Get started

Install the latest version of Xcode

To use Nearby Connection in your project, Xcode 13.0 or later is required.

Add the Nearby Connections package to your project

Xcode comes with a built-in package manager. To add Nearby Connections to your Xcode project, select File > Add Packages… and search for google/nearby. Then click Add Package and wait for the process to complete (this may take a few minutes).

Request access to protected resources

Nearby Connections needs access to both Bluetooth and the local network to advertise, discover, make connections, and transfer data. Provide a usage description for each resource needed, in your app’s Info.plist. If you don’t, attempts to access the resource will fail, and might even cause your app to crash.

Required usage description keys:

  • NSBluetoothAlwaysUsageDescription
  • NSLocalNetworkUsageDescription

In addition to usage description keys, an NSBonjourServices key with a list of the service types that will be browsed by the app, will also need to be added. The only service type that must be added can be generated by taking the first 12 bytes of the SHA-256 hash of your app's service ID.

You can use the following tool to automatically generate this value for you: