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packet-tunnel-provider-systemextension doesn't work
I am currently creating a MacOS app that uses NetworkExtension and SystemExtension without going through the Store. Using entitlements, I manually codesign and create a pkg Installer, but when I run it I get an error message saying "No matching profile found." Below is the log /Applications/Runetale.app/Contents/MacOS/Runetale not valid: Error Domain=AppleMobileFileIntegrityError Code=-413 "No matching profile found" UserInfo={NSURL=file:///Applications/Runetale.app/, unsatisfiedEntitlements=<CFArray 0x71c040fa0 [0x1f7bec120]>{type = immutable, count = 3, values ​​= ( 0 : <CFString 0x71c04f340 [0x1f7bec120]>{contents = "com.apple.developer.system-extension.install"} 1 : <CFString 0x71c1ccaf0 [0x1f7bec120]>{contents = "com.apple.developer.networking.networkextension"} 2 : <CFString 0x71c04fc00 [0x1f7bec120]>{contents = "com.apple.developer.team-identifier"} )}, NSLocalizedDescription=No matching profile found} I looked into it myself and found that if you want to install the app without going through the Store, you need to use packet-tunnel-provider-systemextension instead of packet-tunnel-provider. here However, simply changing to packet-tunnel-provider-systemextension does not allow the build to pass. I use a build method that changes the value of entitlements only during codesign in order to pass the build. SYSEXT="$APP_BUNDLE/Contents/Library/SystemExtensions/com.runetale.desktop.PacketTunnel.systemextension" if [ -d "$SYSEXT" ]; then echo "Signing PacketTunnel system extension with entitlements..." cp macos/PacketTunnel/PacketTunnelRelease.entitlements macos/PacketTunnel/PacketTunnelRelease-sign.entitlements sed -i '' 's/packet-tunnel-provider/packet-tunnel-provider-systemextension/' macos/PacketTunnel/PacketTunnelRelease-sign.entitlements codesign --force --options runtime --timestamp --entitlements "$ENTITLEMENTS_FILE" --sign "$DEV_ID_APP_CERT" "$SYSEXT" fi # 3. Sign the entire .app bundle (deep sign by signing the outer app after inner ones) echo "Signing Runetale App with entitlements..." cp macos/Runner/Release.entitlements macos/PacketTunnel/Release-sign.entitlements sed -i '' 's/packet-tunnel-provider/packet-tunnel-provider-systemextension/' macos/PacketTunnel/Release-sign.entitlementsmacos/PacketTunnel/Release-sign.entitlements codesign --force --options runtime --timestamp --entitlements "$APP_ENTITLEMENTS_FILE" --sign "$DEV_ID_APP_CERT" "$APP_BUNDLE" Is this build method wrong? The next solution I'm thinking of is as follows. Is there a way to write packet-tunnel-provider-systemextension directly to entitlments and pass the build? (provisioning profile?) Apply to forum and get permission to use packet-tunnel-provider-systemextension Thank you.
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201
Apr ’25
Archived app failing to get root certificates for SSL websocket connection
I've had a Unreal Engine project that uses libwebsocket to make a websocket connection with SSL to a server. Recently I made a build using Unreal Engine 5.4.4 on MacOS Sequoia 15.5 and XCode 16.4 and for some reason the websocket connection now fails because it can't get the local issuer certificate. It fails to access the root certificate store on my device (Even though, running the project in the Unreal Editor works fine, it's only when making a packaged build with XCode that it breaks) I am not sure why this is suddenly happening now. If I run it in the Unreal editor on my macOS it works fine and connects. But when I make a packaged build which uses XCode to build, it can't get the local issuer certificate. I tried different code signing options, such as sign to run locally or just using sign automatically with a valid team, but I'm not sure if code signing is the cause of this issue or not. This app is only for development and not meant to be published, so that's why I had been using sign to run locally, and that used to work fine but not anymore. Any guidance would be appreciated, also any information on what may have changed that now causes this certificate issue to happen. I know Apple made changes and has made notarizing MacOS apps mandatory, but I'm not sure if that also means a non-notarized app will now no longer have access to the root certificate store of a device, in my research I haven't found anything about that specifically, but I'm wondering if any Apple engineers might know something about this that hasn't been put out publicly.
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144
Nov ’25
How to set NEDNSSettings port, or how to bind on port 53 for MacOS Network Extension?
