Are There APIs For Custom Vibrations in Ios

Are there APIs for custom vibrations in iOS?

After serval hours' digging in the Contact App, I have figured out how it works.

ABNewPersonViewControlle invoke some class in ToneLibrary framework to do this.

The call stack looks like this:

0   CoreFoundation                  0x3359a1d4 CFGetTypeID + 0
1   CoreFoundation                  0x33596396 __CFPropertyListIsValidAux + 46
2   CoreFoundation                  0x33517090 CFPropertyListCreateData + 124
3   AudioToolbox                    0x38ac255a AudioServicesPlaySystemSoundWithVibration + 158
5   ToneLibrary                     0x35a7811a -[TLVibrationRecorderView vibrationComponentDidStartForVibrationRecorderTouchSurface:] + 38
6   ToneLibrary                     0x35a772b2 -[TLVibrationRecorderTouchSurface touchesBegan:withEvent:] + 342
7   UIKit                           0x3610f526 -[UIWindow _sendTouchesForEvent:] + 314
8   UIKit                           0x360fc804 -[UIApplication sendEvent:] + 376

After search "AudioServicesPlaySystemSoundWithVibration" on the web , I found nothing.

So I decide to look into it myself. It's a private function in AudioToolbox framework.

the declaration of the function is like

void AudioServicesPlaySystemSoundWithVibration(SystemSoundID inSystemSoundID,id arg,NSDictionary* vibratePattern)

"inSystemSoundID" is SystemSoundID .just like "AudioServicesPlaySystemSound", pass "kSystemSoundID_Vibrate".

"arg" is not important, pass nil to it , everything will still work fine.

"vibratePattern" is a pointer of "NSDictionary", the Contact App pass into
{
Intensity = 1;
OffDuration = 1;
OnDuration = 10;
} for recording user input.

But only call this function will make a vibration never stop. So I have to found some function to stop it.

The answer is "AudioServicesStopSystemSound". It's also a private function in AudioToolbox framework.

the declaration of the function is like

void AudioServicesStopSystemSound(SystemSoundID inSystemSoundID)

I guess the Contact App use AudioServicesPlaySystemSoundWithVibration in touchesBegan method, and AudioServicesStopSystemSound in touchEnd method to reach this effect.

TLVibrationController will manager a vibrate pattern object to record the process you input.

At last it generate a dictionary to pass into AudioServicesPlaySystemSoundWithVibration to replay the whole process like below:

NSMutableDictionary* dict = [NSMutableDictionary dictionary];
NSMutableArray* arr = [NSMutableArray array ];

[arr addObject:[NSNumber numberWithBool:YES]]; //vibrate for 2000ms
[arr addObject:[NSNumber numberWithInt:2000]];

[arr addObject:[NSNumber numberWithBool:NO]];  //stop for 1000ms
[arr addObject:[NSNumber numberWithInt:1000]];

[arr addObject:[NSNumber numberWithBool:YES]];  //vibrate for 1000ms
[arr addObject:[NSNumber numberWithInt:1000]];

[arr addObject:[NSNumber numberWithBool:NO]];    //stop for 500ms
[arr addObject:[NSNumber numberWithInt:500]];

[dict setObject:arr forKey:@"VibePattern"];
[dict setObject:[NSNumber numberWithInt:1] forKey:@"Intensity"];


AudioServicesPlaySystemSoundWithVibration(4095,nil,dict);

So if you want a custom vibrations in iOS. Use AudioServicesPlaySystemSoundWithVibration and AudioServicesStopSystemSound.

WatchKit / Apple Watch API: vibrations of custom length?

Currently, there is no API for custom haptic feedback. But as of watchOS 2.0 you can invoke haptic feedback by supplying a WKHapticType option.

WKInterfaceDevice.current().play(.success)

Here are the WKHapticType options:

enum WKHapticType : Int {
    case Notification
    case DirectionUp
    case DirectionDown
    case Success
    case Failure
    case Retry
    case Start
    case Stop
    case Click
}

Intensity of custom iPhone vibration

Change the numberWithInt call into numberWithFloat, and change the intensity so it's between 0 and 1. I thought it was weird when they used an int rather than a float.

---

Edit: Here's a copy/paste that should work for your code to invoke custom vibration:

#pragma mark - Custom vibration methods
-(void)invokeCustomVibrationWithStartStopTimes:(NSArray*)startStopTimes andIntensity:(float)intensity {
    BOOL startOrStop = YES;
    NSMutableArray* arr = [@[] mutableCopy];
    double time = 0;
    for (NSNumber *x in stopStartTimes) {
        [arr addObject:x]
        startOrStop = !startOrStop;
        [arr addObject:@(startOrStop)];
        time = [x doubleValue] / 1000.0;
    }
    AudioServicesPlaySystemSoundWithVibration(4095,nil,{@"VibePattern":arr,@"Intensity":@(intensity)})
    [self performSelector:@selector(stop) withObject:nil afterDelay:time];
}

-(void)stop {
    AudioServicesStopSystemSound(4095); // stop buzzing the phone
}

For startStopTimes, it should alternate between times started and times stopped. Passing in this array:

@[@(2000), @(1000), @(1000), @(500)]

Will do what the example code did. In this case, it will start for 2000 ms, stop for 1000 ms, start for 1000 ms, and stop for 500 ms.

stop is called to stop the sound. The way I have it set up, it stops sounds after the total amount of time sent in.

You may have noticed I've been using array/number literals rather than using [NSArray arrayWithObjects: ... , nil]; or [NSNumber numberWith...];. This makes your code a lot shorter. Also, I marked the beginning with a #pragma mark. Use that to organize it better. Hope it helps!

Custom Vibrations in iOS7

There are no new iOS 7 APIs for this. The private APIs you mentioned remain the only option.

---

Related Topics