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Compatibility between macOS VFS ACLs and Linux VFS ACLs
Implementing ACL support in a distributed filesystem, with macOS and Linux clients talking to a remote file server, requires compatibility between the ACL models supported in Darwin-XNU and Linux kernels to be taken into consideration. My filesystem does support EAs to facilitate ACL storage and retrieval. So setting ACLs via chmod(1) and retrieving them via ls(1) does work. However, the macOS and Linux ACL models are incompatible and would require some sort of conversion between them. chmod(1) uses acl(3) to create ACL entries. While acl(3) claims to implement POSIX.1e ACL security API, which, to the best of my knowledge, Linux VFS implements as well, their respective implementations of the standard obviously do differ. Which is also stated in acl(3): This implementation of the POSIX.1e library differs from the standard in a number of non-portable ways in order to support the MacOS/Darwin ACL semantic. Then there's this NFSv4 to POSIX ACL mapping draft that describes the conversion algorithm. What's the recommended way to bridge the compatibility gap there, so that macOS ACL rules are honoured in Linux and vice versa? Thanks.
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Apr ’25
How to Maintain Background Connection with BLE-Triggered WebSocket Companion Hub for Real-Time Alerts on iOS
I’m building a companion app that connects to a custom hardware hub (IoT device) used for home safety monitoring. The hub is installed in homes and is responsible for triggering critical alerts like fire alarms, motion detection, door sensor activity, and baby monitor events. Current Architecture: The hub initially connects to the app via Bluetooth (BLE) for provisioning (to get Wi-Fi credentials). Once provisioned, the hub switches to Wi-Fi and communicates with the app via a WebSocket connection to stream real-time event updates. What I’m Trying to Achieve: My goal is to maintain background communication with the hub even when the app is not actively in use, in order to: Receive real-time updates from the hub while the device is locked or the app is in background. Trigger local notifications immediately when critical sensor events (e.g., fire, motion) occur. Ensure persistence across backgrounding, app swipes (force close), and device reboots, if possible. What I'm Observing: On iOS, WebSocket connection is suspended or dropped shortly after the app goes to the background or is locked. Even though the I've scheduled periodic fetches, notifications are delayed until the app is reopened, at which point all missed WebSocket messages arrive at once. If the app is force-closed or after reboot, no reconnection or notification happens at all. Key Questions I Have: Since the hub is initially provisioned via BLE, and could potentially send BLE flags or triggers for key events, can I use bluetooth-central mode to keep the app active or wake it up on BLE activity? Once the hub switches to Wi-Fi and uses WebSocket, is it possible to combine BLE triggers to wake the app and then reconnect to the WebSocket to fetch the full event payload? Is there a legitimate and App Store-compliant way to maintain a connection or background task with: BLE accessory triggers followed by Real-time data processing via Wi-Fi/WebSocket? Would this use case qualify as a "companion device" scenario under iOS background execution policies? What is the best practice for handling this kind of hybrid BLE + WebSocket alerting flow to ensure timely user notifications, even in background/locked/force-closed states? Any advice, documentation links, implementation patterns, or examples from similar companion device apps would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!
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179
Apr ’25
Resending notifications from Apple
Regarding App Store Server Notifications V2,we are currently using Notifications V2 in a production environment. It is set up so that if the server receives the notification successfully, it returns 200 after about 30 seconds, and if an error occurs, it returns 400 or 500. However, the notification is being resent multiple times from Apple's server, at 1 hour, 12 hours, and 24 hours. Is it necessary to return the notification using Apple's API?
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147
Apr ’25
Live Activity Start Token not generating after certain days of usage for non Production builds
Live Activity Start Token not generating after certain days of usage. We have implemented Live Activity feature where the initial activity is launched by our backend. But to start that first live activity I need push to start token which is generating for few days but all of sudden after certain days it stops generating. Currently we are in development phase so we test it on multiple devices and multiple time we are doing install and uninstall. STEPS TO REPRODUCE Install the app Start token gets generated which is sent to our server After certain duration server sends the first live activity using that token user opens the app then we receive the updated token and send that token to server server uses that updated token to further update the live activity. All this works fine. But after a week of usage we are observing that we stop getting start token from APNS. Not sure where exactly the thing is breaking. We have tried with different devices and different bundle identifiers but behaviour is same for all. func generateStartToken() { Task.detached { [weak self] in guard let self else { return } await self.observeActivityPushTokenAndState() for await data in ActivityKit.Activity<LiveActivityAttribute>.pushToStartTokenUpdates { let token = data.map { String(format: "%02x", $0) }.joined() print("Activity Start token: ", token) } } } func observeActivityPushTokenAndState() { Task.detached { for await activity in ActivityKit.Activity<LiveActivityAttribute>.activityUpdates { Task { for await tokenData in activity.pushTokenUpdates { let updatedToken = tokenData.map { String(format: "%02x", $0) }.joined() print("Activity Update token: ", updatedToken) } } Task { for await content in activity.contentUpdates { let updatedContent = content.state print("Activity Updated: ", updatedContent) } } } } }
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189
Apr ’25
Background Modes - App Identifiers
Hey All, Seem to be in a loop and unable to proceed. New app specific for iOS being built on xCode. Project is configured only to deploy and use iOS, not macOS or anything else. Trying to create a new App iD always see it default to all platforms which means "Background Modes" is not visible or available. Automatic signing etc in xcode can't seem to get around this and just continues to flag I'm missing the entitlement for locations.background. Not sure what I am missing as I cannot manually configure the ID for iOS only and xcode is also generating new ID's with the same platform structure and constraints. Any thoughts or insights here please?
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200
Apr ’25
In-app provisioning for Apple Pay
We created apps for many credit unions in Canada. Some of those apps has the feature to directly add users' debit cards to Apple Wallet (which is called by Apple as "in-app provisioning"). The feature has been working fine for at least 6 years for many credit unions. Recently, after updating one of those existing apps, we found out that the in-app provisioning is no longer working. Found it very strange, as we didn't touch the code base related to this feature for a very long time. One thing we found out is that the option to add in-app provisioning entitlement is missing during generating "provisioning profile" for the app. Is this a misconfiguration by App? Or do we need to request for additional entitlement migration as mentioned in the page: https://developer.apple.com/help/account/reference/provisioning-with-managed-capabilities ? Apple, please help, it's rather urgent.
