Wi-Fi Aware between iOS 26 and Android device

Eager to see the Wi-Fi Aware communication between iPhone (iOS 26) and an Android device, I tried iOS 26 beta on my iPhone16. and tried below code snippet from provided example at https://developer.apple.com/documentation/wifiaware/building-peer-to-peer-apps. Idea is to first verify discovery of Android WiFiAware service on iOS.



extension WAPublishableService {
    public static var simulationService: WAPublishableService {
        allServices[simulationServiceName]!
    }
}


extension WASubscribableService {
    public static var simulationService: WASubscribableService {
        allServices[simulationServiceName]!
    }
}

struct ContentView: View {
    @State private var showingDevicePicker = false
    @State private var pairedDevices: [WAPairedDevice] = [] // To hold discovered/paired devices

    var body: some View {
        VStack {
            Button("Discover Devices") {
                showingDevicePicker = true // Trigger the device picker presentation
            }
            .sheet(isPresented: $showingDevicePicker) {
                DevicePicker(.wifiAware(.connecting(to: .selected([]), from: .simulationService))) { endpoint in
                    print("Paired Endpoint: \(endpoint)")
                } label: {
                    Image(systemName: "plus")
                    Text("Add Device")
                } fallback: {
                    Image(systemName: "xmark.circle")
                    Text("Unavailable")
                }
            }

            List(pairedDevices) { device in
                Text(device.name ?? "Unknown Device")
            }
        }
    }
}

With suggested entitlement of WiFiAware and info.plist of service info.

Then I had Android device with WIFiAware service publishing service (service name set '_sat-simulation._udp') from this app https://github.com/anagramrice/NAN.

But above iOS app is unable to find the service published from android device.

Am I missing something?

Note: the above Android-NAN app seems to be working fine between Android to Another Android.

Answered by DTS Engineer in 846374022

Please go to Developer > Accessories and download Accessory Design Guidelines for Apple Devices. It was updated during WWDC to include a Wi-Fi Aware chapter. Wi-Fi Aware is a complex and rapidly evolving standard, and that chapter has detailed info on the aspects of the standard that ensure compatibility.

Now, I’m not an expert on the Wi-Fi Aware (NAN) protocol, and I’m certainly not up to speed with the latest news on Android devices, but my understanding is that it’s rare to find hardware and software combinations that follow all of those guidelines. If you’re having problems with this, I recommend that you discuss these guidelines with your hardware and platform vendors.

Share and Enjoy

Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"

  1. What Android device are you using?
  2. Do you have two iPhones to test if the demo works properly?

Hello @Bojie_Lv

  1. Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
  2. yes I verified the provided full iOS sample (from above link) between two iPhones. they discover and connect as expected.

And just to iterate, the Android NAN application that I pointed above seems to be working between two androids as well.

You first change your approach, can the Android NAN demo detect Apple devices?

Hello Bojie_Lv, Good question, when I tried even Android app was not able to detect the iOS wifiaware service 😞

Please go to Developer > Accessories and download Accessory Design Guidelines for Apple Devices. It was updated during WWDC to include a Wi-Fi Aware chapter. Wi-Fi Aware is a complex and rapidly evolving standard, and that chapter has detailed info on the aspects of the standard that ensure compatibility.

Now, I’m not an expert on the Wi-Fi Aware (NAN) protocol, and I’m certainly not up to speed with the latest news on Android devices, but my understanding is that it’s rare to find hardware and software combinations that follow all of those guidelines. If you’re having problems with this, I recommend that you discuss these guidelines with your hardware and platform vendors.

Share and Enjoy

Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"

maybe Galaxy S23 Ultra do not support Wi-Fi Aware 4.0

My phone with the SM8650 chip cannot detect the peer handle of iOS devices in the NAN demo.

1,In the Apple document "Accessory-Design-Guidelines.pdf", there is the following description: "Accessories and peer devices integrating Wi-Fi Aware technology shall support the Wi-Fi Aware Specification – Version 4.0". 2,In Android devices, it seems there is no direct way to find devices that comply with the "Wi-Fi Aware Specification – Version 4.0". However, through initial research, in Android, the method Characteristics.isAwarePairingSupported can indicate whether the pairing-related features in Version 4.0 are supported: /** Check if the Aware Pairing and all associated security features as defined in Wi-Fi Alliance (WFA) Wi-Fi Aware Specification version 4.0 are supported. This includes:... */ public boolean isAwarePairingSupported() { return mCharacteristics.getBoolean(KEY_SUPPORT_NAN_PAIRING); } 3,On the Amazon Cloud Testing Platform, only the Android phone series Galaxy S25 was found where isAwarePairingSupported shows YES (the Pixel 9 series and Xiaomi 14 series phones do not work). 4,However, pairing between Apple iOS 26 phones and the Android Galaxy S25 still doesn't seem to work; moreover, Apple requires that pairing be completed first before subsequent connections and communications can take place.

The pairing process of Apple Wi-Fi Aware requires 5 packets of plaintext interaction and 2-4 packets of encrypted interaction. With Apple as the publisher and Android as the subscriber, I have completed the 5 packets of plaintext interaction, but I am still encountering issues with the encrypted interaction. @DTS Engineer

@liyang123 @pandarisearch @Bojie_Lv @DTS Engineer I completed the pairing setup step, and then it stopped working

You started a new thread about this, and I’ve responded over there.

Share and Enjoy

Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"

@DTS Engineer To the best of my knowledge, one of the Android developers can achieve successful Apple-Android pairing via Wi-Fi Aware. I strongly recommend that Apple provide a demo for Android-to-Apple file transfer via Wi-Fi Aware.

I strongly recommend that Apple provide a demo for Android-to-Apple file transfer via Wi-Fi Aware.

I agree that folks would find that helpful (although I’m not sure how realistic it is).

Regardless, this isn’t my call. If you want to get that feedback to the Wi-Fi Aware team, I recommend that you file it in Feedback Assistant.

Please post your bug number, just for the record.

Share and Enjoy

Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"

@DTS Engineer @Bojie_Lv @liyang123 @pandarisearch Two FB is proposed: FB19568037 FB19570341 If possible, please reach out to Dr. Swetank from the Apple Wi‑Fi Aware team — we urgently need his help!

Wi-Fi Aware between iOS 26 and Android device
 
 
Q