Sending Data to an iPhone? Bluetooth or WiFi?

Using Arduino Project Guidance
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I want to send temperature data to my iPhone or IPad and plot it in real time. I'm wondering if anyone has experience with this and what suggestions they might have.

Bluetooth would be the simplest, since the Arduino acquiring the data will only be a few yards from the iPhone.

Any assistance on how to do this would be appreciated.

Dave

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IOS means you have to use Bluetooth-4 (BLE) on the Arduino. The real time plot is down to the iPhone app.

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Nick_Pyner:
IOS means you have to use Bluetooth-4 (BLE) on the Arduino. The real time plot is down to the iPhone app.

iPhone supports both traditional Bluetooth and Bluetooth Low Energy. Either will work. As will WiFi. A cheap solution might be an ESP8266 module. It can act as a WiFi access point or WiFi client. You may be able to use the built-in processor in place of the Arduino, making for an even less expensive solution.
You can download a third-party core that lets you program the ESP8266 with the Arduino 1.6.5 IDE:

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Thanks for the response guys.

John, I already have the Arduino Uno, and I think I'd like to stick with that platform since I want to learn more about it.

Nik; is there a particular app you'd suggest for the iPhone to plot the data? Also, which BLE shied would you recommend?

Thanks again for your help.

Dave

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I've used the Processing.org software as a middle man in iPhone to Arduino.

Processing via USB connection will receive data from my Arduino. Processing re-sends that data over the internet to the iPhone. I use the TouchOSC app to receive that data (or send), I can make simple but custom layouts based on my application from that (sorry no graphs).

If you put a wifi shield on an Arduino and wrote the code properly, in theory you don't need to use processing.

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Flightrider:
Nik; is there a particular app you'd suggest for the iPhone to plot the data?

No, I use Bluetooth Graphics Terminal for Android, which gives three live graphs. You should look for an IOS equivalent.

Also, which BLE shied would you recommend?

I would suggest the TinySine HM-10 module. It is not a shield per se but is on a break-out board and simply connects to Arduino via four wires. It is essentially a drop-in replacement for the popular HC-05 and costs about $7. I imagine there are others, but don't be fooled into getting a bare module. If you feel you must use a shield, get one that has prototyping space that enables you to add terminals for your sensors, a clock etc.

You might find the following background notes useful

http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~npyner/Arduino/GUIDE_2BT.pdf
http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~npyner/Arduino/BT_2_WAY.ino
http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~npyner/Arduino/BT_prac_application.ino

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Nick,

Very interesting read. I have ordered an Adafruit BLE to play with. I'll keep everyone posted on my progress.

Thanks again.

Dave

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