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155
Apr ’25
Home screen Widget with dynamic options for configuration via App Intent - Slow
I am building a widget with configurable options (dynamic option) where the options are pull from api (ultimately the options are return from a server, but during my development, the response is constructed on the fly from locally). Right now, I am able to display the widget and able to pull out the widget configuration screen where I can choose my config option . I am constantly having an issue where the loading the available options when selected a particular option (e.g. Category) and display them on the UI. Sometime, when I tap on the option "Category" and the loading indicator keeps spinning for while before it can populate the list of topics (return from methods in NewsCategoryQuery struct via fetchCategoriesFromAPI ). Notice that I already made my fetchCategoriesFromAPI call to return the result on the fly and however the widget configuration UI stills take a very long time to display the result. Even worst, the loading (loading indicator keep spinning) sometime will just kill itself after a while and my guess there are some time threshold where the widget extension or app intent is allow to run, not sure on this? My questions: How can I improve the loading time to populate the dynamic options in widget configuration via App Intent Here is my sample code for my current setup struct NewsFeedConfigurationIntent: AppIntent, WidgetConfigurationIntent { static let title: LocalizedStringResource = "Configure News Topic Options" static let description = IntentDescription("Select a topic for your news.") @Parameter(title: "Category", default: nil) var category: NewsCategory? } struct NewsCategory: AppEntity, Identifiable { let id: String let code: String let name: String static let typeDisplayRepresentation: TypeDisplayRepresentation = "News Topic" static let defaultQuery = NewsCategoryQuery() var displayRepresentation: DisplayRepresentation { DisplayRepresentation(title: LocalizedStringResource(stringLiteral: name)) } } struct NewsCategoryQuery: EntityQuery { func entities(for identifiers: [NewsCategory.ID]) async throws -> [NewsCategory] { let categories = fetchCategoriesFromAPI() return categories.filter { identifiers.contains($0.id) } } func suggestedEntities() async throws -> [NewsCategory] { fetchCategoriesFromAPI() } } func fetchCategoriesFromAPI() -> [NewsCategory] { let list = [ "TopicA", "TopicB", "TopicC", ....... ] return list.map { item in NewsCategory(id: item, code: item, name: item.capitalized) } }
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184
Apr ’25
macOS Sequoia No Route to Host on first request. Retries work.
My app has local network permission on macOS Sequoia and works in most cases. I've noticed that after unlocking my MacBook Pro, the very first request will regularly fail with a No Route to Host. A simple retry resolves the issue, but I would have expected the very first request to succeed. Is this is a known issue on macOS Sequoia or by design? I'd prefer not to add a retry for this particular request as the app is a network utility.
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2.1k
Apr ’25
Xcode 16.2 App Crashes Due to Missing NSMotionUsageDescription Key in Info.plist
There is a crash while running the project in Xcode 16.2. The project has been using CMPedometer and CoreMotion since 2020. I wonder: I did not have the NSMotionUsageDescription key added, why is it mandatory to add this key now? “This app has crashed because it attempted to access privacy-sensitive data without a usage description. The app's Info.plist must contain an NSMotionUsageDescription key with a string value explaining to the user how the app uses this data.”
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Apr ’25
App Crashes on iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 After App Store Installation
Hello everyone, I'm experiencing an issue with my app, and I would greatly appreciate any guidance. Here's the situation: My app works flawlessly on the simulator for all iPhone models (16, 16 Pro, 16 Pro Max, SE, etc.). It runs without issues on physical iPhone 11 devices (both mine and a friend's). However, when my friend installs the app from the App Store on their iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 16, it crashes immediately upon opening. Steps I’ve taken so far: Verified that the app works on the simulator for the same models where it crashes in real life. Updated the app's minimum deployment target to iOS 18, but this did not resolve the issue. The app still crashes on the physical iPhone 15 Pro and 16 models while continuing to run fine on previous physical devices and all simulated ones. Additionally, I had another friend beta test the app through TestFlight on their iPhone 15 Pro, and they received an alert message indicating that the app had crashed when they tried to open it. This confirms the issue still exists after my attempted fixes. I'm unsure what could be causing this discrepancy between the simulated and physical devices, or what the alert message in TestFlight might signify. Has anyone encountered a similar issue, or does anyone have suggestions on what I should do to fix this? Thanks in advance for your help!
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Apr ’25
iOS Team Provisioning Profile does not include Activity Kit
I would like to add a Live Activity to my app, but unfortunately I always get an error message. When I go into the Identifiers via the Developer Portal and look at my app, there is no Activity Kit or Live Activity in the Capabilites that I could activate. In XCode I don't see the option for Signing & Capabilities either... Can anyone help me how to add this correctly? Thanks in advance!
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Apr ’25
iOS did not update all widgets of an app when the user press a button on a widget
Hello, I have an app in AppStore "Counter Widget". https://apps.apple.com/app/id1522170621 It allows you to add a widget to your homescreen/lockscreen to count anything. Everything works fine except for one scenario. iOS 18+ I create 2 or more widgets for one counter. For example, medium and small widgets. I click on the widget button to increase or decrease the value. The button in the widget uses Button(intent: AppIntent) to update the value and calls WidgetCenter.shared.reloadAllTimelines() to update the second widget for the same counter. For iOS 18 in this particular scenario, you don't even have to call the WidgetCenter.shared.reloadAllTimelines(). iOS already knows that there is a widget with the same INIntent settings and will update it itself. Both widgets are updated and show the new value. Everything is correct. Now on the homescreen I open the widget configuration for one of the widgets to change the INIntent for the widget. For example, i change the background to wallpaper. This is just a skin for the widget, and the widget is associated with the same counter value as before. As in (2), I click the widget button to increase or decrease the value. But now only one widget is updated. iOS ignores my call to WidgetCenter.shared.reloadAllTimelines() and does not update the second widget connected to the same counter. As I found, iOS, when I call WidgetCenter.shared.reloadAllTimelines() from the widget itself, updates other widgets only if INIntent is absolutely equal for them. Overriding isEqual for them did not help. That is, I cannot specify which fields from my INIntent can be ignored during such an update and consider that widgets are equal and need to be updated. Obviously iOS make this compare outside my code. The main problem is that when the user adds a widget to the lock screen and increases and decreases the value there. After that, he opens the home screen and the widget there is not synchronized with the value from the widget on the lock screen. How to solve this problem?
