I was having a requirement in my app where I need to check whether the iphone/ipad has a passcode protect set and If not, my app needs to notify the user to set a passcode protect for the device... I came across a post where a user says that if I can get to the springboard process and use the [SBAwayController isPasswordProtected] functionality, I can know if the passcode is set or not..
My problem is I do not know how to get to the springboard process and I dont know how to use the above code to work.
It would be great if someone could help me out in this.
On a non-jailbroken iPhone, there's no way to access the Springboard process and no direct way to determine whether the user has set a passcode. You can sort-of detect passcode locking by creating a protected file and then waiting to see whether you get locked out of it, but I don't think you can ever definitively say that the user has not set a passcode using this approach.
In an enterprise environment, you can require passcodes by setting policies at the device level, using the instructions in Apple's Enterprise Deployment Guide, which may be a better solution.
See also How can I find out if the iPhone user currently has a passcode set and encryption enabled?.
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I am thinking to make my own app like Find My iPhone app . But I am confused that whether apple allow developers to have access to play with the security or is there such Apple API's that can help us to include features as in the above app. Any suggestions?
Well I just can't comment because of low reputation. But people must give a reason to down-grade a question. Its quite a valid question.
Creating an app like this is semi possible. Due to the fact that you are not allowed to keep running in the background, except for certain special cases. Such as Music or a guidance app (navigation apps)
Your app can register to receive updates from the GPS location and process them.
The problem is it will use your gps all the time.
The find my iphone app is a combination of wifi location/sim card location/gps location.
It uses a combination of all these items which it has to keep track of your location as close as possible. Now back to your question, the fact that you cannot keep running in the background, will mean the app needs to stay open all the time (open I mean running, not necessarily onscreen). Not like the application from apple itself, which of course is allowed to go outside these developer restrictions.
The APIs exist for you to create the main functionality of this app. Core Location and APNS
When use A is looking for the location of user B, A would tell a server that it needs user B's location.
A push notification could fire up user B's app, at which point...
User B's location services would kick in, in the background,
Send this information to your server
Then update user A with another push notification.
Does anyone know if exit(0) is deprecated in iOS application? I know it is not a good decision to manually terminate the app, but does Apple ban the application if we use it in the code?
I got an app which was rejected because of a way of exit (via UIAlertView), doing an exit(5) when user click on the correct button.
I received that:
We found that your app includes a UI control for quitting the app.
This is not in compliance with the iOS Human Interface Guidelines, as
required by the App Store Review Guidelines.
Please refer to the attached screenshot/s for reference.
The iOS Human Interface Guidelines specify,
"Always Be Prepared to Stop iOS applications stop when people press
the Home button to open a different application or use a device
feature, such as the phone. In particular, people don’t tap an
application close button or select Quit from a menu. To provide a good
stopping experience, an iOS application should:
Save user data as soon as possible and as often as reasonable because an exit or terminate notification can arrive at any time.
Save the current state when stopping, at the finest level of detail possible so that people don’t lose their context when they start the
application again. For example, if your app displays scrolling data,
save the current scroll position."
It would be appropriate to remove any mechanisms for quitting your
app.
A "hidden" exit could be understood as a crash for the user, no?
No, Apple will not reject your app for using exit(0).
You are correct, it is not a great design choice, but it can be useful sometimes.
As Larme mentioned, if used incorrectly, it can be perceived as a crash and a crash will result in your app being rejected.
However, it can be very useful in applicationDidEnterBackground when (on a conditional basis ) you might want to force the app to start a fresh.
No, you must not call exit as your app SHOULD be rejected. This has been repeatedly discouraged by Apple and is known to cause serious bugs with iOS multitask switching. You should simply leave the user to use the home button themselves.
http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#qa/qa1561/_index.html
"Additionally, data may not be saved, because -applicationWillTerminate: and similar UIApplicationDelegate methods will not be invoked if you call exit. If DURING DEVELOPMENT or TESTING it is necessary to terminate your application, the abort function, or assert macro is recommended."
2012-04-09
Updated to more strongly discourage the exit function, and include best practices for debugging.
2008-08-27
New document that discusses best practices for terminating an iOS application in code.
Straight from the iOS Human Interface Guidelines
http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#documentation/UserExperience/Conceptual/MobileHIG/UEBestPractices/UEBestPractices.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40006556-CH20-SW27
"Don’t Quit Programmatically
Never quit an iOS app programmatically because people tend to interpret this as a crash. However, if external circumstances prevent your app from functioning as intended, you need to tell your users about the situation and explain what they can do about it. Depending on how severe the app malfunction is, you have two choices.
