Fitbit, Withings, Nest. The Internet of Things (IoT) innovation tidal wave has just begun, and those are just three of the more well-known players in the IoT and connected gadget landscape. It’s critical that iOS developers know how to connect and interact with BLE prototyping devices using the Core Bluetooth Framework provided by the iOS SDK. In this session, you’ll get the jump-start you need to begin creating engaging apps that bring these devices to life.

1. How Hot is My Coffee?
Sensors, Core Bluetooth, and Swi8!
Evan K. Stone
Senior iOS Developer
Cloud City Development // San Francisco

2. An integrated design and so-ware consultancy specializing in web and mobile apps

3. There is an explosion.

4. Not bombs.

5. Usually doesn’t hurt people.

6. Very o8en helps people.

7. This explosion is…

8. The Internet of Things

9. Connected devices

10. Nest. Fitbit. Polar.

11. Key technology behind it?

12. Bluetooth Low Energy

13. What is it?

14. Not Classic Bluetooth.

15. A lightweight subset

16. AKA “Bluetooth Smart”

17. Why do we care?

18. It’s exciSng!

19. It’s fun!

20. It can be rewarding.

21. Allows us to interact with
physical devices

22. We can develop iOS apps that
communicate with other things
around us!

23. No cerSficaSon required!

24. Super Low Barrier for Entry.

25. TI SensorTag Ambient Light
Digital
Microphone
MagneSc
Sensor
Humidity
Accelerometer Gyroscope
Magnetometer
Ambient
Temperature
IR Temperature

26. $29

27. What does this mean for us?

28. The IoT Landscape is changing

29. Tons of innovaSon going on right now.

30. Startups

31. Incubators and Accelerators

32. They will need you.

33. Ge]ng started now will help you help them.

34. Side note:

35. What about iBeacons?

36. Subject of another talk!

37. iBeacons are BLE devices.

38. Behave differently

39. They are also fun to work with.

40. Are handled by a different
framework!

41. Core LocaSon

42. Ge]ng back to BLE…

43. Acronym Time!

44. GAP
Generic Access Profile

45. Defines how devices adver&se
themselves and how they connect

46. Defines the concept of the
Central and the Peripheral

47. GATT
Generic Aaribute Profile

48. Defines the way devices
transfer data back and forth

49. Introduces Services and
CharacterisScs

50. You won’t be tested on the
acronyms.

51. Just know they exist.

52. Roles

53. We are already used to
Client and Server roles

54. In BLE we have the Central and
Peripheral roles

55. Central

56. Wants data from a Peripheral

57. Generally this is your iOS device.

58. Peripheral

59. Supplies data.

60. A device like a heart rate
monitor

61. Becomes an extension of our iOS
device, giving it abiliSes it didn’t
have previously

62. Side note:

63. An iOS device can be a
Peripheral…

64. …but typically they act as a
Central.

65. The Age of Discovery

66. For devices to communicate with
each other, they must find each
other.

67. AdverSsing and Discovery

68. The Peripheral AdverSses

69. The Central scans and listens

70. When it finds a Peripheral, the
Central can ask to connect.

71. Kinda like a headhunter on
LinkedIn.

72. Services and CharacterisScs

73. Services group data

74. Services contain CharacterisScs

75. Service
Characteris2c
Characteris2c
Characteris2c

76. Central connects and discovers
Services and CharacterisScs the
peripheral offers

77. But how?

78. Core Bluetooth

79. Apple’s abstracSon over all that
Bluetooth gobbledygook.

80. Encapsulates the funcSonality of the
BLE enSSes in framework classes

81. Remember the four main
players?

82. Central and Peripheral.
Service and CharacterisSc.

83. Everything begins with a CB

84. Peripheral

85. CBPeripheral

86. Central

87. CBCentralManager

88. Service

89. CBService

90. CharacterisSc

91. CBCharacterisSc

92. Side note:

93. Caveat with Core Bluetooth
development

94. iOS Simulator does not support
BLE.

95. So you have to use a device.

96. Which devices support BLE?

97. iPhone 4s and later.
iPad 3 and later.

98. Basic Workflow

99. Feels very client-server

100. That’s not an accident.

101. Workflow:

102. InstanSate a CBCentralManager

103. Tell CBCentralManager to scan for
Peripherals with Services
we want

104. When it finds a Peripheral,
request to connect

105. A8er connecSng, find out more
about the Peripheral

106. Read and set characterisScs

107. Rinse, Lather, Repeat…

108. Disconnect.

109. What makes this work?

110. Enter the UUID.

111. Enter the UUID.

112. Standard UUIDs have a 16-bit
form.

113. 0x180A

114. Custom UUIDs have a 128-bit
form.

115. F000AA00-0451-4000-B000-000000000000

116. What do we mean by Standard
and Custom UUIDs?

117. For example…

118. Heart Rate Monitor Service
0x180D

119. Heart Rate Measurement
CharacterisSc
0x2A37

120. ExciSng Reading!
developer.bluetooth.org
🤓

121. Custom Service UUIDs
Anything not listed on the standard list.

122. For example…

123. IR Temperature Sensor
F000AA00-0451-4000-B000-000000000000

124. Where do I find these crazy
numbers?

125. Typically on the vendor website

126. Or the hardware engineer on
your team creates them!

127. Back to scanning…

128. CBCentralManager

129. Core Bluetooth relies heavily on
delegates

130. CBCentralManagerDelegate

131. CBPeripheralDelegate

133. Demo Time!
🎉

134. How Hot is My Coffee?

136. Side note:

137. Backgrounding

138. Yes it’s possible!

139. Requires a flag in your Info.plist

140. key: UIBackgroundModes
value: bluetooth-central

141. Devices

142. Many to choose from

143. New ones appear constantly

144. TI SensorTag
hap://www.S.com/sensortag

145. LightBlue Bean/Bean+
haps://punchthrough.com/bean

147. Adafruit Feather 32u4 Bluefruit LE
haps://www.adafruit.com/products/2829

149. TinyCircuits
haps://Sny-circuits.com/

151. The IoT space is exploding!

152. More connected devices are
being developed every day!

153. More connected apps are
needed every day!

154. As an iOS developer, you can be on
the cu]ng edge of this new fronSer!

155. Explore!

156. Experiment!

157. Connect and Communicate

158. Core Bluetooth.

159. Resources

160. Cloud City Development
Blog
hap://cloudcity.io/blog/2015/06/11/zero-to-ble-on-ios-part-one/
hap://cloudcity.io/blog/2015/10/15/developing-ios-app-using-ble-standard/
GitHub
haps://github.com/cloudcity/BLECoffee
haps://github.com/cloudcity/ZeroToBLE-Part2

161. Apple's Official Core Bluetooth Docs
IntroducSon to Core Bluetooth
Background OperaSon
Best PracSces

162. Adafruit's IntroducSon to BLE
haps://learn.adafruit.com/introducSon-to-bluetooth-low-energy/introducSon

163. Evan K. Stone
web: h<p://www.cloudcity.io
cloud city blog: h<p://blog.cloudcity.io
blog: h<p://www.interac?velogic.net
twi<er: @interac?vlogic