Apple Makes Bluetooth Available to iOS Apps!

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Written on Tuesday, December 20, 2011



This is perhaps some of the biggest news - professionally speaking - I've heard in months! 

Yes, you heard that right! Apple has done the - so far - unthinkable and opened up your iPhone's bluetooth for use within other applications, by providing developers with a Bluetooth 4.0 LE API they can now use. Why is this not on their home page, right? Well, admittedly Siri is pretty damn good and justifies the headlines (apart from the annoying "I can only look for business in the U.S. and when using U.S. English" message). 

Still, this is great news not just for everyone in Bluetooth Proximity Marketing, but also anyone in the mobile apps industry who wants to implement applications that no longer necessarily need a data plan! 

Here's more from the very insightful post of the guys over at De-De:
There have been rumblings about some of the new additions to the iOS 5.0 bluetooth stack and hardware in iPhone 4S. ex: [link]
So let’s poke around the Core Bluetooth Framework in the Xcode documentation and see what kinds of new things will be possible with this API.
Some high level benefits of this API are:
  • Bluetooth 4.0 LE does not require pairing. So if a TV or another device that you’ve never seen before is broadcasting, you can see its signal and connect to it without having to go to the Settings app.
  • Uses less power.
  • Apps can be woken up and become active when sent signals via the CoreBluetooth API.
  • If another app is using a Bluetooth 4.0 LE device, your app will be able to use it as well. A super awesome use case for this would be that heartbeat monitor you got. Your 3rd party social network app will also be able to use the connection as well!
To see some code examples head on over to the original post


Quite a number of previously impossible things are now made simple:
  • Billboards would be able to broadcast coupons to nearby patrons - no cell reception needed.
  • A jukebox might advertise the song that’s currently playing with a link to purchase
  • Your car could broadcast its stats so that when you pull into a gas station the service mechanics will know whether you need an oil change.
  • Your company badge might broadcast your email address so that connecting at business events becomes even easier.
  • Your TV could broadcast the link to the current TV channel’s website.
All of the above is just the beginning. The API allows your iPhone to stream data from the service once it is discovered and connected to, etc. Just like the older Bluetooth spec, but simpler. In the spec’s simplicity lies its power.
This is just one thing that is not possible yet (though it would be super cool if they were on Apple’s todo list):
  • iPhone to iPhone CoreBluetooth communication
Now we just need to wait for some devices to come out into the market that the iPhone 4S can connect to :)


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3 Comments

  1. Micromax |

    This is really great news as one can have now bluetooth available in iPhone and by this many things will become easy for everyone.

     
  2. iphone app development india |

    wowwhooooooooooooo thats really good its really good new for iphone user

     
  3. Piotr Boyle |

    This is definitely a good and surprising news for us, as didn't thought that this will happen so soon. Anyway, we are now in benefit having bluetooth available to iOS apps.

     

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