Hi everyone, I’m the developer of one sec, an app used by a large number of users globally to reduce time spent on social media and to build healthier digital habits. Because of this, we rely heavily on Apple’s Screen Time / DeviceActivity / FamilyControls, ManagedSettings APIs – and unfortunately, we’re seeing increasingly severe issues in production that directly impact hundreds of thousands of real iOS users. During the past years, we have been busy filing dozens of feedback requests for different Screen Time issues – and there has been no response from Apple at all. Developer Relations might be able to "confirm" that the bugs are present and that they ended up with the right team – but they are never addressed, neither are workarounds provided. Instead, the situation gets worse and worse. iOS 26 introduced a series of heavy regressions (which have been reported via Apple’s official bug report tool "Feedback Assistant" on iOS 26 beta 1 in June 2025 – and have not been addressed 10 Months later). This is very frustrating for us as developers, but also for our end-users who run into these issues every day. In the end this impacts our ability to build an amazing product and hurts revenue (which affects both us and Apple). 1. DeviceActivity thresholds are not firing at all This affects both: our app’s usage of the API and Apple’s own Screen Time limits Radars: FB22304617, FB20526837, FB15491936, FB12195437, FB15663329, FB18198691, FB18289475, FB19827144 2. Screen Time usage data is clearly corrupted Websites showing hundreds of hours per week Up to ~20 hours per day of usage reported for a single domain Radars: FB22304617, FB17777429, FB18464235 3. DeviceActivity thresholds reaching threshold immediately Newly introduced with iOS 26 Reported on iOS 26 beta 1 in June No response so far / no workaround DeviceActivity calls didReachThreshold immediately after creating the DeviceActivityEvent – instead of waiting till the defined threshold is actually reached. Radars: FB13696022, FB18351583, FB21320644, FB18927456, FB18061981 4. Randomly Randomizing ApplicationTokens From time to time, and without consistency, Screen Time suddenly provides new, random, unknown tokens to my app in the ShieldConfigurationDataSource and ShieldActionDelegate. This has been reported on many times before here on the dev forms, many many years back already: https://forums.developer.apple.com/forums/thread/756440 https://forums.developer.apple.com/forums/thread/758325 https://forums.developer.apple.com/forums/thread/758325?answerId=793267022#793267022 Radars: FB14082790 and FB18764644 5. Moving Tokens from one ManagedSettingsStore to Another Removing an ApplicationToken from one SettingsStore and then adding it to another while the target app remains in foreground leads to the re-use of the ShieldConfiguration. Which can be wrong in many scenarios. It is not possible to request a re-request of the ShieldConfiguration in that scenario. Radar: FB14237883 6. Unable to Open Parent App (one sec) from Shield Many times, when a target app is blocked by a shield, the user wants to perform some action (e.g. to unlock more time for the target app via an intervention). That means, that somehow I have to forward the user from a ShieldActionDelegate back into my target app. Unfortunately, there’s no API for that. Many apps on the App Store rely on private API to achieve that, but that’s too risky for a popular app like one sec. Radar: FB15079668 7. Unable to Open Target App from an ApplicationToken When a user has completed an intervention within one sec, and they indend to to continue to the target app, there is no way that one sec can open the target app just from the token alone. Sure, there are URL schemes, but that means the user has to manually assign URL schemes to each ApplicationToken. That is not a very user friendly process (and in many cases impossible, because not every app registers URL schemes). It would be better if there was a way that my app could open a target app directly from an ApplicationToken, e.g. via an AppIntent that can be run on a button press. This way, the selected apps would remain fully private while still offering advanced functionality: struct OpenTargetAppIntent: AppIntent, OpenAppFromApplicationTokenIntent { func perform() { return .result(openAppFromApplicationToken: applicationToken) } } Radar: FB15500695 Summary Thanks a lot for taking the time to read my feedback. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me any time. I’m always happy to provide more details, logs, and steps to reproduce in my radars / feedback requests or in-person in Cupertino. It would be extremely helpful if someone from the Screen Time / DeviceActivity engineering team could: Take a look at the listed radars. Work on bug fixes and be transparent about when fixes will be shipped. Provide workarounds in the meantime. We genuinely want to build great, reliable experiences on top of Screen Time – but in its current state, it’s becoming very difficult to depend on. – Frederik

