Posts under App & System Services topic

Post

Replies

Boosts

Views

Activity

Virtualization Resources
Virtualization framework is a high-level API to create macOS and Linux virtual machines. Hypervisor is a low-level API to build virtualization solutions without the need for a kernel extension. If you’re interested in containers on the Mac, check out the Containerization package and its associated container tool. Virtualization: Forums subtopic: App & System Services > Core OS Forums tag: Virtualization Virtualization framework documentation Using iCloud with macOS virtual machines documentation article Use iCloud on a virtual machine support article Running macOS in a virtual machine on Apple silicon sample code Running Linux in a Virtual Machine sample code Running GUI Linux in a virtual machine on a Mac sample code Building macOS apps with Xcode 26 on macOS 26 VM forums thread — This thread describes how the development experience in VMs has improved recently, and one remaining issue that you might bump in to. Hypervisor: Forums subtopic: App & System Services > Core OS Forums tag: Hypervisor Hypervisor framework documentation Share and Enjoy — Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"
0
0
372
Aug ’25
A Summary of the WWDC25 Group Lab - watchOS (Part 1)
At WWDC25 we launched a new type of Lab event for the developer community - Group Labs. A Group Lab is a panel Q&A designed for a large audience of developers. Group Labs are a unique opportunity for the community to submit questions directly to a panel of Apple engineers and designers. Here are the highlights from the WWDC25 Group Lab for watchOS (part 1). 1. I'm really excited about the new design system on all platforms. Liquid Glass is super cool. What do developers need to keep in mind when building for watchOS 26? To adopt the new design system, start with updating your app for watchOS 10 – If you have done so, your app will be mostly ready for watchOS 26. For more information, see Design and build apps for WatchOS 10. You can then look into Liquid Glass specific APIs to fine tune your app. This topic is covered in Adopting Liquid Glass. If you have SwiftUI views using any custom style, make sure they are still legible and fit with the new design system. 2. Something that really stood out to me were updates to the Smart Stack, with the system prioritizing Widgets when they're most relevant. Tell me more about these new opportunities for apps. Workout apps that record workouts using HealthKit may be automatically suggested on the watch face and appear in the Smart Stack without adding a widget. Relevant widgets are a great way to present information related to a date, location, point-of-interest type, sleep schedule, or fitness condition in the Smart Stack when it is relevant. Relevant widgets don't need to display a empty state view when they are not relevant. They are only shown in the Smart Stack when relevant. The watchOS 26 Design ToolKit in the Apple Design Resources includes a set of templates that you can use to layout your widgets. 3. Is the Wrist Flick gesture available to developers in the same way as Double Tap is? The system uses Wrist Flick to dismiss notifications and incoming calls, silence timers and alarms, or return to the watch face. There is no separate API for the Wrist Flick gesture. Apps that are using XCUIAutomation to make sure their user interface behaves as intended can use the XCUIDeviceHandGesture.flick to automate tests that verify that their app responds appropriately to the Wrist Flick gesture. For apps using automated testing, the XCUIDeviceHandGesture.doubleTap can be also be used to automate testing of the app with the Double Tap gesture. See XCUIDevice.perform(handGesture:) 4. Can HRV measurements be triggered on demand via API in watchOS? Guidelines or processes for enabling energy-intensive biometric sampling on development devices for IRB-approved research? You don’t have direct control on the sampling rate in watchOS. You can use HealthKit (HKQuantityTypeIdentifierHeartRateVariabilitySDNN, to be specific) to query the HRV data, once the system has sampled and persisted the data to HealthKit. If that doesn’t help, we suggest that you file a feedback report with your concrete use case for us to investigate. Specific to IRB-approved research using Apple Watch or its companion iPhone, you might want to look at this FAQ and SensorKit to see if they can be of any help. 5. What is the best advice for someone who is new to making a watchOS app that’s been on iOS and iPadOS? You can start with exploring the system experience features on watchOS, such as notifications, controls, and widgets, and getting familiar with the system spaces, like Smart Stack, watch face, and control center. Knowing the watchOS app design principles and practices is important as well. Design and build apps for WatchOS 10 is a great resource for this topic. SwiftUI is an amazing across-platform framework, and you will use it to create your watchOS app. If you're already using it, great! Keep in mind some watch-only constraints. Comparing to iPhone or iPad, Apple Watch has a limited battery and smaller screen size, which significantly impacts how people use your app and how your app works. 6. Was there any extension this year to the 7 day limit on querying Apple Health data on the watch? There is no change on the limit this year. You can get this official limit at runtime using earliestPermittedSampleDate. There are some exceptions, and so don't be surprised if you see some data types are retained longer. The companion iPhone holds the full set of the health data. If you need to access the health data that has been purged from the Apple Watch, consider doing it with your iOS app, and then passing the result to your watchOS app.
