Android app that exists only to send and receive small data messages for other apps using "narrow band sockets" (called "data sms" on Android)
Background:
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"Narrow Band Sockets" (NBS) are an old but still useful way of sending tiny amounts of data (~<=140 bytes) on GSM networks. The original text messaging features on pre-smart-phones used them.
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Maybe because of this, Google equates them with the world of user-visible SMS, providing access via the method SmsManager.sendDataMessage()
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And so the SMS_SEND and SMS_RECEIVE permissions are required to use NBS
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The Google Play Store is banning apps' use of SMS_SEND and SMS_RECEIVE unless it's required for their core functionality. This means that you can no longer use NBS to transmit the moves of a game, say, in versions of your app distributed through the Play Store.
Thus NBSProxy has as its core and only function the transmission of data using NBS. Sending is done with SmsManager.sendDataMessage(). Receiving is done via a BroadcastReceiver it registers in its AndroidManifest.xml file.
It's a proof-of-concept right now: it works to send between any two client apps, and has a rough UI. It warns about being on the wrong type of phone, tries to get the permissions it needs, and does a bit of usage tracking. It works quite well in fact once it's up and running, but there are some glitches in the immediate post-install experience that need to be fixed before it's ready for release.
It's meant to be ridiculously small and simple so that anybody who knows a bit of Android can verify in minutes that it's not doing anything nasty. Because there's a lot of concern these days about anything with "SMS" in its name....
The javadoc comments in NBSProxy.java describe how to use this app from your app. Or should.
If you're interested in using it, or in helping with development, please be in touch!
License is GPL v2.
Thanks,
--Eric eehouse@eehouse.org