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

At present, all my apps cannot display normally

Hello, I’m developing an app to detect movement past a strong magnet, targeting both Android and iOS. On Android, I’m using the Sensor API, which provides calibrated readings with temperature compensation, factory (or online) soft-iron calibration, and online hard-iron calibration. The equivalent on iOS appears to be the CMCalibratedMagneticField data from the CoreMotion framework. However, I’m encountering an issue with the iOS implementation. The magnetometer data on iOS behaves erratically compared to Android. While Android produces perfectly symmetric peaks, iOS shows visual peaks that report double the magnetic field strength. Additionally, there’s a "pendulum" effect: the field strength rises, drops rapidly, rises again to form a "double peak" structure, and takes a while to return to the local Earth magnetic field average. The peaks on iOS are also asymmetric. I’m wondering if this could be due to sensor fusion algorithms applied by iOS, which might affect the CMCalibratedMagneticField data. Are there other potential reasons for this behavior? Any insights or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Hi, I’m trying to get an array of strings from the user using AppIntents, but I’m encountering an issue. The shortcut ends without prompting the user for input or saving the value, though it doesn’t crash. I need to get the user to input multiple tasks in an array, but the current approach isn’t working as expected. Here’s the current method I’m using: // Short code snippet showing the current method private func collectTasks() async throws -> [String] { var collectedTasks: [String] = tasks ?? [] while true { if !collectedTasks.isEmpty { let addMore = try await $input.requestConfirmation("Would you like to add another task?") if !addMore { break } } let newTask = try await $input.requestValue("Please enter a task:") collectedTasks.append(newTask) } return collectedTasks } The Call func perform() async throws -> some IntentResult { let finalTasks = try await collectTasks() // Some more Code } Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Hi, I'm using ScreenCaptureKit on macOS 14+ to record a single window. I've noticed that the Presenter Overlay only appears when capturing the entire screen, but it does not appear when recording a specific window or a region. Is there a way to enable the Presenter Overlay while recording a single window or a defined region, similar to how it works with full-screen capture? Any guidance or clarification would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

I'm building a voice-to-text keyboard extension that needs to open the main app briefly for audio recording (since keyboard extensions can't record audio), then return the user to their original app. The flow I'm trying to achieve: User is in WhatsApp (or Messages, Slack, etc.) User taps "Voice" button in my keyboard My main app opens via deep link (myapp://keyboard/dictation) App starts recording App automatically returns user to WhatsApp I cannot find a way to detect which app the keyboard is running inside, or which app opened my main app via the deep link. UIInputViewController.textDocumentProxy - No host app information available UIApplication.OpenURLOptionsKey.sourceApplication in application(_:open:options:) - When opened from a keyboard extension, does this return the host app bundle ID or the keyboard extension bundle ID? Private APIs (for research only, not production): _hostBundleID on UIInputViewController - blocked/returns nil on iOS 18 KVC approaches - all blocked Hardcoded app support - Works but requires maintaining a list of popular apps and showing multiple buttons instead of a single "Voice" button My questions: When a keyboard extension triggers a URL open (via SwiftUI Link or UIApplication.shared.open), what does sourceApplication contain? The host app or the keyboard extension? Is there any supported way for a main app to know which app it was launched from, specifically when that launch originated from a keyboard extension? How do apps like "Wispr Flow" achieve seamless return-to-app with a single voice button? They seem to auto-return to whatever app the user was in. Environment: iOS 18.0+ Xcode 16 SwiftUI keyboard using KeyboardKit Any guidance on the recommended approach would be greatly appreciated. I understand there may be privacy reasons for limiting host app detection, but the UX of requiring users to manually swipe back (or tap app-specific buttons) is significantly worse than automatic return.