0
0
183
Jul ’25
Delays When Creating Advanced App Clip Experiences for Other Businesses
Hey there, I have an app where I create custom Advanced App Clip Experiences for other businesses which seems to be a valid thing. I do create them via API. Upon creation everything looks fine: when I go to App Store Connect -> App -> Advanced App Clip Experiences, I do see the new App Clip Experience I've just created. Their status is Received (as any other active experiences) and have a custom URL. The issue is weird timing when the Advanced App Clip Experience actually becomes available on the iPhone (can be triggered via App Clip Code, etc). Some experiences become available literally immediately but others take days (some take 1-2 days, some take ~5 days). I'm not sure why there's a bid difference for an Advanced App Clip to be actually active. Does anyone have any kind of experience with that? I don't change domain settings, app's settings, etc. I'm just creating a new experience (both via API or manually at App Store Connect) and I do have different "activation" times for different App Clips. Same when I delete an Advanced App Clip Experience, it will still be available for next couple days. I get there might be caching stuff, etc. But the difference is quite huge and makes no sense since as I've mentioned some clips become available immediately but some takes days to be available. Thank you!
0
0
104
Jun ’25
iOS magnetometer data processing
Hello, I’m developing an app to detect movement past a strong magnet, targeting both Android and iOS. On Android, I’m using the Sensor API, which provides calibrated readings with temperature compensation, factory (or online) soft-iron calibration, and online hard-iron calibration. The equivalent on iOS appears to be the CMCalibratedMagneticField data from the CoreMotion framework. However, I’m encountering an issue with the iOS implementation. The magnetometer data on iOS behaves erratically compared to Android. While Android produces perfectly symmetric peaks, iOS shows visual peaks that report double the magnetic field strength. Additionally, there’s a "pendulum" effect: the field strength rises, drops rapidly, rises again to form a "double peak" structure, and takes a while to return to the local Earth magnetic field average. The peaks on iOS are also asymmetric. I’m wondering if this could be due to sensor fusion algorithms applied by iOS, which might affect the CMCalibratedMagneticField data. Are there other potential reasons for this behavior? Any insights or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
0
0
110
Jun ’25
FinanceKit - Any way to get merchant location info from transactions?
Hi all — I’m building a Wallet-style transaction details view using FinanceKit and I’m running into a gap around merchant location. What I’m seeing FinanceKit gives me great core fields (amount, currency, status, dates, MCC, merchantName, transactionDescription), but I’m not seeing any address or place/location metadata on a Transaction. For example, a small/local merchant where I can plausibly infer a single place: Fetched transaction: Transaction( id: 8D142B16-3E0E-40B8-945A-2E7C0CF65F1D, accountID: 14939CF4-DBC3-4A9D-8292-5FEA495B8461, transactionAmount: 47.24 USD, creditDebitIndicator: .debit, transactionDescription: "Local Dental Care", originalTransactionDescription: "Local Dental Care", merchantCategoryCode: 8021, merchantName: "Local Dental Care", transactionType: .pointOfSale, status: .booked, transactionDate: 2025-08-20 22:27:50 +0000, postedDate: 2025-08-21 11:22:06 +0000 ) Because this appears to be a single-location practice, I can usually resolve it to a place using MapKit search heuristics. But for big-box chains, I don’t get enough signal to determine which store: Fetched transaction: Transaction( id: 3F8E9F74-7565-4D24-9038-8FD709184799, accountID: 14939CF4-DBC3-4A9D-8292-5FEA495B8461, transactionAmount: 441.77 USD, creditDebitIndicator: .debit, transactionDescription: "The Home Depot", originalTransactionDescription: "The Home Depot", merchantCategoryCode: 5200, merchantName: "The Home Depot", transactionType: .pointOfSale, status: .booked, transactionDate: 2023-12-27 23:07:02 +0000, postedDate: 2023-12-29 03:09:41 +0000 ) There’s no store number, address, phone, or any stable identifier. With hundreds of locations, I can’t deterministically choose a map pin or fetch the right brand assets. What I’m trying to achieve I’d like to replicate the Apple Wallet experience: show a small map snapshot and merchant visuals (logo/name that match Apple Maps / the Place Card) on the transaction detail screen. Without a location hint, I have to either: Ask users to pick a store manually, or Make a guess based on a coarse, app-defined region …neither of which feels great. Questions Is there any way in FinanceKit today to access merchant location or a resolvable identifier (e.g., address, city/state, store number, Apple Maps place identifier, network merchant ID/MID, terminal ID, etc.)? If not, can FinanceKit expose additional merchant metadata (even opt-in / privacy-preserving) to enable Wallet-like enrichment? A few examples that would unblock this: merchantAddress (or components: street/city/region/postalCode/country) merchantPhone (often unique per store) merchantIdentifier (stable per physical location, e.g., network merchant ID / store number) mapsPlaceURL or mapsPlaceIdentifier (linkage to the Apple Maps Place Card) brandAssetURL (logo/brand reference similar to what Wallet shows) With even one of the above, I could reliably: Render an accurate map snapshot, Fetch the correct brand assets, and Avoid prompting the user or inferring via fuzzy search. Context / constraints I do not want to (and shouldn’t need to) request or monitor the user’s device location to resolve a merchant’s store location. For small merchants, MapKit text search is often enough. For large chains, I need a store-level identifier. If there’s an existing field or recommended approach I’m missing, I’d love pointers. If not, please consider this a feature request for richer merchant metadata in FinanceKit so developers can build Wallet-quality transaction details. Thanks!
0
0
65
Aug ’25
AlarmKit can we automatically acknowledge the alarm or set a time period the alarm should alert for
My use case is a Repeat Timer app. The user can configure a repeating timer, say: 8 minutes with 3 sets So I would like to configure either 3 alarms (8mins, 16mins, 24mins) or a repeating alarm (8mins every 3 mins) BUT... I would like the first and second alarms to break through but only for 5 seconds for example, and then stop (so the user doesn't need to tap the screen to silence the alarm). I don't think this is possible after reading the API docs, but am asking the question anyway. Thanks for any advice or guidance here, and happy WWDC!
