How to connect an iOS device to a custom USB device?

Steve picture Steve · Feb 7, 2012 · Viewed 14.2k times · Source

I'm developing a custom electronic device - think of it as a special kind of data logger, and I need to connect a computer to it to configure it and to extract the data.

I know I can do this without too much trouble on a PC, but I'd like to use an iOS device to do this.

Two questions:

Can I do this with a regular dock connector / USB cable? Will the EA framework let me do all the communicating?

Once I have extracted the data, what's the best way to get that out of the iPad? Make an email with it, save to a dropbox or something?

Thanks!

Answer

Joachim Isaksson picture Joachim Isaksson · Feb 7, 2012

Afaik, you need to join the MFi program to make USB accessories for iPad/iPhone. That will give you all the technical resources needed.

As for data transfer there are only "opinions", I say the more options of sending, the better. Just don't force the user to choose more than once, then make it changeable in settings.