[wslh]

But does WiFi Direct work on iOS so we can be on a music festival and mesh between your friends (Apple) mobiles? This would be much better than Bluetooth. I read about the MultipeerConnectivity framework but I am confused because in a recent discussion someone says that WiFi Direct has (development?) limitations? ELI5 please.

[brookst]

Apple uses AWDL, a proprietary protocol that predates WiFi direct. WiFi direct is kind of a mess, and then there’s WiFi aware. Last I heard when I was working in this space a couple of years ago there was supposed to be a WiFi direct 2 that would (as usual) unify standards and solve all the issues.

[sofixa]

The EU has mandated that Apple should support WiFi Direct for interoperability with things outside its ecosystem, so it's coming.

[brookst]

Which is hilarious because WiFi Direct is a mess. Possibly this will be the kick the industry needs to get a decent P2P ad hoc wifi protocol going, but more likely Apple will just implement what the EU demands and it will be just as terrible as wifi direct is today, so nobody will use it anyway and AWDL, as bad as it is, will remain the usable protocol in this space.

[willseth]

AWDL isn’t FindMy. It’s mostly for Airdrop and also uses Bluetooth for the initial connection then switches to WiFi for high bandwidth data.

[willseth]

I’m not sure it would since the whole Bluetooth stack is already designed for P2P. Apple’s network is a true mesh though and not point to point. If you share locations with your friends on FindMy using iPhones or AirTags you will get updates via the encrypted mesh network (that includes other peoples’ iPhones) without being connected to a WiFi or cell network.

https://support.apple.com/guide/security/find-my-security-se...

[realitysballs]

Good link.

My interpretation here is that the location of a missing device can be passed around via Bluetooth mesh but that the last send must be sent via cellular or WiFi back to iCloud. So it’s P2P to relay getting location info back to final device with internet connection back to iCloud but the finder still need to connect to iCloud to view updated location.

“Find My works offline by sending out short range Bluetooth signals from the missing device that can be detected by other Apple devices in use nearby. Those nearby devices then relay the detected location of the missing device to iCloud so users can locate it in the Find My app—all while protecting the privacy and security of all the users involved.”

[izacus]

That's not true at all, Find My network doesn't do meshing.