Hi everyone 👋
I’ve been using the Apple Pencil Pro with my iPad Pro M4 and absolutely love it — the squeeze gesture, rotation, and haptics are amazing for creative work. But I’ve run into a little roadblock…
Right now, only one Pencil Pro can be paired at a time. So while one is charging, you can’t use another as a backup without unpairing and re-pairing, which interrupts the workflow.
I’d really love to see one of two things:
The ability to use one Pencil while another charges
or
An official external charger (or support for third-party ones)
Personally, I’d happily buy both a second Pencil and a charger if this became possible. I’ve even chatted with other creatives who feel the same — it would make a huge difference for long projects or working on the go.
Just wanted to share this idea and see if anyone else here would like this too. Thanks for reading!
Accessories
RSS for tagDiscuss designing and creating accessories that complement Apple devices.
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Hello, I want to try develop hearing aid based on stm32 with BLE Module.
If I want to only stream music from iPhone, does I need mfi certification? And I want to develop application with changing program on device
Hi there!
I'm developing a dual-mode bluetooth accessory and would like to pair it through AccessorySetupKit. I'm using an ESP32 with Bluekitchen btstack. This supports CTKD, which seems to be a requirement for the Bluetooth transport bridging according the WWDC19 session 901. I've been in contact with the btstack developer and verified that I can get the device to generate an LTK for the classic transport when reading an encrypted attribute. I'm not able to get this to work with the bluetoothTransportBriding option with AccessorySetupKit though.
What I've found so far is that if I omit the .bluetoothTransportBriding option during pairing I will get a pairing request when I read an encrypted attribute after connecting with the CBConnectPeripheralOptionEnableTransportBridgingKey option. If I accept this request it seems like the system automatically brings up the A2DP profile.
However if I include .bluetoothTransportBriding and/or .bluetoothPairingLE this option does not pop up, but the system does not bring up the A2DP profile. In this case things seem to end up in a weird situation where the device doesn't show up for pairing in Bluetooth Settings either, making it impossible to manually connect for A2DP.
Based on the AccessorySetupKit example from WWDC24 I've created a dice accessory firmware for ESP32 using btstack. The code for this is available here: https://github.com/ljodal/esp32-btstack-ctkd-test
I've also tweaked the AccessorySetupKit example app for iOS to add the ASAccessory.SupportOptions. The code for that is available here: https://github.com/ljodal/accessorysetupkit-ctkd-test
Is there any documentation available anywhere on what is expected of the device for Bluetooth Transport Bridging to work with AccessorySetupKit?
Topic:
App & System Services
SubTopic:
Hardware
Tags:
External Accessory
Accessories
Core Bluetooth
AccessorySetupKit
I'm working on a ble connected device that use ancs and system clock to receive alarm notification events for earing impaired people. It used to work until iPhone 13 with latest iOS 18.x. Starting with iPhone 14 onward (iOS 18.x), system clock alarm notification is not sent anymore.
Is There any reason for this to happening?.
Is anyone aware of this behaviour?
Any suggestion would be really appreciated.
Cheers
I need to implement an app that exchanges data with peripherals through TypeC on Apple 15 phones, but I have two questions that I need to ask for help:
Which library is used to communicate with peripherals through the TypeC port of the Apple mobile phone?
Do peripherals need to pass MFi authentication before they can communicate with the App?
Hey everyone, how’s it going?
I’d like to know if, by enrolling in Apple’s MFi program, I’ll gain access to develop my own tags and my own app to track them using Apple’s Find network. I also read that there’s an estimated cost of $4 per device—does that apply to each device produced, or only at the time of registering the device, with no fee for additional units?
Dear Sir,
I have some questions of IC firmware development of Find My.
Any rule request that item must include dual bank feature in IC?
I am using Nordic SDK_Connect SDK, Apple has own SDK? If yes, can I download it to use?
In Find-My, Apple has service UUID in bluetooth IC?
Thank you.
Best regards,
Sam Ng
Our company is working on Smartphone integration - CarPlay, because of that we need to access MFi for some certification. I went through the enrollment, but the payment gets stuck after confirmation and after some minutes it tells me it takes very long time to proceed. How can I enroll for MFi?
For security reasons, my application needs to prohibit external devices. If it is determined that the current phone is connected to any external devices, including non MFI authenticated devices, the app will exit. Please tell me how to do it? Thanks for your help.
I am trying to connect to an accessory's WiFi network using the below code and I always see the message "connection succeded" even if I provide an incorrect passphrase. I tried with different accessories and see the same behavior.
hotspotConfigurationManager.joinAccessoryHotspot(accessory, passphrase: passphrase) { error in
if let error = error {
print("connection failed: \(error.localizedDescription)")
} else {
print("connection succeeded")
}
}
I am developing a video streaming app for iPhone.