I'm encountering what appears to be a specific precedence behavior with ManagedSettingsStore.shield and would appreciate some further clarification. My current understanding is that category-level shields take precedence over individual app allowances. My test involved... Using FamilyActivityPicker to select a single target application (e.g., "Calculator," which falls under the "Utilities" category). Using FamilyActivityPicker again to select the category of that target application. I applied shields using ManagedSettingsStore (named .individual): store.shield.applicationCategories = .specific(Set([utilitiesCategoryToken])) store.shield.applications = Set([calculatorApplicationToken]) Result: The calculator app remains shielded, suggesting that the category-level shield on Utilities overrides the attempt to allow the individual app. I also tried this using a single picker, but received only the category token instead of all application tokens in that category. Is this observed precedence (where store.shield.applicationCategories effectively overrides store.shield.applications for apps within the shielded category) the intended behavior? If so, are there any mechanisms available within the main app's capabilities (potentially using a Device Activity Report Extension or Shield Extension) to allow a specific ApplicationToken if its corresponding ActivityCategoryToken is part of the store.shield.applicationCategories set? Essentially, can store.shield.applications be used to create "allow exceptions" for individual apps that fall into an otherwise shielded category? Additionally, I mentioned that selecting an entire category in the picker only returns the opaque category token, not any application tokens. Is there any way in which I could return both the category and all application tokens by just selecting the category? Any insights or pointers would be greatly appreciated!

Both follow the same pattern: show the image that is being shared along with a CTA button about doing something with it in their app. When you tap the button, their app opens. Is there some kind of magic conditions that tapping the button creates that makes extensionContext.open(_ URL: URL, completionHandler: ((Bool) -> Void)?) accept a URL for opening the app? Or are they just using the "walk the responder chain" hack and using the user's intent to do something in their app as sufficient justification for using it? I've tried opening a registered URL scheme for my app synchronously with the button tap, but it still is refusing to open (callback returns false).

Hi, I would like to reset system window private picker alert with ScreenCapture kit. i can reset the ScreenCapture permission with tccutil reset ScreenCapture. but it does not reset the system window private picker alert. i tried deleting the application directory from container and it does not help. the system window private picker alert uses the old approval i gave and it does not prompt a new alert. How can i starta with fresh screencapture kit settings for an app in testing? Thanks

Is there any way to use the screen time API on Mac?

I'd like to set the recordingYear in my Spotlight File Importer extension but the property is missing from CSSearchableItemAttributeSet e.g. in the resulting in mdls I'd like to see: kMDItemRecordingYear = 2008; This would allow me to search in Finder by the recording year criteria. There is a recordingDate property and I tried setting it to Date that only has a year but it didn't work. It just resulted in this: kMDItemRecordingDate = "2008-01-01 00:00:00 +0000";

Hi Apple engineering team, I’m trying to integrate the new Live Caller ID Lookup (PIR) on iOS using your pir-service-example code as well as a custom mock server in Vapor, but the extension never advances past the /issue/token-key-for-user-token step. I’ve tried both: 1. Official Example Cloned https://github.com/apple/pir-service-example Ran PIRService locally Confirmed that GET /.well-known/private-token-issuer-directory → 200 GET /issue/token-key-for-user-token → 200 (DER bytes, correct SPKI) No POST /issue ever fires 2. Mock Server (Vapor) Implemented all five endpoints (/config, /.well-known/private-token-issuer-directory, /issue/token-key-for-user-token, /issue, /queries) Verified with curl and openssl asn1parse that: GET /.well-known/private-token-issuer-directory Content-Type: application/private-token-issuer-directory { "issuer-request-uri":"https://…/issue", "token-keys":[…] } GET /issue/token-key-for-user-token Content-Type: application/octet-stream <DER bytes> Added Cache-Control: public, max-age=3600 on directory and SPKI Stubbed POST /issue to always return { "token": "" } Still no POST /issue request from the extension Reproduction Steps Install and enable a Live Lookup extension pointing to my server. Trigger an incoming call on device. Watch server logs—only see the two GETs, never /issue or /queries. Expected Behavior After fetching the SPKI DER, the framework should issue a POST /issue call (Privacy Pass flow) and then POST /queries. Observed Behavior Stuck in an infinite loop of: GET /.well-known/private-token-issuer-directory GET /issue/token-key-for-user-token (repeat…) No progression to the /issue or /queries endpoints. What I’ve Tried Verified JSON kebab-case and headers exactly match examples Confirmed SPKI DER is valid via openssl asn1parse Added Cache-Control headers Tested on real device, localhost url, and ngrok public URL Mocked a valid-looking token response Could you advise what additional requirement or format detail I’m missing that prevents from advancing past /issue/token-key-for-user-token? These are the main files: LiveLookupExtension.swift routes.swift service-config.json Thanks in advance!