In my Packet Tunnel Provider, I'm setting the NEDNSSettings to localhost as I have a local DNS server listening on port 53 (this is a dns forwarder which conditionally forwards to different upstreams based on rules). On iOS it works just fine, I'm able to listen on localhost:53 in the Network Extension, then set NEDNSSettings servers to "127.0.0.1". However on macOS due to the port being under 1024, I get a Permission denied OS code 13 error. I'm assuming this is due to the Network Extension not running as root. Can this be changed? This could be rectified if you could customize the port in NEDNSSettings, as the listener could be on port 5353, but it doesn't look like it is possible? Just wondering if there is some other way to accomplish what I'm trying to do in the macOS Network Extension?
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530
Apr ’25
Level Networking on watchOS for Duplex audio streaming
I did watch WWDC 2019 Session 716 and understand that an active audio session is key to unlocking low‑level networking on watchOS. I’m configuring my audio session and engine as follows: private func configureAudioSession(completion: @escaping (Bool) -> Void) { let audioSession = AVAudioSession.sharedInstance() do { try audioSession.setCategory(.playAndRecord, mode: .voiceChat, options: []) try audioSession.setActive(true, options: .notifyOthersOnDeactivation) // Retrieve sample rate and configure the audio format. let sampleRate = audioSession.sampleRate print("Active hardware sample rate: \(sampleRate)") audioFormat = AVAudioFormat(standardFormatWithSampleRate: sampleRate, channels: 1) // Configure the audio engine. audioInputNode = audioEngine.inputNode audioEngine.attach(audioPlayerNode) audioEngine.connect(audioPlayerNode, to: audioEngine.mainMixerNode, format: audioFormat) try audioEngine.start() completion(true) } catch { print("Error configuring audio session: \(error.localizedDescription)") completion(false) } } private func setupUDPConnection() { let parameters = NWParameters.udp parameters.includePeerToPeer = true connection = NWConnection(host: "***.***.xxxxx.***", port: 0000, using: parameters) setupNWConnectionHandlers() } private func setupTCPConnection() { let parameters = NWParameters.tcp connection = NWConnection(host: "***.***.xxxxx.***", port: 0000, using: parameters) setupNWConnectionHandlers() } private func setupWebSocketConnection() { guard let url = URL(string: "ws://***.***.xxxxx.***:0000") else { print("Invalid WebSocket URL") return } let session = URLSession(configuration: .default) webSocketTask = session.webSocketTask(with: url) webSocketTask?.resume() print("WebSocket connection initiated") sendAudioToServer() receiveDataFromServer() sendWebSocketPing(after: 0.6) } private func setupNWConnectionHandlers() { connection?.stateUpdateHandler = { [weak self] state in DispatchQueue.main.async { switch state { case .ready: print("Connected (NWConnection)") self?.isConnected = true self?.failToConnect = false self?.receiveDataFromServer() self?.sendAudioToServer() case .waiting(let error), .failed(let error): print("Connection error: \(error.localizedDescription)") DispatchQueue.main.asyncAfter(deadline: .now() + 2) { self?.setupNetwork() } case .cancelled: print("NWConnection cancelled") self?.isConnected = false default: break } } } connection?.start(queue: .main) } I am reaching out to seek further assistance regarding the challenges I've been experiencing with establishing a UDP, TCP & web socket connection on watchOS using NWConnection for duplex audio streaming. Despite implementing the recommendations provided earlier, I am still encountering difficulties. Or duplex audio streaming not possible on apple watch?
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182
Apr ’25
NSURLErrorDomain Code=-1003 ... again!
This happens when trying to connect to my development web server. The app works fine when connecting to my production server. The production server has a certificate purchased from a CA. My development web server has a locally generated certificate (from mkcert). I have dragged and dropped the rootCA.pem onto the Simulator, although it doesn't indicate it has been loaded the certificate does appear in the Settings app and is checked to be trusted. I have enabled "App Sandbox" and "Outgoing connections (Client)". I have tested the URL from my local browser which is working fine. What am I missing?
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731
Jul ’25
How many instances of the same NEFilterDataProvider can there be in a running NE?
[Q] How many instances of the same NEFilterDataProvider subclass can there be in a single running Network Extension at any given time? I would expect that there can be only 1 instance but I'm looking at a memgraph where 2 instances are listed. As it's the Network Extension framework that is responsible for creating, starting and stopping these instances, this is rather strange.
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149
Jul ’25
Expected behavior of searchDomains
Based on https://developer.apple.com/documentation/networkextension/nednssettings/searchdomains , we expect the values mentioned in searchDomains to be appended to a single label DNS query. However, we are not seeing this behavior. We have a packetTunnelProvider VPN, where we set searchDomains to a dns suffix (for ex: test.com) and we set matchDomains to applications and suffix (for ex: abc.com and test.com) . When a user tries to access https://myapp , we expect to see a DNS query packet for myapp.test.com . However, this is not happening when matchDomainsNoSearch is set to true. https://developer.apple.com/documentation/networkextension/nednssettings/matchdomainsnosearch When matchDomainsNoSearch is set to false, we see dns queries for myapp.test.com and myapp.abc.com. What is the expected behavior of searchDomains?
