Bluetooth 5 "LE Coded PHY" (Long Range) support in iOS 14 / iPadOS 14 and Apple devices?

[NeuroGuy]

Hi!

With the recent release of iOS 14, does anyone know whether Bluetooth 5 LE Coded PHY (Long Range) is supported in iOS 14? If so, anyone know which iPhone and iPad devices have hardware support? The nRF52840 is good to go for Long Range but Apple is a lot less clear.

[Kenya87]

I have been looking for the answer to this question as we are developing a product that requires the LE Coded PHY to get the physical transmission range we require in our application.  I can't find anything in the public domain regarding Apples position on Bluetooth and what they will or will not support for LE Coded PHY and extended advertising.  I tried to use nRF Connect on an iphone but the Device Information screen which is supported and very helpful on the Android side is NOT supported in the iPhone application so unable to manually determine myself that way either.  Nordic can you provide an update regarding what you have seen with the latest Apple iOS and Phone release?

[Heidi-Irene Harvey Sollie]

Hi! If you can't find any information on this in the public domain, then we can assume the newest iOS release does not support Coded PHY. 

I will ask if any of my colleagues have tested iOS 15 with LE Coded PHY, but there is no information I can give you that isn't already released from Apple.

Best regards,

Heidi

[Kenya87]

Thanks Heidi.  Is there any chance that Nordic will add the "Device Information screen" to the iOS version of the nRFconnect mobile application?  It works wonderfully and is very helpful on the Android version of the application but doesn't appear to be supported on the iOS version.

[Heidi-Irene Harvey Sollie]

Hi!

The functionality of the mobile application should be the same regardless of OS so I wonder if this functionality is just presented differently in the iOS version. Let me look into this on an Android phone and get back to you. 

[Kenya87]

I will be interested in what you find... as I was NOT able to find the "Device Information screen" on the iOS version of the application that is present on the Android version.

[run_ar]

Hi,
iOS will generally mask some information. So even if the applications are generally the same. Some information is not made available to the application. That is probably why you cannot find the Device information screen in iOS.