We have developed an application using xamarin forms , our iOS app is working fine till iOS17 , if we upgraded our OS version to iOS18 app is not working properly.
Visual studio for Mac 2022
Xcode 16
Minimum OS version 15.4
Xamarin.iOS version 16.4.023
General
RSS for tagDelve into the world of built-in app and system services available to developers. Discuss leveraging these services to enhance your app's functionality and user experience.
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This is more a general question of whether it is possible to share persistent/coredata from the main app to Screentime-related extensions such as DeviceActivityReportExtension.
I've set my code up (e.g., App Groups, files to different targets, using nspersistentcontainer with app group url, etc.) in a way that it builds, and the extension seems to recognize my CoreData schema (able to query using fetchrequest). But the data returned is always null. So i'm wondering if it is even possible to READ app data from the extension.
I understand it is not possible to write or pass data from the extension back to the app. I've also been able to read data that was saved in main app from UserDefaults in my extension.
Hi! We are having a hard time with the universal link, help is appreciated! Thanks in advance!
The universal link doesn't work after installation for some time. A user has to wait for from 5 to a couple of hours after the app is installed on the device.
This has also affected App reviewers since we need the universal link to work for successful login. Each submission will receive a rejection of we cannot login and it will be approved until we kindly ask them to try again.
I believe the JSON is delivered to devices by Apple's CDN system and the fact that it works on most devices most of the time should imply that we have a valid apple-app-site-association setup.
So I am really confused about the wait time, which is giving us trouble with app review and a bad user experience
My iOS app uses a Message Filter extension (via ILMessageFilterQueryHandling) and works only when run directly as the extension target. When installed normally (via TestFlight), the filter does not trigger at all — which I now believe is because iOS enforces the com.apple.developer.identitylookup entitlement at runtime.
Anyone know anything about this? I put in a request for the entitlement last week but heard nothing back. Called Apple "technical" support and they had no idea what I was talking about.
The documentation around this is EXTREMELY lacking in my opinion...
I have an app I want to get on the App Store but when I was putting in the build version slot, I accidentally deleted it by clicking backspace and tried everything to get it working again but I can't. Is there anyway for me to retrieve the slot so it works?
Topic:
App & System Services
SubTopic:
General
I'm sitting at my house and trying to sign my test device out of my apple ID so I can sign into a Sandbox user, but now I have an hour to kill because of this terribly broken "security" feature that thinks it's in an unfamiliar location, despite being at the only location it's ever known. Looks like I'll just be disabling this feature all together.
Especially as a device with Developer Mode enabled, which gets reset regularly, there should be additional options here. Come on!
Hello.
We have an app and a custom dylib hat seems to be crashing only when Rosetta is involved.
I believe it's the custom DYLIB that crashes.
Here are some observations.
The issue happens on the older 2022 built DYLIB (Intel only)
And the newer DYLIB built (Universal)
The universal DYLIB works fine natively on both Intel and M1 machines. It's only when we access it through an Intel only .app and it's running with Rosetta that we see the crash.
The older Intel only .DYLIB worked perfectly with the same testing .app in versions before Sonoma, now they crash with the same .app, same build.
Crash reports have been all over the place, they vary but repeat themselves. It has been a little confusing as to how to approach this issue and would appreciate any input that can help us understand what is going wrong and how to move forward.
Crash reports are attached
Crash Report 1
Crash Report 2
Crash Report 3
The crash occurs as SIGSEGV
Version: 2.0 (1)
Code Type: X86-64 (Translated)
Parent Process: launchd [1]
User ID: 501
Date/Time: 2025-04-14 19:55:06.0103 +0200
OS Version: macOS 14.6 (23G5075b)
Report Version: 12
Anonymous UUID: A08ECCFA-BF01-8636-7453-E4476586D3A8
Time Awake Since Boot: 3900 seconds
System Integrity Protection: enabled
Notes:
PC register does not match crashing frame (0x0 vs 0x102920144)
Crashed Thread: 10
Exception Type: EXC_BAD_ACCESS (SIGSEGV)
Exception Codes: KERN_INVALID_ADDRESS at 0x000000011d052840
Exception Codes: 0x0000000000000001, 0x000000011d052840
Termination Reason: Namespace SIGNAL, Code 11 Segmentation fault: 11
Terminating Process: exc handler [3174]
VM Region Info: 0x11d052840 is not in any region.