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95
2h
iOS 26: "TLS failed with error: -9808"
Our app server is having some TLS related issue with the new iOS 26 (It works with iOS 18 and below). When opening the domain url in iPhone Safari browser with iOS 26, it showing the error as below: We followed the instructions from this link (https://support.apple.com/en-sg/122756), to run the following command: nscurl --tls-diagnostics https://test.example in Terminal app. It shows TLS failed with error: -9808 Could anyone please help explain what exactly the issue is with our server certificate, and how we should fix it? Thanks so much!
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538
Sep ’25
Performance degradation of HTTP/3 requests in iOS app under specific network conditions
Hello Apple Support Team, We are experiencing a performance issue with HTTP/3 in our iOS application during testing. Problem Description: Network requests using HTTP/3 are significantly slower than expected. This issue occurs on both Wi-Fi and 4G networks, with both IPv4 and IPv6. The same setup worked correctly in an earlier experiment. Key Observations: The slowdown disappears when the device uses: · A personal hotspot. · Network Link Conditioner (with no limitations applied). · Internet sharing from a MacBook via USB (where traffic was also inspected with Wireshark without issues). The problem is specific to HTTP/3 and does not occur with HTTP/2. The issue is reproducible on iOS 15, 18.7, and the latest iOS 26 beta. HTTP/3 is confirmed to be active (via assumeHttp3Capable and Alt-Svc header). Crucially, the same backend endpoint works with normal performance on Android devices and using curl with HTTP/3 support from the same network. I've checked the CFNetwork logs in the Console but haven't found any suspicious errors or obvious clues that explain the slowdown. We are using a standard URLSession with basic configuration. Attempted to collect qlog diagnostics by setting the QUIC_LOG_DIRECTORY=~/ tmp environment variable, but the logs were not generated. Question: What could cause HTTP/3 performance to improve only when the device is connected through a hotspot, unrestricted Network Link Conditioner, or USB-tethered connection? The fact that Android and curl work correctly points to an issue specific to the iOS network stack. Are there known conditions or policies (e.g., related to network interface handling, QoS, or specific packet processing) that could lead to this behavior? Additionally, why might the qlog environment variable fail to produce logs, and are there other ways to obtain detailed HTTP/3 diagnostic information from iOS? Any guidance on further diagnostic steps or specific system logs to examine would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your assistance.
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361
Nov ’25
WifiAware Endpoint usage and impact on infrastructure Wifi
Are the Wifi-Aware's WAEndpoint's discovered ephemeral? I'm trying to understand what's the best way to reconnect a disconnected WifiAware connection - Can I just cache the endpoint and start a new connection with the same endpoint or do I need to browse again and get a new WAEndpoint? My use case requires both WifiAware connection to another device and the devices also need to be connected to infrastructure wifi most of the time. I'm concerned about the WifiAware's connection having any impact on infrastructure wifi. What is the impact on the infrastructure wifi here in comparison to using the Apple peer to peer wifi(That Multipeer framework or Network framework use)?
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209
Oct ’25
Content Filter Providers in unsupervised and unmanaged iOS devices
I'm looking at implementing an iOS app that has includes a Content Filter Provider to block access to certain domains when accessed on the device. This uses NEFilterManager, NEFilterDataProvider and NEFilterControlProvider to handle configuration and manage the network flows and block as necessary. My question is can you deploy this in an iOS 18+ app on the App Store to devices which are unmanaged, unsupervised and don't use Screen Time APIs? Although not 100% clear, this technote seems to say it is not possible: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/Technotes/tn3134-network-extension-provider-deployment Testing this on a Developer device and build works successfully without any MDM profiles installed. A similar approach using the same APIs also works on macOS once user permissions have been given. If it can't work on unsupervised, unmanaged iOS devices, is possible for the user to first manually install a MDM profile which includes the required 'Content Filter' details and then have it work? If not, how would you filter iOS network traffic on an unmanaged, unsupervised device? Is it necessary to use a VPN or DNS approach instead (which may be a lot less privacy compliant)?
