The Multipeer Connectivity APIs, introduced by Apple in iOS 7 is an easy way to start building apps requiring peer-to-peer communication. Nearby devices communicate over infrastructure Wi-Fi networks, peer-to-peer Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth personal area networks. Connected peers are able securely transmit messages, streams, or file resources to other devices.
Evaluation of different aspects of Multipeer Connectivity with iPad Air 2 devices shows surprising results. Discovery and communication between iPad devices works mostly well. However, some shortcomings are to be mentioned here.
- Establishing connection between peers always requires user interaction. The user has to confirm a connection to other device. There is no way to work with certificates or white lists of devices.
- The other issue is that the framework does not always repair the broken ad-hoc network correctly. If a peer suddenly leaves the network, it often stays broken. Discovery must be restarted manually.
- Multipeer Connectivity framework is only available for iOS, macOS and tvOS devices. So if the app has to run also on Android or Windows devices, this framework cannot be used.
To read more about Multipeer Connectivity refer to nshipster and apple’s doc.