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Apr ’25
How to diagnose spurious SwiftDataMacros error
I have a Package.swift file that builds and runs from Xcode 15.2 without issue but fails to compile when built from the command line ("swift build"). The swift version is 6.0.3. I'm at wits end trying to diagnose this and would welcome any thoughts. The error in question is error: external macro implementation type 'SwiftDataMacros.PersistentModelMacro' could not be found for macro 'Model()'; plugin for module 'SwiftDataMacros' not found The code associated with the module is very vanilla. import Foundation import SwiftData @Model public final class MyObject { @Attribute(.unique) public var id:Int64 public var vertexID:Int64 public var updatedAt:Date public var codeUSRA:Int32 init(id:Int64, vertexID:Int64, updatedAt:Date, codeUSRA:Int32) { self.id = id self.vertexID = vertexID self.updatedAt = updatedAt self.codeUSRA = codeUSRA } public static func create(id:Int64, vertexID:Int64, updatedAt:Date, codeUSRA:Int32) -> MyObject { MyObject(id: id, vertexID: vertexID, updatedAt: updatedAt, codeUSRA: codeUSRA) } } Thank you.
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Apr ’25
iOS Team Provisioning Profile oesn't include the com.apple.developer.activitykit entitlement.
I would like to add a Live Activity to my app, but unfortunately I always get an error message. When I go into the Identifiers via the Developer Portal and look at my app, there is no Activity Kit or Live Activity in the Capabilites that I could activate. In XCode I don't see the option for Signing & Capabilities either... Can anyone help me how to add this correctly? Thanks in advance!
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Apr ’25
SwiftUI & SwiftData: Fatal Error "Duplicate keys of type" Occurs on First Launch
I'm developing a SwiftUI app using SwiftData and encountering a persistent issue: Error Message: Thread 1: Fatal error: Duplicate keys of type 'Bland' were found in a Dictionary. This usually means either that the type violates Hashable's requirements, or that members of such a dictionary were mutated after insertion. Details: Occurrence: The error always occurs on the first launch of the app after installation. Specifically, it happens approximately 1 minute after the app starts. Inconsistent Behavior: Despite no changes to the code or server data, the error occurs inconsistently. Data Fetching Process: I fetch data for entities (Bland, CrossZansu, and Trade) from the server using the following process: Fetch Bland and CrossZansu entities via URLSession. Insert or update these entities into the SwiftData context. The fetched data is managed as follows: func refleshBlandsData() async throws { if let blandsOnServer = try await DataModel.shared.getBlands() { await MainActor.run { blandsOnServer.forEach { blandOnServer in if let blandOnLocal = blandList.first(where: { $0.code == blandOnServer.code }) { blandOnLocal.update(serverBland: blandOnServer) } else { modelContext.insert(blandOnServer.bland) } } } } } This is a simplified version of my StockListView. The blandList is a @Query property and dynamically retrieves data from SwiftData: struct StockListView: View { @Environment(\.modelContext) private var modelContext @Query(sort: \Bland.sname) var blandList: [Bland] @Query var users: [User] @State private var isNotLoaded = true @State private var isLoading = false @State private var loadingErrorState = "" var body: some View { NavigationStack { List { ForEach(blandList, id: \.self) { bland in NavigationLink(value: bland) { Text(bland.sname) } } } .navigationTitle("Stock List") .onAppear { doIfFirst() } } } // This function handles data loading when the app launches for the first time func doIfFirst() { if isNotLoaded { loadDataWithAnimationIfNotLoading() isNotLoaded = false } } // This function ensures data is loaded with an animation and avoids multiple triggers func loadDataWithAnimationIfNotLoading() { if !isLoading { isLoading = true Task { do { try await loadData() } catch { // Capture and store any errors during data loading loadingErrorState = "Data load failed: \(error.localizedDescription)" } isLoading = false } } } // Fetch data from the server and insert it into the SwiftData model context func loadData() async throws { if let blandsOnServer = try await DataModel.shared.getBlands() { for bland in blandsOnServer { // Avoid inserting duplicate keys by checking for existing items in blandList if !blandList.contains(where: { $0.code == bland.code }) { modelContext.insert(bland.bland) } } } } } Entity Definitions: Here are the main entities involved: Bland: @Model class Bland: Identifiable { @Attribute(.unique) var code: String var sname: String @Relationship(deleteRule: .cascade, inverse: \CrossZansu.bland) var zansuList: [CrossZansu] @Relationship(deleteRule: .cascade, inverse: \Trade.bland) var trades: [Trade] } CrossZansu: @Model class CrossZansu: Equatable { @Attribute(.unique) var id: String var bland: Bland? } Trade: @Model class Trade { @Relationship(deleteRule: .nullify) var user: User? var bland: Bland } User: class User { var id: UUID @Relationship(deleteRule: .cascade, inverse: \Trade.user) var trades: [Trade] } Observations: Error Context: The error occurs after the data is fetched and inserted into SwiftData. This suggests an issue with Hashable requirements or duplicate keys being inserted unintentionally. Concurrency Concerns: The fetch and update operations are performed in asynchronous tasks. Could this cause race conditions? Questions: Could this issue be related to how @Relationship and @Attribute(.unique) are managed in SwiftData? What are potential pitfalls with Equatable implementations (e.g., in CrossZansu) when used in SwiftData entities? Are there any recommended approaches for debugging "Duplicate keys" errors in SwiftData? Additional Info: Error Timing: The error occurs only during the app's first launch and consistently within the first minute.
