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Explore the networking protocols and technologies used by the device to connect to Wi-Fi networks, Bluetooth devices, and cellular data services.

Networking Documentation

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Network Push Provider Wifi Selection Behavior
In our App, we have a network extension with a NEAppPushProvider subclass running. We run the following steps Setup a dual-band wireless router per the following: Broadcasting 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz channels Same SSID names for both channels Connected to the production network to the router DHCP assigning addresses in the 10.1.x.x network Connect the mobile device to the 5 GHz network (if needed, turn off the 2.4 GHz network temporarily; once the device connects to the 5 GHz network, the 2.4 GHz network can be turned back on). Create a NEAppPushManager in the App, using the SSID from the above mentioned network and set it to the matchSSIDs property. Call saveToPreferences() on the push manager to save. A. We have UI that shows the extension has been started and it has connected to the server successfully. Walk out of the range of the 5 GHz channel of the router, but stay within range of the 2.4ghz channel. Wait for the mobile device to connect to the 2.4 GHz channel. Expected: The extension would reconnect to the 2.4ghz network. Observed: The extension does not reconnect. Checking the logs for the extension we see that the following was called in the push provider subclass. stop(with:completionHandler:) > PID: 808 | 🗒️🛑 Stopped with reason 3: "noNetworkAvailable" The expectation is that start() on the NEAppPushProvider subclass would be called. Is this an incorrect expectation? How does the NEAppPushProvider handle same network SSID roaming among various band frequencies? I looked at the documentation and did not find any settings targeting 2.4 or 5 ghz networks. Please advise on what to do.
5
1
145
Apr ’25
Can't update VPN app when includeAllNetworks is set to true
If the includeAllNetworks flag to true, we cannot update our app via Xcode, TestFlight or the AppStore. In the AppStore and TestFlight cases, it seems that the packet tunnel process is stopped before the new app is downloaded - once the packet tunnel process is stopped, it can’t be started again via Settings/VPN profiles, nor can it be started via the app.
4
1
140
Jun ’25
How to use DNSServiceReconfirmRecord?
TL;DR: How does one use DNSServiceReconfirmRecord() to invalidate mDNS state of a device that's gone offline? I'm using the DNSServiceDiscovery API (dns_sd.h) for a local P2P service. The problem I'm trying to solve is how to deal with a peer that abruptly loses connectivity, i.e. by turning off WiFi or simply by moving out of range or otherwise losing connectivity. In this situation there is of course no notification that the peer device has gone offline; it simply stops sending any packets. After my own timeout mechanism determines the peer is not responding, I mark it as offline in my own data structures. The problem is how to discover when/if it comes back online later. My DNSServiceBrowse callback won't be invoked because mDNS doesn't know the device went offline in the first place. I am trying to use DNSServiceReconfirmRecord, which appears to be for exactly this use case -- "Instruct the daemon to verify the validity of a resource record that appears to be out of date (e.g. because TCP connection to a service's target failed.)" However my attempts always return a BadReference error (-65541). The function requires me to pass a DNS record, and the only one I know is the TXT record; perhaps it needs a different one? Which, and how would I get it? Thanks!
7
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192
Feb ’26
XPC doesn't work with network extension on app upgrade
Our app has a network extension (as I've mentioned lots 😄). We do an upgrade by downloading the new package, stopping & removing all of our components except for the network extension, and then installing the new package, which then loads a LaunchAgent causing the containing app to run. (The only difference between a new install and upgrade is the old extension is left running, but not having anything to tell it what to do, just logs and continues.) On some (but not all) upgrades... nothing ends up able to communicate via XPC with the Network Extension. My simplest cli program to talk to it gets Could not create proxy: Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=4099 "The connection to service named blah was invalidated: failed at lookup with error 3 - No such process." UserInfo={NSDebugDescription=The connection to service named bla was invalidated: failed at lookup with error 3 - No such process.} Could not communicate with blah Restarting the extension by doing a kill -9 doesn't fix it; neither does restarting the control daemon. The only solution we've come across so far is rebooting. I filed FB11086599 about this, but has anyone thoughts about this?
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2
4.3k
Apr ’25
Content & URL filtering
Hello team, I am developing a security app where I am denying certain flows/packets if the are communicating with known malicious endpoints. Therefore I want to make use of NetworkExtensions such as the new URLFilter or ContentFilter (NEURLFilterManager, NEFilterDataProvider, NEFilterControlProvider). Does NEURLFilterManager require the user's device to be at a minimun of ios 26? Does any of these APIs/Extensions require the device to be managed/supervised or can it be released to all consumers? Thanks,
4
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146
Jan ’26
Local Push Connectivity - Unreliable Connection
Hi! My project has the Local Push Connectivity entitlement for a feature we have requiring us to send low-latency critical notifications over a local, private Wi-Fi network. We have our NEAppPushProvider creating a SSE connection using the Network framework with our hardware running a server. The server sends a keep-alive message every second. On an iPhone 16 with iOS 18+, the connection is reliable and remains stable for hours, regardless of whether the iOS app is in the foreground, background, or killed. One of our QA engineers has been testing on an iPhone 13 running iOS 16, and has notice shortly after locking the phone, specifically when not connected to power the device seems to turn off the Wi-Fi radio. So when the server sends a notification, it is not received. About 30s later, it seems to be back on. This happens on regular intervals. When looking at our log data, the provider does seem to be getting stopped, then restarted shortly after. The reason code is NEProviderStopReasonNoNetworkAvailable, which further validates that the network is getting dropped by the device in regular intervals. My questions are: Were there possibly silent changes to the framework between iOS versions that could be the reason we're seeing inconsistent behavior? Is there a connection type we could use, instead of SSE, that would prevent the device from disconnecting and reconnecting to the Wi-Fi network? Is there an alternative approach to allow us to maintain a persistent network connection with the extension or app?
