Maps & Location

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Learn how to integrate MapKit and Core Location to unlock the power of location-based features in your app.

Maps & Location Documentation

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iPad Compass Calibration Issues: Impact of Magnetic Cover
We have developed an iPad application using the ARCL (AR + CoreLocation) library to render Point of Interest (POI) annotations in both an AR view and a standard MapView. The application performs as expected on standard devices. However, we have some iPad covered with strong magnet. This creates significant magnetic interference, resulting in a 90° to 180° heading offset, rendering the AR POI placement and MapView orientation unusable. Technical Challenges & Constraints: Hardware Lock: The magnetic cover is a mandatory business requirement and cannot be removed during field use. Sensor Failure: The internal magnetometer cannot provide an accurate North reference due to the proximity of the cover’s magnets. While CoreLocation and CoreMotion use sensor fusion, the magnetometer remains the primary source for absolute heading. Alternative Orientation Tracking: Is there a documented method to bypass the magnetometer and derive device orientation using only the Gyroscope and Accelerometer (e.g., relative tracking) while still maintaining alignment with geographic coordinates in CoreLocation? Programmatic Offsets: Are there known APIs or mathematical workarounds to programmatically "nullify" or offset a constant magnetic bias once the device is inside the cover? so we can use that offset for ARView and in Mapview as well.
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Question about MFi token access
Hi all, Our company is applying for the Find My certification for our smartwearable product. Now we submitted the product plan and it's approved. The lab asked us to get the token but we searched on internet and the documents about it are limited. The CSR has approved and we already had .pem and .key file. I wonder what should we do next. Any helps are appreciated
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Jan ’26
CLMonitor API Missing Geofence Entry Events After Initial Registration
We are experiencing a failure in CLMonitor event delivery when the application is launched into the background via an APNS (Remote Push Notification). Even when a CLBackgroundActivitySession is instantiated immediately upon background launch, CLCircularGeographicCondition "Enter" events are suppressed. The system fails to deliver these events until the user manually brings the application to the Foreground. This indicates that CLBackgroundActivitySession does not correctly maintain background persistence when the session begins in a background state rather than transitioning from the foreground. Comparison of API Behavior (Background State) Launch via APNS: CLMonitor: Fails to trigger "Enter" events until the app is manually brought to the foreground. Legacy API: Successfully triggers and delivers "Enter" events immediately upon background launch. Exit Event Reliability: CLMonitor: Reliably triggers exit events even in the background. Legacy API: Reliably triggers exit events. Foreground Dependency: CLMonitor: Requires a foreground transition to "flush" or activate the delivery of pending entry events. Legacy API: No foreground transition required; events are delivered directly to the background process. Event Recovery: CLMonitor: Relies on the developer re-instantiating the CLMonitor and awaiting the events stream, which appears to "stall" during warm-starts. Legacy API: Relies on the CLLocationManagerDelegate which remains active as long as the manager instance exists. Steps to Reproduce Preconditions: Location Permissions: Set to "Always Allow". Background Modes: "Location updates" and "Remote notifications" enabled. App State: Terminated or Killed (by the user or the OS). Reproduction Path: Trigger Background Launch: Send a silent push notification (APNS) to wake the app in the background. Initialize Session: Within the background launch sequence (e.g., didFinishLaunchingWithOptions), immediately create and hold a strong reference to a CLBackgroundActivitySession. Register Monitor: * Initialize CLMonitor using requestMonitorWithConfiguration. Add a geofence using addConditionForMonitoring with a CLCircularGeographicCondition. Simulate Entry: Move the physical device (or simulate location) into the geofence boundary while the app remains in the background state. Observe: No "Enter" event is received in the CLMonitor event stream. Foreground Transition: Bring the app to the foreground. Actual Result: The "Enter" event is only delivered the moment the app enters the Foreground. Expected Result: The CLBackgroundActivitySession should enable CLMonitor to deliver "Enter" events immediately in the background, parity with the deprecated startMonitoringForRegion API.
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LocationButton (SwiftUI) broken or changed in iOS 26?
