Is it possible to anonymously track someone's location via mobile apps?
Assuming, of course, that the user consents and downloads an app that can in the background?
iPhone OS 4 (coming "this summer") will allow you to run your app in the background, I believe that will allow you to keep track of the location.
http://www.apple.com/iphone/preview-iphone-os/
The answer is both yes and no.
Yes, because Apple already supports this for MobileMe accounts, where you can track a registered iPhone through the "Find My iPhone" feature.
No, because you are not able to have an application run in the background on any current versions of the iPhone OS. It is possible that future versions will allow this, but not for any current versions.
So, Yes if you are Apple (which you are probably not) and no for the rest of us.
Claus
I guess the answer is yes, it's possible. Since you can share your location in various forms already, nothing is stopping a service to allow entry to the public.
Related
I have posted 2 apps on the App Store that are only for the iPad.
I now want to post the iPhone versions for the same apps.
However, I have read that Apple Guidelines state that developers spamming the App Store with many versions of similar apps will have their accounts terminated.
So I basically want to ask 2 questions:
To avoid spamming, should I not post the iPhone versions at all or post Universal app versions?
Apple asks to change name if posting same app for a different device. For iPad, I can say "game_name HD". But what about naming for the iPhone? I was thinking "game_name Pro".
Would appreciate any help very much. Thanks.
In the past, I have used the term "Pocket" for the iPhone/iPod Touch version. As in, Barnyard Bluegrass Pocket Edition.
I am trying to understand, is there any way to develop iPhone app with following conditions:
1) This application should always run in the background
2) This application should not be killable
3) With out JailBreak?
All I am trying to do is want to track my iPhone.
Please help me.
Thanks
It's not clear exactly what you want to do, but one of the cases where Apple allows apps to run in the background is so that they can respond to changes in the GPS location. It's not unkillable per se, but apps do relaunch automatically (I think) if they're killed due to low memory, etc.
See here for the Apple docs.
No, this is not possible unless you are Apple.
No. I'm pretty sure attempting this is going to get your app rejected (if its even possible!). The iOS system has its own ways of managing running applications and will kill apps if certain conditions are met (e.g. unresponsive for a while).
Check out the App State & Multitasking doc.
Your requirements are:
1) This application should always run in the background
2) This application should not be killable
3) With out JailBreak?
Answer:
I think there is no Non-Apple app which has all the three features. I think even one of these feature is nearly not possible.
Also if you say that Photos and Phone and others like Newsstand cannot be deleted, then you need to consider that those are apps of Apple and they have some more capabilities than what they give in Public API's to the developers.
They have some greater access to the iOS and many of its private API's which make them non-deletable.
Hope this helps you.
If you don't plan to release it to AppStore, but rather will sign with enterprise distribution certificate and will use it in your enterprise then you can look at VOIP application for iOS. It runs in the background, system restarts it automatically. I think that's the closest you can get on non jailbroken device.
I have asked this question long before.
I know it maybe impossible, but as far as I know, 'Find my friends' has this features and it works just so well, so I wonder if now there is a neat and legitimate way of doing that.
Just because Apple's Find My Friends app has a feature does not mean the API is publicly available. If this app is not an enterprise app, you can't use private APIs and have your app put on the app store. If it is an enterprise app, you may want to look into setting up a configuration profile for the device. In order to access the VPN for my employer, I had to install a configuration profile (visible in Settings) that requires a passcode to be entered every time I unlock my iPad. Without that, I cannot VPN into their intranet. TestFlight uses a similar approach with profiles to register a device to receive builds. I would check out this link from Apple on setting up these sorts of profiles for enterprise applications: http://www.apple.com/iphone/business/resources/
There's no way to detect this programmatically from within an iPhone SDK-based application. If you need to, you should file an enhancement request with Apple at http://bugreporter.apple.com
Bump, Chomp & Appsfire all can list other application on the iPhone, how to do it?
By using Google I found this link quite helpful, it says basically there are two ways to find if certain apps are installed without jailbreaking your device:
checking if a specific URL scheme is supported by the device => canOpenUrl:
comparing the devices currently running processes to known app executable names => sysctl()
Short answer, you can't.
Longer answer you can't without violating the dev agreement and risking app rejection.
There are two methods of doing this (on a non-jailbroken phone):
Check to see if custom URL schemes that are known to be used by certain apps are registered as described in http://www.iphonedevsdk.com/forum/iphone-sdk-development/37103-finding-out-what-apps-installed.html (this allows you to check for certain known apps, not get a list of all installed apps.
The way appsfire does with a desktop 'companion' app, that grabs this info from your iTunes and sends it to their server. (See this article as to why the appsfire developer pulled his app because apple wouldn't approve an update anymore).
Sorry I couldn't be of more help but that's apple!
I would find useful, in some cases, and under the user's permission, to block the device so only the running application can be accessed unless the usrer's password (pattern or whatever is used to unlock the session) is introduced.
I guess the mecanism should be something like: The application asks the os to do this, the OS asks the user for permission and then the application asks the device to block the application on "exit" or standby (or both).
This would be useful for using an iPhone or iPad as a device for public use. One example could be a Library where visitors can see the book list and some previews in the device. In this case, you don't want the user to access any other resource/application in the system.
Does it make sense?
What your asking is there any type of kiosk mode for iOS devices.
The short answer in no. The longer answer is if you're using a Jail broken device you might be able to relaunch the app on exit, but it would take significant R&D.
I hade a client ask about this last week, after some investigation and thinking I told her,
It's best to look for a case that blocks the home button. Or some kind of security bracket. It'll be cheaper and easier.
Also any App you create with this functionality would be rejected form the App store.
If your looking for advice on programming Jail broken devices there is a Stack Exchange proposal you can follow.
Supposedly there's a way to have a "kiosk" mode with a .mobileconfig file. Both of these articles talk about it, basically covering the same territory:
http://joris.kluivers.nl/blog/2012/03/02/kiosk-mode-for-ios/
http://rick-hawkins.blogspot.ca/2012/01/turning-ipad-into-kiosk-device.html
I was looking into this again and found out that iOS already supports the feature. It is called Guided Access, it was incorporated on iOS 6, it does not require jailbreak and can be used for any app installed on the device.
It makes sense, but I don't think you can do that without jailbreaking the phone. In iOS, the home button cannot be overridden by applications. Besides there is cheaper hardware out there for kiosk-style applications.