8
1
312
Jul ’25
MultiPeer Connectivity: Device discovery succeeds but handshake fails when off-network
Hi, I am building an app that depends on multiple iOS devices connecting to a designated "coordinator" iOS device. I am using MPC, and it works great when the devices are connected to the same WiFi AP, with virtually 100% connection success. My definition of success is a near instant detection of available devices, >95% connection success rate, and a stable ongoing connection with no unexpected disconnects. The issue arises when the devices are not connected to the same WiFi network (or connected to no network with WiFi and bluetooth still on). Devices detect each other immediately, but when initiating a connection, both devices initiate a handshake, but the connection is not successful. In the few times where the connection succeeds, the connection quality is high, stable, and doesn't drop. Is this a known limitation of the framework? Could I be doing something wrong in my implementation?
1
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233
Dec ’25
KeyChain Sharing with App Extensions
Hi, We are trying to use Apple Security API for KeyChain Services. Using the common App Group : Specifying the common app group in the "kSecAttrAccessGroup" field of the KeyChain query, allowed us to have a shared keychains for different apps (targets) in the app group, but this did not work for extensions. Enabling the KeyChain Sharing capability : We enabled the KeyChain Sharing Ability in the extensions and the app target as well, giving a common KeyChain Access group. Specifying this in the kSecAttrAccessGroup field also did not work. This was done in XCode as we were unable to locate it in the Developer portal in Indentifiers. We tried specifying "$AppIdentifier.KeyChainSharingGroup" in the kSecAttrAccessGroup field , but this did not work as well The error code which we get in all these 3 cases when trying to access the Keychain from the extension is error code 25291 (errSecNotAvailable). The Documentation says this error comes when "No Trust Results are available" and printing the error in xcode using the status says "No keychain is available. The online Documentation says that it is possible to share keychain with extensions, but by far we are unable to do it with the methods suggested. Do we need any special entitlement for this or is there something we are missing while using these APIs? We really appreciate any and all help in solving this issue! Thank you
4
0
308
Dec ’25
DTLS Handshake Fails When App Is in Background – Is This an iOS Limitation?
Hello, We are facing an issue with performing a DTLS handshake when our iOS application is in the background. Our app (Vocera Collaboration Suite – VCS) uses secure DTLS-encrypted communication for incoming VoIP calls. Problem Summary: When the app is in the background and a VoIP PushKit notification arrives, we attempt to establish a DTLS handshake over our existing socket. However, the handshake consistently fails unless the app is already in the foreground. Once the app is foregrounded, the same DTLS handshake logic succeeds immediately. Key Questions: Is performing a DTLS handshake while the app is in the background technically supported by iOS? Or is this an OS-level limitation by design? If not supported, what is the Apple-recommended alternative to establish secure DTLS communication for VoIP flows without bringing the app to the foreground? Any guidance or clarification from Apple engineers or anyone who has solved a similar problem would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
5
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343
Feb ’26
Local network access is blocked when two almost identical apps are installed
We are developing an enterprise app that connects to a local server. It uses simple URLSessions. There is a view in the app where you enter the server url (IP address) and a connection check is made. iOS asks for permission to access the local network. Everything works. If the server is reachable, the connection info is saved. Recently we encountered a very strange issue: We also have a beta version of this app. If we first install the normal version on a device, enter the server IP, save, and then install the beta version and do the same there: It does not get a connection (it waits for the timeout). The strange part is: If I try to configure the connection in the normal version again, it also does not work, it just waits for the timeout. The really strange part: When I delete the beta version, while the normal version is waiting for its connection, the connection succeeds immediately. Both versions have a different display name, bundle id. I also tried using a device that is not in our MDM: same problem. Even the iOS version seems to have no impact: I tried on iOS 15, 18 and 26. Is there an explanation and hopefully also a solution to this problem?
2
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72
Dec ’25
NEURLFilterManager Error 2 in macOS - How to Validate Configuration Parameters for setConfiguration or saveToPreferences
I'm currently testing URLFilter for use in a macOS product. After calling loadFromPreferences, I set the following configuration parameters: pirServerURL = URL(string: "http://localhost:8080")! pirAuthenticationToken = "AAAA" controlProviderBundleIdentifier = "{extension app bundle identifier}" However, when I call saveToPreferences, I get an Invalid Configuration error. Is there a way to determine which parameter is invalid or incorrectly set? Also, I would appreciate any macOS-specific examples of using NEURLFilterManager, as most of the documentation I’ve found seems to focus on iOS. Thank you.
