Use of 3.5 Jack

[Ryusui]

Greetings all,

I'm just looking into developing a relatively simple app. I have no programming knowledge myself but have enlisted someone who has some basic experience.
What I'd like some help with is utilizing the iPhone's 3.5 jack in an app. Is there somewhere I might be able to find some sample coding or specific info on using the jack to send a signal through a cord? For example, if I were to connect a cord to the iPhone and a buzzer, I would want to have the buzzer controlled by pressing a button in the app. Any help here would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[gomoliako]

have u looked at the library to generate sounds?

 

[wcarlson40#IM]

This is definitely not a "relatively simple app". You're asking to use hardware in a non-standard way. Apple probably would not approve the app, and you'd probably have to jailbreak (if it's possible at all)... However, I'm more of a programming type than an electrical engineer. I'm not sure if generating sounds would be the equivalent of sending an electrical signal through a wire....

 

[Libuff]

by the same time... im not sure, read the developer guidelines to be sure... but think abstractly of the Square Credit Card reader, which used the 3.5" jack to read CC's..

 

[Ryusui]

Thanks for the responses, guys.

There are at least two apps that I know of which utilize the 3.5 jack. RedEye, which uses a small IR transmitter plugged into the jack to turn your iPhone into a universal remote, and Time Fugit, which connects to your camera to become an intervalometer. So it's been done and apparently Apple has no problems with it. It's just a matter of figuring out how to harness it.
Thanks again, all. Hopefully I can find someone who has some experience with this.

 

[benjaminzamayo]

Apple doesn't seem to mind using the jack for other purposes, (Square does it, for instance, to great publicity) but it certainly isn't easily done - as there's no documentation on it. I'd presume you'd need knowledge in electronics, to get the communication between the buzzer and the signal from the 3.5 jack to work effectively.