How can an iPhone access another non-iPhone device over wireless or bluetooth?
- by Tai Squared
I'm trying to figure out if an iPhone can connect to another non-iPhone device over wireless or bluetooth and have seen conflicting information. Much of what I've found was before version 3.0 of the SDK came out, when it certainly wasn't possible. Looking at questions like this mention you can't connect to an arbitrary device unless if it's part of the "Works for iPhone" device. Do I need hardware that is part of this program? Looking through the Apple documentation, it mentions connecting two iPhones, not an iPhone to another Bluetooth device. Then there are articles like this that includes this quote
...and with the newly-announced "standard support" should allow file transfer between the iPhone and a computer, as well as between nearby iPhones
Other questions mention Bonjour, and the Apple documentation talk about connecting to Bonjour devices, but can an iPhone connect to any Bonjour device? Does it have to have a wifi connection, or can it use Bluetooth?
Even if I could use Bluetooth to connect to another device, it won't be available on first generation iPhones and iTouches, I believe. Is that correct? I'm thinking of an iPhone application that would need to communicate with other non-iPhone devices in the area, probably using Bluetooth, but possibly a direct wireless connection. What are the possibilities and limitations of this approach? Is it not possible to have an iPhone connect to an arbitrary Bluetooth device? Does the other device have to be on a wireless Bonjour network that? I'm trying to figure out if it's even possible for this to work or if it's not worth the effort.