0
0
125
Jun ’25
Understanding `EINTR`
I’ve talked about EINTR a bunch of times here on DevForums. Today I found myself talking about it again. On reading my other explanations, I didn’t think any of them were good enough to link to, so I decided to write it up properly. If you have questions or comments, please put them in a new thread here on DevForums. Use the App & System Services > Core OS topic area so that I see it. Share and Enjoy — Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com" Understanding EINTR Many BSD-layer routines can fail with EINTR. To see this in action, consider the following program: import Darwin func main() { print("will read, pid: \(getpid())") var buf = [UInt8](repeating: 0, count: 1024) let bytesRead = read(STDIN_FILENO, &buf, buf.count) if bytesRead < 0 { let err = errno print("did not read, err: \(err)") } else { print("did read, count: \(bytesRead)") } } main() It reads some bytes from stdin and prints the result. Build this and run it in one Terminal window: % ./EINTRTest will read, pid: 13494 Then, in other window, stop and start the process by sending it the SIGSTOP and SIGCONT signals: % kill -STOP 13494 % kill -CONT 13494 In the original window you’ll see something like this: % ./EINTRTest will read, pid: 13494 zsh: suspended (signal) ./EINTRTest % did not read, err: 4 [1] + done ./EINTRTest When you send the SIGSTOP the process stops and the shell tells you that. But looks what happens when you continue the process. The read(…) call fails with error 4, that is, EINTR. The read man page explains this as: [EINTR] A read from a slow device was interrupted before any data arrived by the delivery of a signal. That’s true but unhelpful. You really want to know why this error happens and what you can do about it. There are other man pages that cover this topic in more detail — and you’ll find lots of info about it on the wider Internet — but the goal of this post is to bring that all together into one place. IMPORTANT The description of the EINTR error, as returned by strerror and friends, is Interrupted system call. If you see code display or log that description, you’re dealing with EINTR. Signal and Interrupts In the beginning, Unix didn’t have threads. It implemented asynchronous event handling using signals. For more about signals, see the signal man page. The mechanism used to actually deliver a signal is highly dependent on the specific Unix implementation, but the general idea is that: The system decides on a specific process (or, nowadays, a thread) to run the signal handler. If that’s blocked inside the kernel waiting for a system call to complete [1], the system unblocks the system call by failing it with an EINTR error. Thus, every system call that can block [2] might fail with an EINTR. You see this listed as a potential error in the man pages for read, write, usleep, waitpid, and many others. [1] There’s some subtlety around the definition of system call. On traditional Unix systems, executables would make system calls directly. On Apple platforms that’s not supported. Rather, an executable calls a routine in the System framework which then makes the system call. In this context the term system call is a shortcut for a System framework routine that maps to a traditional Unix system call. [2] There’s also some subtlety around the definition of block. Pretty much every system call can block for some reason or another. In this context, however, a block means to enter an interruptible wait state, typically while waiting for I/O. This is what the above man page quote is getting at when it says slow device. Solutions This is an obvious pitfall and it would be nice if we could just get rid of it. However, that’s not possible due to compatibility concerns. And while there are a variety of mechanism to automatically retry a system call after a signal interrupt, none of them are universally applicable. If you’re working on a large scale program, like an app for Apple’s platforms, you only good option is to add code to retry any system call that can fail with EINTR. For example, to fix the program at the top of this post you might wrap the read(…) system call like so: func readQ(_ d: Int32, _ buf: UnsafeMutableRawPointer!, _ nbyte: Int) -> Int { repeat { let bytesRead = read(d, buf, nbyte) if bytesRead < 0 && errno == EINTR { continue } return bytesRead } while true } Note In this specific case you’d be better off using the read(into:retryOnInterrupt:) method from System framework. It retries by default (if that’s not appropriate, pass false to the retryOnInterrupt parameter). You can even implement the retry in a generic way. See the errnoQ(…) snippet in QSocket: System Additions. Library Code If you’re writing library code, it’s important that you handle EINTR so that your clients don’t have to. In some cases it might make sense to export a control for this, like the retryOnInterrupt parameter shown in the previous section, but it should default to retrying. If you’re using library code, you can reasonably expect it to handle EINTR for you. If it doesn’t, raise that issue with the library author. And you get this error back from an Apple framework, like Foundation or Network framework, please file a bug against the framework. Revision History 2025-04-13 Added the description of the error, Interrupted system call, to make it easier for folks to find this post. 2024-10-14 First posted.
0
0
734
Apr ’25
How to provide a driving destination to CarPlay, like Calendar
If I have, say a doctor appointment in the Calendar app, and I'm leaving to go to it, the address will appear in Apple Maps on CarPlay. Forgive if I'm getting the details wrong, but I believe if I bring up the Map, it will be available to tap on, so I can quickly go there. I think it may also show up on one on the car-play screens that shows a few different panels. The point is, I really like this feature, and want to do it in my app. In my iOS app, the user can order food from a restaurant, and pick it up. I'm not ready to make this app a "quick service" app, but I want to give the user an easy to get to her location. Since I just ordered food, this means that I'll need to leave fairly quickly to go to the location. The Calendar app is able to offer a location because of scheduling, I'd like to do the same.