Hi everyone, I'm building an iOS app that uses a DeviceActivityMonitor app extension as part of the Screen Time / Family Controls API. Every time I try to upload my IPA to App Store Connect, the validation fails with this error: "Invalid Info.plist value. The value of the NSExtensionPointIdentifier key, com.apple.deviceactivity.monitor, in the Info.plist of 'Alexandria.app/PlugIns/AlexandriaActivityMonitor.appex' is invalid." Error Domain=IrisAPI Code=-19241, iris-code=STATE_ERROR.VALIDATION_ERROR What I have verified (everything looks correct): NSExtensionPointIdentifier = com.apple.deviceactivity.monitor NSExtensionPrincipalClass = AlexandriaActivityMonitor.AlexandriaActivityMonitorExtension (correctly resolved in the compiled binary, verified with plutil -p) The Swift class correctly subclasses DeviceActivityMonitor CFBundleShortVersionString matches the main app Both the main app and extension provisioning profiles explicitly contain com.apple.developer.family-controls = true (verified by inspecting embedded.mobileprovision inside the IPA) The binary code signature itself contains com.apple.developer.family-controls = true (verified with codesign -d --entitlements :-) Family Controls entitlement was requested and approved in the Developer Portal for both App IDs Tested with both Xcode 26.2 (iOS 26 SDK) and Xcode 16.4 (iOS 18 SDK) — same error in both cases The IPA is structurally correct. The error comes purely from Apple's server-side IrisAPI validator and does not correspond to anything I can identify or fix in the code or configuration. Has anyone successfully submitted an app with a DeviceActivityMonitor extension to App Store Connect recently? Is there a backend approval requirement for com.apple.deviceactivity.monitor beyond the standard Family Controls entitlement approval? Could this be a known validator bug for this specific extension type? Any help appreciated.

We now know the IsEligibleForAgeFeatures API is NOT returning True in Brazil at least 2 days past compliance date, and we don't know if that's the right API, or how it behaves. Folks here: Is there anyone here from Brazil who has tested out this 26.4 API? Has anyone tested out the regulatory feature API? Does it return something like declaredAgeRangeRequired? I don't know how to test it in Brazil without sandbox/physically in Brazil. Much appreciated!!

Hello, I’m honestly trying to understand what’s going on with the Family Controls API review process. I submitted my entitlement request on March 5, and as of today (March 19), there has been zero response. I also opened a support ticket on March 16, and that hasn’t received any response either. What’s confusing is that updates to another app on the same developer account were approved within days so clearly the account is in good standing and active. At this point, it feels like there’s no visibility into what’s happening: Is the request under review? Is it waiting for additional information? Or is it just sitting in a queue indefinitely? I understand that Family Controls is a sensitive API, but a two-week silence with no status or communication makes it very difficult to plan or ship features. For those who’ve gone through this: How long did your approval actually take? Did you receive any communication during the process? Is there any reliable way to get visibility or speed this up? Right now, this is blocking a feature we’ve invested significant time building, and the lack of feedback is the most frustrating part. Would really appreciate any insights.

Hi everyone, I’m honestly trying to understand what’s going on with the Family Controls API review process. I submitted my entitlement request on March 5, and as of today (March 19), there has been zero response. I also opened a support ticket on March 16, and that hasn’t received any response either. What’s confusing is that updates to another app on the same developer account were approved within days — so clearly the account is in good standing and active. At this point, it feels like there’s no visibility into what’s happening: Is the request under review? Is it waiting for additional information? Or is it just sitting in a queue indefinitely? I understand that Family Controls is a sensitive API, but a two-week silence with no status or communication makes it very difficult to plan or ship features. For those who’ve gone through this: How long did your approval actually take? Did you receive any communication during the process? Is there any reliable way to get visibility or speed this up? Right now, this is blocking a feature we’ve invested significant time building, and the lack of feedback is the most frustrating part. This is really giving me pain. Would really appreciate any insights.

