https://shailendraram.com/blog Practical ideas for better mobile apps. Design decisions, iOS and Android engineering, and lessons from connected products. en Sun, 13 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://shailendraram.com/blog/iphone-duo-app-design https://shailendraram.com/blog/iphone-duo-app-design Sun, 13 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT Updating an iOS app or starting a new one? Explore iPhone Duo layouts, common UI issues, side controls and a practical app review checklist. iOS https://shailendraram.com/blog/worlds-best-selling-bluetooth-health-device https://shailendraram.com/blog/worlds-best-selling-bluetooth-health-device Wed, 09 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT Nobody tracks BLE health device shipments. On radios shipped per year the answer is Abbott's FreeStyle Libre: about 200 million. The radio is disposable. Bluetooth https://shailendraram.com/blog/how-bluetooth-low-energy-took-over-bluetooth https://shailendraram.com/blog/how-bluetooth-low-energy-took-over-bluetooth Mon, 07 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT A Viking king, a trademark search that ran out of time, and the 22.5 milliseconds that made BLE inevitable. The history of the radio that took the name. Bluetooth https://shailendraram.com/blog/android-ble-gatt-error-133 https://shailendraram.com/blog/android-ble-gatt-error-133 Sun, 06 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT GATT error 133 is not an error code so much as the absence of one. What status 133 means inside Android's stack, and the failures that produce it. Android https://shailendraram.com/blog/bluetooth-health-device-stored-readings https://shailendraram.com/blog/bluetooth-health-device-stored-readings Sat, 05 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT Health devices record measurements while the phone is away and hand them over through the Record Access Control Point. Notifications alone will lose them. Bluetooth https://shailendraram.com/blog/launch-your-own-health-band https://shailendraram.com/blog/launch-your-own-health-band Sat, 05 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT Sourcing, certification, the claims you cannot make, and the app the factory will not build. A realistic bill for putting a wearable on the market. Engineering https://shailendraram.com/blog/android-12-bluetooth-scan-permission https://shailendraram.com/blog/android-12-bluetooth-scan-permission Fri, 04 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT Android 12 split the Bluetooth permissions and most crash reports come from one missed runtime request. What changed, and what neverForLocation costs you. Android https://shailendraram.com/blog/ble-notifications-not-arriving-ios https://shailendraram.com/blog/ble-notifications-not-arriving-ios Fri, 04 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT Subscribing to a characteristic succeeds and nothing comes back. Six causes on iOS, ordered by how often they turn out to be the one. iOS https://shailendraram.com/blog/ble-writes-silently-failing-ios https://shailendraram.com/blog/ble-writes-silently-failing-ios Wed, 02 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT Writes that return no error and never reach the device. Five causes, and why write-without-response drops data the moment you stop checking. Bluetooth https://shailendraram.com/blog/ios-ble-pairing-dialog-never-appears https://shailendraram.com/blog/ios-ble-pairing-dialog-never-appears Wed, 02 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT Your peripheral requires bonding but iOS never prompts. Why the dialog is triggered by a characteristic rather than by connecting, and how to force it. iOS https://shailendraram.com/blog/corebluetooth-developer-hourly-rate-us-uk-australia https://shailendraram.com/blog/corebluetooth-developer-hourly-rate-us-uk-australia Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT Rate bands for BLE specialists in three markets, why the UK quotes days instead of hours, and the number that matters more than either. Engineering https://shailendraram.com/blog/ble-app-development-timeline-certification https://shailendraram.com/blog/ble-app-development-timeline-certification Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT Agency pages say four to twelve weeks. That is the app. In the US, UK and Australia the launch date is usually set by radio approval instead. Bluetooth https://shailendraram.com/blog/corebluetooth-state-restoration-background-disconnects https://shailendraram.com/blog/corebluetooth-state-restoration-background-disconnects Wed, 26 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT Apple's guidance on state restoration is archived and dated 2013. Here is what actually keeps a connection alive across suspension and termination. iOS https://shailendraram.com/blog/esp32-ble-not-showing-up-on-ios https://shailendraram.com/blog/esp32-ble-not-showing-up-on-ios Wed, 26 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT Android scans permissively and iOS does not. Four differences account for nearly every ESP32 device that is invisible to an iPhone. Bluetooth https://shailendraram.com/blog/freelance-corebluetooth-developer-india https://shailendraram.com/blog/freelance-corebluetooth-developer-india Tue, 25 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT What makes a cross-border BLE engagement work: who already owns the test hardware, how blocking firmware questions get answered, and what the specialist premium buys. Bluetooth https://shailendraram.com/blog/ios-ble-hardware-integration-checklist https://shailendraram.com/blog/ios-ble-hardware-integration-checklist Tue, 25 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT Most BLE integrations that go badly were not built badly. They started before the project was ready, and the app developer absorbed the delay. iOS https://shailendraram.com/blog/freelance-ios-android-mvp-pricing-europe https://shailendraram.com/blog/freelance-ios-android-mvp-pricing-europe Mon, 24 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT What the rates actually are across Europe, how they compare against India and the US, and how to read a quote instead of just comparing numbers. Engineering https://shailendraram.com/blog/bluetooth-app-development-cost https://shailendraram.com/blog/bluetooth-app-development-cost Sun, 23 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT Published ranges run from $10k to $150k, which helps nobody. Why BLE breaks normal estimation, and a worksheet that produces a number you can defend. Bluetooth https://shailendraram.com/blog/hire-firmware-and-bluetooth-app-developer https://shailendraram.com/blog/hire-firmware-and-bluetooth-app-developer Sun, 23 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT One role or two, what a generic iOS developer will miss, and the screening questions that separate people who have shipped BLE hardware from people who have read about it. Engineering https://shailendraram.com/blog/rescuing-a-vibe-coded-app https://shailendraram.com/blog/rescuing-a-vibe-coded-app Tue, 18 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT What goes wrong when an AI-built prototype meets the App Store, how to triage it in a day, and how to tell a fixable codebase from a rewrite. Engineering https://shailendraram.com/blog/ios-2026-what-to-budget-for https://shailendraram.com/blog/ios-2026-what-to-budget-for Mon, 17 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT The April SDK deadline already changed how your app looks. What iOS 26 and 27 actually require, and what is worth paying for. iOS https://shailendraram.com/blog/corebluetooth-scan-finds-nothing https://shailendraram.com/blog/corebluetooth-scan-finds-nothing Wed, 12 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT Four reasons a BLE scan that works in the simulator returns an empty list on real hardware, and how to tell them apart. Bluetooth https://shailendraram.com/blog/ble-ota-updates-that-survive-a-dropped-connection https://shailendraram.com/blog/ble-ota-updates-that-survive-a-dropped-connection Tue, 28 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT A firmware update over Bluetooth will be interrupted. The design question is what happens on the next connection, not how to prevent it. Bluetooth https://shailendraram.com/blog/shipping-hardware-companion-apps https://shailendraram.com/blog/shipping-hardware-companion-apps Thu, 09 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT Notes from building iOS apps that talk to physical products: where the schedule goes, and what to fix early. Engineering