I've started reworking the device linking functionality in Set List Maker and BandHelper, with two goals:
- Improve connection reliability and transmission speed.
- Provide linking between iOS and Android devices.
Unfortunately, the only way I've found to do both requires that all the linked devices be connected to the same wi-fi network. The wi-fi network doesn't need to have an Internet connection, so it could be provided by a cheap ($20) wireless router that you bring to your gigs. It also doesn't need to be provided by a standalone router, so it could be one of your mobile devices with the personal hotspot feature enabled (which usually requires a data and tethering plan on that device), or a laptop with the ad-hoc wi-fi feature enabled (which usually does not require any special service).
My thought is that I could leave the existing, Bluetooth-based device linking functionality in place on iOS, for people who are happy with the existing setup and aren't able to set up a local wi-fi network, but add an option to switch over to the new, wi-fi based functionality. Only the new functionality would be available for Android devices, so anyone using this feature on Android would need a wi-fi network.
What do you think about that?