As far as I know it's not possible to scan for hotspots in range and read their bssid and signal strengths. This was possible on iOS 4 by using private APIs and not longer possible on iOS 5 without jailbreak. Even if it were possible, the app would be rejected on the App Store. Is that right?
One company that has an indoor positioning system is claiming they can develop this system in iOS. I know for a fact they are scanning for hotspots and signal strengths and then triangulating the signal on their current Android app.
Are there any alternatives I am missing? Their claiming sounds impossible to me but I would love to hear from the people here. I would like to be ready when they demo (although I am expecting a jailbreak or some kind of mock up)
As far as i know this can still be done (using private APIs, of course) by MobileApple80211 framework.
Stumbler code is a good source of information on how to use this framework.
For iOS 5 you'll need a jailbroken iPhone. Guvener Gokce has a very educational blog post on this: iPhone Wireless Scanner iOS5
Just to update the answer: The MobileApple80211 framework has been replaced by MobileWifi.framework. You will need a jailbroken device (supposedly it can't be done using just private API's, hence on a development/enterprise non-jailbroken device).
Related
I am trying to build an iOS app which would communicate with another non-apple device via bluetooth. It would be a Bluetooth Stereo Transmitter which uses the bluetooth A2DP-profile which is supported by apple :
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3647?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US
I have read tons of articles and pages. I have many unanswered questions and hope to recieve some answers and write something that will help me and others in future work with iOS and bluetooth.
Evaluating the available bluetooth connection options
Here's a list with possible approaches and informations I found. Please feel free to answer/edit anything that is not correct.
Edited from http://www.pocketmagic.net/2012/07/bluetooth-and-ios-use-bluetooth-in-your-iphone-apps/ :
A) Enroll in the made for iPhone/iPod/iPad (MFi) program. Details on costs are not available, but this is not for the small development companies, barely selling a few licenses.indicate costs depending on project, and starting numbers somewhere at 10K USD. Not really an option IMO, as the costs involved and trouble getting certified are ridiculously high, for something so basic and simple such as building a Bluetooth application. I have found a Bluetooth stereo transmitter with bluetooth version 2.1 (Class II). I can not find if the device is MFi compliant.
Based on this article :
Existing bluetooth device and Apple MFI
Q1: How can I be sure or find out if the device is Mfi compliant?
Q2: If the device is Mfi compliant will I be able to pair it with the device in the settings option?
B) CoreBluetooth framework, currently usable only with Low Energy Bluetooth 4 devices. Since these are not largely spread this is not really an option. You won't be able to connect to standard headsets, keyboards, or other non-Bluetooth 4 devices.
Q3: Will I need to pair the non-apple bluetooth device with my iPad (in settings) to use the CoreBluetooth framework?
I am asking beacuse I have no experience with iOS and bluetooth and beacuse my budget is low, so I dont want to waste money buying stuff I will not be able to use for development.
C) GameKit framework, this allows some basic Bluetooth functionality, such as finding nearby devices and establishing a serial communication link, but it only intended for use between iOS devices. So Android plus iPhone via GameKit is a no go.
D) Private APIs. There is a BluetoothManager framework, in the private APIs, inside the SDK. This can be used to achieve the proposed task, but you won't get your App approved on Appstore, as private API's is not allowed by Apple. Since this is so convenient, and working so nice, almost like the real thing Apple didn't want to include.
Q4: Can I use private APIs within the iOS Eneteprise program and distribute my apps since there is no App store approval process?
Q5: Does anyone know some more private APIs I could use beside bluetoothManager framework?
E)Jailbreaking and using Ringwald's BTStack. Jailbreaking = rooting = freedom, probably the best way to go . But this places you so far away from Apple's guidelines, and the Appstore itself. So better decide what your project is all about, and who your users will be.
Q6: For bluetooth I need CoreBluetooth Framework. What framework do I need to import if I want to use wifi communication?
Thanks for any help :).
I understand that the iOS App "PKPKT" is using BLE (Bluetooth Low Enery). But what I am curious about it is, is it purely using BLE only? Or does it switching between BLE and Classic Bluetooth?