I just spend the morning debugging LocationButton and the associated CLLocationManagerDelegate only to realise that it works perfectly in iOS 18.5 but no longer works for me in iOS 26.0, 26.2 or 26.2.1 (the latter on-device). It does work when I run my app on macOS 26.2 (Designed for iPad). Is there a change in behaviour or requirements on iOS I am missing? On iOS 18.5 I observe that the authorisation status changes from .notDetermined to .authorizedWhenInUse after the LocationButton has been tapped and my delegate is able to obtain the location through locationManager(_ , didUpdateLocations:). On iOS 26.x the authorisation status remains .notDetermined and my delegate receives locationManager(_:didFailWithError:) with error code .denied. Setting NSLocationWhenInUseUsageDescription in my Info.plistdid not help. Just in case ;) FB21798098 (SwiftUI LocationButton fails to acquire authorization on iOS 26)
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ITMS-90118: Invalid routing app setting:
Hi everyone, I’m running into an App Store Connect issue that seems to be a misclassification, and I’m hoping someone (or Apple staff) can help clarify or advise. App: Quick Quote Calculator Platform: iOS (built with Expo) App type: Business No navigation, routing, maps, or turn-by-turn directions When submitting a new build, App Store Connect returns: ITMS-90118: Invalid routing app setting To upload a routing app coverage file, you must define the app binary as a routing app. However: There is no “Routing & Navigation” section in App Information There is no “Routing App Coverage File” section under App Store No routing metadata or coverage file has ever been uploaded The app does not provide routing or navigation functionality It appears the binary itself is being classified as a routing app, but there is no UI in App Store Connect to view or remove this classification. What I’ve tried Verified app metadata and screenshots Confirmed no routing/navigation APIs are used Reviewed Info.plist permissions (no routing language) Uploaded a new build with incremented build number Has anyone run into a case where a routing flag is applied at the binary level and the Routing App options are not exposed in App Store Connect? Is the only resolution to have Apple manually remove the routing classification via App Review / Developer Support? Any insight from Apple staff or devs who’ve resolved this would be hugely appreciated. Thanks in advance! Yes — the app is strictly a business quote calculator for trades. It calculates distance (Miles via addresses) but does not display maps, routes, directions, or navigation of any kind.
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CMAltimeter becomes somehow uncalibrated: absolute locations not delivered anymore (temporarily)
Note: I have had issues with CMAltimeter since whats seems to have been a major undocumented modification since iOS 17.4. So I'm using the CMAltimeter absolute locations delivery. Sometimes, the altimeter seems to be in an uncalibrated mode and therefore, no altitude delivery happens. Is there a way to be inform of such state? Currently, it just doesn't work and I can't inform the user about this. They just think the app is broken What message should I give to the users to accelerate the calibration such that the CMAltimeter will work again? Also, users have reported that the CMAltimeter can temporarily stop delivering altitude updates, even though it should. So I guess my question resumes to this: Whats the best practice to handle an uncalibrated CMAltimeter? Thanks!
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370
Feb ’25
Offline Mapkit tiles
I'm currently developing an app with mapkit which I may submit to the Swift Student Challenge. So anyways, the app will be used completely offline. I was wondering if there was any way to include very low resolution map tiles with the app files. That way, the app never needs wifi. However, I'm not sure if this is possible, especially since the map would need to be under 20 mb. Thanks.
