Getting cell tower information in an iOS application?

Question

My question is simple but I haven't found a good answer anywhere. My question is this: Is there a way through either the iOS SDK or third-party frameworks to get cell tower location data? Meaning cell tower location, distance from you, etc.

The signal application for iOS does this, so I know it's possible, but I can't seem to find any documentation or resources on the matter.

Thanks!

Answer 1

There is no official way to do this as far as I know. iOS SDKs abstract that info to a single and easy to use location API.

The application you link is probably using private APIs from iOS. That means that developer is using undocumented functions from iOS. If you really want to find more about it, you can try contacting him.

Also check this: iOS Private API Documentation

Answer 2

The signal app used some private API which will lead to immediate rejection by Apple, which is why it says jailbreak device only.

Plus, you may find this post helpful: iPhone signal strength

Answer 3

The CellStumbler application (CellStumbler at code.google.com) uses undocumented methods in the CoreTelephony framework. There is a CellInfo struct defined which can be queried via the _CTServerConnectionCellMonitorGetCellInfo method.

However, on iPhone-4S - iOS5 the CTServerConnectionCellMonitorGetCellCount always return zero - so no cell info can be queried. Things may look different on a iPhone4/3S since Apple changed the baseband modem from Infineon Gold to Qualcomm mdm6610.

You mal also try to evaluate the built-in FieldTest app (just dial *3001#12345#* to start) which gives you a couple of info related to your cellular network status.