1
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88
Nov ’25
TCP/IP Connection Reset --- request Timeout
send a request and it returns with timeout Integration Team are Using Fortigate as a firewall and NGINX for some reasons so we use VPN TO Access , requests always succeed but at once it failed with timeout in randomize request not specific one we are using URLSession as a network layer when I retry the same failed request again, it success the request cannot connect apigee Sec Team concern { app session hits the security gateway with lots of SYN step to try to initiate a new session and doesn’t wait for (SYN-ACK / ACK) steps to happen to make sure the connection initiated correctly and gateway consider it flooding attack }
4
1
116
May ’25
NEFilterDataProvider + NEFilterControlProvider not catching in-app requests
Goal : Block all outbound connections to a static list of hosts (both In-app requests and WKWebView/Safari). App & both extensions have Network Extension entitlement with content-filter-provider and filter-control-provider What’s working: Safari and WKWebView requests matching the block list are dropped. What’s broken: In-app traffic never reaches the Data Provider—those requests always succeed. Setup: • NEFilterProviderConfiguration with both Data & Control providers, filterBrowsers = true, filterSockets = true • Data Provider implements handleNewFlow for socket/browser flows • Control Provider implements handleNewFlow for browser flows • Enabled via saveToPreferences() and toggled ON in Settings
3
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111
Jun ’25
DeviceDiscoveryUI and Bonjour for iOS
I have some confusion around the usage of DeviceDiscoveryUI. The documentation suggests that it is available only on TVOS. But with the recent announcement of WifiAware, it has been used in iOS devices as well. Within DeviceDiscoveryUI, the DevicePicker or the DevicePairingView documentation seems to be available with iOS. Is this just a documentation mistake? Followup - Can I use DeviceDiscoveryUI's DevicePicker/ DevicePairingView to discover devices through Bonjour and then establish a connection through Network framework?
2
1
184
Oct ’25
URLSessionDownloadTaskDelegate functions not called when using URLSession.download(for:), but works when using URLSession.downloadTask(with:)
I'm struggling to understand why the async-await version of URLSession download task APIs do not call the delegate functions, whereas the old non-async version that returns a reference to the download task works just fine. Here is my sample code: class DownloadDelegate: NSObject, URLSessionDownloadDelegate { func urlSession(_ session: URLSession, downloadTask: URLSessionDownloadTask, didWriteData bytesWritten: Int64, totalBytesWritten: Int64, totalBytesExpectedToWrite: Int64) { // This only prints the percentage of the download progress. let calculatedProgress = Float(totalBytesWritten) / Float(totalBytesExpectedToWrite) let formatter = NumberFormatter() formatter.numberStyle = .percent print(formatter.string(from: NSNumber(value: calculatedProgress))!) } } // Here's the VC. final class DownloadsViewController: UIViewController { private let url = URL(string: "https://pixabay.com/get/g0b9fa2936ff6a5078ea607398665e8151fc0c10df7db5c093e543314b883755ecd43eda2b7b5178a7e613a35541be6486885fb4a55d0777ba949aedccc807d8c_1280.jpg")! private let delegate = DownloadDelegate() private lazy var session = URLSession(configuration: .default, delegate: delegate, delegateQueue: nil) // for the async-await version private var task: Task<Void, Never>? // for the old version private var downloadTask: URLSessionDownloadTask? override func viewWillAppear(_ animated: Bool) { super.viewWillAppear(animated) task?.cancel() task = nil task = Task { let (_, _) = try! await session.download(for: URLRequest(url: url)) self.task = nil } // If I uncomment this, the progress listener delegate function above is called. // downloadTask?.cancel() // downloadTask = nil // downloadTask = session.downloadTask(with: URLRequest(url: url)) // downloadTask?.resume() } } What am I missing here?
5
1
2.1k
May ’25
URL filter app with multiple configurations
Hello, We've been working on an app that uses the new NEUrlFilter API and we've got a question. Currently, the system is designed with the assumption that a single app == usecase == single remote database. But what if we would like to give the user the ability to use different blocklists? For example, the user may want to: Block scam domains Block tracking domains Block adult domains Or any composition of these 3 What should we do to give the user this option? It seems that we could differentiate different databases by using different PIR service hostnames, but that would also mean that we'll have to send several requests for the same usecase but with different PIR service hostnames (and they'll all share the same app bundle ID). Will these requests be accepted then? If not, is there an alternative? PS: By sending a request I mean submitting this form
1
1
158
Oct ’25
NEAppProxyUDPFlow.writeDatagrams fails with "The datagram was too large" on macOS 15.x, macOS 26.x
I'm implementing a NEDNSProxyProvider on macOS 15.x and macOS 26.x. The flow works correctly up to the last step — returning the DNS response to the client via writeDatagrams. Environment: macOS 15.x, 26.x Xcode 26.x NEDNSProxyProvider with NEAppProxyUDPFlow What I'm doing: override func handleNewFlow(_ flow: NEAppProxyFlow) -> Bool { guard let udpFlow = flow as? NEAppProxyUDPFlow else { return false } udpFlow.readDatagrams { datagrams, endpoints, error in // 1. Read DNS request from client // 2. Forward to upstream DNS server via TCP // 3. Receive response from upstream // 4. Try to return response to client: udpFlow.writeDatagrams([responseData], sentBy: [endpoints.first!]) { error in // Always fails: "The datagram was too large" // responseData is 50-200 bytes — well within UDP limits } } return true } Investigation: I added logging to check the type of endpoints.first : // On macOS 15.0 and 26.3.1: // type(of: endpoints.first) → NWAddressEndpoint // Not NWHostEndpoint as expected On both macOS 15.4 and 26.3.1, readDatagrams returns [NWEndpoint] where each endpoint appears to be NWAddressEndpoint — a type that is not publicly documented. When I try to create NWHostEndpoint manually from hostname and port, and pass it to writeDatagrams, the error "The datagram was too large" still occurs in some cases. Questions: What is the correct endpoint type to pass to writeDatagrams on macOS 15.x, 26.x? Should we pass the exact same NWEndpoint objects returned by readDatagrams, or create new ones? NWEndpoint, NWHostEndpoint, and writeDatagrams are all deprecated in macOS 15. Is there a replacement API for NEAppProxyUDPFlow that works with nw_endpoint_t from the Network framework? Is the error "The datagram was too large" actually about the endpoint type rather than the data size? Any guidance would be appreciated. :-))
