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I am having trouble with my Google Fu today and I can't seem to find anything about this. How can I use TCP sockets -- or any other relevant way to send bytes -- to talk between an iOS device and a host via USB instead of Wifi?

Dan Rosenstark
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Without applying for Apple's MFI Program (and perhaps signing NDAs), information on communicating via the dock connector's USB interface isn't available for devices running Apple's stock iOS.

hotpaw2
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It is possible to use PeerTalk without Apple's MFI Program.

Source: https://stackoverflow.com/a/28715653/710069

Konard
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  • Not sure why this is getting attention now of all times, but anyway... yes, back in 2013 or so we made an app based on this (which other people like Duet did much more successfully)... thanks! – Dan Rosenstark Jul 16 '19 at 20:37
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    Looks like it is because of Google's ranking algorithm. It was one of the first links in google. To find the other answer I was required to rewrite the search request. – Konard Jul 18 '19 at 10:34
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Newer answer:

An Ethernet-Lightning connector, such as this one (but other MiFi certified ones are supposedly being developed, or use a chain of dongles involving Apple's Lightning to USB Camera kit + USB Ethernet), will allow connecting an iOS device, via Ethernet (TCP sockets, et.al.), to a small "coat pocket-able" computer, such as a Raspberry Pi 3B+, which supports standard USB ports.

Call the Raspberry Pi, with appropriate software, a USB to Ethernet/TCP converter for iOS.

I am currently using just this mechanism to develop iOS apps supporting various USB SDR radios, such as RTL-SDRs, by streaming rtl_tcp from a Raspberry Pi to an iPad.

hotpaw2
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