Hi everyone,
Not sure this is the category to post in but nothing else seemed to fit.
I was trying to make some changes to my Multiplus today and had my USB C iPhone with me. It didn’t work. I came to the forums and read about the long-standing limitation that VictronConnect on iOS/iPadOS does not support MK3-USB, so had a couple of question for Victron staff and the community.
As I understand it, Victron would like to support configuration of VE.Bus devices like the MultiPlus from iPads and iPhones, especially now that they have USB-C. But Apple requires the use of its proprietary MFi (Made for iPhone) program, which prevents support for standard USB-serial accessories like the MK3-USB. Meanwhile, the same configuration workflow works on Android - and apparently also on Windows and macOS.
Is this a case of Apple using platform control to limit fair access to third-party hardware? If so I wonder whether this might be appropriate to raise to Apple or to interoperability framework owners. Especially since Apple has been required to adopt USB-C, it seems inconsistent to enable the USB port physically but then block functionality.
Questions for the Victron staff and community:
- Has Victron contacted Apple regarding enabling support for MK3-USB on iOS?
- Have any users or EU digital rights groups raised this kind of issue with Apple?
- Would Victron consider publishing some kind of statement of intent, e.g., “we’d enable iPad/iPhone support for our USB hardware if Apple allowed it”?
Just to be clear, I’m not suggesting litigation or anything like that - just trying to understand whether this might be a legitimate area for interoperability so that we can use the hardware we bought. Maybe Victron and users could encourage Apple to open this up?
Thanks for any insights or links to prior threads on this.