[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.