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445
Feb ’25
On demand rules and Split tunnel
I've implemented a custom system extension VPN for macOS using Packet Tunnel Provider. The VPN is configured with on-demand, and a rule to always connect whenever there's traffic: onDemandRules = [NEOnDemandRuleConnect()] As for the tunnel's settings (at the Packet Tunnel Provider), I've configured a split tunnel, so some routes are excluded from the tunnel. Now I have the following scenario: The VPN is connected The Mac enters sleep The sleep() function is called (at my Packet Tunnel Provider) The Mac briefly awakes to check emails/push notifications/etc. This traffic is excluded from the tunnel. What is the expected behavior here? Should the wake function be called because of the on-demand rule? Or should the VPN remain asleep because this traffic is excluded from the tunnel?
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587
Feb ’25
Multipeer Connectivity support
Greetings.I have an app today that uses multipeer connectivity extensively. Currently, when the user switches away from the app, MPC disconnects the session(s) - this is by design apparently (per other feedback). I'd like to hear if anyone has experimented with iOS9 multitasking / multipeer and whether MPC sessions can stay alive?Thanks
6
1
3.7k
Jan ’26
My app suddenly getting "A server with the specified hostname could not be found"
I've had no problem running my app in a simulator or on a device, but today my app is failing on a URLRequest to my local machine (in a sim). From the same simulator I can go to Safari and manually enter the URL that the app is using (and that appears in the error message), and it works fine. I think there was a recent Xcode update; did something change in this regard?
6
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229
May ’25
PacketTunnelProvider gets corrupted when app updated with connected Tunnel
We currently supporting proxy app with Tunnel.appEx and PacketTunnelProvider. Some users report about constant error "The VPN session failed because an internal error occurred." on VPN start (which fails rapidly). This error occur mostly after user updated app with active VPN. Rebooting device solves the problem and it doesnt come again, but it is still very frustrating. I can provide any required info about app setup to solve this issue if you need. Thanks
6
1
191
Aug ’25
Will an iPhone reconnect automatically to a wifi network we connected to previously with joinOnce = false?
PLATFORM AND VERSION: iOS Development environment: Xcode 15.3, macOS 14.7.1 (23H222) Run-time configuration: iOS 18.3.1 DESCRIPTION OF PROBLEM: Our app uses NEHotspotConfigurationManager with joinOnce set to false to connect to an IoT device's Wi-Fi hotspot. Later, we programmatically disconnect from this hotspot. We are wondering if, after this programmatic disconnection, there is a possibility that the iPhone will automatically reconnect to the hotspot (even when our app is not running). Does it matter if the hotspot's SSID is hidden or not? This concern arises because the iPhone is already familiar with the hotspot's network configuration. Our testing indicates that this does not happen, but we want to be certain. This is a behavior we do NOT want to occur. We set joinOnce to false because we experience connectivity issues with the IoT device when joinOnce is true (there are several discussions in forums regarding issues with setting it to true). Thank you. Thanks.
5
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393
Mar ’25
NetworkConnection throws EINVAL when receiving ping/pong control frames
Summary NetworkConnection<WebSocket> in iOS 26 Network framework throws POSIXErrorCode(rawValue: 22): Invalid argument when receiving WebSocket ping (opcode 9) or pong (opcode 10) control frames. This prevents proper WebSocket keep-alive functionality. Environment iOS 26.0 (Simulator) macOS 26.1 Xcode 26.0 Note: This issue was initially discovered on iOS 26 Simulator. The same behavior was confirmed on macOS 26, suggesting a shared bug in the Network framework. The attached sample code is for macOS for easier reproduction. Description When using the new NetworkConnection<WebSocket> API introduced in iOS 26 or macOS 26, the receive() method throws EINVAL error whenever a ping or pong control frame is received from the server. This is a critical issue because: WebSocket servers commonly send ping frames to keep connections alive Clients send ping frames to verify connection health The receive callback never receives the ping/pong frame - the error occurs before the frame reaches user code Steps to Reproduce Create a WebSocket connection to any server that supports ping/pong (e.g., wss://echo.websocket.org): import Foundation import Network // MARK: - WebSocket Ping/Pong EINVAL Bug Reproduction // This sample demonstrates that NetworkConnection<WebSocket> throws EINVAL // when receiving ping or pong control frames. @main struct WebSocketPingPongBug { static func main() async { print("=== WebSocket Ping/Pong EINVAL Bug Reproduction ===\n") do { try await testPingPong() } catch { print("Test failed with error: \(error)") } } static func testPingPong() async throws { let host = "echo.websocket.org" let port: UInt16 = 443 print("Connecting to wss://\(host)...") let endpoint = NWEndpoint.hostPort( host: NWEndpoint.Host(host), port: NWEndpoint.Port(rawValue: port)! ) try await withNetworkConnection(to: endpoint, using: { WebSocket { TLS { TCP() } } }) { connection in print("Connected!