4 ms·

Tips for nailing an iPhone app demo during a presentation

22 points by syalam 13y ago

martingordon 13y ago
I wonder if the Apple TV hardware supports AirDrop/WiFi Direct (I know the software currently doesn't) so that you wouldn't even need to have the two devices on a WiFi network for them to see each other over AirPlay.
herbig 13y ago
Clear your browser history, just in case.
- syalam 13y ago
  ha, that is a good one. didn't think of that, but also a good pre-caution!
coleca 13y ago
If you put the phone in airplane mode as the article suggests, I doubt AirPlay to the AppleTV would work because it needs the Wifi radio that would be turned off at that point.
- syalam 13y ago
  You're correct. Airplane Mode by default turns off Wi-Fi, but if you manually enable it, you can be in Airplane Mode and have Wi-Fi. This works well.
monkey_slap 13y ago
I'd be curious why you'd recommend an AppleTV over a lightning-HDMI adapter. When we demo our iPad apps the direct connection is perfect. Spotty, shared wifi can hurt Airplay sometimes (and yes, it is awful that it uses a Wifi connection...)
- rbritton 13y ago
  Direct HDMI is higher resolution than the Apple TV's AirPlay, which is still capped at 720p. You can work around this by streaming to a computer directly plugged into the screen (e.g., a Mac Mini) running something like Air Server (http://www.airserver.com/ http://www.airserver.com/), which will allow a 1080p signal.
- lnanek2 13y ago
  Agreed. I've seen countless demos bungled because they required WiFi and a big crowd came and took out the WiFi. You should always have your own 4G LTE hot spot so you don't depend on site WiFi, but they you still want to keep everything local or over cables that you can.
smaccona 13y ago
"Do Not Disturb" mode only mutes notifications while the iPhone's screen is locked. The text on the DnD settings page in iOS specifically says "When Do Not Disturb is enabled calls and alerts that arrive WHILE LOCKED will be silenced, and a moon icon will appear in the status bar" (emphasis mine)[1]. I've been bitten by this during a demo: I still received texts (from a co-worker) even though I had DnD enabled. [1] http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5463 http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5463
- smaccona 13y ago
  A workaround using Guided Access can be found at[1]. This is not ideal, but it appears sufficient to prevent alerts etc during a presentation. [1] http://www.macworld.com/article/2025400/how-to-temporarily-mute-notifications-on-ios.html http://www.macworld.com/article/2025400/how-to-temporarily-m...
mostafaberg 13y ago
I don't think using your personal phone as a presentation device is the best idea, you can avoid most of those issues by simply having another device to present your app on, a used iPhone, or even iPod will be very cheap to get, no one will see that hardware anyway. This way you'll avoid the wallpaper, calls, browser history, airplane mode, etc.. it'll be basically always configured for presentation mode, and you can also use it for development and as a backup phone !, fuck me right ?! :D

22 points by syalam 13y ago

I wonder if the Apple TV hardware supports AirDrop/WiFi Direct (I know the software currently doesn't) so that you wouldn't even need to have the two devices on a WiFi network for them to see each other over AirPlay.

herbig 13y ago

Clear your browser history, just in case.

syalam 13y ago
ha, that is a good one. didn't think of that, but also a good pre-caution!

coleca 13y ago

If you put the phone in airplane mode as the article suggests, I doubt AirPlay to the AppleTV would work because it needs the Wifi radio that would be turned off at that point.

syalam 13y ago
You're correct. Airplane Mode by default turns off Wi-Fi, but if you manually enable it, you can be in Airplane Mode and have Wi-Fi. This works well.

monkey_slap 13y ago

I'd be curious why you'd recommend an AppleTV over a lightning-HDMI adapter. When we demo our iPad apps the direct connection is perfect. Spotty, shared wifi can hurt Airplay sometimes (and yes, it is awful that it uses a Wifi connection...)

rbritton 13y ago
Direct HDMI is higher resolution than the Apple TV's AirPlay, which is still capped at 720p. You can work around this by streaming to a computer directly plugged into the screen (e.g., a Mac Mini) running something like Air Server (http://www.airserver.com/ http://www.airserver.com/), which will allow a 1080p signal.
lnanek2 13y ago
Agreed. I've seen countless demos bungled because they required WiFi and a big crowd came and took out the WiFi. You should always have your own 4G LTE hot spot so you don't depend on site WiFi, but they you still want to keep everything local or over cables that you can.

smaccona 13y ago

"Do Not Disturb" mode only mutes notifications while the iPhone's screen is locked. The text on the DnD settings page in iOS specifically says "When Do Not Disturb is enabled calls and alerts that arrive WHILE LOCKED will be silenced, and a moon icon will appear in the status bar" (emphasis mine)[1]. I've been bitten by this during a demo: I still received texts (from a co-worker) even though I had DnD enabled. [1] http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5463 http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5463

smaccona 13y ago
A workaround using Guided Access can be found at[1]. This is not ideal, but it appears sufficient to prevent alerts etc during a presentation. [1] http://www.macworld.com/article/2025400/how-to-temporarily-mute-notifications-on-ios.html http://www.macworld.com/article/2025400/how-to-temporarily-m...

mostafaberg 13y ago

I don't think using your personal phone as a presentation device is the best idea, you can avoid most of those issues by simply having another device to present your app on, a used iPhone, or even iPod will be very cheap to get, no one will see that hardware anyway. This way you'll avoid the wallpaper, calls, browser history, airplane mode, etc.. it'll be basically always configured for presentation mode, and you can also use it for development and as a backup phone !, fuck me right ?! :D