Thank you so much for all the attention and effort.
So I have been working with the screen time api. however I still cant get it to work to reshield certain apps after a certain time because for example Dispatch Queue just gets terminated after a certain time.
This is my code right now but the reshielding doesn't get called. Please help I have been working on this since weeks and weeks.
import ManagedSettings
import DeviceActivity
import Foundation
class ShieldActionExtension: ShieldActionDelegate {
let store = ManagedSettingsStore()
let center = DeviceActivityCenter()
override func handle(action: ShieldAction, for application: ApplicationToken, completionHandler: @escaping (ShieldActionResponse) -> Void) {
switch action {
case .primaryButtonPressed:
// Unshield the app
store.shield.applications?.remove(application)
// Encode and persist ApplicationToken
if let encoded = try? PropertyListEncoder().encode([application]) {
UserDefaults(suiteName: "group.Organization.BrainRipe.cmonnow")?.set(encoded, forKey: "StoredApplicationTokens")
}
let unshieldDurationMinutes = 2
let now = Date()
guard let endDate = Calendar.current.date(byAdding: .minute, value: unshieldDurationMinutes, to: now) else {
completionHandler(.close)
return
}
let activityName = DeviceActivityName("com.myapp.shield.reapply")
let schedule = DeviceActivitySchedule(
intervalStart: Calendar.current.dateComponents([.hour, .minute], from: now),
intervalEnd: Calendar.current.dateComponents([.hour, .minute], from: endDate),
repeats: false
)
do {
try center.startMonitoring(activityName, during: schedule)
} catch {
print("Error starting monitoring: \(error)")
}
completionHandler(.close)
case .secondaryButtonPressed:
completionHandler(.defer)
@unknown default:
fatalError("Unhandled ShieldAction case.")
}
}
}
import DeviceActivity
import ManagedSettings
import Foundation
// Optionally override any of the functions below.
// Make sure that your class name matches the NSExtensionPrincipalClass in your Info.plist.
class DeviceActivityMonitorExtension: DeviceActivityMonitor {
let store = ManagedSettingsStore()
override func intervalDidStart(for activity: DeviceActivityName) {
super.intervalDidStart(for: activity)
// Handle the start of the interval.
}
override func intervalDidEnd(for activity: DeviceActivityName) {
guard let data = UserDefaults(suiteName: "group.Organization.BrainRipe.cmonnow")?.data(forKey: "StoredApplicationTokens"),
let tokens = try? PropertyListDecoder().decode([ApplicationToken].self, from: data) else {
return
}
let tokenSet = Set(tokens)
if store.shield.applications == nil {
store.shield.applications = tokenSet
} else {
store.shield.applications?.formUnion(tokenSet)
}
// Clear tokens after use
UserDefaults(suiteName: "group.Organization.BrainRipe.cmonnow")?.removeObject(forKey: "StoredApplicationTokens")
}
}
Topic:
App & System Services
SubTopic:
General
Tags:
SwiftUI
Family Controls
Managed Settings
Screen Time
Hi Team,
We’re encountering a device-specific issue with our SMS Message Filter extension. The extension works as expected on an iPhone 11 running iOS 16.6, but it does not trigger on an iPhone 12 Pro running iOS 16.7.
Key Observations:
The extension is implemented using ILMessageFilterExtension and calls messageFilterOffline(appGroupIdentifier:for:) from our shared library.