Minimum version is IOS 13.
I want to connect an external USB camera to the iPhone app and stream from it.
I have looked through a lot of information and have not found how to do this.
Is it possible to do this? Is there any documentation on this?
Howdy!
I'm in the R&D phase of this project and I need help. I can't find any sources that verify what I want to do is even possible.
I need to connect an iPhone or iPad using a USB cord to an external device which will transfer files to the iPhone or iPad. I have an app already made which can organize the files and whatever else I need to do (app is from a similar project). I'll refer to this device as Alfred (for poops and giggles)
The plan (if possible) is for Alfred to recognize my app and use its documents folder as the destination of the transfer. The iDevice doesn't have to communicate with Alfred, but that would be a bonus.
I don't want Alfred to run on an SOC. My goal is to have it be as simple as possible. No OS, just firmware. If the only way to interact with Apple Devices is Bluetooth or Wifi than so be it. If Matter or Thread could be utilized I wouldn't be apposed.
Any help with this project would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Is there any way to use AccessorySetupKit in the background to discover BLE devices?
We are experiencing problems with the USB port on iPad Pro 11 inch (M4) model number MVW13NF/A. Our custom peripheral device (based on Raspberry Pi Pico + tinyUSB stack, is configured as a network adapter class and has communication with our App over UDP protocol. Our device also acts as a DHCP server, providing the IP address for iPad.
The problem can be described as a “bus stall” or "bus hold" after sleep mode. To reproduce it we just send the iPad into sleep mode using a power button, the USB bus on M4 goes to the suspended state and won’t resume anymore when we wake the iPad up.
The problem has occurred since the upgrade to iOS 18.2.1 and has not been observed before on the previously installed iOS 17 on the same iPad Pro M4.
Also, the problem does not happen on the iPad Pro 11 inch (3rd gen with M1) model number MHW73FD/A, with the same iOS 18.2.1 installed. The problem also does not arise, if we connect our device via USB hub to the same iPad Pro M4.
We have tested different versions of tinyUSB stack (either included in RPi Pico SDK or native unpatched). The problem is independent of the library version. It occurs always if our device is connected directly to the USB port of iPad Pro (M4) with iOS 18. It also stays after upgrading to the latest iOS 18.3 (beta)
In the attached logs is (reduced for clarity) debug output from tinyUSB library about events on the USB bus. These logs were captured via RTT debugging output, using Segger J-Link debugger, so logging process does not affect the timings on the USB bus.
There are three logs attached, for cases 1: "iPad Pro M4 + iOS18" (i.e. problematic case), 2: "iPad Pro M1 + iOS18", and 3: "iPad Pro M4 + iOS18 + external USB hub" (they are non-problematic cases).
case1_usbd_log.txt
case2_usbd_log.txt
case3_usbd_log.txt
This was already posted as feedback with id FB16366509
First of all, my English skills are not good, so I wrote an AI program and sent it to complete the questions. sorry.
I'm developing a safety monitoring application that requires continuous BLE scanning for temperature and humidity sensors. I need clarification on the technical feasibility of background and sleep mode operation.
Key Requirements:
Continuous monitoring of BLE advertisements from temperature/humidity sensors
Must detect critical temperature/humidity changes immediately
Data logging every minute
Includes navigation features showing routes
Technical Questions:
Background Mode Operation
If using background modes (bluetooth-central + location):
Can we receive BLE advertisements reliably?
What is the actual scanning interval limitation?
Will CBCentralManagerScanOptionAllowDuplicatesKey limitation affect critical monitoring?
Sleep Mode Operation
Can the app maintain BLE scanning during device sleep?
Would combining with navigation background mode help?
Are there any recommended approaches for continuous monitoring?
Sample Code of Current Approach:
let options: [String: Any] = [
CBCentralManagerOptionShowPowerAlertKey: true,
CBCentralManagerOptionRestoreIdentifierKey: "uniqueIdentifier"
]
centralManager = CBCentralManager(delegate: self, queue: nil, options: options)
// Scanning setup
centralManager.scanForPeripherals(
withServices: [serviceUUID],
options: [CBCentralManagerScanOptionAllowDuplicatesKey: true]
)
Has anyone successfully implemented continuous BLE monitoring in background/sleep modes? Are there any special entitlements or techniques that could help achieve this?
This is for a safety-critical application where missing sensor data could lead to serious issues.
Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.
How to encrypt bytes with CCM method in KMP?