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Feb ’25
Simulator Location Authorization Issue: Authorization Status Remains notDetermined After Denying and Changing in System Settings
Hello everyone, I'm encountering a strange location authorization issue in the iOS simulator, and I'm hoping someone can help me analyze it. Problem Description: When my app runs for the first time in the simulator, it requests location permissions. I select "Deny" for the authorization. Then, I go to the simulator's "Settings" -> "Privacy & Security" -> "Location Services" and enable location permissions for my app. However, when I return to the app, CLLocationManager.authorizationStatus still returns .notDetermined, and the authorization request pop-up does not appear again. This issue persists even after resetting the simulator settings multiple times. import CoreLocation @Observable final class LocationManager: NSObject, CLLocationManagerDelegate { var locationManager = CLLocationManager() var currentLocation: CLLocationCoordinate2D? override init() { super.init() locationManager.delegate = self } func locationManagerDidChangeAuthorization(_ manager: CLLocationManager) { let status = manager.authorizationStatus print("Authorize Status: \(status)") switch status { case .authorizedWhenInUse, .authorizedAlways: locationManager.startUpdatingLocation() case .denied, .restricted: stopLocation() case .notDetermined: locationManager.requestWhenInUseAuthorization() print("Location permission not determined.") @unknown default: break } } func requestLocation() { let status = locationManager.authorizationStatus if status == .authorizedWhenInUse || status == .authorizedAlways { locationManager.requestLocation() } else { locationManager.requestWhenInUseAuthorization() } } func locationManager(_ manager: CLLocationManager, didUpdateLocations locations: [CLLocation]) { guard let newLocation = locations.first else { return } currentLocation = newLocation.coordinate print("Updated location: \(newLocation.coordinate)") } func locationManager(_ manager: CLLocationManager, didFailWithError error: Error) { print("Location update failed with error: \(error.localizedDescription)") currentLocation = nil } func stopLocation() { locationManager.stopUpdatingLocation() print("Stopped updating location") } }
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Feb ’25
The App Remembers Location Access Permission only for 24 Hours
We have a PWA app developed by our company. In order to distribute this app to users' iPhones, we put this PWA app inside an XCode app. That means we put a WebView in XCode to display the PWA URL. Everything works perfect, except for location access. The PWA app access the device location. When the first time the app acess location, it asks for user consent two times, by PWA app and by the XCode app. This is fine. When the user clicks Allow, the XCode app preserves the user choice and never asks again. However, the PWA app keeps on asking user permission every day. If we close the app open again, it will ask one more time. That means twice daily. But if we close and open the app for a third time, it will not ask. It remembers the user choice only for 24 hours. If we install the PWA app directly in iPhone (that means if we add the URL as bookmark in home screen), it is asking for location permission only once. However, when we put this app inside an XCode app it is asking every day. This affects the user experience, and as our users are not tech savvy, causing many issues. Is there a way to force the PWA app inside XCode app to remember the user choice? Any help is very much appreciated. Thanks,
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390
Mar ’25
Traffic Events API
Hello developers! I am working with a team of North Carolina State University researchers to create an app or program that can retrieve real-time traffic events, such as hazards, road closures, and road construction alerts, in a similar manner to the Apple Maps app, but with the added functionality of collecting them over a historical period given a start and end date. I'm looking through the MapKit documentation, but there doesn't appear to be any functions exposing granular traffic data (i.e. road hazards), just travel times and level of congestion. Could anyone point me in the right direction? Is what I'm looking to do even possible using just Apple data?
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Mar ’25
Location Permission Management for Parental Control Apps with Screen Time Authorization
Apple Feedback Ticket: FB16804936 Background We develop a parental control application called Adora Kids (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/adora-kids/id6443787669) that requires "Location Always" permission to function properly. Our app has Screen Time authorization and provides monitoring services for parents. Issue We are experiencing a recurring problem where child users receive the system notification "Adora accessed your location in the background" every few days. This frequently results in children disabling location permissions, which prevents our app from functioning as intended. Current Approach and Limitations We have explored using Content & Privacy Restrictions for Location Services as a potential solution, but have encountered two significant limitations: These restrictions cannot be accessed programmatically via the ManagedSettings framework (unlike AppStoreSettings and other restrictions). The current implementation is "all-or-nothing" - enabling location restrictions blocks permission changes for ALL apps on the device, preventing children from granting legitimate location access to other applications. Questions Is there a way to programmatically access and manage Content & Privacy Restrictions for Location Services through the ManagedSettings framework that we might have overlooked? Are there any recommended approaches for apps with Screen Time authorization to prevent users from changing specific permissions (particularly location) while still allowing them to manage permissions for other apps? Does Apple have plans to implement app-specific permission locking for apps with Screen Time authorization in future iOS releases? Are there any alternative approaches or workarounds that other developers have successfully implemented for this use case? Any guidance from the developer community or Apple engineers would be greatly appreciated. This is a critical functionality issue affecting the reliability of our parental control service. Thank you in advance for your assistance.
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Mar ’25
What are the criteria for CLVisit in CoreLocation?
There is no official documentation specifying the exact criteria for determining a CLVisit. For example, if a user starts at a target location, will the following method be called? func locationManager(_ manager: CLLocationManager, didVisit visit: CLVisit) This did not work during my testing. It was only successfully triggered when starting from a distant location and arriving at the target point. It would be helpful to know the exact conditions, such as how long a user must stay at a location for it to be considered a visit. Are there any specific thresholds (e.g., minimum duration, distance moved) that determine when this method is triggered?