Display an attractive screen that describes the problem and suggests a correction. A screen provides feedback that reassures users that there’s nothing wrong with your app. It puts users in control, letting them decide whether they want to take corrective action and continue using your app or press the Home button and open a different app
If only some of your app's features are unavailable, display either a screen or an alert when people use the feature. Display the alert only when people try to access the feature that isn’t functioning.
If Necessary, Display a License Agreement or Disclaimer
If you provide an end-user license agreement (or EULA) with your iOS app, the App Store displays it so that people can read it before they get your app.
If possible, avoid requiring users to indicate their agreement to your EULA when they first start your app. Without an agreement displayed, users can enjoy your app without delay. However, even though this is the preferred user experience, it might not be feasible in all cases. If you must display a license agreement within your app, do so in a way that harmonizes with your user interface and causes the least inconvenience to users.
If possible, provide a disclaimer within your app description or EULA. Users can then view the disclaimer in the App Store, and you can balance business requirements with user experience needs."
I am developing an iPhone app, that will not be distributed on AppStores. I have tried to search for private api but no luck. When the user tries to quit the app, I want to prompt the user to enter the correct password so as to enable him to exit the app. How can I achieve this? Thanks in advance.
Cheers!!
It sounds like you need something similar to iOS "Kiosk Mode" as described in this answer:
Put an iPhone or iPad into 'Store Demo' mode
Using that description in conjunction with the following steps might achieve precisely what you want:
Have a "Quit" button
Show a password dialogue when it is pressed
If it was correct, read an out of bounds array location (or do whatever) to crash the app
With that config installed you'd get stuck in whatever app you launch next, though.
You can't! You'll have to password protect the launch instead.
If you want to prevent the user from quitting your app, you'll need to physically cover the home button. This isn't a bad solution if your goal is to do something like a kiosk or a point of sale system, where you probably want to mount an iPad in a secure enclosure to prevent tampering or theft anyway. There are quite a few such enclosures on the market in a variety of styles.
For a normal app, though, there's really no solution -- iOS isn't designed for whatever you're trying to do.
The only way I could think to do what you want (which is to prevent access to certain apps) would be to replace the SpringBoard application (this is the method used by Apple itself in the App store models of the iPhone and iPad that restrict the things you can do on the devices). #owenfi pointed at one way to do that without jailbreaking, but in general it is limited: you won't be able to "exit" the app, you will basically just be able to run a single app.
I have an application in which I want to lock the iPhone programmatically so that the user can't perform any action.
How can I determine the user is not working with the iPhone for some period, and after that period automatically lock the phone?
Such applications are used in all phone devices, where the user can set an auto-lock time and then the device will automatically lock if the user does not handle the device.
How is it done programmatically? Please give me one example of the code so I can perform this easily.
I am new to iPhone programming, and I am struggling in my application. Help me. Thanks in advance.
(For your lock the iphone device through programatic only )
Impossible.
But , you could prevent your phone from locking when your app is running.
[UIApplication sharedApplication].idleTimerDisabled = YES
There is no way to disable the Home Button in iOS using the documented API. The user will always be able to get back to the home screen or close your application using the Home Button.
Even if you find a way do it (which is very unlikely) your app will be definitely rejected from the App Store for a blatant violation of the iOS Human Interface Guidelines. If I were you I would reconsider implementing this behaviour, frankly, it's just not a good idea.
If you're only looking for blocking the the UI of your app, check out the answers to this question, more specifically, check out the incredibly useful MBProgressHUD library:
I'm developing an application that asks for a PIN when you start it. That's not great, but I can live with it. The problem is I'm being asked to ask for the PIN each time the phone wakes from sleep, too. Combined with the OS asking for its passcode, it's too much.
Is there any legitimate way to detect if the phone has a passcode required for waking, so I can skip requiring a PIN in this case? I don't want to know the PIN and I don't actually care if it was locked (for instance, if the phone was asleep very briefly), I just want to know that the data is in some way "protected."
For AppStore or not? If the former, no way.
In 3.x, the passcode is stored on the keychain, that means you have to get into the SpringBoard process to determine whether a passcode exists and nonempty. If you are in SpringBoard, calling -[SBAwayController isPasswordProtected] will determine if the device has passcode.
I created a very ugly workaround for this same issue.