Apple Notification Center Service (ANCS)

RE: Apple Notification Center Service (ANCS)

bojan — Thu, 16 Jun 2022 16:06:51 GMT

We did not get any clear response from the Apple development forum (link) about whether it is necessary to use Peer Manager in order to secure BLE link. However, we tried it ourselves and it seems ANCS does not work without it.

Still not 100% sure about that but it seems so. Consequently, we are including Peer Manager in our design for now.

Thanks for your assistance.

Cheers,

Bojan.

RE: Apple Notification Center Service (ANCS)

Sigurd — Fri, 03 Jun 2022 11:30:22 GMT

Hi,

[quote user="bojan"]The only suspicious thing I found in the ANCS Specification was that all three ANCS characteristics require authorization for access:[/quote]

Nicely spotted!

[quote user="bojan"]Not sure what kind of authorization they think of here. It could be that it is enough to call ble_ancs_c_notif_source_notif_enable() and ble_ancs_c_data_source_notif_enable() APIs in order to authorize. What do you think?[/quote]

That could be, or that you need to allow some permission/authorization in a pop-up message in iOS when the device connects. Or perhaps they really mean authentication, and in that case you would likely need the Peer Manager

[quote user="bojan"]I will also double-check with Apple.[/quote]

Let me know if you get a response

RE: Apple Notification Center Service (ANCS)

bojan — Fri, 03 Jun 2022 09:36:54 GMT

Hello, Sigurd.

Thanks for your prompt response.

The only suspicious thing I found in the ANCS Specification was that all three ANCS characteristics require authorization for access:

Not sure what kind of authorization they think of here. It could be that it is enough to call ble_ancs_c_notif_source_notif_enable() and ble_ancs_c_data_source_notif_enable() APIs in order to authorize. What do you think?

I will also double-check with Apple.

Regards,

Bojan.

RE: Apple Notification Center Service (ANCS)

Sigurd — Fri, 03 Jun 2022 09:11:00 GMT

Hi,

I could not find any mention of bonding/pairing, or security in the ANCS Specification , but I would have thought that the characteristics requires security. But you would either need to ask Apple or test it to be sure.