Detect Hotspot Enabling in iOS with Private API'S

detect hotspot enabling in iOS with private api's

Without Private APIs

You can detect active personal hotspot by enumerating network interfaces using C APIs. When hotpost is active and someone is connected to it there will be interface with bridge prefix. On my iPhone 5 it's bridge100. If hotspot is disabled or no one is connected to it that interfaces will not even be in the list.

C APIs will even return you IP address and subnet mask in that network.

That's what I'm using in my applications to detect active hotspot.

To get SSID you need [[UIDevice currentDevice] name] - personal hotspot SSID always matches device name.

With Private APIs

You can obtain all the information about personal hotspot using this code:

SCDynamicStoreRef sc = SCDynamicStoreCreate(NULL, CFSTR("com.apple.wirelessmodemsettings.MISManager"), NULL, NULL);
NSDictionary* info = (__bridge_transfer NSDictionary*)SCDynamicStoreCopyValue(sc, CFSTR("com.apple.MobileInternetSharing"));
CFRelease(sc);

info dictionary will look something like this when hotspot is active and has connections:

{
    Errnum = 0;
    ExternalInterfaces =     (
        "pdp_ip0"
    );
    Hosts =     {
        Current = 1;
        Max = 5;
        MoreAllowed = 1;
        Type =         {
            AirPort = 0;
            Bluetooth = 0;
            Ethernet = 0;
            "USB-Ethernet" = 1;
        };
    };
    InternalInterfaces =     (
        bridge100
    );
    Reason = 0;
    State = 1023;
    Version = 2;
} 

When hotspot is active but there are no connections:

{
    Errnum = 0;
    ExternalInterfaces =     (
    );
    Hosts =     {
        Current = 0;
        Max = 5;
        MoreAllowed = 1;
        Type =         {
            AirPort = 0;
            Bluetooth = 0;
            Ethernet = 0;
            "USB-Ethernet" = 0;
        };
    };
    InternalInterfaces =     (
    );
    Reason = 0;
    State = 1023;
    Version = 2;
}

When hotspot is not active:

{
    Errnum = 45;
    ExternalInterfaces =     (
    );
    Hosts =     {
        Current = 0;
        Max = 5;
        MoreAllowed = 1;
        Type =         {
            AirPort = 0;
            Bluetooth = 0;
            Ethernet = 0;
            "USB-Ethernet" = 0;
        };
    };
    InternalInterfaces =     (
    );
    Reason = 0;
    State = 1022;
    Version = 2;
}

State key will be equal to 1023 when hotspot is active regardless of active connections. I don't know whether that value contains bit-flags or not. iOS is actually checking if value is equal to 1023.

SCDynamicStore APIs are from public SystemConfiguration framework but marked as not available on iOS platform. That means all the headers are there, you just need to copy definitions without __OSX_AVAILABLE_STARTING macro.

You can even observe changes to that setting - you can specify a key which value you want to observe. Read Apple documentation for implementation details.

UPDATE

So i went into SCDynamicStore.h and changed the following

I wouldn't do that. It shouldn't cause any problems but for me changing SDK headers is not a good solution. I suggest the following. Don't include the framework headers. Make your own header where you copy all the methods you need with __OSX_AVAILABLE_STARTING changed or removed.

Private API for Tethering on iPad

I'm not aware of a private tethering API.

If all you want to do is have your own private WIFI hotspot, and you're an iPhone developer, then you can download/build/install iProxy: https://github.com/tcurdt/iProxy/wiki/. Not quite tethering but close enough for most needs.

Detect hotspot crashed in iPhone X

There's a way to check CNCopyCurrentNetowrkInfo for current network info.

And there's hacks:

Obj-c:

CGFloat statusBarHeight = [[UIApplication sharedApplication] statusBarFrame].size.height;

Swift:

let statusBarHeight = UIApplication.shared.statusBarFrame.size.height

With Personal Hotspot enabled, it returns 40, and returns 20 otherwise.

Please note that it's not going to work for iPhone X+

Is it possible to programmatically enable hotspot mode in iPhone?

You can't create a HotSpot in code talking via an API or via a Configuration Profile

Have you looked at GameKit which does a great job of easing connecting devices transparently via Bluetooth or WiFi? Don't let the "Game" name fool you - it's a great and easy to use library.

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