Prioritize user privacy and data security in your app. Discuss best practices for data handling, user consent, and security measures to protect user information.

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Using Device Data for Finger Printing
Our business model is to identify Frauds using our advanced AI/ML model. However, in order to do so we need to collect many device information which seems to be ok according to https://developer.apple.com/app-store/user-privacy-and-data-use/ But it's also prohibited to generate a fingerprint, so I need more clarification here. Does it mean I can only use the data to identify that a user if either fraud or not but I cannot generate a fingerprint to identify the device? If so, I can see many SKD in the market that generates Fingerprints like https://fingerprint.com/blog/local-device-fingerprint-ios/ and https://shield.com/?
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443
Mar ’25
Understanding Keychain Errors in Mobile Banking App
Hi, We use the iOS Keychain in our mobile app to securely store and retrieve data, which is tightly coupled with the initialization of some app features within the application. This issue is encountered during app launch We retrieve during Splash Screen UI controller at viewDidApper() The logic we use to access the Keychain is as follows: NSDate *NSDate_CD; NSString *account = [NSString stringWithUTF8String:@"SOME_KEY_ACCOUNT"]; NSString *attrgen = [NSString stringWithUTF8String:@"SOME_KEY"]; NSMutableDictionary *query = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] init]; [query setObject:(__bridge id)(kSecClassGenericPassword) forKey:(__bridge id<NSCopying>)(kSecClass)]; [query setObject:attrgen forKey:(__bridge id<NSCopying>)(kSecAttrGeneric)]; [query setObject:(__bridge id)(kSecAttrAccessibleAfterFirstUnlockThisDeviceOnly) forKey:(__bridge id<NSCopying>)(kSecAttrAccessible)]; [query setObject: [NSBundle mainBundle].bundleIdentifier forKey:(__bridge id<NSCopying>)(kSecAttrService)]; [query setObject:account forKey:(__bridge id<NSCopying>)(kSecAttrAccount)]; [query setObject:@YES forKey:(__bridge id<NSCopying>)(kSecReturnAttributes)]; [query setObject:@YES forKey:(__bridge id<NSCopying>)(kSecReturnData)]; CFDictionaryRef valueAttributes = NULL; OSStatus status = SecItemCopyMatching((__bridge CFDictionaryRef)query, (CFTypeRef *)&valueAttributes); NSDictionary *attributes = (__bridge_transfer NSDictionary *)valueAttributes; if(status==errSecSuccess) { NSDate_CD = [attributes objectForKey:(__bridge id)kSecAttrCreationDate]; } else { NSLog(@"Key chain query failed"); } However, some users have reported intermittent failures during app launch. Upon investigation, we discovered that these failures are caused by exceptions thrown by the iOS Keychain, which the app is currently not handling. Unfortunately, we do not log the exception or the Keychain error code in the app logs at the moment, but we plan to implement this logging feature in the near future. For now, we are trying to better understand the nature of these errors. Could you help clarify the following Keychain errors, which might be encountered from the code above? errSecServiceNotAvailable (-25307) errSecAllocate (-108) errSecNotAvailable (-25291) If these errors are encountered, are they typically persistent or are they temporary states that could resolve on their own? Your insights would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
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523
Jan ’25
Does SecKeyCreateDecryptedData Ignore LATouchIDAuthenticationMaximumAllowableReuseDuration?
Hi everyone, I’m working on an iOS app that uses biometric authentication to access secure keychain items and private keys stored in the Secure Enclave with some data encryption/decryption with those keys. My goal is to minimize the number of biometric prompts by reusing the authentication result within a short time window. I have the following setup: When writing the biometry-restricted keychain items and Secure Enclave keys, I use LAContext with the property LATouchIDAuthenticationMaximumAllowableReuseDuration = 1 minute, and I pass this context as the kSecUseAuthenticationContext field in the query. When retrieving these items later (in a synchronous sequence upon app launch), I pass the same instance of LAContext as the kSecUseAuthenticationContext field. The issue: If I unlock my device and the biometric reuse time has not expired (i.e., less than 1 minute), the first two actions (keychain item retrieval and Secure Enclave key retrieval) do not prompt for Face ID. However, when I attempt to decrypt data with the private key using SecKeyCreateDecryptedData, I’m prompted for Face ID even if the biometric reuse time is still valid. If the biometric reuse time has expired (more than 1 minute since last authentication), I get prompted for Face ID on the first action (keychain retrieval), and subsequent actions (including data decryption) reuse that biometric result. Question: Does this behavior mean that SecKeyCreateDecryptedData ignore the LATouchIDAuthenticationMaximumAllowableReuseDuration property of LAContext, causing an additional biometric prompt during decryption with the private key? Or is there another reason for this behavior? Is there a way to make the biometric result reusable across all these actions, including decryption? Thank you!