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Apr ’25
XPC listener initialized in System Extesnion invalidates incoming connection under certain conditions
I found a problem where a process tries to connect to System Extension and connection is invalidated. XPC listener has to be disposed and initialized again. This happens when System Extension executes tasks in following order: NSXPCListener initialized NSXPCListener.resume() NSProvider.startSystemExtensionMode() Result: Connection is invalidated and not only that the client has to retry connection, nut also System Extension must reinitialize listener (execute step 1 and 2). However if I call NSProvider.startSystemExtensionMode() NSXPCListener initialized NSXPCListener.resume() It works as expected and even if the connection is invalidated/interrupted, client process can always reconnect and no other action is necessary in System Extension (no need to reinitialize XPC listener), In Apple docs about NSProvider.startSystemExtensionMode() it says that this method starts handling request, but in another online article written by Scott Knight I found that startSystemExtensionMode() also starts listener server. Is that right? PLease could you add this info into the docs if it is so? https://knight.sc/reverse%20engineering/2019/08/24/system-extension-internals.html I would like to use following logic: Call NSProvider.startSystemExtensionMode() only under certain circumstances - I have received some configuration that I need to process and do some setup. If I don't receive it, there is no reason to call startSystemExtensionMode() yet, I don't need to handle handleNewFlow() yet. Connect XPC client to System Extension under certain conditions. Ideally communicate with client even though System Extension is not handling network requests yet, that is without receiving handleNewFlow(). Basically I consider XPC and System Extension handling network requests as separate things. Is that correct, are they separate and independent? Does XPC communication really depend on calling startSystemExtensionMode()? Another potential issue: Is it possible that XPC listener fails to validate connection when client tries to connect before System Extension manages to complete init and park the main thread in CFRunLoop? Note: These querstions arose mostly from handling upgrades of System Extension (extension is already running, network filter is created and is connected and new version of the app upgrades System Exension). Thanks.
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Apr ’25
Defining custom file types
On iOS:When one receives a file of type .pages by email, Mail displays a large Pages icon and tapping on it opens Pages. (A long-press brings up the more complicated Actions screen).When one receives a file of type .vcf by email, Mail displays a large Contacts icon and tapping on it opens Contacts. (A long-press brings up the more complicated Actions screen).I have my own custom file type, .ripf, and I want to have the same behaviour because that is what my users will expect. Accordingly, in my app's Info.plist I have a CFBundleDocumentTypes dictionary providing a one-element LSItemContentTypes array referring to the name 'com.universalis.ripcard', and a UTExportedTypeDeclarations dictionary associating the UTTypeIdentifier 'com.universalis.ripcard' with a public.filename-extension 'ripf' and a public.mime-type 'text/vnd.universalis.ripcard'. All the other entries in those two dictionaries are present and correct as far as I can tell. Both CFBundleDocumentTypes[0].CFBundleTypeIconFiles and UTExportedTypeDeclarations[0].UTTypeIconFiles contain a list of icon files for the file type.(That rather long paragraph is to avoid boring people by including the entire Info.plist!)Some things do work..ripf files received via AirDrop bring up a suitable "Open with..." message which mentions my app, and tapping the message opens the app..ripf files received as an email attachment display as an icon. But it is the app's icon and not the icon of the file type.BUTTapping on a received file's icon does not open the app, but only opens the generic Actions screen, offering Message, Mail, WhatsApp, Notes, and only then (after the user has scrolled sideways) "Copy to..." my app.Now, the whole apparatus of CFBundleDocumentTypes and UTExportedTypeDeclarations is obscure and under-documented, and indeed the main documenation for the latter has a big warning at the top saying that it is obsolete and not being updated. That doesn't matter so much. What I need to know is:(Less important): How do I get the right file icon?(More important): How do I get my app to open when the icon is tapped, as Pages and Contacts do? There must be a way – unless special cases for those two apps are wired into iOS itself.
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Apr ’25
Return the results of a Spotlight query synchronously from a Swift function
How can I return the results of a Spotlight query synchronously from a Swift function? I want to return a [String] that contains the items that match the query, one item per array element. I specifically want to find all data for Spotlight items in the /Applications folder that have a kMDItemAppStoreAdamID (if there is a better predicate than kMDItemAppStoreAdamID > 0, please let me know). The following should be the correct query: let query = NSMetadataQuery() query.predicate = NSPredicate(format: "kMDItemAppStoreAdamID > 0") query.searchScopes = ["/Applications"] I would like to do this for code that can run on macOS 10.13+, which precludes using Swift Concurrency. My project already uses the latest PromiseKit, so I assume that the solution should use that. A bonus solution using Swift Concurrency wouldn't hurt as I will probably switch over sometime in the future, but won't be able to switch soon. I have written code that can retrieve the Spotlight data as the [String], but I don't know how to return it synchronously from a function; whatever I tried, the query hangs, presumably because I've called various run loop functions at the wrong places. In case it matters, the app is a macOS command-line app using Swift 5.7 & Swift Argument Parser 1.5.0. The Spotlight data will be output only as text to stdout & stderr, not to any Apple UI elements.
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199
Apr ’25
App Groups in Provisioning Profile
I'll preface by saying I am new to MacOS development. I've struggled with this issue for several days and have nowhere else to go for help. My MacOS app is an Electron build. It needs application-groups entitlement for IPC. But the developer portal, when generating the provisioning profile, always appends "groups." to the start and I am unable to remove it. This renders my provisioning profile invalid and causes my app to be rejected by Transporter because it is not supposed to start with "groups", but with my team identified for MacOS. Maybe I can still use the provisioning profile as is, but I've not found any way to do that. So I'm stuck unable to deliver. Any help with this is appreciated.