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5h
Network Framework peer to peer limitations
Hi all, We've been exploring the capabilities of the Network.framework for peer-to-peer communication and have run into some behavior that we haven't been able to fully explain with the existing documentation. In our tests, we’re working with 12 iOS devices, all disconnected from Wi-Fi to force communication over Apple Wireless Direct Link (AWDL). While using the Network.framework to create peer-to-peer connections, we observed that the number of connected peers never exceeded 8, despite all 12 devices being active and configured identically. Some questions we’re hoping to get clarification or discussion on: Is there a known upper limit to the number of peer-to-peer connections supported via AWDL? Are there conditions under which the framework or system limits or throttles visible peers? Does AWDL behavior vary by hardware model, iOS version, or backgrounding state of the app? Is there any official documentation or guidance around peer discovery or connection limits when using NWBrowser and NWConnection in a peer-to-peer context? We’d appreciate any insights from the Apple engineering team or other developers who have worked with larger peer groups using Network.framework in peer-to-peer mode.
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8
233
May ’25
use `NEHotspotConfigurationManager.shared.apply(hotspotConfig)` to join a wifi slow on iphone17+
we use the api as NEHotspotConfigurationManager.shared.apply(hotspotConfig) to join a wifi, but we find that in in iphone 17+, some user report the time to join wifi is very slow the full code as let hotspotConfig = NEHotspotConfiguration(ssid: sSSID, passphrase: sPassword, isWEP: false) hotspotConfig.joinOnce = bJoinOnce if #available(iOS 13.0, *) { hotspotConfig.hidden = true } NEHotspotConfigurationManager.shared.apply(hotspotConfig) { [weak self] (error) in guard let self else { return } if let error = error { log.i("connectSSID Error while configuring WiFi: \(error.localizedDescription)") if error.localizedDescription.contains("already associated") { log.i("connectSSID Already connected to this WiFi.") result(["status": 0]) } else { result(["status": 0]) } } else { log.i("connectSSID Successfully connected to WiFi network \(sSSID)") result(["status": 1]) } } Normally it might only take 5-10 seconds, but on the iPhone 17+ it might take 20-30 seconds.
7
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309
Dec ’25
peer-to-peer networking for iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, tvOS
Our product (rockhawk.ca) uses the Multipeer Connectivity framework for peer-to-peer communication between multiple iOS/iPadOS devices. My understanding is that MC framework communicates via three methods: 1) infrastructure wifi (i.e. multiple iOS/iPadOS devices are connected to the same wifi network), 2) peer-to-peer wifi, or 3) Bluetooth. In my experience, I don't believe I've seen MC use Bluetooth. With wifi turned off on the devices, and Bluetooth turned on, no connection is established. With wifi on and Bluetooth off, MC works and I presume either infrastructure wifi (if available) or peer-to-peer wifi are used. I'm trying to overcome two issues: Over time (since iOS 9.x), the radio transmit strength for MC over peer-to-peer wifi has decreased to the point that range is unacceptable for our use case. We need at least 150 feet range. We would like to extend this support to watchOS and the MC framework is not available. Regarding #1, I'd like to confirm that if infrastructure wifi is available, MC uses it. If infrastructure wifi is not available, MC uses peer-to-peer wifi. If this is true, then we can assure our customers that if infrastructure wifi is available at the venue, then with all devices connected to it, range will be adequate. If infrastructure wifi is not available at the venue, perhaps a mobile wifi router (battery operated) could be set up, devices connected to it, then range would be adequate. We are about to test this. Reasonable? Can we be assured that if infrastructure wifi is available, MC uses it? Regarding #2, given we are targeting minimum watchOS 7.0, would the available networking APIs and frameworks be adequate to implement our own equivalent of the MC framework so our app on iOS/iPadOS and watchOS devices could communicate? How much work? Where would I start? I'm new to implementing networking but experienced in using the MC framework. I'm assuming that I would write the networking code to use infrastructure wifi to achieve acceptable range. Many thanks! Tim
7
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1.8k
Sep ’25
Network Push Provider Wifi Selection Behavior
In our App, we have a network extension with a NEAppPushProvider subclass running. We run the following steps Setup a dual-band wireless router per the following: Broadcasting 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz channels Same SSID names for both channels Connected to the production network to the router DHCP assigning addresses in the 10.1.x.x network Connect the mobile device to the 5 GHz network (if needed, turn off the 2.4 GHz network temporarily; once the device connects to the 5 GHz network, the 2.4 GHz network can be turned back on). Create a NEAppPushManager in the App, using the SSID from the above mentioned network and set it to the matchSSIDs property. Call saveToPreferences() on the push manager to save. A. We have UI that shows the extension has been started and it has connected to the server successfully. Walk out of the range of the 5 GHz channel of the router, but stay within range of the 2.4ghz channel. Wait for the mobile device to connect to the 2.4 GHz channel. Expected: The extension would reconnect to the 2.4ghz network. Observed: The extension does not reconnect. Checking the logs for the extension we see that the following was called in the push provider subclass. stop(with:completionHandler:) > PID: 808 | 🗒️🛑 Stopped with reason 3: "noNetworkAvailable" The expectation is that start() on the NEAppPushProvider subclass would be called. Is this an incorrect expectation? How does the NEAppPushProvider handle same network SSID roaming among various band frequencies? I looked at the documentation and did not find any settings targeting 2.4 or 5 ghz networks. Please advise on what to do.