0
0
133
Jun ’25
Avoiding Shortcut Intent Timeout When Uploading or Downloading Large Files
Hey everyone, I have an issue I'm running into – maybe someone has the expertise to help! I've created an app that adds Intents to the Shortcuts app, to interact with S3-compatible object storage. Everything works fine, until you decide to upload/download a large file, that your internet connection cannot handle in the ~30-second intent timeout. I've explored uploading files with a background task which seems to work somehow, but the bigger issue would be downloading larger files, as other parts of the subsequent shortcut may rely on it. To the question: Is there some way of increasing the timeout for a shortcuts intent, or a way to "trick" shortcuts into letting my custom intents download/upload files without timing out? Thanks so much!
0
0
134
Jun ’25
Apps remain blocked after being unselected
Hi everyone, We're using the react-native-device-activity package to implement app blocking via Apple's Screen Time API. The blocking functionality works well: when the user selects apps and taps "Done," those apps get blocked as expected. However, we're facing an issue with unblocking apps that the user later unselects. Even after the user unchecks some apps and taps "Done" again, those previously selected (now unselected) apps remain blocked and still show the shield.
0
0
120
May ’25
Clarification on ManagedSettings Shield Precedence (Application vs. Category)
I'm encountering what appears to be a specific precedence behavior with ManagedSettingsStore.shield and would appreciate some further clarification. My current understanding is that category-level shields take precedence over individual app allowances. My test involved... Using FamilyActivityPicker to select a single target application (e.g., "Calculator," which falls under the "Utilities" category). Using FamilyActivityPicker again to select the category of that target application. I applied shields using ManagedSettingsStore (named .individual): store.shield.applicationCategories = .specific(Set([utilitiesCategoryToken])) store.shield.applications = Set([calculatorApplicationToken]) Result: The calculator app remains shielded, suggesting that the category-level shield on Utilities overrides the attempt to allow the individual app. I also tried this using a single picker, but received only the category token instead of all application tokens in that category. Is this observed precedence (where store.shield.applicationCategories effectively overrides store.shield.applications for apps within the shielded category) the intended behavior? If so, are there any mechanisms available within the main app's capabilities (potentially using a Device Activity Report Extension or Shield Extension) to allow a specific ApplicationToken if its corresponding ActivityCategoryToken is part of the store.shield.applicationCategories set? Essentially, can store.shield.applications be used to create "allow exceptions" for individual apps that fall into an otherwise shielded category? Additionally, I mentioned that selecting an entire category in the picker only returns the opaque category token, not any application tokens. Is there any way in which I could return both the category and all application tokens by just selecting the category? Any insights or pointers would be greatly appreciated!
0
0
148
May ’25
Screen Time API: How to map bundleIdentifier to ApplicationToken for DeviceActivityMonitor when FamilyActivitySelection.Application.bundleIdentifier is nil?
I'm using FamilyActivityPicker to get consent for app/category management, which returns a FamilyActivitySelection object. I serialize this FamilyActivitySelection object (just applicationTokens and categoryTokens) and pass it to my DeviceActivityMonitor extension via App Group UserDefaults. I am using the JSON encoder/decoder over PropertyList (though both seem to exhibit the same behavior). After inspecting the FamilyActivitySelection object immediately after it's returned by FamilyActivityPicker in the main app, the application.bundleIdentifier property is consistently nil for every Application object within selection.applications. Similarly, category.localizedDisplayName is nil for ActivityCategory objects. This happens whether "Select All Apps" is used or if apps/categories are selected individually. I understand that this is the intended behavior due to Apple's user privacy policies. I read on another post that my app can be provided with bundle identifiers and app names within Shield Configuration extensions and Device Activity Report extensions - I'm not sure which ones or how exactly to do this. I am aware that I can use Label(applicationToken) SwiftUI view to display the app name/icon, but this doesn't give programmatic access to the bundleIdentifier string. My app will not log or export these bundleIdentifiers outside of its sandbox. My goal is to create mappings to the FamilyActivitySelection with the publicly accessible bundleIdentifiers. Any guidance, examples, or clarification on the intended workflow for this scenario would be greatly appreciated!
0
0
240
May ’25
Kext user consent cannot be disabled on Apple Silicon?
Hi all, I would like to know if kext consent can still be disabled on Apple Silicon Macs. I tried spctl kext-consent disable in recovery OS, but after rebooting spctl kext-consent status still returns ENABLED. Is this command disabled or something?