By analysis the log, seems the following 3 calls has been ended by system callkit (Not mainly trigger the end call): @apple Do you have similar report that the iOS CallKit End the call withtour user action? Device info: iPhone18,1（iPhone 16 Pro） iOS 26.2 RCAppMobile/25.4.30.995 CTRadioAccessTechnologyNR（5G NR）

I am attempting to configure appclips, but I am getting this error in App Store Connect. I created an app clips target in my project, I have checked the XCAsset files and it is included when archived and pushed to App Store Connect. In both my parent and my app clips target I've added the associated domains capabilities, with the following associated same domains for both targets: appclips:akin-server-side-staging.onrender.com appclips:akin-server-side.onrender.com applinks:akin-server-side-staging.onrender.com applinks:akin-server-side.onrender.com My server is configured to serve the following json at all permutations of the staging endpoints and prod endpoints for both well known and aasa without well known. Here is one of them: https://akin-server-side.onrender.com/.well-known/apple-app-site-association Here is the JSON it is returning: {"applinks":{"details":[{"appIDs":["8PJ28P9ZZ8.com.ElevatedUnderdogs.akin1"],"components":[{"\/":"\/appClips\/referral\/venueToUser\/*"}]}]},"appclips":{"apps":["8PJ28P9ZZ8.com.ElevatedUnderdogs.akin1.Clip"]}} And yet I'm still getting Invalid Entitlement: Unknown ID in the store.

Dear Sir/Madam, Thank you for your support. I have reviewed the documentation for Local Push Connectivity (see URL below) and, following the instruction in the "Important" section to "Request this entitlement from the Entitlement Request Page," I completed the application process for this Entitlement on March 11, 2026. [Local push connectivity] https://developer.apple.com/documentation/networkextension/local-push-connectivity?language=objc#Supporting-APNs-and-local-push-connectivity-in-one-app Subsequently, on March 13, 2026, I received the following reply from Apple: Sub : Re: Requesting Network Extension App Push Entitlement From: Local Push Review Sent: Friday, March 13, 2026 4:09 AM Hi, Thank you for your interest in the Local Push Connectivity entitlement. Your entitlement request has been approved for: Team ID: NWKYYYYYYY Technical documentation on this API is available here: -(Omission) - Best Regards, Apple Developer Relations My understanding is that upon approval of this application, an "Entitlements" field should be added to the input fields for creating provisioning profiles. However, as of today(March 18, 2026), it has not yet been added. Will the Entitlements field be added if I simply wait? My account (Apple ID), which submitted the application, belongs to three Team IDs. For convenience, I will refer to them as Team ID SV3XXXXXXX, Team ID NWKYYYYYYY, and Team ID WEJZZZZZZZ. The application status for Entitlements for each Team ID is as follows: Team ID SV3XXXXXXX Entitlements: Present. Applied for Entitlements on February 6, 2021. (Received "Re: Requesting Network Extension App Push Entitlement" email on February 6, 2021) Team ID NWKYYYYYYY Entitlements: Not present. Applied for Entitlements on March 13, 2026. (Received "Re: Requesting Network Extension App Push Entitlement" email on March 13, 2026) Team ID WEJZZZZZZZ Entitlements: Present. No record (email) of applying for Entitlements. Because of this, I am concerned that the Entitlements applied for Team ID NWKYYYYYYY may have been mistakenly granted to Team ID WEJZZZZZZZ, and I am inquiring about this. Will the Entitlements field for Team ID NWKYYYYYYY be added if I simply wait? Thank you in advance.

