Bluetooth LE & NFC iOS Development Consulting
Core Bluetooth, NFC Reader Sessions, iBeacon, MFi hardware integration. Most of my BLE work has been on clinical and medical hardware, where a dropped sample loses patient context.
- Core Bluetooth: peripheral/central, GATT, background modes, state restoration
- NFC Reader Sessions, NDEF, background tag reading (iOS 14+)
- BLE integration for regulated medical devices and consumer hardware
What clients say
"Vadim was instrumental to the success Epsy enjoyed on iOS, taking it from an idea on a Miro board to the highest rated and most downloaded app of its kind on the store."
James C. · Mobile Engineering Lead, Epsy
"We had a strict deadline, and Vadim managed to complete the job in time. He gave us meaningful feedback and suggested better approaches, not trying to blindly stick to our specification."
Founder · Pre-seed streaming service
"I can say with confidence that it will be difficult to find a better developer. Vadim is achievement-oriented, highly organized, with very good communication skills."
Alex Z. · Co-Founder, eda.so
Related work
Why BLE drops in the field but works on the bench
An iOS BLE developer on why Bluetooth peripherals drop in the field after passing every bench test, and why it's rarely the firmware's fault.
Epsy
Health companion app for epilepsy patients.
Fermento
Master the art of fermentation with confidence and precision
An unusual usage of iBeacons, crafting custom trackers and energy saving while working with BLE.
Common engagements
Ship a BLE integration end-to-end
I handle the iOS side and spec with your firmware team. Done means the device round-trips cleanly across foreground, background, killed, and state-restored app lifecycles, tested on at least three iPhone generations in realistic conditions.
Triage a production connectivity bug
1-3 days once I have logs and a device pair. I sit between the firmware team and the iOS stack and work out which side is wrong, usually with a Nordic sniffer capture to settle it.
Decide between BLE, NFC, and MFi
A half-day advisory before you commit to hardware. I review your requirements, map them to the iOS stack that fits, and flag the long-tail problems each stack comes with.
Questions
Can you work with our firmware team?
Yes. Most of my engagements here are iOS-side-of-hardware, paired with the firmware team on the other end. Packet captures from an external sniffer (Nordic, Ellisys) settle vendor-vs-iOS debates quickly.
Do you test across device generations?
Yes. BLE behaviour differs across iPhone models and iOS versions in ways that matter. I keep a small pool of devices for this and test across a range before calling an integration done.
We have a BLE device. Can you build the iOS app for it?
Yes. I work iOS-side of hardware and pair with your firmware team on the other end. Most engagements cover the pairing flow, GATT service design, connection handling across foreground and background states, and whatever fallback is needed when the OS suspends or kills the session. Tested on at least three iPhone generations before I call it done.
We need our app to read NFC tags. Can you build that?
Yes. NFC Reader Sessions, NDEF parsing, and background tag reading are covered here alongside the BLE work. If you need a contactless pass in Apple Wallet instead, I build those too - that work lives on the Apple Wallet consulting page. And if the hardware decision is still open, the half-day advisory above exists for the BLE-versus-NFC-versus-MFi decision.
Does our hardware need MFi certification for iOS?
Usually no, unless you're using audio, the Lightning connector, or the External Accessory framework. Standard Core Bluetooth covers most sensor and wearable categories without MFi licensing, which saves months of process.
Are you an agency, or do we work with you directly?
Directly - you're hiring me, one senior iOS engineer who writes the code, rather than an agency that routes you through a project manager and a team you never meet. For a lot of my clients that's the whole point: one person who owns the work end to end.
How quickly can you start?
A quick call can happen within days. For project work I usually need 1-2 weeks to clear the calendar, though I keep some buffer for urgent firefighting.
Do you work with early-stage startups?
Yes, from pre-seed to Series C and beyond. For very early teams, a short advisory engagement often makes more sense than a full build: you get the architecture guidance without committing to a large piece of work before you've validated the product.
What's included when we work together?
Everything: code, architecture decisions, code review, documentation, async Slack availability during working hours. No surprise add-ons. I bill for time spent working on your project, not for "thinking about it in the shower."
We're in a different timezone. Will that slow things down?
I'm currently in Vancouver (PST), with full overlap for North American teams. For UK and Europe, I'm online by their afternoon. For Gulf or APAC, we'd agree on overlap hours and handle the rest async. I've worked with teams from San Francisco to Dubai.
Areas I cover
Where I've worked CV LinkedIn
Integrating hardware with iOS?
Tell me what you're working on. I reply within 48 hours.