The App Group is properly configured and accessible across the app and extension.
The extension is enabled under Settings > Messages > Unknown & Spam.
There are no crashes or error logs reported on the affected device.
The issue is consistently reproducible — it works on one device but not the other.
We’re wondering if this could be a regression or a device-specific behavior change introduced in iOS 16.7.
Has anyone encountered similar inconsistencies in Message Filter extensions across different iOS versions or device models?
Any guidance or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance!
Hi there,
we are implementing the new ContactProviderExtension introduced in iOS 18 and we are able to activate the extension, add data and everything.
But we want to add domains to seperate contacts and currently we are getting an error "ContactProvider.ContactProviderError.domainNotRegistered".
That makes sense because in the API docu we are not finding a way to register our domains. We are using ContactProviderDomain to create domains but we are not able to find any function to register.
Could you please give a hint?
Thank you
Hi everyone,
I’m developing a screen-time and focus app that uses Apple’s Family Controls framework to block distracting apps and reward users through a gamified experience.
Apple approved Family Controls (Distribution) for the main app identifier,
but they did not approve the required extension target (which implements DeviceActivityMonitor, required for the framework to function).
Because of this, I can’t archive or upload the app to TestFlight — and I’ve been stuck in limbo for over 2 months.
This is severely delaying my launch. The app works perfectly, but I can’t release it because the extension wasn’t included in the entitlement approval.
Has anyone else run into this with Family Controls?
Is there any known way to escalate or fast-track approval for additional app IDs or targets?
Would really appreciate any help, advice, or hacks. 🙏
Thanks,
Enzer
All
After about 20 hours straight of working on this and having scrapped it twice I am realizing I should have asked everyone here for help.
I am just trying to get device activity report extension to work inside an existing app.
I have been heavily using family controls, managedsettings and deviceactivity and decided it would be nice to output some of the app usage so the User (parent) can see their children's app usage.
I installed the target via xcode, confirmed group names match, and think I have it embedded correctly but when I run the app and call the view within the extension to show minutes used by any apps it just shows no time has been used. In addition, when I put print statements into the extension they do not show up in console.
I have confirmed the main app target->Build phases->Link binary with Libraries has:
ManagedSettings.framework
FamilyControls.Framework
DeviceActivity.framework
I have confirmed in xcode that the main app target->Build phases -> Embed Foundation Extensions has:
ShieldConfiguration.appex
ShieldActionExtension.appex
DeviceActivityMonitor.appex
I have confirmed in xcode that the main app target->Build phases-> Embed ExtensionKit Extensions has:
UsageReportExtension.appex
I have used the apps I am trying to show data for extensively in the last 36 hours.
Here is my UsageReportExtension info.plist
EXAppExtensionAttributes
EXExtensionPointIdentifier
com.apple.deviceactivityui.report-extension
.entitlement
com.apple.developer.family-controls
com.apple.security.application-groups
group.com.jrp.EarnYourTurnMVP2.data
Here is the file in the app (timebankview.swift) calling the extension/showing the extension view(AppUsageReportView.swift)
import DeviceActivity
import ManagedSettings
struct TimeBankView: View {
@EnvironmentObject private var appState: AppState
@State private var reportInterval: DateInterval = {
let calendar = Calendar.current
let now = Date()
let yesterdayDate = calendar.date(byAdding: .day, value: -1, to: now) ?? now
return DateInterval(start: yesterdayDate, end: now)
}()
private var reportFilter: DeviceActivityFilter {
let selection = appState.screenTimeController.currentSelection
return DeviceActivityFilter(
segment: .daily(during: reportInterval),
users: .children,
devices: .all,
applications: selection.applicationTokens,
categories: selection.categoryTokens
// webDomains: selection.webDomains // Add if needed
)
}
var body: some View {
ZStack {
Color.appTheme.background(for: appState.isParentMode)
.edgesIgnoringSafeArea(.all)
ScrollView {
VStack(spacing: 20) {
Text("Time Bank")
DeviceActivityReport(.childUsageSummary, filter: reportFilter)
Here is AppUsageReportView.swift
import SwiftUI
struct AppUsageReportView: View {
let config: DetailedAppUsageConfiguration // Use the detailed config
var body: some View {
VStack {
Text("App Usage Details")
Text("Total Screen Time: \(config.totalDurationFormatted)")
if config.applicationsUsed.isEmpty {
Text("No specific app usage data available for the selected period/filter.")