On iOS 26.3.1, deviceactivityd produces zero log output and never wakes a DeviceActivityMonitor extension at the scheduled time, even when the schedule is successfully registered. The extension's intervalDidStart(for:) method is never called. Steps to Reproduce: Create an app with a DeviceActivityMonitor extension subclass Add the com.apple.developer.family-controls entitlement to both the main app and extension targets Add a shared App Group entitlement to both targets In the main app, call: let center = DeviceActivityCenter() center.stopMonitoring([.myActivity]) let schedule = DeviceActivitySchedule( intervalStart: DateComponents(hour: 17, minute: 30), intervalEnd: DateComponents(hour: 17, minute: 45), repeats: true ) try center.startMonitoring(.myActivity, during: schedule) Verify registration succeeds: DeviceActivityCenter().activities.contains(.myActivity) returns true Background the app completely and wait for the intervalStart time (5:30 PM in this example) Expected Result: intervalDidStart(for:) is called in the extension process at 5:30 PM. ManagedSettings shields are applied without any user interaction. Actual Result: intervalDidStart(for:) is never called. No extension process is launched. Filtering Console.app for deviceactivityd on the device returns 0 messages — the daemon produces no logs whatsoever despite an active registered schedule. Shields are never applied. Additional Evidence: Third-party apps using DeviceActivity (e.g. Prayer Lock) successfully apply shields at scheduled times on the same device and OS version, confirming the framework is not universally broken Filtering Console.app for the app's bundle ID at the trigger time shows the main app process applying shields via a UNCalendarNotificationTrigger fallback — but no extension process activity DeviceActivityCenter().activities correctly lists the registered activity before and after the trigger time, confirming the schedule registration API is functional Environment: iOS 26.3.1 Physical device (required for FamilyControls) Development-signed build with com.apple.developer.family-controls entitlement provisioned App Group shared between main app and extension targets

Similar Issue to FB13556935: On iOS 26.3.1, deviceactivityd produces zero log output and never wakes a DeviceActivityMonitor extension at the scheduled time, even when the schedule is successfully registered. The extension's intervalDidStart(for:) method is never called. Steps to Reproduce: Create an app with a DeviceActivityMonitor extension subclass Add the com.apple.developer.family-controls entitlement to both the main app and extension targets Add a shared App Group entitlement to both targets In the main app, call: let center = DeviceActivityCenter() center.stopMonitoring([.myActivity]) let schedule = DeviceActivitySchedule( intervalStart: DateComponents(hour: 17, minute: 30), intervalEnd: DateComponents(hour: 17, minute: 45), repeats: true ) try center.startMonitoring(.myActivity, during: schedule) Verify registration succeeds: DeviceActivityCenter().activities.contains(.myActivity) returns true Background the app completely and wait for the intervalStart time (5:30 PM in this example) Expected Result: intervalDidStart(for:) is called in the extension process at 5:30 PM. ManagedSettings shields are applied without any user interaction. Actual Result: intervalDidStart(for:) is never called. No extension process is launched. Filtering Console.app for deviceactivityd on the device returns 0 messages — the daemon produces no logs whatsoever despite an active registered schedule. Shields are never applied. Additional Evidence: Third-party apps using DeviceActivity (e.g. Prayer Lock) successfully apply shields at scheduled times on the same device and OS version, confirming the framework is not universally broken Filtering Console.app for the app's bundle ID at the trigger time shows the main app process applying shields via a UNCalendarNotificationTrigger fallback — but no extension process activity DeviceActivityCenter().activities correctly lists the registered activity before and after the trigger time, confirming the schedule registration API is functional Environment: iOS 26.3.1 Physical device (required for FamilyControls) Development-signed build with com.apple.developer.family-controls entitlement provisioned App Group shared between main app and extension targets

Today is March 17th, which is the effective date for BR DECA. From what I can tell, isEligibleForAgeFeatures is still returning False for users in Brazil. Following up on https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/816987?answerId=878188022#878188022, the API does not appear to be covering the requirements for this regulation. Could you please give some guidance on whether isEligibleForAgeFeatures will ever return True for Brazil? I'm also curious whether other apps are also seeing the same behavior (isEligibleForAgeFeatures=False) for users in BR today.