Replies
5
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1
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145
Activity
Apr ’25
Can't update VPN app when includeAllNetworks is set to true
If the includeAllNetworks flag to true, we cannot update our app via Xcode, TestFlight or the AppStore. In the AppStore and TestFlight cases, it seems that the packet tunnel process is stopped before the new app is downloaded - once the packet tunnel process is stopped, it can’t be started again via Settings/VPN profiles, nor can it be started via the app.
Replies
4
Boosts
1
Views
140
Activity
Jun ’25
How to use DNSServiceReconfirmRecord?
TL;DR: How does one use DNSServiceReconfirmRecord() to invalidate mDNS state of a device that's gone offline? I'm using the DNSServiceDiscovery API (dns_sd.h) for a local P2P service. The problem I'm trying to solve is how to deal with a peer that abruptly loses connectivity, i.e. by turning off WiFi or simply by moving out of range or otherwise losing connectivity. In this situation there is of course no notification that the peer device has gone offline; it simply stops sending any packets. After my own timeout mechanism determines the peer is not responding, I mark it as offline in my own data structures. The problem is how to discover when/if it comes back online later. My DNSServiceBrowse callback won't be invoked because mDNS doesn't know the device went offline in the first place. I am trying to use DNSServiceReconfirmRecord, which appears to be for exactly this use case -- "Instruct the daemon to verify the validity of a resource record that appears to be out of date (e.g. because TCP connection to a service's target failed.)" However my attempts always return a BadReference error (-65541). The function requires me to pass a DNS record, and the only one I know is the TXT record; perhaps it needs a different one? Which, and how would I get it? Thanks!
Replies
7
Boosts
0
Views
192
Activity
Feb ’26
XPC doesn't work with network extension on app upgrade
Our app has a network extension (as I've mentioned lots 😄). We do an upgrade by downloading the new package, stopping & removing all of our components except for the network extension, and then installing the new package, which then loads a LaunchAgent causing the containing app to run. (The only difference between a new install and upgrade is the old extension is left running, but not having anything to tell it what to do, just logs and continues.) On some (but not all) upgrades... nothing ends up able to communicate via XPC with the Network Extension. My simplest cli program to talk to it gets Could not create proxy: Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=4099 "The connection to service named blah was invalidated: failed at lookup with error 3 - No such process." UserInfo={NSDebugDescription=The connection to service named bla was invalidated: failed at lookup with error 3 - No such process.} Could not communicate with blah Restarting the extension by doing a kill -9 doesn't fix it; neither does restarting the control daemon. The only solution we've come across so far is rebooting. I filed FB11086599 about this, but has anyone thoughts about this?
Replies
18
Boosts
2
Views
4.3k
Activity
Apr ’25
Content & URL filtering
Hello team, I am developing a security app where I am denying certain flows/packets if the are communicating with known malicious endpoints. Therefore I want to make use of NetworkExtensions such as the new URLFilter or ContentFilter (NEURLFilterManager, NEFilterDataProvider, NEFilterControlProvider). Does NEURLFilterManager require the user's device to be at a minimun of ios 26? Does any of these APIs/Extensions require the device to be managed/supervised or can it be released to all consumers? Thanks,
Replies
4
Boosts
0
Views
146
Activity
Jan ’26
Local Push Connectivity - Unreliable Connection
Hi! My project has the Local Push Connectivity entitlement for a feature we have requiring us to send low-latency critical notifications over a local, private Wi-Fi network. We have our NEAppPushProvider creating a SSE connection using the Network framework with our hardware running a server. The server sends a keep-alive message every second. On an iPhone 16 with iOS 18+, the connection is reliable and remains stable for hours, regardless of whether the iOS app is in the foreground, background, or killed. One of our QA engineers has been testing on an iPhone 13 running iOS 16, and has notice shortly after locking the phone, specifically when not connected to power the device seems to turn off the Wi-Fi radio. So when the server sends a notification, it is not received. About 30s later, it seems to be back on. This happens on regular intervals. When looking at our log data, the provider does seem to be getting stopped, then restarted shortly after. The reason code is NEProviderStopReasonNoNetworkAvailable, which further validates that the network is getting dropped by the device in regular intervals. My questions are: Were there possibly silent changes to the framework between iOS versions that could be the reason we're seeing inconsistent behavior? Is there a connection type we could use, instead of SSE, that would prevent the device from disconnecting and reconnecting to the Wi-Fi network? Is there an alternative approach to allow us to maintain a persistent network connection with the extension or app?