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Apr ’25
Compatibility between macOS VFS ACLs and Linux VFS ACLs
Implementing ACL support in a distributed filesystem, with macOS and Linux clients talking to a remote file server, requires compatibility between the ACL models supported in Darwin-XNU and Linux kernels to be taken into consideration. My filesystem does support EAs to facilitate ACL storage and retrieval. So setting ACLs via chmod(1) and retrieving them via ls(1) does work. However, the macOS and Linux ACL models are incompatible and would require some sort of conversion between them. chmod(1) uses acl(3) to create ACL entries. While acl(3) claims to implement POSIX.1e ACL security API, which, to the best of my knowledge, Linux VFS implements as well, their respective implementations of the standard obviously do differ. Which is also stated in acl(3): This implementation of the POSIX.1e library differs from the standard in a number of non-portable ways in order to support the MacOS/Darwin ACL semantic. Then there's this NFSv4 to POSIX ACL mapping draft that describes the conversion algorithm. What's the recommended way to bridge the compatibility gap there, so that macOS ACL rules are honoured in Linux and vice versa? Thanks.
Replies
2
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288
Activity
Apr ’25
How to Maintain Background Connection with BLE-Triggered WebSocket Companion Hub for Real-Time Alerts on iOS
I’m building a companion app that connects to a custom hardware hub (IoT device) used for home safety monitoring. The hub is installed in homes and is responsible for triggering critical alerts like fire alarms, motion detection, door sensor activity, and baby monitor events. Current Architecture: The hub initially connects to the app via Bluetooth (BLE) for provisioning (to get Wi-Fi credentials). Once provisioned, the hub switches to Wi-Fi and communicates with the app via a WebSocket connection to stream real-time event updates. What I’m Trying to Achieve: My goal is to maintain background communication with the hub even when the app is not actively in use, in order to: Receive real-time updates from the hub while the device is locked or the app is in background. Trigger local notifications immediately when critical sensor events (e.g., fire, motion) occur. Ensure persistence across backgrounding, app swipes (force close), and device reboots, if possible. What I'm Observing: On iOS, WebSocket connection is suspended or dropped shortly after the app goes to the background or is locked. Even though the I've scheduled periodic fetches, notifications are delayed until the app is reopened, at which point all missed WebSocket messages arrive at once. If the app is force-closed or after reboot, no reconnection or notification happens at all. Key Questions I Have: Since the hub is initially provisioned via BLE, and could potentially send BLE flags or triggers for key events, can I use bluetooth-central mode to keep the app active or wake it up on BLE activity? Once the hub switches to Wi-Fi and uses WebSocket, is it possible to combine BLE triggers to wake the app and then reconnect to the WebSocket to fetch the full event payload? Is there a legitimate and App Store-compliant way to maintain a connection or background task with: BLE accessory triggers followed by Real-time data processing via Wi-Fi/WebSocket? Would this use case qualify as a "companion device" scenario under iOS background execution policies? What is the best practice for handling this kind of hybrid BLE + WebSocket alerting flow to ensure timely user notifications, even in background/locked/force-closed states? Any advice, documentation links, implementation patterns, or examples from similar companion device apps would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!
Replies
1
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179
Activity
Apr ’25
Resending notifications from Apple
Regarding App Store Server Notifications V2,we are currently using Notifications V2 in a production environment. It is set up so that if the server receives the notification successfully, it returns 200 after about 30 seconds, and if an error occurs, it returns 400 or 500. However, the notification is being resent multiple times from Apple's server, at 1 hour, 12 hours, and 24 hours. Is it necessary to return the notification using Apple's API?
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2
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147
Activity
Apr ’25
Live Activity Start Token not generating after certain days of usage for non Production builds
Live Activity Start Token not generating after certain days of usage. We have implemented Live Activity feature where the initial activity is launched by our backend. But to start that first live activity I need push to start token which is generating for few days but all of sudden after certain days it stops generating. Currently we are in development phase so we test it on multiple devices and multiple time we are doing install and uninstall. STEPS TO REPRODUCE Install the app Start token gets generated which is sent to our server After certain duration server sends the first live activity using that token user opens the app then we receive the updated token and send that token to server server uses that updated token to further update the live activity. All this works fine. But after a week of usage we are observing that we stop getting start token from APNS. Not sure where exactly the thing is breaking. We have tried with different devices and different bundle identifiers but behaviour is same for all. func generateStartToken() { Task.detached { [weak self] in guard let self else { return } await self.observeActivityPushTokenAndState() for await data in ActivityKit.Activity<LiveActivityAttribute>.pushToStartTokenUpdates { let token = data.map { String(format: "%02x", $0) }.joined() print("Activity Start token: ", token) } } } func observeActivityPushTokenAndState() { Task.detached { for await activity in ActivityKit.Activity<LiveActivityAttribute>.activityUpdates { Task { for await tokenData in activity.pushTokenUpdates { let updatedToken = tokenData.map { String(format: "%02x", $0) }.joined() print("Activity Update token: ", updatedToken) } } Task { for await content in activity.contentUpdates { let updatedContent = content.state print("Activity Updated: ", updatedContent) } } } } }
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2
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189
Activity
Apr ’25
Background Modes - App Identifiers
Hey All, Seem to be in a loop and unable to proceed. New app specific for iOS being built on xCode. Project is configured only to deploy and use iOS, not macOS or anything else. Trying to create a new App iD always see it default to all platforms which means "Background Modes" is not visible or available. Automatic signing etc in xcode can't seem to get around this and just continues to flag I'm missing the entitlement for locations.background. Not sure what I am missing as I cannot manually configure the ID for iOS only and xcode is also generating new ID's with the same platform structure and constraints. Any thoughts or insights here please?
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5
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200
Activity
Apr ’25
In-app provisioning for Apple Pay
We created apps for many credit unions in Canada. Some of those apps has the feature to directly add users' debit cards to Apple Wallet (which is called by Apple as "in-app provisioning"). The feature has been working fine for at least 6 years for many credit unions. Recently, after updating one of those existing apps, we found out that the in-app provisioning is no longer working. Found it very strange, as we didn't touch the code base related to this feature for a very long time. One thing we found out is that the option to add in-app provisioning entitlement is missing during generating "provisioning profile" for the app. Is this a misconfiguration by App? Or do we need to request for additional entitlement migration as mentioned in the page: https://developer.apple.com/help/account/reference/provisioning-with-managed-capabilities ? Apple, please help, it's rather urgent.