Replies
0
Boosts
0
Views
104
Activity
May ’25
来电显示中,识别的话术“xx主叫号码”如何修改
如下图所示,在iOS18以上,这个识别话术为“xx主叫号码”,这个如何修改? 附:iOS18以下话术就很合理
Replies
0
Boosts
0
Views
148
Activity
Jul ’25
Virtualization Resources
Virtualization framework is a high-level API to create macOS and Linux virtual machines. Hypervisor is a low-level API to build virtualization solutions without the need for a kernel extension. If you’re interested in containers on the Mac, check out the Containerization package and its associated container tool. Virtualization: Forums subtopic: App & System Services > Core OS Forums tag: Virtualization Virtualization framework documentation Using iCloud with macOS virtual machines documentation article Use iCloud on a virtual machine support article Running macOS in a virtual machine on Apple silicon sample code Running Linux in a Virtual Machine sample code Running GUI Linux in a virtual machine on a Mac sample code Building macOS apps with Xcode 26 on macOS 26 VM forums thread — This thread describes how the development experience in VMs has improved recently, and one remaining issue that you might bump in to. Hypervisor: Forums subtopic: App & System Services > Core OS Forums tag: Hypervisor Hypervisor framework documentation Share and Enjoy — Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"
Replies
0
Boosts
0
Views
372
Activity
Aug ’25
A Summary of the WWDC25 Group Lab - watchOS (Part 1)
At WWDC25 we launched a new type of Lab event for the developer community - Group Labs. A Group Lab is a panel Q&A designed for a large audience of developers. Group Labs are a unique opportunity for the community to submit questions directly to a panel of Apple engineers and designers. Here are the highlights from the WWDC25 Group Lab for watchOS (part 1). 1. I'm really excited about the new design system on all platforms. Liquid Glass is super cool. What do developers need to keep in mind when building for watchOS 26? To adopt the new design system, start with updating your app for watchOS 10 – If you have done so, your app will be mostly ready for watchOS 26. For more information, see Design and build apps for WatchOS 10. You can then look into Liquid Glass specific APIs to fine tune your app. This topic is covered in Adopting Liquid Glass. If you have SwiftUI views using any custom style, make sure they are still legible and fit with the new design system. 2. Something that really stood out to me were updates to the Smart Stack, with the system prioritizing Widgets when they're most relevant. Tell me more about these new opportunities for apps. Workout apps that record workouts using HealthKit may be automatically suggested on the watch face and appear in the Smart Stack without adding a widget. Relevant widgets are a great way to present information related to a date, location, point-of-interest type, sleep schedule, or fitness condition in the Smart Stack when it is relevant. Relevant widgets don't need to display a empty state view when they are not relevant. They are only shown in the Smart Stack when relevant. The watchOS 26 Design ToolKit in the Apple Design Resources includes a set of templates that you can use to layout your widgets. 3. Is the Wrist Flick gesture available to developers in the same way as Double Tap is? The system uses Wrist Flick to dismiss notifications and incoming calls, silence timers and alarms, or return to the watch face. There is no separate API for the Wrist Flick gesture. Apps that are using XCUIAutomation to make sure their user interface behaves as intended can use the XCUIDeviceHandGesture.flick to automate tests that verify that their app responds appropriately to the Wrist Flick gesture. For apps using automated testing, the XCUIDeviceHandGesture.doubleTap can be also be used to automate testing of the app with the Double Tap gesture. See XCUIDevice.perform(handGesture:) 4. Can HRV measurements be triggered on demand via API in watchOS? Guidelines or processes for enabling energy-intensive biometric sampling on development devices for IRB-approved research? You don’t have direct control on the sampling rate in watchOS. You can use HealthKit (HKQuantityTypeIdentifierHeartRateVariabilitySDNN, to be specific) to query the HRV data, once the system has sampled and persisted the data to HealthKit. If that doesn’t help, we suggest that you file a feedback report with your concrete use case for us to investigate. Specific to IRB-approved research using Apple Watch or its companion iPhone, you might want to look at this FAQ and SensorKit to see if they can be of any help. 5. What is the best advice for someone who is new to making a watchOS app that’s been on iOS and iPadOS? You can start with exploring the system experience features on watchOS, such as notifications, controls, and widgets, and getting familiar with the system spaces, like Smart Stack, watch face, and control center. Knowing the watchOS app design principles and practices is important as well. Design and build apps for WatchOS 10 is a great resource for this topic. SwiftUI is an amazing across-platform framework, and you will use it to create your watchOS app. If you're already using it, great! Keep in mind some watch-only constraints. Comparing to iPhone or iPad, Apple Watch has a limited battery and smaller screen size, which significantly impacts how people use your app and how your app works. 6. Was there any extension this year to the 7 day limit on querying Apple Health data on the watch? There is no change on the limit this year. You can get this official limit at runtime using earliestPermittedSampleDate. There are some exceptions, and so don't be surprised if you see some data types are retained longer. The companion iPhone holds the full set of the health data. If you need to access the health data that has been purged from the Apple Watch, consider doing it with your iOS app, and then passing the result to your watchOS app.
Replies
0
Boosts
0
Views
183
Activity
Jul ’25
Delays When Creating Advanced App Clip Experiences for Other Businesses
Hey there, I have an app where I create custom Advanced App Clip Experiences for other businesses which seems to be a valid thing. I do create them via API. Upon creation everything looks fine: when I go to App Store Connect -> App -> Advanced App Clip Experiences, I do see the new App Clip Experience I've just created. Their status is Received (as any other active experiences) and have a custom URL. The issue is weird timing when the Advanced App Clip Experience actually becomes available on the iPhone (can be triggered via App Clip Code, etc). Some experiences become available literally immediately but others take days (some take 1-2 days, some take ~5 days). I'm not sure why there's a bid difference for an Advanced App Clip to be actually active. Does anyone have any kind of experience with that? I don't change domain settings, app's settings, etc. I'm just creating a new experience (both via API or manually at App Store Connect) and I do have different "activation" times for different App Clips. Same when I delete an Advanced App Clip Experience, it will still be available for next couple days. I get there might be caching stuff, etc. But the difference is quite huge and makes no sense since as I've mentioned some clips become available immediately but some takes days to be available. Thank you!
