Question about MFi

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Anonymous
Not applicable

Hi,

I've tried to get that information from the Web, but couldn't find any defenitive answer.

Let's say that I'm developing a device "A". That device has several attributes that can be modified and queried and some states that could be toggled by the user. ( i.e. turn on the light, etc. ).

Assuming that the device would have the apple auth chip, and that the software for the device would be included in the device's firmware - would the end user be able to use the device *without* installing any device-specific software ?

( and by "use" I mean to take advantage of the fact that the device is more expensive, etc. )

The reason I'm asking is that I'm trying to determine the "value" of the MFi feature for my application. I'm sure that with some accompanied software, a device could be accessed. but I was wondering if I could avoid having a iOS-specific application code of being written.

Thanks!

Tsachi

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2 Replies
MichaelF_56
Moderator
Moderator
Moderator
250 sign-ins 25 comments on blog 10 comments on blog

Here's a good article on HomeKit: http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1327267&_mc=NL_EET_EDT_EET_review_20150801&cid=NL_EET_EDT...

It's my understanding that the auth chip is only used to verify that the end-device is Apple-compatible.

Detailed discussion of which types of non-iOS applications are supported within the Apple ecosystem may fall a bit outside of the scope of the forum, but we'll see what others have to include on this subject.

We support HomeKit via a separate SDK that is handled (distributed and supported) outside of the main forum here.

If you are interested in obtaining access, please update your profile to reflect the name of the company (and email address; free email services violate our registration policy) your MFi license is registered under and send an email to gangi. He will then verify the account vs. the Apple MFi DB and provide the necessary access.

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Anonymous
Not applicable

mwf_mmfae,

thanks for your prompted response. I must admit that I'm already aware of these details.

What I'm not so sure about is the user-experience aspect of it.

My understanding is that it would be possible to "program" your iOS device to interact with your end-device.

And my question is whether this type of programming can be done *without* any iOS specific code.

( I.e. maybe some sort of WSDL ? ).

I'm aware that this question might be beyond the scope of this forum.. but I'm just trying to figure out

"what is means to be an Apple MFi" device in the Apple ecosystem.

( I'm trying to see if that would be the "thing" that would make a better user experience or not.. )

Tsachi

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