Microsoft Band SDK Now Available

Microsoft just announced iOS support for their recently released Microsoft Band SDK. The iOS preview joins their preview support for Android and Windows Phone, and we’re delighted to announce that within 24 hours of release, we’ve made these SDKs available to Xamarin developers on iOS and Android, too.

The Band is very much designed for health and fitness with its many sensors, but it is not limited to health uses. Because we have access to the sensors and can interact with the device, we can use the Band to enhance and extend any mobile app.

There are 4 main ways we can interact with the Band:

1. Reading information from the Sensors
2. Creating themed app Tiles
3. Sending Messages to the Band
4. Theming and Personalizing the Band

To interact with a Band from your app, install the SDK and add the code to create a connection with a Band. The user will need the Microsoft Health app installed, and have paired their Band with their phone.

Once connected you can communicate with the Band easily using C# in your iOS and Android apps. The APIs allow you read from the various Band sensors, send messages that appear on the band while it’s connected, and much more.

Getting Started

To start building Band apps with Xamarin today, add the Microsoft Band SDK Component to your iOS or Android project, check out the component documentation and my samples for iOS and Android to learn how to connect and read sensor data.

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