} else {
Text("Apps Used:")
List {
ForEach(config.applicationsUsed) { appInfo in
HStack {
Image(systemName: "app.dashed")
Text(appInfo.appName)
.lineLimit(1)
Text(appInfo.durationFormatted)
Here is AppUsageReportScene.swift:
import SwiftUI
import ManagedSettings
struct AppInfo: Identifiable, Hashable {
let id = UUID()
let appName: String
let durationFormatted: String
}
struct DetailedAppUsageConfiguration {
var totalDurationFormatted: String = "Calculating..."
var applicationsUsed: [AppInfo] = []
}
struct AppUsageReportScene: DeviceActivityReportScene {
let context: DeviceActivityReport.Context = .childUsageSummary
let content: (DetailedAppUsageConfiguration) -> AppUsageReportView
func makeConfiguration(representing data: DeviceActivityResults<DeviceActivityData>) async -> DetailedAppUsageConfiguration {
var config = DetailedAppUsageConfiguration()
var appDurations: [String: TimeInterval] = [:]
var totalAggregatedDuration: TimeInterval = 0
let formatter = DateComponentsFormatter()
formatter.allowedUnits = [.hour, .minute, .second]
formatter.unitsStyle = .abbreviated
formatter.zeroFormattingBehavior = .pad
var segmentCount = 0
var categoryCount = 0
var appCount = 0
for await activityData in data {
// Check segments
var tempSegmentCount = 0
for await segment in activityData.activitySegments {
segmentCount += 1
tempSegmentCount += 1
totalAggregatedDuration += segment.totalActivityDuration
var tempCategoryCount = 0
for await categoryActivity in segment.categories {
categoryCount += 1
tempCategoryCount += 1
var tempAppCount = 0
for await appActivity in categoryActivity.applications {
appCount += 1
tempAppCount += 1
let appName = appActivity.application.localizedDisplayName ?? "Unknown App"
let duration = appActivity.totalActivityDuration
appDurations[appName, default: 0] += duration
}}} }
config.totalDurationFormatted = formatter.string(from: totalAggregatedDuration) ?? "N/A"
config.applicationsUsed = appDurations
.filter { $0.value >= 1
.map { AppInfo(appName: $0.key, durationFormatted: formatter.string(from: $0.value) ?? "-") }
.sorted { lhs, rhs in
let durationLHS = appDurations[lhs.appName] ?? 0
let durationRHS = appDurations[rhs.appName] ?? 0
return durationLHS > durationRHS
}
if !config.applicationsUsed.isEmpty {
for (index, app) in config.applicationsUsed.enumerated() {
}
} else {
}
return config
}}
UsageReportExtension.swift
struct UsageReportExtension: DeviceActivityReportExtension {
init() {
print("🚀 [UsageReportExtension] Extension initialized at \(Date())")
print("🔍 [UsageReportExtension] Process info: \(ProcessInfo.processInfo.processName) PID: \(ProcessInfo.processInfo.processIdentifier)")
}
var body: some DeviceActivityReportScene {
let _ = print("📊 [UsageReportExtension] Building report scenes at \(Date())")
TotalActivityReport { totalActivity in
print("🕰️ [TotalActivityReport] Creating view with data: \(totalActivity)")
return TotalActivityView(totalActivity: totalActivity)
}}}
Topic:
App & System Services
SubTopic:
General
Tags:
Device Activity
Family Controls
Managed Settings
Screen Time
I have two standalone app written for watchos (standalone). One to authenticate and one for connectivity to real-world devices. The connectivity app uses the authentication app before every action, Im testing this with two xcode projects I have created and tried different things ended up with this error.
authapp://authenticate?callback=linkingapp://callback
-[SPApplicationDelegate extensionConnection:openSystemURL:]:2418: URL with scheme "authapp" not supported
how to get the url scheme working? Tested this in simulator and real device. info.plist and AppDelegate files are placed in both apps.
