News
News Categories

Wi-Fi Aware will let devices communicate with each other before they connect

By James Lu - on 15 Jul 2015, 10:07am

Wi-Fi Aware will let devices communicate with each other before they connect

Source: Wi-Fi Alliance

The Wi-Fi Alliance, the non-profit trade organization that includes Apple, Microsoft, and Intel among others, has just released a new spec that will allow devices to talk to each other before they've even connected. The technology is called Wi-Fi Aware and will let your device continuously broadcast and receive broadcasts from other devices in your vicinity.

Users will be able to opt in to let applications both publish availability and subscribe to receive information and connection requests. For example, if you're subscribed to your favorite clothing brand, and have proximity notifications turned on, an app could alert you when you’re approaching a store that’s listed some of those items on sale.

It'll be a while before you're using WiFi Aware gadgets and apps. Although a few wireless chipsets are good to go, you'll still need to wait for software implementations to make use of it. According to the Wi-Fi Alliance, Social networks like Facebook and LinkedIn could start using it by the end of the year, so you'll soon be able to see whenever your friends are in the same vicinity as you.

And if you're worried about battery life, even though Aware is running continuously in the background so that a device knows exactly what’s nearby before it connects, according to Edgar Figueroa, President of the WiFi Alliance, it’s actually incredibly power efficient - even more so than traditional WiFi, apparently.

Source: Wi-Fi Alliance

Join HWZ's Telegram channel here and catch all the latest tech news!
Our articles may contain affiliate links. If you buy through these links, we may earn a small commission.