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1
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155
Activity
Apr ’25
Home screen Widget with dynamic options for configuration via App Intent - Slow
I am building a widget with configurable options (dynamic option) where the options are pull from api (ultimately the options are return from a server, but during my development, the response is constructed on the fly from locally). Right now, I am able to display the widget and able to pull out the widget configuration screen where I can choose my config option . I am constantly having an issue where the loading the available options when selected a particular option (e.g. Category) and display them on the UI. Sometime, when I tap on the option "Category" and the loading indicator keeps spinning for while before it can populate the list of topics (return from methods in NewsCategoryQuery struct via fetchCategoriesFromAPI ). Notice that I already made my fetchCategoriesFromAPI call to return the result on the fly and however the widget configuration UI stills take a very long time to display the result. Even worst, the loading (loading indicator keep spinning) sometime will just kill itself after a while and my guess there are some time threshold where the widget extension or app intent is allow to run, not sure on this? My questions: How can I improve the loading time to populate the dynamic options in widget configuration via App Intent Here is my sample code for my current setup struct NewsFeedConfigurationIntent: AppIntent, WidgetConfigurationIntent { static let title: LocalizedStringResource = "Configure News Topic Options" static let description = IntentDescription("Select a topic for your news.") @Parameter(title: "Category", default: nil) var category: NewsCategory? } struct NewsCategory: AppEntity, Identifiable { let id: String let code: String let name: String static let typeDisplayRepresentation: TypeDisplayRepresentation = "News Topic" static let defaultQuery = NewsCategoryQuery() var displayRepresentation: DisplayRepresentation { DisplayRepresentation(title: LocalizedStringResource(stringLiteral: name)) } } struct NewsCategoryQuery: EntityQuery { func entities(for identifiers: [NewsCategory.ID]) async throws -> [NewsCategory] { let categories = fetchCategoriesFromAPI() return categories.filter { identifiers.contains($0.id) } } func suggestedEntities() async throws -> [NewsCategory] { fetchCategoriesFromAPI() } } func fetchCategoriesFromAPI() -> [NewsCategory] { let list = [ "TopicA", "TopicB", "TopicC", ....... ] return list.map { item in NewsCategory(id: item, code: item, name: item.capitalized) } }
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0
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184
Activity
Apr ’25
macOS Sequoia No Route to Host on first request. Retries work.
My app has local network permission on macOS Sequoia and works in most cases. I've noticed that after unlocking my MacBook Pro, the very first request will regularly fail with a No Route to Host. A simple retry resolves the issue, but I would have expected the very first request to succeed. Is this is a known issue on macOS Sequoia or by design? I'd prefer not to add a retry for this particular request as the app is a network utility.
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6
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2.1k
Activity
Apr ’25
Xcode 16.2 App Crashes Due to Missing NSMotionUsageDescription Key in Info.plist
There is a crash while running the project in Xcode 16.2. The project has been using CMPedometer and CoreMotion since 2020. I wonder: I did not have the NSMotionUsageDescription key added, why is it mandatory to add this key now? “This app has crashed because it attempted to access privacy-sensitive data without a usage description. The app's Info.plist must contain an NSMotionUsageDescription key with a string value explaining to the user how the app uses this data.”
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1
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1
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618
Activity
Apr ’25
How to make siri ask user for inputs programmatically.
I dont know if this is the appropriate forum for this. Answers I've found on the web points me towards intentions, but somehow I couldnt make it work. Im trying to activate siri on carplay to ask user for voice input then make a search. Is this a custom intent capability or is there any other way.
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2
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138
Activity
Apr ’25
App Crashes on iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 After App Store Installation
Hello everyone, I'm experiencing an issue with my app, and I would greatly appreciate any guidance. Here's the situation: My app works flawlessly on the simulator for all iPhone models (16, 16 Pro, 16 Pro Max, SE, etc.). It runs without issues on physical iPhone 11 devices (both mine and a friend's). However, when my friend installs the app from the App Store on their iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 16, it crashes immediately upon opening. Steps I’ve taken so far: Verified that the app works on the simulator for the same models where it crashes in real life. Updated the app's minimum deployment target to iOS 18, but this did not resolve the issue. The app still crashes on the physical iPhone 15 Pro and 16 models while continuing to run fine on previous physical devices and all simulated ones. Additionally, I had another friend beta test the app through TestFlight on their iPhone 15 Pro, and they received an alert message indicating that the app had crashed when they tried to open it. This confirms the issue still exists after my attempted fixes. I'm unsure what could be causing this discrepancy between the simulated and physical devices, or what the alert message in TestFlight might signify. Has anyone encountered a similar issue, or does anyone have suggestions on what I should do to fix this? Thanks in advance for your help!
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1
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399
Activity
Apr ’25
iOS Team Provisioning Profile does not include Activity Kit
I would like to add a Live Activity to my app, but unfortunately I always get an error message. When I go into the Identifiers via the Developer Portal and look at my app, there is no Activity Kit or Live Activity in the Capabilites that I could activate. In XCode I don't see the option for Signing & Capabilities either... Can anyone help me how to add this correctly? Thanks in advance!
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1
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1
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209
Activity
Apr ’25
iOS did not update all widgets of an app when the user press a button on a widget
Hello, I have an app in AppStore "Counter Widget". https://apps.apple.com/app/id1522170621 It allows you to add a widget to your homescreen/lockscreen to count anything. Everything works fine except for one scenario. iOS 18+ I create 2 or more widgets for one counter. For example, medium and small widgets. I click on the widget button to increase or decrease the value. The button in the widget uses Button(intent: AppIntent) to update the value and calls WidgetCenter.shared.reloadAllTimelines() to update the second widget for the same counter. For iOS 18 in this particular scenario, you don't even have to call the WidgetCenter.shared.reloadAllTimelines(). iOS already knows that there is a widget with the same INIntent settings and will update it itself. Both widgets are updated and show the new value. Everything is correct. Now on the homescreen I open the widget configuration for one of the widgets to change the INIntent for the widget. For example, i change the background to wallpaper. This is just a skin for the widget, and the widget is associated with the same counter value as before. As in (2), I click the widget button to increase or decrease the value. But now only one widget is updated. iOS ignores my call to WidgetCenter.shared.reloadAllTimelines() and does not update the second widget connected to the same counter. As I found, iOS, when I call WidgetCenter.shared.reloadAllTimelines() from the widget itself, updates other widgets only if INIntent is absolutely equal for them. Overriding isEqual for them did not help. That is, I cannot specify which fields from my INIntent can be ignored during such an update and consider that widgets are equal and need to be updated. Obviously iOS make this compare outside my code. The main problem is that when the user adds a widget to the lock screen and increases and decreases the value there. After that, he opens the home screen and the widget there is not synchronized with the value from the widget on the lock screen. How to solve this problem?