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549
Jan ’25
Unable to add "One Time Codes" support to my app
I'm working on a Password Manager app that integrates with the AutoFill Credential Provider to provide stored passwords and OTPs to the user within Safari and other apps. Password AutoFill works perfectly. I'm unable to get iOS to register that the app supports OTPs though. I've followed the Apple documentation here: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/authenticationservices/providing-one-time-passcodes-to-autofill and added "ProvidesOneTimeCodes" to the AutoFill extension's Info.plist, but iOS just doesn't seem to notice the OTP support. <key>ASCredentialProviderExtensionCapabilities</key> <dict> <key>ProvidesOneTimeCodes</key> <true/> <key>ProvidesPasswords</key> <true/> </dict> Any help would be greatly appreicated!
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378
Mar ’25
Passwords App is accessing websites from ASCredentialIdentityStore associated with 3rd Party password management app
The Passwords App is accessing websites found in the ASCredentialIdentityStore associated with a 3rd Party password management app (SamuraiSafe). This behaviour appears to be associated with looking up website favicons in order to display in Passwords. However the websites contacted are not stored in the Passwords App/iCloud KeyChain - only the 3rd Party password management app (SamuraiSafe). This is effectively leaking website information stored in the 3rd Party password management app. I first noticed this behaviour on macOS, and it appears to happen every 8 days. Today it was seen on iOS. The behaviour is revealed through the App Privacy Report on iOS (and LittleSnitch on macOS). I would not be surprised to see the Passwords App do this for websites saved in the Passwords App/iCloud KeyChain, however I believe it should not be arbitrarily testing every website found in the ASCredentialIdentityStore as reference to that website url should be entirely under the control of the end user. See attached screenshots from App Privacy Report. Filed bug with Apple: FB16682423
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935
Mar ’25
Submission Rejected: Guideline 5.1.1 - Legal - Privacy - Data Collection and Storage
Hello Experts, I am in need of your help with this feedback from the App Reviewer. Issue Description: One or more purpose strings in the app do not sufficiently explain the use of protected resources. Purpose strings must clearly and completely describe the app's use of data and, in most cases, provide an example of how the data will be used. Next Steps: Update the location purpose string to explain how the app will use the requested information and provide a specific example of how the data will be used. See the attached screenshot. Resources: Purpose strings must clearly describe how an app uses the ability, data, or resource. The following are hypothetical examples of unclear purpose strings that would not pass review: "App would like to access your Contacts" "App needs microphone access" Feedback #2 "Regarding 5.1.1, we understand why your app needs access to location. However, the permission request alert does not sufficiently explain this to your users before accessing the location. To resolve this issue, it would be appropriate to revise the location permission request, specify why your app needs access, and provide an example of how your app will use the user's data. To learn more about purpose string requirements, watch a video from App Review with tips for writing clear purpose strings. We look forward to reviewing your app once the appropriate changes have been made." May I know how can I update my purpose string? I appealed on the first feedback by explaining what is the purpose of it but got the Feedback #2. TYIA!!
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234
Jun ’25
User privacy in report data
Hello, I have now been looking for a while of a way to get the number of MAU of my appstore app through the apple connect API. I ended up thinking i might actually be able to compute it with https://developer.apple.com/documentation/analytics-reports/app-sessions this App Sessions report. My question is thus the following : Does the Sessions number actually gives me the number of all sessions, or only those from opt-in users ? It says that it is based on users who have agreed to share their data with Apple and developers, so I was wondering whether or not through the use of the methods described on this page https://developer.apple.com/documentation/analytics-reports/privacy, it meant that the data was anonymized/encoded such that it would be close to the actual Sessions number, or if it meant it only counted opt-in users to compute the Sessions numer. Thank you for your time, I hope I made myself as clear as possible. Ask me if you want more precisions or if you don't understand my question.