I have a feature that relies on Apple Universal Links, which requires the apple-app-site-association file. I made some changes to this file a week ago, but I noticed that the corresponding file still hasn’t been updated when queried via: https://app-site-association.cdn-apple.com/a/v1/x When I query directly from our server, I can see the latest file here: https://x/.well-known/assetlinks.json Could anyone please help us update the file in the CDN? Thank you.

Hi, I’m building an iOS app called SocialLite using Apple’s Screen Time APIs, primarily FamilyControls and ManagedSettings. My goal is to block access to the Instagram app itself, while still allowing the user to receive and see Instagram notifications. Right now, when I apply the shield/block using the Screen Time API, the Instagram app is blocked as expected, but its notifications also appear to be blocked/suppressed at the same time. What I’m trying to achieve: Block the Instagram app from being opened Still allow Instagram notifications to come through normally Current behavior: The app is blocked Notifications are also blocked or no longer visible My question: Is there any supported way with Apple’s Screen Time API / ManagedSettings to shield or block an app while still allowing that app’s notifications? Or are app access and notifications tied together by design when a shield is applied? If this behavior is expected, I’d appreciate confirmation from Apple or guidance on whether there is another supported approach. Thanks.

We are building an AI-powered smart glasses companion app, similar to Meta Ray-Ban. We want to provide true hands-free calling support. Right now, whenever the app tries to dial a native cellular call, iOS shows a confirmation screen that requires the user to tap to start the call. If the user always has to confirm/tap on the phone screen, there is no real point in using smart glasses for making calls. How can we initiate a native outgoing call without any confirmation dialog or extra tap, exactly like Siri does it, or like the Meta Ray-Ban glasses do when the user says “Hey Meta, call [name]” Please guide us on the correct APIs, entitlements, or integration path to achieve this behavior. Thank you.

The Numbers.app reopens the last edited document when the app launches. If the document was moved to another folder in the Files.app while the app was not running, Numbers.app correctly tracks the file and reopens it. However, if the document was deleted in the Files.app and moved to Recently Deleted, Numbers.app does not reopen the document when the app launches. Question : How does Numbers.app detect that a document has been moved to Recently Deleted? Can third-party apps implement the same behavior? What I tested : If a file is moved while the app is not running, resolving a bookmark successfully tracks the moved file. Files that are deleted via the Files.app appear in Recently Deleted, but those files are actually moved to the following directories: iCloud Drive /var/mobile/Library/Mobile Documents/.Trash/ On My iPad /var/mobile/Containers/Shared/AppGroup/{UUID}/File Provider Storage/.Trash/ App sandbox Documents directory ([On My iPad]/[Any App]) /var/mobile/Containers/Data/Application/{UUID}/Documents/.Trash/ When resolving the bookmark after deletion, the bookmark still resolves successfully and returns the new file URL inside the .Trash directory. I tried the following checks on the resolved URL: Checking file existence Checking read/write accessibility Inspecting bookmark resolution results Using APIs related to NSTrashDirectory See https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/813329#813329021 All of these behaved the same as when the file was moved to a normal directory. None of these checks allowed me to detect that the file had been deleted. Additional experiment: I suspected that the app might simply check whether the path contains ".Trash", so I performed the following experiment. If a .numbers file is moved to /var/mobile/Containers/Data/Application/{UUID}/Documents/.Trash/ then The file appears in Recently Deleted in Files.app Numbers.app does not reopen the document when the app launches However, if the same file is moved to Documents/Trash Documents/.Trashed Documents/Any Folder/.Trash then The file does not appear in Recently Deleted in Files Numbers does reopen the document when launched This suggests that Numbers.app is not simply checking whether the path contains ".Trash".

