I’m trying to use Blynk on a bluetooth low energy (BLE) connection to my IOS iPhone. I am hoping to get the IOS app to respond for a RTC sync request.
I have combined the WidgetRTC and BlueFruit Feather 32u4 code in a single Arduino source code. I have an Blynk APP setup on the iPhone with the RTC widget set to virtual pin V5. Everything seems to work except for the time sync. I can see communication to the other widgets displaying time and date. I have set “setSyncInterval” to 15 seconds. Using the debug display on the serial port, I can see the V5 request routed to the BLE connection, but I do not see a reply from the iPhone back to the Arduino. Other response and replays work correctly including setting a button on D13 to light the arduino LED.
Does this work on RTC sync on BLE? Does the widget on the iOS app respond to BLE commands sending the iPhone time through the BLE connection to the Arduino?
I know the Blynk team looks for feature suggestions and I know that you have considered working on integration of iOS sensors (GPS, accelerometer, etc,). The time sync could be seen as another sensor response. Adding a RTC response from the iOS widget would be a valuable feature. That would allow using the iPhone/Andriod internal time to set the timer on a prototype board device (arduino, etc)
This feature is soooooo close to working. The sync requests are already being transmitted from the device to the iOS app over BLE connection. It just needs a change to the iOS app for a response to the RTC sync request sent by the device. I would envision the response would to get the phone time, format it to unix time, and send it as a reply to the request. I believe WidgetRTC.h is already written to act on a reply if it is received.
Assuming a virtual pin 5 for RTC widget…
V5 (from device)
<V5 1357041600 (from iOS over BLE)
This would be a useful feature. A great example would be someone who wants to set the time on a bluetooth-enabled Nixie clock from his or her phone with the RTC. Like me.