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381
Jan ’25
MacOS App Group Container Protection
Quinn, in your post "App Groups: macOS vs iOS: Fight!", you mention that an app must meet at least one of four criteria to access an app group container without user intervention: Your app is deployed via the Mac App Store (A). Or via TestFlight when running on macOS 15.1 or later (B). Or the app group ID starts with your app’s Team ID (C). Or your app’s claim to the app group is authorised by a provisioning profile embedded in the app (D) [1]. Our app is distributed directly (Developer ID), so it doesn't meet the first two criteria. We already had the app group ID set up to match the iOS ID (without our Team ID) and changing it now would affect our users already-stored data, so criteria C isn't really an option either. That brings us to criteria D. We've added the App Groups Capability to our App ID on the Developer site and creating a Developer ID provisioning profile with this App ID. However, for some reason the App Group Capability is not included in the provisioning profile. How then do we go about satisfying criteria D ("your app’s claim to the app group is authorised by a provisioning profile embedded in the app (D)")? If this is impossible, how can we migrate our user's data away from the affected container?
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430
Jan ’25
New iOS-style App Groups Prevent App Submission
We have a macOS app that has a Photos Extension, which shares documents with the app via an app group container. Historically we used to have an iOS-style group identifier (group.${TeamIdentifier}${groupName}), because we were lead by the web interface in the developer portal to believe this to be the right way to name groups. Later with the first macOS 15 betas last year there was a bug with the operating system warning users, our app would access data from different apps, but it was our own app group container directory. Therefore we added a macOS-style group identifier (${TeamIdentifier}${groupName}) and wrote a migration of documents to the new group container directory. So basically we need to have access to these two app group containers for the foreseeable future. Now with the introduction of iOS-style group identifiers for macOS, Xcode Cloud no longer archives our app for TestFlight or AppStore, because it complains: ITMS-90286: Invalid code signing entitlements - Your application bundle’s signature contains code signing entitlements that aren’t supported on macOS. Specifically, the “[group.${TeamIdentifier}${groupName}, ${TeamIdentifier}${groupName}]” value for the com.apple.security.application-groups key in isn’t supported. This value should be a string or an array of strings, where each string is the “group” value or your Team ID, followed by a dot (“.”), followed by the group name. If you're using the “group” prefix, verify that the provisioning profile used to sign the app contains the com.apple.security.application-groups entitlement and its associated value(s). We have included the iOS-style group identifier in the provisioning profile, generated automatically, but can't do the same for the macOS-style group identifier, because the web interface only accepts identifiers starting with "group". How can we get Xcode Cloud to archive our app again using both group identifiers? Thanks in advance
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349
Mar ’25
Can't get SecKeyCreateWithData to work with private key from my App Store Connect account.
I've tried all kinds of ways to get a SecKeyRef from the .p8 file I downloaded from my App Store Connect account. The key itself looks OK, as openssl gives this result: openssl asn1parse -in 359UpAdminKey.p8 0:d=0 hl=3 l= 147 cons: SEQUENCE 3:d=1 hl=2 l= 1 prim: INTEGER :00 6:d=1 hl=2 l= 19 cons: SEQUENCE 8:d=2 hl=2 l= 7 prim: OBJECT :id-ecPublicKey 17:d=2 hl=2 l= 8 prim: OBJECT :prime256v1 27:d=1 hl=2 l= 121 prim: OCTET STRING [HEX DUMP]:30... My method for creating the key is: '- (SecKeyRef)privateKeyFromP8:(NSURL *)p8FileURL error:(NSError **)error { // Read the .p8 file NSData *p8Data = [NSData dataWithContentsOfURL:p8FileURL options:0 error:error]; if (!p8Data) { return NULL; } // Convert P8 to base64 string, removing header/footer NSString *p8String = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:p8Data encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]; NSArray *lines = [p8String componentsSeparatedByString:@"\n"]; NSMutableString *base64String = [NSMutableString string]; for (NSString *line in lines) { if (![line containsString:@"PRIVATE KEY"]) { [base64String appendString:line]; } } // Decode base64 to raw key data NSData *keyData = [[NSData alloc] initWithBase64EncodedString:base64String options:0]; if (!keyData) { if (error) { *error = [NSError errorWithDomain:@"P8ImportError" code:1 userInfo:@{NSLocalizedDescriptionKey: @"Failed to decode base64 data"}]; } return NULL; } // Set up key parameters NSDictionary *attributes = @{ (__bridge NSString *)kSecAttrKeyType: (__bridge NSString *)kSecAttrKeyTypeECSECPrimeRandom, (__bridge NSString *)kSecAttrKeyClass: (__bridge NSString *)kSecAttrKeyClassPrivate, (__bridge NSString *)kSecAttrKeySizeInBits: @256 }; // Create SecKeyRef from the raw key data CFErrorRef keyError = NULL; SecKeyRef privateKey = SecKeyCreateWithData((__bridge CFDataRef)p8Data, (__bridge CFDictionaryRef)attributes, &keyError); if (!privateKey && keyError) { *error = (__bridge_transfer NSError *)keyError; NSError *bridgeError = (__bridge NSError *)keyError; if (error) { *error = bridgeError; // Pass the bridged error back to the caller } NSLog(@"Key Error: %@", bridgeError.localizedDescription); } return privateKey; } ` I get this error from SecKeyCreateWithData The operation couldn’t be completed. (OSStatus error -50 - EC private key creation from data failed) Filed a DTS incident, but they won't be back until after the New Year. I've tried all kinds of things. Various AI chatbots, etc. Nothing seems to be working. I'm sure the problem is something elementary, but have spent hours on this with no luck. Help, please.
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641
Jan ’25
Reset Developer Id Password
I managed to lose my password in a mixup with my password manager. It has taken me a few hours to work out how to reset it. Following the forgotten password link on the sign in page only takes you to a point where you are asked to reset the password on your iCloud user id. If they are one and the same that's ok. Mine aren't. I eventually found the answer: in the settings app choose developer 2 scroll to the end and choose the sandbox apple account 3. choose this and reset
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539
Jan ’25
accessing Items.data
Hi Guys, I want to access items.data file from this location **/Library/Caches/com.apple.findmy.fmipcore/Items.data ** Can anyone hlep me how to decrypt this file as this is encrypted now. Any help on this is highly appreciated. I want to access my own airtag data and this is the only way i believe. Thanks in advance.
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416
Jan ’25
Detecting SIM Swap and Implementing SIM Binding in iOS
Hi Forum, We’re building a security-focused SDK for iOS that includes SIM Binding and SIM Swap detection to help prevent fraud and unauthorised device access, particularly in the context of banking and fintech apps. We understand that iOS limits access to SIM-level data, and that previously available APIs (such as those in CoreTelephony, now deprecated from iOS 16 onwards) provide only limited support for these use cases. We have a few questions and would appreciate any guidance from the community or Apple engineers: Q1. Are there any best practices or Apple-recommended approaches for binding a SIM to a device or user account? Q2. Is there a reliable way to detect a SIM swap when the app is not running (e.g., via system callback, entitlement, or background mechanism)? Q3. Are fields like GID1, GID2, or ICCID accessible through any public APIs or entitlements (such as com.apple.coretelephony.IdentityAccess)? If so, what is the process to request access? Q4. For dual SIM and eSIM scenarios, is there a documented approach to identify which SIM is active or whether a SIM slot has changed? Q5. In a banking or regulated environment, is it possible for an app vendor (e.g., a bank) to acquire certain entitlements from Apple and securely expose that information to a security SDK like ours? What would be the compliant or recommended way to structure such a partnership? Thanks in advance for any insights!
