iPhone app limitation by Apple?

August 19, 2009 11:25 AM

I'm wondering if there are Apple-imposed limitations that would prevent this no-brainer iPhone app from being created. I'd love to be able to go to one place on my iPhone to turn off/on all the power-sucking tidbits: WiFi, Bluetooth, 3G, etc. As it is now, you have to drill down through all parts of the interface to access that stuff. Does Apple allow an app to access the WiFi on/off function, for instance?

I'm no programmer, so if anyone wants to take this and run with it and make a buck or two, have at it - just let me know when it's ready.

And I'm not interested in jailbreaking my communicator.

posted by DandyRandy to technology (9 answers total)

No, Apple does not allow access to these resources. You'll have to go through the Preferences app.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 11:29 AM on August 19, 2009

It looks like quick toggle are the domain of the jailbreaking app.

More info here.
posted by zabuni at 11:34 AM on August 19, 2009

I've wanted a home-page app like that for a while -- something akin to "profile management" that allows you to have sets of things on or off for various situations. A programmer friend of mine has confirmed that it's not doable under the current SDK, but I don't know how accurate that is.
posted by The Bellman at 11:36 AM on August 19, 2009

This is actually something I was intending to work on as well, but I've been told it's not doable currently with the SDK -- I might still investigate myself at some point.
posted by the_ancient_mariner at 11:53 AM on August 19, 2009

Even if they did, youd need a developers license to put your own code on your phone, so it would be $99. I doubt its worth it.
posted by damn dirty ape at 11:56 AM on August 19, 2009

I almost went with an Android phone, just so I could use Locale, which does just that.

There's an interview linked on th site where they discuss how an app like Locale wouldn't work for the iphone because apps don't have the ability to access to that information.
posted by backwards guitar at 1:08 PM on August 19, 2009

I know you said no jailbreaking, but there is a wonderful app available to jailbroken iPhones that does exactly this. It's called SBSettings and I can't recommend it enough.
posted by hollisimo at 4:26 PM on August 19, 2009 [1 favorite]

You can turn off a lot of that power-draining stuff by putting the iPhone into airplane mode. That's on the first preferences page right at the top.
posted by conrad53 at 8:34 PM on August 19, 2009

There is a great application that does this if you Jailbreak your phone. You basically swipe the menu bar and there is drop down menu that pops out and lets you toggle everything on and off. I can't remember the name right now. My coworker has it installed on his phone, and it made me want to go home and jailbreak my phone right then and there.

Oh wait, it's SBSettings, mentioned above.
posted by chunking express at 7:56 AM on August 20, 2009