I found currently there is no way to revoke sharing age to an app after I shared to it, no matter in testing or in app settings

We developing an app, It's a Parental control app required to block large number of apps. In child mobile installed more than 200 apps parent has to block and disable these apps but parent cant able to block more than 50 apps. Is there any option is there to block all the 200 apps from child mobile.

If there is this situation: A text message is sent from a sender and gets classified as junk (by a text filtering extension) with the result that it gets send to the spam folder as expected. A text message with different content is sent from the same sender and gets classified as allowed, however it also gets sent to the spam folder. If the above is repeated but after step 1 the message is deleted, then in step 2 the message doesn't get sent to the spam folder. So the presence of the message from step 1 being in the spam folder is having an effect on the behavior of step 2. Expected beahavour (if so, why?), or a defect?

Is there any way I can get updates when I change CarPlay style settings? I've tried CPSessionConfigurationDelegate.contentStyleChanged and CPTemplateApplicationSceneDelegate.contentStyleDidChange, but they always produce the same result. When I choose: Automatic -> I receive light in case of daylight; Always Dark and Always Show Dark Map toggle on -> dark Always Dark and Always Show Dark Map toggle off -> light. But it seems to be wrong, b/c CarPlay's toolbar is still dark, and I receive light. Is there a way to get a dark style when choosing Always Dark and Always Show Dark Map toggle off? Or at least get updates when the Always Show Dark Map toggle changes?

I’m trying to fully understand the purpose of the ageGates parameter in the AgeRangeService.requestAgeRange API. The official documentation includes the following statement: “The system may return geo-specific age ranges that override your provided age gates based on the person’s location and applicable regulations. When geo-specific ranges are required, the returned age range reflects regulatory requirements rather than the bounds of your age gates.” Based on this, it seems that even if my app provides specific age thresholds through the ageGates parameter, the system may override those boundaries depending on regional laws or regulations, and return a completely different lowerBound / upperBound than what my age gates would suggest. My current understanding is: ageGates indicates the thresholds my app uses to define its internal feature tiers, but the actual age range returned by the OS is determined by legal or regional requirements (e.g., COPPA, GDPR-K, AADC, SB2420), meaning the returned age range may not align with the age ranges implied by my ageGates values. I’d like to confirm whether this interpretation is correct. Additionally, if different regions may produce different lowerBound / upperBound values due to regulatory requirements, then it seems that: developers shouldn’t rely on fixed age buckets, and instead must implement feature gating logic dynamically based on whatever age range the OS returns. So my questions are: Is my understanding correct that ageGates is simply a hint that describes my app’s tier thresholds, and the OS may override those boundaries to comply with local regulations? If lowerBound / upperBound can vary across regions, what is the recommended way for developers to design their feature-gating logic? Should we avoid hardcoded age buckets and instead build flexible logic that adapts to whatever range the OS returns? I’d appreciate clarification so I can design our age-based policies appropriately and in a regulation-compliant way.

My CoreSpotlight extension seems to exceed the 6 MB memory limit. What’s the best way to debug this? I've tried to attach the debugger on the Simulator but the extension seems to be never launched when I trigger the reindex from Developer settings. Is this supposed to work? On device, I am able to attach the debugger. However, I can neither transfer the debug session to Instruments, nor display the memory graph. So I've no idea how the memory is used. Any recommendations how to move forward? Is there a way to temporarily disable the memory limit since even with LLDB attached, the extension is killed.

Currently I am not finding any API to read the status of Message Filter Extension from settings. Are we planning for any future releases ?

Hi everyone, I'm working on an app for parents and kids where parents can define screen time goals or restrict usage of certain app categories (like social media or games). If the kid follows those rules—for example, by using their device less or avoiding restricted categories—they would earn points or rewards in the app. I’ve been exploring if the Apple Screen Time API allows developers to access this kind of data (like total screen time, app usage by category, etc.) so that I can track the kid’s behavior and reward them accordingly. Is it possible to programmatically access this data and implement such a reward system within my app? If so, what’s the best way to get started or which APIs should I look into? Thanks in advance for your help!