Replies
8
Boosts
1
Views
312
Activity
Jul ’25
MultiPeer Connectivity: Device discovery succeeds but handshake fails when off-network
Hi, I am building an app that depends on multiple iOS devices connecting to a designated "coordinator" iOS device. I am using MPC, and it works great when the devices are connected to the same WiFi AP, with virtually 100% connection success. My definition of success is a near instant detection of available devices, >95% connection success rate, and a stable ongoing connection with no unexpected disconnects. The issue arises when the devices are not connected to the same WiFi network (or connected to no network with WiFi and bluetooth still on). Devices detect each other immediately, but when initiating a connection, both devices initiate a handshake, but the connection is not successful. In the few times where the connection succeeds, the connection quality is high, stable, and doesn't drop. Is this a known limitation of the framework? Could I be doing something wrong in my implementation?
Replies
1
Boosts
0
Views
233
Activity
Dec ’25
KeyChain Sharing with App Extensions
Hi, We are trying to use Apple Security API for KeyChain Services. Using the common App Group : Specifying the common app group in the "kSecAttrAccessGroup" field of the KeyChain query, allowed us to have a shared keychains for different apps (targets) in the app group, but this did not work for extensions. Enabling the KeyChain Sharing capability : We enabled the KeyChain Sharing Ability in the extensions and the app target as well, giving a common KeyChain Access group. Specifying this in the kSecAttrAccessGroup field also did not work. This was done in XCode as we were unable to locate it in the Developer portal in Indentifiers. We tried specifying "$AppIdentifier.KeyChainSharingGroup" in the kSecAttrAccessGroup field , but this did not work as well The error code which we get in all these 3 cases when trying to access the Keychain from the extension is error code 25291 (errSecNotAvailable). The Documentation says this error comes when "No Trust Results are available" and printing the error in xcode using the status says "No keychain is available. The online Documentation says that it is possible to share keychain with extensions, but by far we are unable to do it with the methods suggested. Do we need any special entitlement for this or is there something we are missing while using these APIs? We really appreciate any and all help in solving this issue! Thank you
Replies
4
Boosts
0
Views
308
Activity
Dec ’25
DTLS Handshake Fails When App Is in Background – Is This an iOS Limitation?
Hello, We are facing an issue with performing a DTLS handshake when our iOS application is in the background. Our app (Vocera Collaboration Suite – VCS) uses secure DTLS-encrypted communication for incoming VoIP calls. Problem Summary: When the app is in the background and a VoIP PushKit notification arrives, we attempt to establish a DTLS handshake over our existing socket. However, the handshake consistently fails unless the app is already in the foreground. Once the app is foregrounded, the same DTLS handshake logic succeeds immediately. Key Questions: Is performing a DTLS handshake while the app is in the background technically supported by iOS? Or is this an OS-level limitation by design? If not supported, what is the Apple-recommended alternative to establish secure DTLS communication for VoIP flows without bringing the app to the foreground? Any guidance or clarification from Apple engineers or anyone who has solved a similar problem would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Replies
5
Boosts
0
Views
343
Activity
Feb ’26
Local network access is blocked when two almost identical apps are installed
We are developing an enterprise app that connects to a local server. It uses simple URLSessions. There is a view in the app where you enter the server url (IP address) and a connection check is made. iOS asks for permission to access the local network. Everything works. If the server is reachable, the connection info is saved. Recently we encountered a very strange issue: We also have a beta version of this app. If we first install the normal version on a device, enter the server IP, save, and then install the beta version and do the same there: It does not get a connection (it waits for the timeout). The strange part is: If I try to configure the connection in the normal version again, it also does not work, it just waits for the timeout. The really strange part: When I delete the beta version, while the normal version is waiting for its connection, the connection succeeds immediately. Both versions have a different display name, bundle id. I also tried using a device that is not in our MDM: same problem. Even the iOS version seems to have no impact: I tried on iOS 15, 18 and 26. Is there an explanation and hopefully also a solution to this problem?
Replies
2
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0
Views
72
Activity
Dec ’25
NEURLFilterManager Error 2 in macOS - How to Validate Configuration Parameters for setConfiguration or saveToPreferences
I'm currently testing URLFilter for use in a macOS product. After calling loadFromPreferences, I set the following configuration parameters: pirServerURL = URL(string: "http://localhost:8080")! pirAuthenticationToken = "AAAA" controlProviderBundleIdentifier = "{extension app bundle identifier}" However, when I call saveToPreferences, I get an Invalid Configuration error. Is there a way to determine which parameter is invalid or incorrectly set? Also, I would appreciate any macOS-specific examples of using NEURLFilterManager, as most of the documentation I’ve found seems to focus on iOS. Thank you.
