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Sravan 0a2c7376b9 feat(share): "Biz Connect" in the iOS share sheet — share a photo/file into a chat
Adds the reverse direction: share FROM Photos/Files/Safari INTO a Biz Connect
conversation. An app can only appear in the iOS share sheet as an app-extension
target, so this is real native work, not a web change.

Pieces:
- mobile/ios-share/ShareViewController.swift: a UI-less Share Extension. It stages
  the shared items into the App Group container and opens bizconnect://share. It
  deliberately does NOT reimplement the chat picker — that lives in the app, which
  already has the chat list, search and upload progress. Appends to the manifest
  (never overwrites), so sharing twice before opening the app loses nothing.
- mobile/scripts/add-share-extension.rb: injects the extension target into the
  Capacitor-generated Xcode project on every CI build (Codemagic checks out fresh),
  using the xcodeproj gem that ships with CocoaPods. Embeds it, sets the bundle id
  <app>.share, and MERGES the App Group into the app's entitlements rather than
  clobbering them (push's aps-environment must survive). Idempotent.
- mobile/plugins/share-inbox: getPending()/clear() to read that manifest — the App
  Group container isn't one of Filesystem's known directories, so it needs a bridge.
- home.html: on bizconnect://share (and every resume, and cold-launch), read the
  inbox and show a "Send to…" picker over the chat list; chosen files run the SAME
  upload + /api/messages send as an in-app attachment. Reuses convertFileSrc to read
  the staged bytes with no base64 marshalling.
- ios-patch.sh registers the bizconnect URL scheme; codemagic.yaml fetches a profile
  for the .share bundle id too.

One-time manual gate (CI cannot toggle App capabilities): the App Group
group.com.bizgaze.connect must be created and enabled on both App IDs in the Apple
portal — documented in mobile/IOS_SETUP.md. Without it the two processes can't see
each other's files and sharing silently no-ops; everything else still works.

Validated cross-file: pod-name/jsName/method wiring for all three plugins, App
Group id identical in all 4 files, URL scheme consistent across extension/plist/web,
entitlement-merge preserves push. Needs a new iOS build (new targets + plugins).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-23 22:58:08 +05:30

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Biz Connect — iOS App Store setup (Codemagic, no Mac needed)

The iOS app is a Capacitor shell that loads the live Connect web UI (https://remote.bizgaze.com). Building/signing/uploading happens on Codemagic's macOS cloud — you never need a Mac.

Bundle id: com.bizgaze.connect · CI config: codemagic.yaml (repo root).


Step 0 — Register the App ID (Identifiers → + → App IDs → App)

On the Register an App ID page, only three fields matter — leave everything else default:

  • Platform: leave as-is (the default iOS, iPadOS, macOS… combined App ID is fine).
  • Description: Biz Connect (label only; no @ & * ").
  • Bundle ID: keep Explicitcom.bizgaze.connect.
  • Capabilities: tick Push Notifications only. Leave all others unchecked. (Camera/mic are NOT here — they're Info.plist runtime strings, added by the build pipeline.)
  • Continue → Register. (The App ID Prefix shown is your Team ID — note it for Step 5's APNs.)

Step 1 — App Store Connect: create the app record

  1. appstoreconnect.apple.comApps → +New App.
  2. Platform iOS, Name Biz Connect, primary language, Bundle ID = com.bizgaze.connect (the App ID you registered in Step 0 now appears in the dropdown).
  3. SKU: anything unique (e.g. bizconnect-ios). Create.

Step 2 — App Store Connect API key (for Codemagic to sign + upload)

  1. App Store Connect → Users and Access → Integrations → App Store Connect API+.
  2. Access App Manager. Generate. Note the Issuer ID (top of the page) and the key's Key ID, and download the .p8 (you can only download it once).

Step 3 — Codemagic: connect + add the key

  1. codemagic.io → sign in with the git provider → add this repository.
  2. Teams → Integrations → App Store Connect → Connect, upload the .p8, paste the Issuer ID and Key ID. Name it exactly BizGaze App Store Connect (the codemagic.yaml references that name).
  3. Codemagic detects codemagic.yaml. That's all the signing setup — automatic signing creates the distribution certificate + provisioning profile from this key on the first build.

Step 4 — Run the build

  • Codemagic → the app → Start new build → workflow "Biz Connect iOS → TestFlight".
  • ~1015 min. On success the build appears in App Store Connect → TestFlight.
  • Add yourself under TestFlight → Internal Testing to install via the TestFlight app on your iPhone.

