're talking about which would require some serious reverse engineering, but it's definitely possible, these guys have done it. A different approach would be to run a background app that would periodically take snapshots of the main screen, and send them over a socket connection to a client. You could do this as a VNC server, and to incorporate the remote view in a web app, you could use noVNC. As far using a USB connection, in the case of the background app talking to a client over TCP, you could to a port forward.
To actually perform on the device the touch events sent from your remote viewer, most people have been using the GSEvent group of functions from the GraphicsServices private framework without needing to jailbreak the device. Again, a background app would receive over a socket an instruction such as "Tap there", instantiate the GSEvent, and inject it so it gets processed in the run loop of the most front app.
These few possibilities, at least, have been implemented successfully in different iOS apps up to iOS 6.1 (iOS7 is a different animal). You won't find any such app in the App Store, since Apple clearly prohibits the use of private frameworks in 3rd party apps, instead people deploy them in-house using Enterprise and ad-hoc provisioning profile. On Android however, there's VMLite available in the Play Store.
If you looking to share screen from ios / android, check out skreen.me. They have sample apps you can try out, also they provide libs for mobile app integration.