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207
Mar ’25
Specify location for SwiftUI Previews
I'm working on an app that uses MapKit and CoreLocation. Is there a way to specify what location is simulated for a Preview, or create a preview that behaves as if the user denied location permissions, so that I can easily test my app's behavior in different scenarios? I know that you can simulate different locations in the Simulator, but haven't been able to get the previews within Xcode to have a location other than the center of Apple Park.
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Apr ’25
[iOS] Location data no longer updating consistently after updating the app from old version
I am developing an iOS app that uses CLLocationManager to collect location continuously in both foreground and background. But it has the following 4 issues and I don’t understand why: After a while of not using the app, I can not get location updates regularly. Even after that, I go into the app more often or even turn OFF and turn ON the permission again, but the problem still doesn’t improve until I reinstall the app. Previously, I used SilentLog SDK to collect location. Since the cost was quite high, we developed our own SDK that also handles location tracking. After updating the app from the old version using SilentLog SDK to the new version using my own SDK, I can not get location updates regularly. However, when I reinstalled the app, it worked perfectly. It seems that apps downloaded from TestFlight can get location more continuously than apps downloaded from the App Store We sometimes encounter this error in the logs: Error Domain=kCLErrorDomain Code=0 “(null)” I think my app was not terminated in the background because I still collect location but it is not as frequent. I want to know if Apple has any mechanism to prevent such apps from getting location data continuously? I use CLLocationManager with the following configuration: self.locationManager.distanceFilter = 20 self.locationManager.desiredAccuracy = kCLLocationAccuracyBest self.locationManager.allowsBackgroundLocationUpdates = true self.locationManager.showsBackgroundLocationIndicator = false self.locationManager.pausesLocationUpdatesAutomatically = false I also filter the location updates using: guard let location = locations.last else { return } guard location.horizontalAccuracy <= 100 else { return } guard location.speedAccuracy >= 0 else { return } I use a background task to wake up the device every 15 minutes, and I also use silent push notifications in a similar manner. Each time the task is executed, I usually call stopLocation and then startLocation again. This happens quite frequently — will it have any impact or cause any issues?
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157
May ’25
CLLocationUpdates stops when user sleeps
I am using CLLocationUpdate.liveUpdates() to build a location sharing app. Most of the time it works fine, including in the background, giving acceptably frequent updates. However, soon after the user puts their phone away for the night, the updates stop coming. I've checked all the instance properties (.stationary, .locationUnavailable, etc.) but none of them are ever set to true, even for the last update before updates end. Is there some way to keep the updates coming through the night? I've included some relevant parts of my code here: func startLocationUpdates() { if self.manager.authorizationStatus == .notDetermined { self.manager.requestWhenInUseAuthorization() } Task { do { self.background = CLBackgroundActivitySession() self.session = CLServiceSession(authorization: CLServiceSession.AuthorizationRequirement.always) let updates = CLLocationUpdate.liveUpdates() for try await update in updates { if let loc = update.location { BackgroundServiceKt.onLocationUpdate(arg: loc) } // check all the instance properties } } catch { // error } return } } class AppDelegate: NSObject, UIApplicationDelegate { func application(_ application: UIApplication, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [UIApplication.LaunchOptionsKey : Any]? = nil) -> Bool { LocationsHandler.shared.startLocationUpdates() return true } }
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May ’25
React-native-map. LongPress callback not working
Summary The onLongPress callback on MapViewcomponent is not working on iOS devices. The callback is properly implemented but never gets triggered on iOS, while it works as expected on Android. Reproducible sample code <MapView onLongPress={(e) => { console.log("onLongPress", e); setAddLocation(e.nativeEvent.coordinate); }} // ... other props Steps to reproduce Just put onLongPress callback on MapView and notice it won't be triggered. Expected result Long press on the map should trigger the onLongPress callback The callback should receive the event object with coordinates Actual result Long press on the map does not trigger the callback on iOS No console logs are shown when long pressing The functionality works as expected on Android React Native Maps Version 1.23.8 What platforms are you seeing the problem on? iOS (Apple Maps) React Native Version 0.79.2 What version of Expo are you using? SDK 53 Device(s) Any iOS Device
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May ’25