Step 5 — Push notifications (APNs) — do this once, then tell me

So the app gets calls/messages while it's closed:

  1. developer.apple.com → Keys → + → enable Apple Push Notifications service (APNs) → download the .p8. Note its Key ID and your Team ID (top-right of the developer portal).
  2. Send me: the .p8 contents, the Key ID, and the Team ID. I set these in the server .env (server-side only, like the LiveKit/Giphy keys):
    APNS_KEY=<contents of the .p8>
    APNS_KEY_ID=<key id>
    APNS_TEAM_ID=<team id>
    APNS_BUNDLE_ID=com.bizgaze.connect
    APNS_PRODUCTION=1
    
    The APNs sender is already built into the server — it's a no-op until these are set.

Step 6 — Public App Store submission (when you're ready to leave TestFlight)

In App Store Connect, fill the listing: screenshots (6.7" + 6.1" iPhone), description, keywords, support URL, and a Privacy Policy URL (required). Complete the App Privacy questionnaire (we collect account info + usage for chat/calls). Then submit for review (or flip submit_to_app_store in codemagic.yaml).


App Review note (Guideline 4.2 — "Minimum Functionality")

Apple scrutinises apps that look like "just a website". Ours passes because it ships real native capabilities — push notifications, camera/microphone for calls, photo sharing. Make sure push (Step 5) is live before the public submission, and in the reviewer notes mention the native video/voice calling + push notifications. Do not advertise "share your screen" as an iOS feature in the store listing yet — see the follow-up below (you can still view a screen someone else shares).


Known iOS limitations & follow-ups (phase 2 — after TestFlight)

1. Sharing YOUR iOS screen into a meeting → needs a ReplayKit Broadcast Upload Extension

  • Why: the app's screen share uses the web getDisplayMedia API, which iOS WebViews and Safari do not support. Apple only allows capturing the device screen via ReplayKit.
  • What works today on iOS: viewing a screen another participant shares (it's just incoming video), chat, voice/video calls, camera, photo sharing.
  • What's needed to broadcast the iOS screen: a native Broadcast Upload Extension target that captures frames via ReplayKit and feeds them into the LiveKit/WebRTC session, plus the App Groups capability (to pass data between the app and the extension). This is native Swift work — NOT part of the Capacitor wrapper — so it's tracked as a separate task, done after the app is on TestFlight.
  • Store impact: don't claim iOS screen-sharing in the listing until this ships, or a reviewer may test it and it will fail.

2. Native mobile audio routing (speaker / earpiece / Bluetooth) — needs a Capacitor audio plugin

  • Mobile web can't switch the audio output route (setSinkId is unimplemented on iOS/Android), so the in-meeting speaker/earpiece/Bluetooth control is web-only where it works and hidden where it doesn't.
  • True routing on iOS needs a small native plugin driving AVAudioSession. Phase-2 native task.

Share Extension ("Biz Connect" in the iOS share sheet) — one-time Apple portal setup

The app now has a Share Extension target (com.bizgaze.connect.share) so users can share a photo / video / file FROM the Photos or Files app INTO a Biz Connect conversation. The Codemagic build injects the target and fetches a profile for it automatically, but two things can ONLY be done once, by hand, in the Apple Developer portal — CI cannot toggle App capabilities:

  1. Create the App Group (developer.apple.com → Identifiers → App Groups → +): identifier group.com.bizgaze.connect.
  2. Enable the App Groups capability on BOTH App IDs and assign them to that group:
    • com.bizgaze.connect (the app)
    • com.bizgaze.connect.share (the extension — create this App ID if the first build hasn't yet; fetch-signing-files --create will register it, then edit it to add App Groups) After enabling the capability, the provisioning profiles must be regenerated — the next Codemagic build does that via fetch-signing-files, so just re-run it once the capability is on.

If the App Group isn't set up, the app and the extension can't see each other's files: sharing will appear to do nothing (the extension stages the file, but the app finds an empty inbox). Everything else — download to the Files folder, the Photos "Connect" album, Manage storage — works without it.

Also enabled by this change (main app Info.plist, done automatically by ios-patch.sh):

  • UIFileSharingEnabled + LSSupportsOpeningDocumentsInPlace → the Biz Connect folder in Files.
  • CFBundleURLTypes scheme bizconnect → lets the extension bounce back into the app after staging.