We’re seeing a change in Spotlight search behavior on iOS 17 and later: Observation: User‑visible keywords we index (e.g. via Core Spotlight / CSSearchableItemAttributeSet with keywords) only start appearing in Spotlight suggestions after the user has typed more than 3 characters. With 1–3 characters, our app’s content often doesn’t show up at all, even when it clearly matches. Before iOS 17: The same indexed content could appear with fewer characters (e.g. 1–3 characters). Environment: Reproduced on multiple devices running iOS 17.x / 18.x; behavior is consistent. We’d like to confirm: Is this a documented change in iOS 17 (e.g. minimum character threshold for third‑party Spotlight results)? If yes, where is it documented? If it’s not intentional, could this be treated as a bug and considered for a fix in a future release? We’re happy to provide a sample project or more detail if that would help. Thank you.

Given that we can't use isEligibleForAgeFeatures property on macOS, the documentation states that In macOS, isEligibleForAgeFeatures returns false because the system doesn’t require Age Assurance for the person or device. However, you can still call requestAgeRange in macOS to get the declared age range. But in unsuitable region the requestAgeRange request always returns DeclaredAgeRange.AgeRangeService.Error.notAvailable which is vague, as it might stand for API being unavailable just as well as "You receive this error when the system prompts a person and they decide not to share their age range with your app. ", as per documentation. Unfortunately, this error fires immediately instead of showing any kind of prompt for user, so the description is definitely wrong (or incomplete) in here. Possible solutions: expand Error cases to separate not available API and not available response expand isEligibleForAgeFeatures to properly support macOS Moreover, unlike iOS, there is still no usable tool or algorithm to test given feature for macOS (mock region, mock age, mock source of approval, revoke declared range, etc). Now I get a review with rejection, stating that I don't have age verification mechanisms present in my app. Also I found out that after filling the App Information regarding Age Ratings it spreads to all fresh releases, so even though my newest macOS release doesn't contain age verification mechanisms yet, it should, as iOS release has got this functionality up and running already and I had to check this when filling Age Ratings questionnaire. Now I'm stuck between removing this capability from App Information, so the macOS release can pass and stalling macOS releases until there is a proper usable API to implement Declared Age Range verification properly (at least the same way as on iOS). How should I properly develop and test this feature for macOS before releasing it publicly?

Hi everyone, I'm running into what appears to be a stuck Family Controls entitlement request and wanted to see if anyone has experienced something similar. Request ID: 9D7MU547QH The request is still showing a status of "Submitted". Context: • Our main app bundle ID was already approved for the Family Controls entitlement. • Two related extensions (ShieldConfiguration and DeviceActivityMonitor) were also approved within a few days. • The remaining request is for a ShieldAction extension, which handles button taps from the shield UI. This entitlement is currently blocking our business's beta testing, so we’re trying to understand whether this is just normal queue delay or if the request might be stuck. Has anyone seen a case where the main app and other extensions were approved but a ShieldAction request remained in "Submitted" for an extended period? If an Apple engineer happens to see this, I’d greatly appreciate any guidance on whether the request might be stuck in the review queue. Thank you!

Hello, I submitted a Family Controls (Distribution) entitlement request on February 25, 2026 for my prayer/productivity app that uses the Screen Time API to block distracting apps. I also submitted requests for two extensions on March 6, 2026: com.prayfirst.prayFirst.ShieldAction com.prayfirst.prayFirst.ShieldConfiguration All three requests still show "Submitted" status in the Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles portal with no progress. I contacted Apple Developer Support (Case #102839422791), and they mentioned I should have received a "follow-up number" after submission — but I never received one. This entitlement is the only blocker preventing me from building and distributing my app. Could a DTS engineer please assist or escalate this? Team ID: BH752TBX9L Thank you.

I want to localize the app name, user the String Catalog to set en, en-US, en-CA, however, when the phone language is set to English (United States), the app name is displayed in English, while when the phone language is set to French, the app name is displayed in English-United States. However, the base language of the app settings is English. How can I make it right?