We developing a app called Parentgeenee. It's a Parental control app having any limitations on app block from child mobile. Trying to block more than 500 apps but not blocking if any particular method to block a bulk apps.
Topic:
App & System Services
SubTopic:
General
Tags:
Managed Settings
Family Controls
Screen Time
Device Activity
Hello everyone,
I’m running an Objective-C–based hybrid (native + web) shopping application and encountering a recurring issue on devices running iOS 18.1.1:
When the app launches, it only shows a white screen with the native frame visible—no web content loads.
Restarting or reinstalling the app doesn’t help. In one instance, toggling Airplane Mode on and off brought the app back to normal, but this workaround isn’t consistent.
There are no crash logs, so we can’t determine if it’s caused by a network error, cache conflict, or an OS-level bug.
So far, we have only seen this issue on iOS 18.1.1 devices. Because our app is a shopping platform, this significantly impacts users.
Questions:
Could this be related to a known bug or limitation in iOS 18.1.1?
Are there recommended diagnostic steps or workarounds for a hybrid app that shows a white screen without generating crash logs?
Which additional details (e.g., system logs, network traces, device configurations) might help isolate the cause?
Any insights or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance!
Topic:
App & System Services
SubTopic:
General
We are planning to use our internal IdP (PingFederate) for authentication of end users in their iOS apps using ASWebAuthenticationSession. Initial tests are successful, but the user is prompted for every login (and logouts) with a consent dialogue box:
“AppName” wants to use “internal domain-name” to Sign In
This allows the app and website to share information about you.
Cancel Continue”
Let’s say that our top-level domain is “company.no”, where our IdP is placed at “idp.company.com”. I have seen examples where the Associated domains entitlement points to the idp as a webserver for serving the JSON output AASA file. In this case that would be:
authsrv: idp.company.com
Anyone with experience implementing this structure with the IdP as webserver for serving the JSON output?
Our problem is that trying to use the IdP as webserver for this purpose is that it is very complicated to modify the IdP’s webserver configuration. Also, this modification needs to be re-done every time we need to upgrade the IdP.
My question is therefore also related to the options of which webserver to install the AASA file on. Has anyone installed the file on a generic webserver on the toplevel domain like
“webserver.company.com” ?
I'm trying to build an app with a DeviceActivityMonitor extension that executes some code after 15 minutes. I can confirm that the extension is set up correctly and that intervalDidStart is executed, but for some reason the intervalDidEnd method never gets called. What I'm doing in both is just registering a local notification.
class DeviceActivityMonitorExtension: DeviceActivityMonitor {
let store = ManagedSettingsStore()
override func intervalDidStart(for activity: DeviceActivityName) {
createPushNotification(
title: "Session activated!",
body: ""
)
super.intervalDidStart(for: activity)
}
override func intervalDidEnd(for activity: DeviceActivityName) {
createPushNotification(
title: "Session ended",
body: ""
)
super.intervalDidEnd(for: activity)
}
private func createPushNotification(title: String, body: String) {
let content = UNMutableNotificationContent()
content.title = title
content.body = body
// Configure the recurring date.
var dateComponents = Calendar.current.dateComponents([.era, .year, .month, .day, .hour, .minute, .second], from: Date().addingTimeInterval(1.0))
dateComponents.calendar = Calendar.current
dateComponents.timeZone = TimeZone.current
// Create the trigger as a repeating event.
