Hey devs!
I recently started a project, a macOS app, which is like a Remote Desktop app but only on local network.
For this I wanted to use the MultipeerConnectivity framework, and it's my first time using it. So I have already done the device discovery side that is working well as it is the easier part. Now I just need someone who knows how it works and who has time to explain me (as I couldn't find any documentation about this) how does work the OutputStream And InputStream in MC and if its a good choice for my needs. It has to be low latency and high resolution... I also have seen other frameworks such as WebRTC that I could combine with a local WebSocket Server, but as I'm new to live video streaming and that I don't know anyone that is experimented with this I wanted to ask there for your advices.
Thank you in advance, TR-MZ (just an unknown Indie dev).
My general advice is that you not use Multipeer Connectivity for new code. See TN3151 Choosing the right networking API for more on that. For a screen sharing app, where there’s a clearly defined client and server, you’re much better off using Network framework.
In terms of how you actually transport the data, there’s definitely a latency versus complexity trade-off to be made here. Networking has fundamental limitations — limited packet size, packet loss, and out-of-order delivery — and you have to decide whether you want to deal with those limitations yourself or let the system deal with them.
If you use a TCP stream then life is simple — data you pour in one end flows out the other — but you can run into latency issues. Specifically, it suffers from the head-of-line blocking problem.
To get around you can switch to UDP, but that exposes you to all of the above-mentioned limitations.
There is a third way here, namely QUIC, but that has its own complexities.
Share and Enjoy
—
Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"