Replies
0
Boosts
0
Views
104
Activity
Jun ’25
iOS magnetometer data processing
Hello, I’m developing an app to detect movement past a strong magnet, targeting both Android and iOS. On Android, I’m using the Sensor API, which provides calibrated readings with temperature compensation, factory (or online) soft-iron calibration, and online hard-iron calibration. The equivalent on iOS appears to be the CMCalibratedMagneticField data from the CoreMotion framework. However, I’m encountering an issue with the iOS implementation. The magnetometer data on iOS behaves erratically compared to Android. While Android produces perfectly symmetric peaks, iOS shows visual peaks that report double the magnetic field strength. Additionally, there’s a "pendulum" effect: the field strength rises, drops rapidly, rises again to form a "double peak" structure, and takes a while to return to the local Earth magnetic field average. The peaks on iOS are also asymmetric. I’m wondering if this could be due to sensor fusion algorithms applied by iOS, which might affect the CMCalibratedMagneticField data. Are there other potential reasons for this behavior? Any insights or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Replies
0
Boosts
0
Views
110
Activity
Jun ’25
WeatherKit Acknowledgement in App
Hi, My app is going to consist of 2-3 pages of weather data. Do I have to add the Apple Weather logo to each page, or just the main one? Thanks, Dan Uff
Replies
0
Boosts
0
Views
104
Activity
Jun ’25
FinanceKit - Any way to get merchant location info from transactions?
Hi all — I’m building a Wallet-style transaction details view using FinanceKit and I’m running into a gap around merchant location. What I’m seeing FinanceKit gives me great core fields (amount, currency, status, dates, MCC, merchantName, transactionDescription), but I’m not seeing any address or place/location metadata on a Transaction. For example, a small/local merchant where I can plausibly infer a single place: Fetched transaction: Transaction( id: 8D142B16-3E0E-40B8-945A-2E7C0CF65F1D, accountID: 14939CF4-DBC3-4A9D-8292-5FEA495B8461, transactionAmount: 47.24 USD, creditDebitIndicator: .debit, transactionDescription: "Local Dental Care", originalTransactionDescription: "Local Dental Care", merchantCategoryCode: 8021, merchantName: "Local Dental Care", transactionType: .pointOfSale, status: .booked, transactionDate: 2025-08-20 22:27:50 +0000, postedDate: 2025-08-21 11:22:06 +0000 ) Because this appears to be a single-location practice, I can usually resolve it to a place using MapKit search heuristics. But for big-box chains, I don’t get enough signal to determine which store: Fetched transaction: Transaction( id: 3F8E9F74-7565-4D24-9038-8FD709184799, accountID: 14939CF4-DBC3-4A9D-8292-5FEA495B8461, transactionAmount: 441.77 USD, creditDebitIndicator: .debit, transactionDescription: "The Home Depot", originalTransactionDescription: "The Home Depot", merchantCategoryCode: 5200, merchantName: "The Home Depot", transactionType: .pointOfSale, status: .booked, transactionDate: 2023-12-27 23:07:02 +0000, postedDate: 2023-12-29 03:09:41 +0000 ) There’s no store number, address, phone, or any stable identifier. With hundreds of locations, I can’t deterministically choose a map pin or fetch the right brand assets. What I’m trying to achieve I’d like to replicate the Apple Wallet experience: show a small map snapshot and merchant visuals (logo/name that match Apple Maps / the Place Card) on the transaction detail screen. Without a location hint, I have to either: Ask users to pick a store manually, or Make a guess based on a coarse, app-defined region …neither of which feels great. Questions Is there any way in FinanceKit today to access merchant location or a resolvable identifier (e.g., address, city/state, store number, Apple Maps place identifier, network merchant ID/MID, terminal ID, etc.)? If not, can FinanceKit expose additional merchant metadata (even opt-in / privacy-preserving) to enable Wallet-like enrichment? A few examples that would unblock this: merchantAddress (or components: street/city/region/postalCode/country) merchantPhone (often unique per store) merchantIdentifier (stable per physical location, e.g., network merchant ID / store number) mapsPlaceURL or mapsPlaceIdentifier (linkage to the Apple Maps Place Card) brandAssetURL (logo/brand reference similar to what Wallet shows) With even one of the above, I could reliably: Render an accurate map snapshot, Fetch the correct brand assets, and Avoid prompting the user or inferring via fuzzy search. Context / constraints I do not want to (and shouldn’t need to) request or monitor the user’s device location to resolve a merchant’s store location. For small merchants, MapKit text search is often enough. For large chains, I need a store-level identifier. If there’s an existing field or recommended approach I’m missing, I’d love pointers. If not, please consider this a feature request for richer merchant metadata in FinanceKit so developers can build Wallet-quality transaction details. Thanks!
Replies
0
Boosts
0
Views
65
Activity
Aug ’25
AlarmKit can we automatically acknowledge the alarm or set a time period the alarm should alert for
My use case is a Repeat Timer app. The user can configure a repeating timer, say: 8 minutes with 3 sets So I would like to configure either 3 alarms (8mins, 16mins, 24mins) or a repeating alarm (8mins every 3 mins) BUT... I would like the first and second alarms to break through but only for 5 seconds for example, and then stop (so the user doesn't need to tap the screen to silence the alarm). I don't think this is possible after reading the API docs, but am asking the question anyway. Thanks for any advice or guidance here, and happy WWDC!
