How to implement App-To-App Communication between WP8 and Win8 devices

Question

I want to implement app-to-app communication across a WP8 device and a Windows 8 device. I can't rely on Internet connectivity so any web server is out of the question. Additionally I don't want to use any local server to avoid setup overhead.

The most likely scenario is to use Bluetooth connectivity to pair and send small data sets between devices. I know that App-To-App communication between two WP8 devices, or two Win8 devices can be easily achieved using PeerFinder. However, I need to do cross-device.

MSDN documentation suggests that using PeerFinder.AlternateIdentities will allow this to happen, but it seems to require a tap gesture using NFC-capable devices. In my case, I want to be able to establish the communication without having to rely on the NFC Tap gesture.

The problem is that even setting and using AlternateIdentities doesn't seem to enable the devices to see each other. Digging deeper into the code, seems that Win8 devices require WiFi Direct to advertise and establish connectivity, which is not supported by WP8 devices.

Has anyone been able to solve this issue, or implement this scenario?

According to other threads, the only clear answer (although it doesn't work) is:

app-to-app / WP8-to-Win8. Using specific AlternativeIdentities on both ends it's also possible to get app-to-app to work for WP8-to-Win8. You'll need to set PeerFinder.AlternateIdentities["WindowsPhone"] on Win8 to the WP8 app GUID, and you'll need to add PeerFinder.AlternateIdentities.Add("Windows",GUID) on WP8 to the Win8 app GUID.

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Since FindAllpeersAsync function of PeerFinder uses WiFi Direct to do the peer discovery in Windows 8, and Bluetooth is used in the Windows Phone version, they are note compatible.

So, as for now, the following statement,

app-to-app / WP8-to-Win8. Using specific AlternativeIdentities on both ends it's also possible to get app-to-app to work for WP8-to-Win8. You'll need to set PeerFinder.AlternateIdentities["WindowsPhone"] on Win8 to the WP8 app GUID, and you'll need to add PeerFinder.AlternateIdentities.Add("Windows",GUID) on WP8 to the Win8 app GUID.

is basicallly false.