I am developing a Bluetooth pointer device to control an iPad using HID. Most functionality works well, including mouse movement and button presses. However, I am encountering a strange issue with button releases. For the HID descriptor for the iPad I defined the following:
0501
0902
A101
8503
0509 // Mouse Buttons
1901
2902 // 2 buttons
1500
2501
9502 // Report count for two buttons
7501
8102
9501
7506 // Padding
8103
0501
0901
A100
1500 // Min value
26FF7F // Max value (0...32767)
0930
0931
7510
9502
8102 // Absolute coordinate pointer
C0
Do you see an issue with the descriptor?
Example packages sent over bluetooth:
0xA103 01 4F3A FB50 // 01 is a left button click, works well, an icon is clicked on iPad.
0xA103 00 4F3A FB50 // 00 should be a left button release, package is sent and received, but button is NOT released, but held on the iPad! The mouse coordinates are updated well, however, I expect the button to be released when sending 0xA103 00 4F3A FB50, but it is held down instead.
Perhaps there is a special requirement for iOS to make this work? It is close to be fully functioning.
Hi there,
we're developing a Bluetooth LE device and are using the AccessorySetupKit to connect the device to our iOS application. We are a registered member of the Bluetooth SIG and are advertising our company id over BLE. Setting up the device works on most iPhones we've tested with, but not all. Here's an example of some of the devices we've tested:
iPhone 12 mini: Not working, tried both iOS 18.1.1 and 18.1.1
iPhone 13 mini: Working, iOS 18.1.1
iPhone 15: Not working, iOS 18.1.1
iPhone 15: Works now, didn't work a few weeks ago
iPhone 15 Pro: Works
iPhone 16 Pro: Works
Looking through the logs of the iPhone 12 mini while scanning I see some things that might be related in the logs (I've removed potentially identifying data). It seems to me that it's detecting the device, but not showing it in the UI:
error 11:43:54.792877+0100 bluetoothd canSessionScanForMFGRData <our company ID> <private> there:1
default 11:43:54.795685+0100 deviceaccessd ### appBundleHasASKEnabled <our app bundle> supports Bluetooth
default 11:43:54.795730+0100 deviceaccessd ### _reportDiscoveredBTDevice DADevice: ID <removed ID>, name '<ASPickerDisplayItem.name>', btID <removed ID>, flags AccessorySetup, type Hi-Fi Speaker <CBPeripheral: 0x4b8164540, identifier = <removed ID>, name = (null), mtu = 23, state = disconnected> has no bluetooth name
We get no callbacks while the picker UI is displayed. Opening the picker on another device at the same time immediately shows our accessory.
This seems like a bug in the AccessorySetupKit too me, but I'm not sure. Could we be doing something wrong?
My test was conducted by changing the pink dice to have a 16 bit UUID using the ASKSampleAccessory app. Afterwards, I ran AccessorySetupKit Picker in the ASKSample app, but Pink dice was not found.
We confirmed that Pink dice was searched well in other apps.
Does AccessorySetupKit not support 16 bit UUID?
AccessorySetupKit Sample code : https://developer.apple.com/documentation/AccessorySetupKit/authorizing-a-bluetooth-accessory-to-share-a-dice-roll
Hello, I've been working to implement PTT in the way recommended by the documentation. The main issue is that the bluetooth methods are opaque, so I cannot solve for what I need. The result will be that I will have to resort to hacky approaches that the PTT framework seems to be intended to solve (playing silent clips, playing custom notification sounds, having long running background audio sessions).
I am testing with Anker soundcore mini as well as airpod pro.
Here's the issue: there are 2 very different behaviours depending on whether I'm using a call/fullDuplex session and a halfDuplex session.
halfDuplex
Anchor mini
Current behaviour
long press activates siri
pressing again after siri is active, starts transmission
long press activates siri again
pressing again after siri is active, stops transmission
pause/play routes to the ongoing media session and plays music
Expected behaviour
play/pause should map to transmit/stopTransmit
IF I have to use long press, it should at least not trigger siri
AirPod pro
Current behaviour
long press changes noise cancellation
pause/play routes to the ongoing media session and plays music
Expected behaviour
play/pause should map to transmit/stopTransmit
fullDuplex/call
Anchor mini:
Current behaviour
long press activates siri
pressing again after siri is active, starts transmission
long press activates siri again
pressing again after siri is active, stops transmission
pause/play routes to the ongoing media session and plays music
Expected behaviour
play/pause should map to transmit/stopTransmit
IF I have to use long press, it should at least not trigger siri
AirPod pro
Current behaviour
long press changes noise cancellation
pause/play maps to mute/unmute (even if media is playing)
Expected behaviour
This makes sense for call behaviour, I wish it worked this well for PTT
The intention here is to be able to fully interact with a channel hands-free. The current API seems to make that impossible. Is that by design? Reading all the docs seems to suggest its intended for transmit/stopTransmit to be doable just with the play/pause buttons, but even apple hardware seems to not support that.