\n") // Start receive loop in background let receiveTask = Task { var messageCount = 0 while !Task.isCancelled { do { let (data, metadata) = try await connection.receive() messageCount += 1 print("[\(messageCount)] Received frame - opcode: \(metadata.opcode)") if let text = String(data: data, encoding: .utf8) { print("[\(messageCount)] Content: \(text)") } else { print("[\(messageCount)] Binary data: \(data.count) bytes") } } catch let error as NWError { if case .posix(let code) = error, code == .EINVAL { print("❌ EINVAL error occurred! (POSIXErrorCode 22: Invalid argument)") print(" This is the bug - ping/pong frame caused EINVAL") // Continue to demonstrate workaround continue } print("Receive error: \(error)") break } catch { print("Receive error: \(error)") break } } } // Wait for initial message from server try await Task.sleep(for: .seconds(2)) // Test 1: Send text message (should work) print("\n--- Test 1: Sending text message ---") try await connection.send("Hello, WebSocket!") print("✅ Text message sent") try await Task.sleep(for: .seconds(1)) // Test 2: Send ping (pong response will cause EINVAL) print("\n--- Test 2: Sending ping frame ---") print("Expecting EINVAL when pong is received...") let pingMetadata = NWProtocolWebSocket.Metadata(opcode: .ping) try await connection.ping(Data()) { pingMetadata } print("✅ Ping sent, waiting for pong...") // Wait for pong response try await Task.sleep(for: .seconds(2)) // Cleanup receiveTask.cancel() print("\n=== Test Complete ===") print("If you saw 'EINVAL error occurred!' above, the bug is reproduced.") } } } The receive() call fails with error when pong arrives: ❌ EINVAL error occurred! (POSIXErrorCode 22: Invalid argument) Test Results Scenario Result Send/receive text (opcode 1) ✅ OK Client sends ping, receives pong ❌ EINVAL on pong receive Expected Behavior The receive() method should successfully return ping and pong frames, or at minimum, handle them internally without throwing an error. The autoReplyPing option should allow automatic pong responses without disrupting the receive loop. Actual Behavior When a ping or pong control frame is received: The receive() method throws NWError.posix(.EINVAL) The frame never reaches user code (no opcode check is possible) The connection remains valid, but the receive loop is interrupted Workaround Catch the EINVAL error and restart the receive loop: while !Task.isCancelled { do { let received = try await connection.receive() // Process message } catch let error as NWError { if case .posix(let code) = error, code == .EINVAL { // Control frame caused EINVAL, continue receiving continue } throw error } } This workaround allows continued operation but: Cannot distinguish between ping-related EINVAL and other EINVAL errors Cannot access the ping/pong frame content Cannot implement custom ping/pong handling Impact WebSocket connections to servers that send periodic pings will experience repeated EINVAL errors Applications must implement workarounds that may mask other legitimate errors Additional Information Packet capture confirms ping/pong frames are correctly transmitted at the network level The error occurs in the Network framework's internal processing, before reaching user code
5
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248
Dec ’25
Change includeAllNetworks from NetworkExtension while tunnel is running
Hi, I saw that almost each OS version, on ios and macos, handles differently changing includeAllNetworks while the tunnel is running. On some the entire OS reports no-net, while others, specially latest versions, handle this fine. Can includeAllNetworks be changed while the tunnel is running, or the tunnel must be stopped and restarted with the new value? e.g. the tunnel is started with it set to false, but later is changed to true into VPN profile. And on the same note, regarding setTunnelNetworkSettings, can this be called multiple times while the tunnel is running? For example if the VPN server IP changes. Because what I've saw each call to setTunnelNetworkSettings after VPN connected results in at least DNS leaks, because the routing table is recreated. Let me know if it is easier to track to create separate questions. Thanks
5
0
1k
Mar ’25
Reduced certificate lifespan: CA root
I have some concerns related to shortening the lifetime of certificates, as per https://support.apple.com/en-gb/102028 Does this apply to Private CA root certificates? And if yes: does it apply if I use ATS and higher level API like URLSession does it apply it I carry my root CA cert in my app payload and use low level libraries without ATS support?
5
0
526
Feb ’25
certificate validation in SwiftUI App fails
I'm writing an LDAP Browser app using SwiftUI. I tested my LDAP code using a command line app that uses the exact same libraries and it successfully connects to my LDAP server over a TLS connection. I did need to install the CA cert into the system keychain. The SwiftUI version, using the exact same code and parameters returns an "Unknown CA" error. It works fine without TLS. Can anyone explain why certificate validation is different for a GUI app?
5
0
291
Feb ’25