Replies
1
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0
Views
88
Activity
Nov ’25
TCP/IP Connection Reset --- request Timeout
send a request and it returns with timeout Integration Team are Using Fortigate as a firewall and NGINX for some reasons so we use VPN TO Access , requests always succeed but at once it failed with timeout in randomize request not specific one we are using URLSession as a network layer when I retry the same failed request again, it success the request cannot connect apigee Sec Team concern { app session hits the security gateway with lots of SYN step to try to initiate a new session and doesn’t wait for (SYN-ACK / ACK) steps to happen to make sure the connection initiated correctly and gateway consider it flooding attack }
Replies
4
Boosts
1
Views
116
Activity
May ’25
NEFilterDataProvider + NEFilterControlProvider not catching in-app requests
Goal : Block all outbound connections to a static list of hosts (both In-app requests and WKWebView/Safari). App & both extensions have Network Extension entitlement with content-filter-provider and filter-control-provider What’s working: Safari and WKWebView requests matching the block list are dropped. What’s broken: In-app traffic never reaches the Data Provider—those requests always succeed. Setup: • NEFilterProviderConfiguration with both Data & Control providers, filterBrowsers = true, filterSockets = true • Data Provider implements handleNewFlow for socket/browser flows • Control Provider implements handleNewFlow for browser flows • Enabled via saveToPreferences() and toggled ON in Settings
Replies
3
Boosts
1
Views
111
Activity
Jun ’25
DeviceDiscoveryUI and Bonjour for iOS
I have some confusion around the usage of DeviceDiscoveryUI. The documentation suggests that it is available only on TVOS. But with the recent announcement of WifiAware, it has been used in iOS devices as well. Within DeviceDiscoveryUI, the DevicePicker or the DevicePairingView documentation seems to be available with iOS. Is this just a documentation mistake? Followup - Can I use DeviceDiscoveryUI's DevicePicker/ DevicePairingView to discover devices through Bonjour and then establish a connection through Network framework?
Replies
2
Boosts
1
Views
184
Activity
Oct ’25
URLSessionDownloadTaskDelegate functions not called when using URLSession.download(for:), but works when using URLSession.downloadTask(with:)
I'm struggling to understand why the async-await version of URLSession download task APIs do not call the delegate functions, whereas the old non-async version that returns a reference to the download task works just fine. Here is my sample code: class DownloadDelegate: NSObject, URLSessionDownloadDelegate { func urlSession(_ session: URLSession, downloadTask: URLSessionDownloadTask, didWriteData bytesWritten: Int64, totalBytesWritten: Int64, totalBytesExpectedToWrite: Int64) { // This only prints the percentage of the download progress. let calculatedProgress = Float(totalBytesWritten) / Float(totalBytesExpectedToWrite) let formatter = NumberFormatter() formatter.numberStyle = .percent print(formatter.string(from: NSNumber(value: calculatedProgress))!) } } // Here's the VC. final class DownloadsViewController: UIViewController { private let url = URL(string: "https://pixabay.com/get/g0b9fa2936ff6a5078ea607398665e8151fc0c10df7db5c093e543314b883755ecd43eda2b7b5178a7e613a35541be6486885fb4a55d0777ba949aedccc807d8c_1280.jpg")! private let delegate = DownloadDelegate() private lazy var session = URLSession(configuration: .default, delegate: delegate, delegateQueue: nil) // for the async-await version private var task: Task<Void, Never>? // for the old version private var downloadTask: URLSessionDownloadTask? override func viewWillAppear(_ animated: Bool) { super.viewWillAppear(animated) task?.cancel() task = nil task = Task { let (_, _) = try! await session.download(for: URLRequest(url: url)) self.task = nil } // If I uncomment this, the progress listener delegate function above is called. // downloadTask?.cancel() // downloadTask = nil // downloadTask = session.downloadTask(with: URLRequest(url: url)) // downloadTask?.resume() } } What am I missing here?
Replies
5
Boosts
1
Views
2.1k
Activity
May ’25
URL filter app with multiple configurations
Hello, We've been working on an app that uses the new NEUrlFilter API and we've got a question. Currently, the system is designed with the assumption that a single app == usecase == single remote database. But what if we would like to give the user the ability to use different blocklists? For example, the user may want to: Block scam domains Block tracking domains Block adult domains Or any composition of these 3 What should we do to give the user this option? It seems that we could differentiate different databases by using different PIR service hostnames, but that would also mean that we'll have to send several requests for the same usecase but with different PIR service hostnames (and they'll all share the same app bundle ID). Will these requests be accepted then? If not, is there an alternative? PS: By sending a request I mean submitting this form
Replies
1
Boosts
1
Views
158
Activity
Oct ’25
NEAppProxyUDPFlow.writeDatagrams fails with "The datagram was too large" on macOS 15.x, macOS 26.x