let trigger = UNCalendarNotificationTrigger(dateMatching: dateComponents, repeats: false)
let uuidString = UUID().uuidString
let request = UNNotificationRequest(identifier: uuidString, content: content, trigger: trigger)
// Schedule the request with the system.
let notificationCenter = UNUserNotificationCenter.current()
notificationCenter.add(request)
}
}
And this is the method that is starting the monitoring session:
@objc public static func startSession() -> String? {
// Calculate start and end times
let center = DeviceActivityCenter()
let minutes = 15
let startDate = Date().addingTimeInterval(1)
guard let endDate = Calendar.current.date(byAdding: .minute, value: minutes, to: startDate) else {
return "Failed to create end date?"
}
// Create date components and explicitly set the calendar and timeZone
let startComponents = Calendar.current.dateComponents([.era, .year, .month, .day, .hour, .minute, .second], from: startDate)
let endComponents = Calendar.current.dateComponents([.era, .year, .month, .day, .hour, .minute, .second], from: endDate)
// Create schedule
let schedule = DeviceActivitySchedule(
intervalStart: startComponents,
intervalEnd: endComponents,
repeats: false
)
print("Now", Date())
print("Start", startDate, startComponents)
print("End", endDate, endComponents)
print(schedule.nextInterval)
do {
// Use a consistent activity name for our simple implementation
let activity = DeviceActivityName("SimpleSession")
try center.startMonitoring(activity, during: schedule)
return nil
} catch {
return "Failed to start monitoring: \(error)"
}
}
I can confirm my dates & date components make sense with the 4 print statements. Here is the output:
Now 2025-02-12 04:21:32 +0000
Start 2025-02-12 04:21:33 +0000 era: 1 year: 2025 month: 2 day: 11 hour: 20 minute: 21 second: 33 isLeapMonth: false
End 2025-02-12 04:36:33 +0000 era: 1 year: 2025 month: 2 day: 11 hour: 20 minute: 36 second: 33 isLeapMonth: false
Optional(2025-02-12 04:21:33 +0000 to 2025-02-12 04:36:33 +0000)
I get the Session activated! notification but never get the Session ended notification. Half an hour later, I've tried debugging the DeviceActivityCenter by printing out the activities property and can see that it is still there. When I try to print out the nextInterval property on the schedule object i get from calling center.schedule(for:), it returns nil.
I'm running this on an iPhone 8 testing device with developer mode enabled. It has iOS 16.7.10. I'm totally lost as to how to get this to work.
I'm unable to have stickers show in messages even with a new iOS app and a sticker pack extension target.
I do see the iMessage App Icon but after tapping it nothing shows and I see a warning: "Error creating the CFMessagePort needed to communicate with PPT"
This was tested on simulator and on real device.
Xcode 16.1 (16B40)
iOS 18.1 & 18.2
My app is available in TestFlight but has been rejected in App Review with the review feedback that the app clip "just shows a blank screen".
However, in the TestFlight app, the App Clip works as expected and brings up the clip. It also works correctly from Xcode testing.
Any ideas on what the problem could be? It is using the default App Clip link (appclip.apple.com)
Hello! I'm working with universal links in my app and have configured the /.well-known/apple-app-site-association file. Currently, I use the paths array in this file to define URL routing rules. However, I’m struggling to find up-to-date documentation on the pattern syntax supported by the paths field.
"paths": [
"/page/*",
"NOT /page/*/subpage"
]
Could someone clarify:
Is the paths array still officially supported, or is it deprecated in favor of the newer components dictionary (as referenced here https://developer.apple.com/documentation/bundleresources/applinks/details-swift.dictionary/components-swift.dictionary)?
If paths is still valid, where can I find documentation for its pattern-matching capabilities?
I want to ensure my implementation aligns with Apple’s current best practices. Thank you!