Bluetooth for iOS

petersi · Jun 13, 2013

Hi, I am working on a weight scale project with bluetooh. The scale will send the numeric data to iOS or Android then showing the result on screen. The scale will be using only bluetooth HID profile. Have many questions for bluetooth device work with iOS and Android.

For iOS,
1. As we us only HID profile, there is no need to apply for the MFi program. Is this correct?
2. If number 1 is correct, is there any license or cert I need to apply with Apple in order to be legal with iOS product? Yes, FCC, CE and ROHS will be apply

Last, What would be the best selection of bluetooth module work on both work with both iOS and Android?

Thanks a lot.

Odpcs · Oct 3, 2013

You do need a license to comply with bluetooth on apple products and apple products do not have a license to Bluetooth with other devices that are not apple , this task would be abit tough to overcome , why not just get an android and bluetooth to any device anyways as apple products can only Bluetooth to apple only and the Bluetooth is not that brilliant either

LiteYear · Oct 3, 2013

iOS devices Bluetooth to generic devices just fine. To answer your questions:

1) Correct. See

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3647

for the full list of supported profiles by device and

http://mfi.apple.com/faqs#1-1

for the official statement that MFi is not necessary.

2) Not with Apple specifically. You could register a company identifier with the Bluetooth SIG, but for a HID accessory you can just use a Vendor ID (VID) assigned by the USB Implementers Forum. See

https://developer.apple.com/hardwaredrivers/BluetoothDesignGuidelines.pdf

page 10 for that statement and a bucket load of other relevant info.

Of course, to use any of the "Made for iOS" trademarks and logos you need to sign up (probably with MFi) and to develop any client side software you'll need to register as an iOS developer ($50 from memory), but apart from that it's just a generic Bluetooth device to the iOS device.

Last) Not sure what you mean by "module". Do you mean a Bluetooth IC? If so, then I suspect there'd be more important design criteria to satisfy than Android/iOS compatibility - as long as you follow the Bluetooth standard the chip will be fairly transparent to the device.

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Bluetooth for iOS

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