Bitcode & License

[NicolaiParticipant]

Hello

I recently purchased a Flomio reader. It’s working fine. I have two questions.

1. Why is bitcode disabled? You really ought to compile the Framework with bitcode enabled so we in turn can compile our apps with bitcode.

2. What does the “per device” license model mean with regards to the SDK? It says it “checks the device offline” for the pro version, but what does that mean exactly? My use-case, like so many others I assume, is that our app needs compatibility with any Flomio reader our customers choose to buy. I don’t assume this means I need to buy an SDK license for each device?

Nicolai

[NicolaiParticipant]

I can’t get the pro SDK to build on x86_64 at all, so it won’t build on simulator and it breaks any use of storyboards. The forums don’t seem to work. I’ve tried creating replies with more info, but they don’t show up here. So this is somewhat of a test. Test test.

Edit: Seemed like this works now. Please build the pro version for x86_64 and enable bitcode!

[NicolaiParticipant]

And for what it’s worth, enabling bitcode for umbrella frameworks can be done like this: http://iosre.com/t/enable-bitcode-for-frameworks-in-xcode/12581

[RichardKeymaster]

Hi Nicolai, sorry for missing this thread and thanks for insisting to reach us over SMS. The bitcode dependency is something left over from legacy code that would be challenging to fix. Our licensing model is on a “per device” basis so you would need to get a license for any reader that you’d want your app to work with. The idea here is that we monetize the usability of the reader devices since we need to support a growing number of use cases over time.

best,
Richard

[NicolaiParticipant]

Jeez; I just wrote a whole answer, tapped submit and the post just disappeared. So here we go again (this time explicitly replying to your post):

Hello Richard

Thanks for getting back to me.

The bitcode issue makes sense. With this said you should get around to fix this as soon as possible. Apple introduced Bitcode in 2015 with iOS 9 and it is currently a default. Yours is the first and only framework I’ve come across that requires it to be disabled. You’re not likely to get much of a heads-up knowing Apple. It may be a requirement in the next iOS major – who knows.

With regards to the license I still don’t understand. Do you mean it’s a per device model license? I don’t understand how I can buy (or integrate?) an SDK license for each deployment of my app.

About x86_64 arch, what’s the verdict there? It should be pretty trivial to fix. See https://stackoverflow.com/questions/27822972/xcodebuild-cannot-build-framework-library-for-simulator-sdk

[RichardKeymaster]

Hi Nicolai, sucks the forum function keeps failing on you. Not sure what’s the issue there since other folks have been able to post fine. I’ll investigate further to see what it could be.

RE: bitcode. Yes we are aware that an impending change in iOS could decommission us. We’re shorthanded at the moment to get this done as we’re focusing fully on our Passninja product.

RE: license. The Flomio SDK is on “per device” license. That means that it will only work with licensed devices. Essentially with readers purchased from us. The readers we sell are from a variety of OEM manufacturers and we’ve built the Flomio SDK to serve as a common abstraction API across them. If you (or your customers) were to purchase readers from these OEMs directly (therefore not covered by our license agreement) then we will not support those devices. In other words, if you plan on building an app with the Flomio SDK, you should plan on purchasing readers from us. Otherwise, your application will likely not work on non-licensed readers. I hope that’s clear.

RE: x86_64. As I mentioned before we don’t support the iOS simulator. This is intentional because we don’t have the resources to support the simulator experience.

It seems you need more help than the Forums can provide you. Perhaps you may be interested in our Flomio Service package. It’s a premium support service for mission critical customers that allows us to dedicate engineering resources to meet your needs quickly. You’ll get a private Slack channel and we’ll be able to serve you best.

Richard

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