Replies
0
Boosts
0
Views
125
Activity
Jun ’25
Screen time api on Mac?
Is there any way to use the screen time API on Mac?
Replies
0
Boosts
0
Views
95
Activity
Jun ’25
Issue with Automation - when connected to Bluetooth device
My phone turns or gets connected to Beats, Aipods max 2, and sometimes the Marshall Bluetooth device but it keeps triggering the automation for “When Connected To Bluetooth” - My Car tried deleting and recreating the automation and it’s still buggy.
Replies
0
Boosts
0
Views
142
Activity
Oct ’25
Screen time API on parent/child devices
I’m creating an app with the Screen Time API and I would like to know how to make the app show a parental control editing view for parents and a view for child accounts that shows which apps are blocked. How can I do this?
Replies
0
Boosts
0
Views
120
Activity
Jun ’25
Understanding `EINTR`
I’ve talked about EINTR a bunch of times here on DevForums. Today I found myself talking about it again. On reading my other explanations, I didn’t think any of them were good enough to link to, so I decided to write it up properly. If you have questions or comments, please put them in a new thread here on DevForums. Use the App & System Services > Core OS topic area so that I see it. Share and Enjoy — Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com" Understanding EINTR Many BSD-layer routines can fail with EINTR. To see this in action, consider the following program: import Darwin func main() { print("will read, pid: \(getpid())") var buf = [UInt8](repeating: 0, count: 1024) let bytesRead = read(STDIN_FILENO, &buf, buf.count) if bytesRead < 0 { let err = errno print("did not read, err: \(err)") } else { print("did read, count: \(bytesRead)") } } main() It reads some bytes from stdin and prints the result. Build this and run it in one Terminal window: % ./EINTRTest will read, pid: 13494 Then, in other window, stop and start the process by sending it the SIGSTOP and SIGCONT signals: % kill -STOP 13494 % kill -CONT 13494 In the original window you’ll see something like this: % ./EINTRTest will read, pid: 13494 zsh: suspended (signal) ./EINTRTest % did not read, err: 4 [1] + done ./EINTRTest When you send the SIGSTOP the process stops and the shell tells you that. But looks what happens when you continue the process. The read(…) call fails with error 4, that is, EINTR. The read man page explains this as: [EINTR] A read from a slow device was interrupted before any data arrived by the delivery of a signal. That’s true but unhelpful. You really want to know why this error happens and what you can do about it. There are other man pages that cover this topic in more detail — and you’ll find lots of info about it on the wider Internet — but the goal of this post is to bring that all together into one place. IMPORTANT The description of the EINTR error, as returned by strerror and friends, is Interrupted system call. If you see code display or log that description, you’re dealing with EINTR. Signal and Interrupts In the beginning, Unix didn’t have threads. It implemented asynchronous event handling using signals. For more about signals, see the signal man page. The mechanism used to actually deliver a signal is highly dependent on the specific Unix implementation, but the general idea is that: The system decides on a specific process (or, nowadays, a thread) to run the signal handler. If that’s blocked inside the kernel waiting for a system call to complete [1], the system unblocks the system call by failing it with an EINTR error. Thus, every system call that can block [2] might fail with an EINTR. You see this listed as a potential error in the man pages for read, write, usleep, waitpid, and many others. [1] There’s some subtlety around the definition of system call. On traditional Unix systems, executables would make system calls directly. On Apple platforms that’s not supported. Rather, an executable calls a routine in the System framework which then makes the system call. In this context the term system call is a shortcut for a System framework routine that maps to a traditional Unix system call. [2] There’s also some subtlety around the definition of block. Pretty much every system call can block for some reason or another. In this context, however, a block means to enter an interruptible wait state, typically while waiting for I/O. This is what the above man page quote is getting at when it says slow device. Solutions This is an obvious pitfall and it would be nice if we could just get rid of it. However, that’s not possible due to compatibility concerns. And while there are a variety of mechanism to automatically retry a system call after a signal interrupt, none of them are universally applicable. If you’re working on a large scale program, like an app for Apple’s platforms, you only good option is to add code to retry any system call that can fail with EINTR. For example, to fix the program at the top of this post you might wrap the read(…) system call like so: func readQ(_ d: Int32, _ buf: UnsafeMutableRawPointer!, _ nbyte: Int) -> Int { repeat { let bytesRead = read(d, buf, nbyte) if bytesRead < 0 && errno == EINTR { continue } return bytesRead } while true } Note In this specific case you’d be better off using the read(into:retryOnInterrupt:) method from System framework. It retries by default (if that’s not appropriate, pass false to the retryOnInterrupt parameter). You can even implement the retry in a generic way. See the errnoQ(…) snippet in QSocket: System Additions. Library Code If you’re writing library code, it’s important that you handle EINTR so that your clients don’t have to. In some cases it might make sense to export a control for this, like the retryOnInterrupt parameter shown in the previous section, but it should default to retrying. If you’re using library code, you can reasonably expect it to handle EINTR for you. If it doesn’t, raise that issue with the library author. And you get this error back from an Apple framework, like Foundation or Network framework, please file a bug against the framework. Revision History 2025-04-13 Added the description of the error, Interrupted system call, to make it easier for folks to find this post. 2024-10-14 First posted.