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4
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889
Activity
Apr ’25
How to diagnose spurious SwiftDataMacros error
I have a Package.swift file that builds and runs from Xcode 15.2 without issue but fails to compile when built from the command line ("swift build"). The swift version is 6.0.3. I'm at wits end trying to diagnose this and would welcome any thoughts. The error in question is error: external macro implementation type 'SwiftDataMacros.PersistentModelMacro' could not be found for macro 'Model()'; plugin for module 'SwiftDataMacros' not found The code associated with the module is very vanilla. import Foundation import SwiftData @Model public final class MyObject { @Attribute(.unique) public var id:Int64 public var vertexID:Int64 public var updatedAt:Date public var codeUSRA:Int32 init(id:Int64, vertexID:Int64, updatedAt:Date, codeUSRA:Int32) { self.id = id self.vertexID = vertexID self.updatedAt = updatedAt self.codeUSRA = codeUSRA } public static func create(id:Int64, vertexID:Int64, updatedAt:Date, codeUSRA:Int32) -> MyObject { MyObject(id: id, vertexID: vertexID, updatedAt: updatedAt, codeUSRA: codeUSRA) } } Thank you.
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1
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345
Activity
Apr ’25
iOS Team Provisioning Profile oesn't include the com.apple.developer.activitykit entitlement.
I would like to add a Live Activity to my app, but unfortunately I always get an error message. When I go into the Identifiers via the Developer Portal and look at my app, there is no Activity Kit or Live Activity in the Capabilites that I could activate. In XCode I don't see the option for Signing & Capabilities either... Can anyone help me how to add this correctly? Thanks in advance!
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1
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197
Activity
Apr ’25
SwiftUI & SwiftData: Fatal Error "Duplicate keys of type" Occurs on First Launch
I'm developing a SwiftUI app using SwiftData and encountering a persistent issue: Error Message: Thread 1: Fatal error: Duplicate keys of type 'Bland' were found in a Dictionary. This usually means either that the type violates Hashable's requirements, or that members of such a dictionary were mutated after insertion. Details: Occurrence: The error always occurs on the first launch of the app after installation. Specifically, it happens approximately 1 minute after the app starts. Inconsistent Behavior: Despite no changes to the code or server data, the error occurs inconsistently. Data Fetching Process: I fetch data for entities (Bland, CrossZansu, and Trade) from the server using the following process: Fetch Bland and CrossZansu entities via URLSession. Insert or update these entities into the SwiftData context. The fetched data is managed as follows: func refleshBlandsData() async throws { if let blandsOnServer = try await DataModel.shared.getBlands() { await MainActor.run { blandsOnServer.forEach { blandOnServer in if let blandOnLocal = blandList.first(where: { $0.code == blandOnServer.code }) { blandOnLocal.update(serverBland: blandOnServer) } else { modelContext.insert(blandOnServer.bland) } } } } } This is a simplified version of my StockListView. The blandList is a @Query property and dynamically retrieves data from SwiftData: struct StockListView: View { @Environment(\.modelContext) private var modelContext @Query(sort: \Bland.sname) var blandList: [Bland] @Query var users: [User] @State private var isNotLoaded = true @State private var isLoading = false @State private var loadingErrorState = "" var body: some View { NavigationStack { List { ForEach(blandList, id: \.self) { bland in NavigationLink(value: bland) { Text(bland.sname) } } } .navigationTitle("Stock List") .onAppear { doIfFirst() } } } // This function handles data loading when the app launches for the first time func doIfFirst() { if isNotLoaded { loadDataWithAnimationIfNotLoading() isNotLoaded = false } } // This function ensures data is loaded with an animation and avoids multiple triggers func loadDataWithAnimationIfNotLoading() { if !isLoading { isLoading = true Task { do { try await loadData() } catch { // Capture and store any errors during data loading loadingErrorState = "Data load failed: \(error.localizedDescription)" } isLoading = false } } } // Fetch data from the server and insert it into the SwiftData model context func loadData() async throws { if let blandsOnServer = try await DataModel.shared.getBlands() { for bland in blandsOnServer { // Avoid inserting duplicate keys by checking for existing items in blandList if !blandList.contains(where: { $0.code == bland.code }) { modelContext.insert(bland.bland) } } } } } Entity Definitions: Here are the main entities involved: Bland: @Model class Bland: Identifiable { @Attribute(.unique) var code: String var sname: String @Relationship(deleteRule: .cascade, inverse: \CrossZansu.bland) var zansuList: [CrossZansu] @Relationship(deleteRule: .cascade, inverse: \Trade.bland) var trades: [Trade] } CrossZansu: @Model class CrossZansu: Equatable { @Attribute(.unique) var id: String var bland: Bland? } Trade: @Model class Trade { @Relationship(deleteRule: .nullify) var user: User? var bland: Bland } User: class User { var id: UUID @Relationship(deleteRule: .cascade, inverse: \Trade.user) var trades: [Trade] } Observations: Error Context: The error occurs after the data is fetched and inserted into SwiftData. This suggests an issue with Hashable requirements or duplicate keys being inserted unintentionally. Concurrency Concerns: The fetch and update operations are performed in asynchronous tasks. Could this cause race conditions? Questions: Could this issue be related to how @Relationship and @Attribute(.unique) are managed in SwiftData? What are potential pitfalls with Equatable implementations (e.g., in CrossZansu) when used in SwiftData entities? Are there any recommended approaches for debugging "Duplicate keys" errors in SwiftData? Additional Info: Error Timing: The error occurs only during the app's first launch and consistently within the first minute.
