How reconnect programatically Classic Bluetooh on IOS with MFi and external-accessory framework

Question

I am creating an IOS App to connect into a Bluetooth Device using Classic Bluetooth with Mpi using ExternalAccessory Framework.

Using showBluetoothAccessoryPicker method, I can display an alert with a list of devices that allows the user to select one Device to pair.

I can perform Steps 1 -5 of my use case as below. However I not able to perform step 6

Use case:

1. The User picks one Device to pair. On that case, I am using showBluetoothAccessoryPicker
2. The App stores, into a variable, the accessory that the user picked
3. Turn off the Device
4. The App shows an alert "Connection dropped"
5. Turn On the Device
6. The App needs to reconnect with the Device automatically without needs to select it into a list.

Is there any way or method to pair a device without display a list?

Answer 1

As my company is a member of the Apple MFi licensing program, I asked for Apple support and I received the answer below.

" In response to your request below, there is presently no support for implementing the bluetooth reconnection process from the device side after an existing connection has been broken. This would be an API enhancement request which you can submit using the Apple Developer feedback assistant web page - https://feedbackassistant.apple.com. "

" One option would be for the accessory to handle the reconnection process itself as this is a supported bluetooth option. However, I understand if for power conservation reasons, this is not supported accessory option."

It means, there is no way, yet, to implement it from the App side. if you need that, you need to do it on the Device side.

We can submit feedback for the Apple, using the Apple Developer feedback assistant web page - https://feedbackassistant.apple.com to ask them to create it

Answer 2

you need to make some changes in your firmware to reinitiate the connection when it identifies the connection drop. Or else you can write a method and call on connection drop in your application which keeps looking for device in proximity (with accessory info saved in your app variable) and as and when it finds, it connects using that accessory instance.