Replies
0
Boosts
0
Views
734
Activity
Apr ’25
How to provide a driving destination to CarPlay, like Calendar
If I have, say a doctor appointment in the Calendar app, and I'm leaving to go to it, the address will appear in Apple Maps on CarPlay. Forgive if I'm getting the details wrong, but I believe if I bring up the Map, it will be available to tap on, so I can quickly go there. I think it may also show up on one on the car-play screens that shows a few different panels. The point is, I really like this feature, and want to do it in my app. In my iOS app, the user can order food from a restaurant, and pick it up. I'm not ready to make this app a "quick service" app, but I want to give the user an easy to get to her location. Since I just ordered food, this means that I'll need to leave fairly quickly to go to the location. The Calendar app is able to offer a location because of scheduling, I'd like to do the same.
Replies
0
Boosts
0
Views
133
Activity
Jun ’25
Avoiding Shortcut Intent Timeout When Uploading or Downloading Large Files
Hey everyone, I have an issue I'm running into – maybe someone has the expertise to help! I've created an app that adds Intents to the Shortcuts app, to interact with S3-compatible object storage. Everything works fine, until you decide to upload/download a large file, that your internet connection cannot handle in the ~30-second intent timeout. I've explored uploading files with a background task which seems to work somehow, but the bigger issue would be downloading larger files, as other parts of the subsequent shortcut may rely on it. To the question: Is there some way of increasing the timeout for a shortcuts intent, or a way to "trick" shortcuts into letting my custom intents download/upload files without timing out? Thanks so much!
Replies
0
Boosts
0
Views
134
Activity
Jun ’25
Another Screen time API question
How can I use the Screen Time API to set a restriction for a child account from my app running on the parent’s account?
Replies
0
Boosts
0
Views
93
Activity
Jun ’25
Apps remain blocked after being unselected
Hi everyone, We're using the react-native-device-activity package to implement app blocking via Apple's Screen Time API. The blocking functionality works well: when the user selects apps and taps "Done," those apps get blocked as expected. However, we're facing an issue with unblocking apps that the user later unselects. Even after the user unchecks some apps and taps "Done" again, those previously selected (now unselected) apps remain blocked and still show the shield.
Replies
0
Boosts
0
Views
120
Activity
May ’25
Clarification on ManagedSettings Shield Precedence (Application vs. Category)
I'm encountering what appears to be a specific precedence behavior with ManagedSettingsStore.shield and would appreciate some further clarification. My current understanding is that category-level shields take precedence over individual app allowances. My test involved... Using FamilyActivityPicker to select a single target application (e.g., "Calculator," which falls under the "Utilities" category). Using FamilyActivityPicker again to select the category of that target application. I applied shields using ManagedSettingsStore (named .individual): store.shield.applicationCategories = .specific(Set([utilitiesCategoryToken])) store.shield.applications = Set([calculatorApplicationToken]) Result: The calculator app remains shielded, suggesting that the category-level shield on Utilities overrides the attempt to allow the individual app. I also tried this using a single picker, but received only the category token instead of all application tokens in that category. Is this observed precedence (where store.shield.applicationCategories effectively overrides store.shield.applications for apps within the shielded category) the intended behavior? If so, are there any mechanisms available within the main app's capabilities (potentially using a Device Activity Report Extension or Shield Extension) to allow a specific ApplicationToken if its corresponding ActivityCategoryToken is part of the store.shield.applicationCategories set? Essentially, can store.shield.applications be used to create "allow exceptions" for individual apps that fall into an otherwise shielded category? Additionally, I mentioned that selecting an entire category in the picker only returns the opaque category token, not any application tokens. Is there any way in which I could return both the category and all application tokens by just selecting the category? Any insights or pointers would be greatly appreciated!
Replies
0
Boosts
0
Views
148
Activity
May ’25
Apple watch 天气问题
在watchOS11.5下,Apple watch无法加载天气。无论是否连接自己的iPhone均无法加载
Replies
0
Boosts
0
Views
223
Activity
May ’25
Screen Time API: How to map bundleIdentifier to ApplicationToken for DeviceActivityMonitor when FamilyActivitySelection.Application.bundleIdentifier is nil?
I'm using FamilyActivityPicker to get consent for app/category management, which returns a FamilyActivitySelection object. I serialize this FamilyActivitySelection object (just applicationTokens and categoryTokens) and pass it to my DeviceActivityMonitor extension via App Group UserDefaults. I am using the JSON encoder/decoder over PropertyList (though both seem to exhibit the same behavior). After inspecting the FamilyActivitySelection object immediately after it's returned by FamilyActivityPicker in the main app, the application.bundleIdentifier property is consistently nil for every Application object within selection.applications. Similarly, category.localizedDisplayName is nil for ActivityCategory objects. This happens whether "Select All Apps" is used or if apps/categories are selected individually. I understand that this is the intended behavior due to Apple's user privacy policies. I read on another post that my app can be provided with bundle identifiers and app names within Shield Configuration extensions and Device Activity Report extensions - I'm not sure which ones or how exactly to do this. I am aware that I can use Label(applicationToken) SwiftUI view to display the app name/icon, but this doesn't give programmatic access to the bundleIdentifier string. My app will not log or export these bundleIdentifiers outside of its sandbox. My goal is to create mappings to the FamilyActivitySelection with the publicly accessible bundleIdentifiers. Any guidance, examples, or clarification on the intended workflow for this scenario would be greatly appreciated!
Replies
0
Boosts
0
Views
240
Activity
May ’25