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3
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639
Activity
Apr ’25
XPC listener initialized in System Extesnion invalidates incoming connection under certain conditions
I found a problem where a process tries to connect to System Extension and connection is invalidated. XPC listener has to be disposed and initialized again. This happens when System Extension executes tasks in following order: NSXPCListener initialized NSXPCListener.resume() NSProvider.startSystemExtensionMode() Result: Connection is invalidated and not only that the client has to retry connection, nut also System Extension must reinitialize listener (execute step 1 and 2). However if I call NSProvider.startSystemExtensionMode() NSXPCListener initialized NSXPCListener.resume() It works as expected and even if the connection is invalidated/interrupted, client process can always reconnect and no other action is necessary in System Extension (no need to reinitialize XPC listener), In Apple docs about NSProvider.startSystemExtensionMode() it says that this method starts handling request, but in another online article written by Scott Knight I found that startSystemExtensionMode() also starts listener server. Is that right? PLease could you add this info into the docs if it is so? https://knight.sc/reverse%20engineering/2019/08/24/system-extension-internals.html I would like to use following logic: Call NSProvider.startSystemExtensionMode() only under certain circumstances - I have received some configuration that I need to process and do some setup. If I don't receive it, there is no reason to call startSystemExtensionMode() yet, I don't need to handle handleNewFlow() yet. Connect XPC client to System Extension under certain conditions. Ideally communicate with client even though System Extension is not handling network requests yet, that is without receiving handleNewFlow(). Basically I consider XPC and System Extension handling network requests as separate things. Is that correct, are they separate and independent? Does XPC communication really depend on calling startSystemExtensionMode()? Another potential issue: Is it possible that XPC listener fails to validate connection when client tries to connect before System Extension manages to complete init and park the main thread in CFRunLoop? Note: These querstions arose mostly from handling upgrades of System Extension (extension is already running, network filter is created and is connected and new version of the app upgrades System Exension). Thanks.
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5
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1.4k
Activity
Apr ’25
Defining custom file types
On iOS:When one receives a file of type .pages by email, Mail displays a large Pages icon and tapping on it opens Pages. (A long-press brings up the more complicated Actions screen).When one receives a file of type .vcf by email, Mail displays a large Contacts icon and tapping on it opens Contacts. (A long-press brings up the more complicated Actions screen).I have my own custom file type, .ripf, and I want to have the same behaviour because that is what my users will expect. Accordingly, in my app's Info.plist I have a CFBundleDocumentTypes dictionary providing a one-element LSItemContentTypes array referring to the name 'com.universalis.ripcard', and a UTExportedTypeDeclarations dictionary associating the UTTypeIdentifier 'com.universalis.ripcard' with a public.filename-extension 'ripf' and a public.mime-type 'text/vnd.universalis.ripcard'. All the other entries in those two dictionaries are present and correct as far as I can tell. Both CFBundleDocumentTypes[0].CFBundleTypeIconFiles and UTExportedTypeDeclarations[0].UTTypeIconFiles contain a list of icon files for the file type.(That rather long paragraph is to avoid boring people by including the entire Info.plist!)Some things do work..ripf files received via AirDrop bring up a suitable "Open with..." message which mentions my app, and tapping the message opens the app..ripf files received as an email attachment display as an icon. But it is the app's icon and not the icon of the file type.BUTTapping on a received file's icon does not open the app, but only opens the generic Actions screen, offering Message, Mail, WhatsApp, Notes, and only then (after the user has scrolled sideways) "Copy to..." my app.Now, the whole apparatus of CFBundleDocumentTypes and UTExportedTypeDeclarations is obscure and under-documented, and indeed the main documenation for the latter has a big warning at the top saying that it is obsolete and not being updated. That doesn't matter so much. What I need to know is:(Less important): How do I get the right file icon?(More important): How do I get my app to open when the icon is tapped, as Pages and Contacts do? There must be a way – unless special cases for those two apps are wired into iOS itself.
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10
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6.5k
Activity
Apr ’25
Return the results of a Spotlight query synchronously from a Swift function
How can I return the results of a Spotlight query synchronously from a Swift function? I want to return a [String] that contains the items that match the query, one item per array element. I specifically want to find all data for Spotlight items in the /Applications folder that have a kMDItemAppStoreAdamID (if there is a better predicate than kMDItemAppStoreAdamID > 0, please let me know). The following should be the correct query: let query = NSMetadataQuery() query.predicate = NSPredicate(format: "kMDItemAppStoreAdamID > 0") query.searchScopes = ["/Applications"] I would like to do this for code that can run on macOS 10.13+, which precludes using Swift Concurrency. My project already uses the latest PromiseKit, so I assume that the solution should use that. A bonus solution using Swift Concurrency wouldn't hurt as I will probably switch over sometime in the future, but won't be able to switch soon. I have written code that can retrieve the Spotlight data as the [String], but I don't know how to return it synchronously from a function; whatever I tried, the query hangs, presumably because I've called various run loop functions at the wrong places. In case it matters, the app is a macOS command-line app using Swift 5.7 & Swift Argument Parser 1.5.0. The Spotlight data will be output only as text to stdout & stderr, not to any Apple UI elements.
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1
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199
Activity
Apr ’25
App Groups in Provisioning Profile
I'll preface by saying I am new to MacOS development. I've struggled with this issue for several days and have nowhere else to go for help. My MacOS app is an Electron build. It needs application-groups entitlement for IPC. But the developer portal, when generating the provisioning profile, always appends "groups." to the start and I am unable to remove it. This renders my provisioning profile invalid and causes my app to be rejected by Transporter because it is not supposed to start with "groups", but with my team identified for MacOS. Maybe I can still use the provisioning profile as is, but I've not found any way to do that. So I'm stuck unable to deliver. Any help with this is appreciated.
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1
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138
Activity
Apr ’25