I tested with a iPhone 5 and a iPhone 5s with both installed the app. I turned on bluetooth on both devices. And then i checked the "DEVICES" list to see if the other iPhone is paired with one another, I found that they are not. Until i launched the PKPKT on one of the device, and the i check the "DEVICE" list again, now they are paired and connected. So, i'm thinking is this pairing done by the BLE pairing? Meaning one of "Just works", "Out of Band", or "Passkey entry" methods.
There is also a "Chat" functionality in that app. This make me curious if the chatting function using BLE or Classic Bluetooth?
So my question is actually "Is switching between BLE and Classic bluetooth possible?". This is part of the study on this BLE technology. Hopefully someone could help me and other newbie on this new technology.
Thanks in advance!
I wrote PKPKT. I only use BLE. No classic. iBeacon is cool but doesn't have the background scanning needed to discover other players. I use game center, but only for scores, no sessions. It's optional in the app to enable game center (those banners can be distracting!)
The chat is also over BLE.
Because the connections are not encrypted, you don't need to manually pair the devices, and "just works"
I think you might find this link helpful. It implements something that looks to be a simpler version of PKPKT. I believe the app uses a combination of GameKit/iBeacon. The app requires iOS7.0+ and states, "PKPKT does the hard work of finding other players by detecting them using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) in the background." iBeacon would be the most battery-efficient way of accomplishing this and is a new feature in iOS 7. There is a wealth of information online(particularly on SO) about peer to peer bluetooth gaming using GameKit, if you are interested.
We can't say for sure unless the developer lets us know. If one were to attempt to recreate the application, GameKit and iBeacon would be the technologies that I believe most would recommend.
You might find this project helpful as an overview of how to use Bluetooth LE to communicate between two devices. You don't need to pair the devices, and unlike iBeacons, it works when the app is in the background.
SimpleShare - Easy Proximity-based Sharing for iOS
You can use the delegate methods of the SimpleShare project to easily share arrays of strings between nearby users running your app, such as user IDs, which you could then use to get more info, photos, etc, about that user from a web service.
As far as I know it's not possible to scan for hotspots in range and read their bssid and signal strengths. This was possible on iOS 4 by using private APIs and not longer possible on iOS 5 without jailbreak. Even if it were possible, the app would be rejected on the App Store. Is that right?
One company that has an indoor positioning system is claiming they can develop this system in iOS. I know for a fact they are scanning for hotspots and signal strengths and then triangulating the signal on their current Android app.
Are there any alternatives I am missing? Their claiming sounds impossible to me but I would love to hear from the people here. I would like to be ready when they demo (although I am expecting a jailbreak or some kind of mock up)
As far as i know this can still be done (using private APIs, of course) by MobileApple80211 framework.
Stumbler code is a good source of information on how to use this framework.
For iOS 5 you'll need a jailbroken iPhone. Guvener Gokce has a very educational blog post on this: iPhone Wireless Scanner iOS5
Just to update the answer: The MobileApple80211 framework has been replaced by MobileWifi.framework. You will need a jailbroken device (supposedly it can't be done using just private API's, hence on a development/enterprise non-jailbroken device).
My team and I are students and we are currently embarking on a final year project to develop an Indoor positioning system (IPS) mobile application on IOS (IPhones only). Would like to clarify our doubts on certain areas.
1)Is it true that IPhones Apps that calculates the wifi signal strength from access points is still not allowed in app stores?
2) I have seen quite a number of SDKs using Wi-fi triangulation to create IPS for android. Other than redpin which provides open source SDK for IOS, is there other SDKs available to develop IPS on IOS?
Thank you so much.
1) True 2) AFAIK No.
See this SO answer on outdoor positioning and another SO answer on the Apple80211 private framework to access the WiFi (app rejection if you use it ofc). There are also hardware solutions like Cisco Mobility Services Engine.
WiFiSlam used signal strength + SSID + inertia. They claim to use signal integration with a better algorithm than Kalman. See http://youtu.be/OGdvjvla1Tc#t=1033s They were bought by Apple and now are gone from the Internet, but it seems possible, although complicated, to develop a software only solution for indoor positioning.
