Speaking of Standards

In yesterday’s post about how to configure your home network for IPv6 using an Apple AirPort or Time Capsule access point, I didn’t really mention that the AirPort or TimeCapsule will make IPv6 available for any IPv6-capable devices that connect to the AirPort/Time Capsule via WiFi (or through the Ethernet connections on some of the devices).

This includes the iPad and iPhone! Here, for instance, is what IPv6-test.com looks like on my iPad (with me covering up some IP addresses, of course):

My iPhone 4 generated a similar screen when I visited the site.

On both devices, I was easily able to browse IPv6-enabled websites and check out some of the other “cool stuff” available on IPv6.

Of course, just because the iPad (or iPhone) can get an IPv6 address, that doesn’t mean that iOS applications will work with IPv6. For instance, I used a ssh application and when it connected to a site it was told it was connecting over IPv4 vs IPv6. (The iPad is “dual stack” in that it has both an IPv4 and an IPv6 address.) There was no way I could see in the app to tell the app to use IPv6… so I’m thinking that probably the app is NOT designed to work with IPv6.

Now, the reality is that getting IPv6 access via an iPad or iPhone may not be terribly useful right now… but it’s cool to see that they will work with IPv6. They could also be convenient test platforms to connect to IPv6 sites, simply because of their form factor.

It will be interesting to see how many of the Android and other tablets coming out will also work with IPv6…

Afer I just posted on my Disruptive Telephony blog about current development work to create a native SIP client on the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch, I realized that I could have just as easily posted about that here instead (or cross-posted). Anyway, as I note in the post, this development work is still in its early days (and they are looking for assistance), but it’s good work to see, in my opinion. Let’s see what happens!

Technorati Tags: apple, iphone, ipod touch, sip