I am trying to write an IOS app that will take left and right audio from connected AirPods' microphones, and play back the sound in real time, after some processing.
I haven't found any information on how to connect to, and talk to the AirPods after much searching on Apple's developer sites, and a few related but unhelpful StackOverflow questions.
How do you connect to these devices, and what's a good place to get information regarding the technology?
Thanks.
I would like to create a prototype to show an app concept. It would be a voice-based cooking assistant, utilizing voice recognition.
User would speak to iPhone/iPad, and navigate through a recipe which would be spoken back to him. This prototype will be shown at student exhibition – there will be space to hide a mac, and possibility of connecting the iphone by cable to it as well.
I have no experience in XCode, I have some experience in programming and coding. I made some prototypes in flinto/invision, but I guess that for this project, native programming is a must - or am I wrong?
How hardcore would I need to go to be able to make this work?
Is there any way to fake it – for example use the voice detection in OS X/Web Speech Api in Chrome and make a webapp which would be streamed to iphone/ipad as to a secondary monitor?
Thank you for all suggestions.
You can have a "script", and follow it, you don't have to develop a functional app, just something able to show the concept.
There is a WWDC video to show some concepts of prototyping, highly recommended.
https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2014-223/
We are developing a game what is based on our engine. The concept of the engine is to read NFC and QR codes, launch our application, and send a request to our server, what is respond to the application. It's done on android.
We want to port this engine to iOs and Windows also. So our plan is to hire developers for this project. Before 4-5 month, we surprised, iPhone does not supports NFC, they will use iBeacon, but we was very happy, when we realized, iPhone 6 will have NFC reader. And then, after I made some research on the net, I was so sad, because I read everywhere, apples NFC is restricted the NFC to Apple Pay.
Because i really do not know apple devices, i have some questions.
Is it possible to do this with iOs? If NFC is not an option, can we do this with QR reader? If no, of course we won't hiring developers for iOs.
And i know, this is a stupid question, but maybe: does anybody know, what is apples plan in the future with NFC?
You can implement QR reader function in iOS app using C++ libraries: ZXing and ZBar. Personally I recomment you to use ZBar, it is better for QR codes but cannot read bar codes.
You can use iBeacons with iOS.
Apple's Passbook application works through optical scanning of QR codes.
Is the CarPlay API publicly available?
Where can we find a programming guide or the reference to these classes if it is?
Or will it integrate seamlessly with other APIs like Audio from AVFoundation?
Notes
This question is broad and may be flagged as so but please do not as though there is almost no information on the subject and a lot of people could find it useful at this stage
I live in Switzerland and want to go to Geneva to try out a demo
app that I would write on a Ferrari lol.
Update Oct, 2019:
A couple of years later, Apple opened up their designer guidelines and developer docs on CarPlay. As mentioned in some other comments as well, getting access to developer tools can be done on your mac as well.
Technically, depending on the type of app you want to be compatible with CarPlay, it requires different API's and frameworks. For example:
The CarPlay framework is for use by navigation apps only. If you want to add CarPlay support to your audio app, use MPPlayableContentManager. For messaging apps, use SiriKit’s Messaging-related intents to support reading and sending messages in CarPlay through Siri. For VoIP calling apps, use CallKit with SiriKit’s VoIP Calling-related intents to make and answer audio calls on a CarPlay system.
Legally, however, still the MFi Program requires application and approval by Apple for you to get the appropriate permissions, signing profile etc. in order to deploy it on an actual device. Let alone release it to market. OR... you can try applying for access manually and explain your case.
Lastly, there is also some documentation on how to enable tools and simulator to work with CarPlay. For example, a small excerpt:
CarPlay is supported by default when you run Simulator. However, you should configure the Simulator with extra options when developing a CarPlay navigation app. To enable extra options, enter the following command in Terminal before launching Simulator: defaults write com.apple.iphonesimulator CarPlayExtraOptions -bool YES.
But besides the documentation I can seriously recommend to read what the people at Flitsmeister blogged about on how to enable tooling on your local machine. Also, their road to finally getting approved was apparently tedious and far from smooth (I'm not affiliated with Flitsmeister), even though their use case is based on having lots of users (±1.5mln). Mentioning this to emphasise: CarPlay is apparently still not for the every day developer, just yet.
This question dates of early 2014. Let me update this with a mid 2016 answer:
TL;DR - No, it is not publicly available.
In order to get the tools, documentation, technical specs and even the license itself to develop for (amonst others) Carplay, you need to be enrolled with Apple's MFi Program.
Apple's MFi Program ("Made for iPhone/iPod/iPad") is a licensing program for developers of hardware and software. This is a specific license targeted at manufacturers, mostly of "mass production" units, that has additional benefits over the regular developer accounts for companies. These benefits include hardware components, tools, docs, techsupport and of course the license that you are allowed to develop specifically for these devices and technologies, like Carplay.
The MFi Enrollment FAQ is a decent read that makes everything pretty clear. But before you get your hopes up, do note that -again- it is only available for manufacturers. Like the FAQ states:
Q: Am I eligible to apply for the MFi Manufacturing License if my company does not own a manufacturing facility?
A: No. The MFi Manufacturing License is intended solely for companies that own one or more manufacturing facilities.
There are some exceptions. For example if you're a contractor, or an engineering design firm, that develops MFi accessories for a client (who is a manufacturer).
But basically put, it is not for the average developer and admission is quite strict. This means, in a nutshell, that Apple Carplay is not available to developer for by the, say, 95% of us.
The MusicCarDisplayUI.framework framework is a private framework as of iOS 7.1. Taking a look at the runtime headers of the framework, one can guess why; it's just not ready yet for wide use. Whether Apple will make it public in the future is one's guess.
In the meantime, make sure to open a feature request or directly contact Apple here.
Update: If you wish to have a CarPlay-enabled app, contact Apple using this form.
Just worked on carplay project.
You can find the api documents on apple's developer website.
Like MPPlayableContentManager and MPContentItem.
However only after registered on apple's website for carplay, will apple send you the "Carplay Programming Guide" telling you how to activate the car simulator and what classes to use and how to do things etc.
Take a look at MediaPlayer Framework. There are a bunch of classes in there designed for CarPlay only. For example, MPPlayableContentManager, MPContentItem, etc. Obviously, you won't be able to deploy it via the AppStore without Apple's approval.
Partially since iOS 12.0 : https://developer.apple.com/documentation/carplay
The CarPlay framework is for use by navigation apps only. If you want to add CarPlay support to your audio app, use MPPlayableContentManager. For messaging apps, use SiriKit’s Messaging-related intents to support reading and sending messages in CarPlay through Siri. For VoIP calling apps, use CallKit with SiriKit’s VoIP Calling-related intents to make and answer audio calls on a CarPlay system.
Is there an SDK for Airplay Mirroring? I'm working on a prototype for a device that should mirror the screen of an iOS device. I understand this may be achievable by paying royalties to Apple for each device, and I'm fine with that. But how would I go about prototyping this features? There is a lot of info on writing iOS apps that support AirPlay, but I can't find much info about the hardware side.
Update
Based on the exchanges in the comments, I wondering now whether this is at all possible.
It seems like it is not possible to have a device that can mirror the iOS screen via AirPlay mirroring. While I couldn't find an official statement to this effect, these guys seem to have done the work for their project:
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/airtame-wireless-hdmi-for-everyone--2?c=activity
Hopefully things may change in the future, and I'll be sure to update the answer if they do.