Another thing, even when you set kCLLocationAccuracyBestForNavigation but the position is still all over the place when compared to a GPS unit. See http://web.archive.org/web/20110912081330/http://rnr.davidlokshin.com/post/825290568
You can only access Wi-Fi-signals from your app if you jailbreak your device. This is not a good solution of course. We at indoo.rs eventually decided to go for Bluetooth instead of Wi-Fi.
We provide an SDK for that, by the way. ;)
1) True. There are no public APIs that supply signal strength. (The only info that can be gathered with public APIs is the SSID of the currently connected Wi-Fi network.)
2) I don't know.
I'm working on my senior engineering design project and I need your help! For this I have my iPhone app receiving images from a external camera circuit, which I built.
To interface my iPhone app to the camera circuit, I have looked into the following approaches:
Build a bluetooth module on the camera circuit, to transfer images to the iPhone
Use Eye-Fi SD card to transfer images to my app somehow! link:http://www.eye.fi/products/iphone
Build a circuit, to make a wired connection to the iPhone with the 30-Pin dock connector
Here are the problems I'm facing with each of these. My actual questions for you guys are highlighted in BOLD:
The iOS BlueTooth framework (4S only), only supports Low Energy Devices. Looking at the the modules out there like this one, I'm doubting it will work for image transfer, which seems to be a bulky task for low energy bluetooth. I know there are jailbreak apps on the cydia store, which do regular bluetooth transfers, but I was unable to find those private APIs for such a task. (NOTE: I'm making this app for my purposes, so feel free to suggest any private/unofficial APIs). Question#1: How can I interface to a regular bluetooth device (not another iPhone) and transfer data?
EYE-FI card sounded amazing as a consumer because the company has their proprietary iPhone app to transfer the images from the EYE-FI SD card. Problem is I can't figure out how to easily interface with the EYE-Fi card in my code. I researched the iOS CFNetwork framework, but haven't had any luck. Question#2:How can I interface with the EYE-FI card in my app?
Building a circuit seems simple enough with this development board, but I read somewhere that the iPhone may not recognize an "un-registered" accessory. I have a developer license but not a MFi licence. Question#3: Do I need to be registered as a MFi developer to create and use this external accessory in my App for my own purposes???
You might try setting something up through a serial port since joining the MPi program is prohibited for individuals. You could possible use a connector like this one http://www.amazon.com/neXplug-Ultra-Small-Micro-Adapter/dp/B0055PCVDO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1339309918&sr=8-1
The Apple website recommends individuals/hobbyists to use " recommend that you use a third-party solution which will allow you to connect iOS devices to serial devices and to write iOS apps that communicate with these serial devices" (from mfi.apple.com/faq).
I am also working on an external camera that can hook to the iphone/ipad. I will be using a serial port in order to get around the MFi requirement for external iphone/pad devices. Trying to use bluetooth is too complicated and the data stream isn't big enough for pictures. the wired version will work much better.
I hope this helps and that your college term and project are not already finished. Best of luck.
As T Reddy has already mentioned, if you want to create hardware the interfaces with external hardware framework, you have to sign up with the Apple MFi program which you, as an individual, can not do.
I'm not sure of how the Eye-Fi system works but it sounds to me that it basically syncs the images to their server and once you download their Apple App, the app can sync the photos for you.
Whether you are using Bluetooth or the 30-pin connector, there is no way to interface to an external device unless that device is MFi compliant and a part of the MFi program. I suggest you try the following options to solve this delimma--
If this is a "Senior Project" at some University, see if your University is part of MFi. Apple will not let individuals join the program, so if you are going to gain access, you have to access it through another organization or, possibly, an educational institution. I don't know if Apple has worked with schools in this regard, but you never know. It might be possible.
If your school isn't in the MFi program then you may want to consider re-writing your application for an Android device. Android devices are not locked down like iOS devices, so that may be a more reasonable approach.
I hate to bring bad news but circumventing these hardware restrictions on an iOS device is excessively prohibited. Your options are quite limited and none of them are probably what you either want or need to hear.