I'm implementing a NEDNSProxyProvider on macOS 15.x and macOS 26.x. The flow works correctly up to the last step — returning the DNS response to the client via writeDatagrams. Environment: macOS 15.x, 26.x Xcode 26.x NEDNSProxyProvider with NEAppProxyUDPFlow What I'm doing: override func handleNewFlow(_ flow: NEAppProxyFlow) -> Bool { guard let udpFlow = flow as? NEAppProxyUDPFlow else { return false } udpFlow.readDatagrams { datagrams, endpoints, error in // 1. Read DNS request from client // 2. Forward to upstream DNS server via TCP // 3. Receive response from upstream // 4. Try to return response to client: udpFlow.writeDatagrams([responseData], sentBy: [endpoints.first!]) { error in // Always fails: "The datagram was too large" // responseData is 50-200 bytes — well within UDP limits } } return true } Investigation: I added logging to check the type of endpoints.first : // On macOS 15.0 and 26.3.1: // type(of: endpoints.first) → NWAddressEndpoint // Not NWHostEndpoint as expected On both macOS 15.4 and 26.3.1, readDatagrams returns [NWEndpoint] where each endpoint appears to be NWAddressEndpoint — a type that is not publicly documented. When I try to create NWHostEndpoint manually from hostname and port, and pass it to writeDatagrams, the error "The datagram was too large" still occurs in some cases. Questions: What is the correct endpoint type to pass to writeDatagrams on macOS 15.x, 26.x? Should we pass the exact same NWEndpoint objects returned by readDatagrams, or create new ones? NWEndpoint, NWHostEndpoint, and writeDatagrams are all deprecated in macOS 15. Is there a replacement API for NEAppProxyUDPFlow that works with nw_endpoint_t from the Network framework? Is the error "The datagram was too large" actually about the endpoint type rather than the data size? Any guidance would be appreciated. :-))
Replies
5
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0
Views
91
Activity
5h
Network Framework peer to peer limitations
Hi all, We've been exploring the capabilities of the Network.framework for peer-to-peer communication and have run into some behavior that we haven't been able to fully explain with the existing documentation. In our tests, we’re working with 12 iOS devices, all disconnected from Wi-Fi to force communication over Apple Wireless Direct Link (AWDL). While using the Network.framework to create peer-to-peer connections, we observed that the number of connected peers never exceeded 8, despite all 12 devices being active and configured identically. Some questions we’re hoping to get clarification or discussion on: Is there a known upper limit to the number of peer-to-peer connections supported via AWDL? Are there conditions under which the framework or system limits or throttles visible peers? Does AWDL behavior vary by hardware model, iOS version, or backgrounding state of the app? Is there any official documentation or guidance around peer discovery or connection limits when using NWBrowser and NWConnection in a peer-to-peer context? We’d appreciate any insights from the Apple engineering team or other developers who have worked with larger peer groups using Network.framework in peer-to-peer mode.
Replies
4
Boosts
8
Views
233
Activity
May ’25
use `NEHotspotConfigurationManager.shared.apply(hotspotConfig)` to join a wifi slow on iphone17+
we use the api as NEHotspotConfigurationManager.shared.apply(hotspotConfig) to join a wifi, but we find that in in iphone 17+, some user report the time to join wifi is very slow the full code as let hotspotConfig = NEHotspotConfiguration(ssid: sSSID, passphrase: sPassword, isWEP: false) hotspotConfig.joinOnce = bJoinOnce if #available(iOS 13.0, *) { hotspotConfig.hidden = true } NEHotspotConfigurationManager.shared.apply(hotspotConfig) { [weak self] (error) in guard let self else { return } if let error = error { log.i("connectSSID Error while configuring WiFi: \(error.localizedDescription)") if error.localizedDescription.contains("already associated") { log.i("connectSSID Already connected to this WiFi.") result(["status": 0]) } else { result(["status": 0]) } } else { log.i("connectSSID Successfully connected to WiFi network \(sSSID)") result(["status": 1]) } } Normally it might only take 5-10 seconds, but on the iPhone 17+ it might take 20-30 seconds.
Replies
7
Boosts
0
Views
309
Activity
Dec ’25
peer-to-peer networking for iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, tvOS
Our product (rockhawk.ca) uses the Multipeer Connectivity framework for peer-to-peer communication between multiple iOS/iPadOS devices. My understanding is that MC framework communicates via three methods: 1) infrastructure wifi (i.e. multiple iOS/iPadOS devices are connected to the same wifi network), 2) peer-to-peer wifi, or 3) Bluetooth. In my experience, I don't believe I've seen MC use Bluetooth. With wifi turned off on the devices, and Bluetooth turned on, no connection is established. With wifi on and Bluetooth off, MC works and I presume either infrastructure wifi (if available) or peer-to-peer wifi are used. I'm trying to overcome two issues: Over time (since iOS 9.x), the radio transmit strength for MC over peer-to-peer wifi has decreased to the point that range is unacceptable for our use case. We need at least 150 feet range. We would like to extend this support to watchOS and the MC framework is not available. Regarding #1, I'd like to confirm that if infrastructure wifi is available, MC uses it. If infrastructure wifi is not available, MC uses peer-to-peer wifi. If this is true, then we can assure our customers that if infrastructure wifi is available at the venue, then with all devices connected to it, range will be adequate. If infrastructure wifi is not available at the venue, perhaps a mobile wifi router (battery operated) could be set up, devices connected to it, then range would be adequate. We are about to test this. Reasonable? Can we be assured that if infrastructure wifi is available, MC uses it? Regarding #2, given we are targeting minimum watchOS 7.0, would the available networking APIs and frameworks be adequate to implement our own equivalent of the MC framework so our app on iOS/iPadOS and watchOS devices could communicate? How much work? Where would I start? I'm new to implementing networking but experienced in using the MC framework. I'm assuming that I would write the networking code to use infrastructure wifi to achieve acceptable range. Many thanks! Tim
Replies
7
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0
Views
1.8k
Activity
Sep ’25