peripheral_ancs_client in Zephyr on nRF5340-DK not visible in Settings->Bluetooth on iOS18 iPhones

[SmartGlassDev]

I'm running the peripheral_ancs_client using the 2.9.0 SDK on a nRF5340-DK. On an iPhone running iOS18, the device is not visible under Settings->Bluetooth when the nRF5340 is
advertising. Using the same device and firmware build, its visible on an iPhone running an older version of iOS and also on a Samsung Galaxy S20.

On the iOS18 device when using the nRF Connect app, the device is visible in the scan results.  Why is the ANCS client not showing up on the phone running iOS18 when scanning for devices in Settings->Bluetooth without using nRF Connect?   Is there something additional that needs to happen during advertising for it to be visible to an iOS18 device?

I see the same behavior with SDK v3.0.2 as well.

[Hieu]

Hello SmartGlassDev,

The advertising data of the peripheral_ancs_client hasn't been changed for the past four years, and the ANCS specification hasn't changed for over 10 years.
Additionally, you could also confirm that an older iOS version works fine with the ANCS device. Given those two facts, I think it is much more likely that there were some changes from Apple.

Could you please contact Apple regarding this? Perhaps it's best if you can test with a second iOS 18 device to be sure it is not some settings on the initial device.

Hieu

[SmartGlassDev]

Hieu,

Thanks for the quick reply.    I can confirm that we see the same behavior on different iPhones running iOS18.

[Hieu]

SmartGlassDev,

In that case, please try to contact Apple. Please also see if you can share a link to the Apple support ticket here as well, for future reference.