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456
Jul ’25
Application not getting identified after notarization
Hi folks We have a Developer ID Application which we create using electron. We made our last release for our Application on Nov'24 which was correctly working. Using the same code, we tried creating a notarized application again which started showing the following error while opening our Application. Monterey- M2- When we directly run the dmg on the dev machine, it does not give us the prompt. But if we download it from somewhere and run, the prompt comes up even in dev machine. We executed some commands to verify the notarization: 1- spctl --assess -vv /Applications/Refresh\ Pro.app On both dev machine and non-dev machine, the output was "accepted" /Applications/Refresh Pro.app: accepted source=Notarized Developer ID origin=Developer ID Application: Prograde Digital Incorporated (*******) 2- xcrun stapler validate /Applications/Refresh\ Pro.app On dev machine, we executed this command and the output is as follows. Processing: /Applications/Refresh Pro.app The validate action worked! 3- codesign -vvv --deep --strict /Applications/Refresh\ Pro.app/ /Applications/Refresh Pro.app: valid on disk /Applications/Refresh Pro.app: satisfies its Designated Requirement We have created a bug attaching the dmg. Please suggest anything we can try to make the release out the door. Bug link- https://feedbackassistant.apple.com/feedback/16811025
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376
Mar ’25
Apple Sign-In Private Relay Issue Across Two Organizations
Hello Apple Developer Support, I am experiencing an issue with Apple Sign-In and Private Relay across two separate organizations. I have a web application that supports Apple Sign-In, configured under organization ID: 62P86SVLK4. Users can log in using their Apple accounts with the Hide My Email (Private Relay) feature enabled. This web application was created a long time ago and initially only had a web component. Recently, we developed a native mobile version of this application, which also supports Apple Sign-In. However, due to business constraints, the mobile application was created under a different organization ID: T6JT35U9NW. The Issue Since the web and mobile applications are registered under different organizations, accounts created using Apple Sign-In with Private Relay are not recognized across both applications. For example: A user creates an account in the web app using Apple Sign-In with Private Relay. When they attempt to log in to the mobile app with Apple Sign-In (also using Private Relay), authentication fails because the generated Private Relay email addresses do not match between the two organizations. Question Is there any way to link Private Relay accounts across these two organizations so that users who signed up on the web application can log in to the mobile application seamlessly? I appreciate any guidance on how to resolve this issue. Best regards, Kamil Gronert
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255
Mar ’25
Best Practice for Keychain Storage for a C++ Plugin in a Host App (Maya)?
Hi everyone, I'm developing a C++ plugin (.bundle) for a third-party host application (Autodesk Maya) on macOS, and I'm finalizing the design for our licensing system. The plugin is distributed outside the Mac App Store. My goal is to securely store a license key in the user's Keychain. After some research, my proposed implementation is as follows: On activation, store the license data in the user's login keychain as a Generic Password (kSecClassGenericPassword) using the SecItem APIs. To ensure the plugin can access the item when loaded by Maya, I will use a specific Keychain Access Group (e.g., MY_TEAM_ID.com.mywebsite). The final .bundle will be code-signed with our company's Developer ID certificate. The signature will include an entitlements file (.entitlements) that specifies the matching keychain-access-groups permission. My understanding is that this combination of a unique Keychain Access Group and a properly signed/entitled bundle is the key to getting reliable Keychain access. This should also correctly trigger the one-time user permission prompt on first use. Does this sound like the correct and most robust approach for this scenario? Are there any common pitfalls with a plugin's Keychain access from within a host app that I should be aware of? Thanks for any feedback!
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140
Jun ’25
How to update the lock icon and text on the initial unlock Screen with SFAutorizationPluginView.
Step1. Update system.login.screensaver authorizationdb rule to use “authenticate-session-owner-or-admin”( to get old SFAutorizationPluginView at Lock Screen ). Here I will use my custom authorization plugin. Step 2. Once the rule is in place, logout and login, now click on Apple icon and select “Lock Screen”. Is there a way programmatically to update the Lock Icon and the test getting displayed on the first Unlock screen? When I write a custom authorisation plug-in, I am getting control of the text fields and any consecutive screen I add from there on. But all I want is to update the lock icon and text fields on 1st unlock display itself. Can you please suggest how I can achieve this? Here is the screenshot with marked areas I am looking control for.
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145
Jun ’25
WebView-Based Authentication in macOS Authorization Plugin
I am developing an Authorization plugin for macOS that should be invoked when a user unlocks their device from the lock screen. Based on advice from the other threads in these forums, I have understood that: The plugin needs to use SFAuthorizationPluginView The auth db entries to modify are system.login.screensaver and authenticate I found the NameAndPassword sample and after making some tweaks to it was able to get it to work from screensaver unlock. I am trying to add Webview-based authentication to the plugin, but have not had any success. The plugin window's width does not change (though the height does) and only a small portion of the HTML gets rendered. Is Webview-based authentication supported with SFAuthorizationPluginView? Are there any alternatives?
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227
Mar ’25