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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Java remote debugging stymied by connection refused on local network
I am trying to setup remote Java debugging between two machines running macOS (15.6 and 26). I am able to get the Java program to listen on a socket. However, I can connect to that socket only from the same machine, not from another machine on my local network. I use nc to test the connection. It reports Connection refused when trying to connect from the other machine. This issue sounds like it could be caused by the Java program lacking Local Network system permission. I am familiar with that issue arising when a program attempts to connect to a port on the local network. In that case, a dialog is displayed and System Settings can be used to grant Local Network permission to the client program. I don't know whether the same permission is required on the program that is receiving client requests. If it is, then I don't know how to grant that permission. There is no dialog, and System Settings does not provide any obvious way to grant permission to a program that I specify. Note that a Java application is a program run by the java command, not a bundled application. The java command contains a hard-wired Info.plist which, annoyingly, requests permission to use the microphone, but not Local Network access.
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Aug ’25
HTTPS Connection Issues Following iOS 26 Beta 6 Update
Hi. We are writing to report a critical issue we've encountered following the recent release of iOS 26 beta 6. After updating our test devices, we discovered that our application is no longer able to establish HTTPS connections to several of our managed FQDNs. This issue was not present in beta 5 and appears to be a direct result of changes introduced in beta 6. The specific FQDNs that are currently unreachable are: d.socdm.com i.socdm.com tg.scodm.com We have reviewed the official iOS & iPadOS 26 Beta 6 Release Notes, particularly the updates related to TLS. While the notes mention changes, we have confirmed that our servers for all affected FQDNs support TLS 1.2, so we believe they should still be compliant. We have also investigated several of Apple's support documents regarding TLS connection requirements (e.g., HT214774, HT214041), but the information does not seem to apply to our situation, and we are currently unable to identify the root cause of this connection failure. https://support.apple.com/en-us/102028 https://support.apple.com/en-us/103214 Although we hope this issue might be resolved in beta 7 or later, the official release is fast approaching, and this has become a critical concern for us. Could you please provide any advice or insight into what might be causing this issue? Any guidance on potential changes in the networking or security frameworks in beta 6 that could affect TLS connections would be greatly appreciated. We have attached the relevant code snippet that triggers the error, along with the corresponding Xcode logs, for your review. Thank you for your time and assistance. #import "ViewController.h" @interface ViewController () @end @implementation ViewController - (void)viewDidLoad { [super viewDidLoad]; NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:@"https://i.socdm.com/sdk/js/adg-script-loader-b-stg.js"]; NSMutableURLRequest *req = [NSMutableURLRequest requestWithURL:url cachePolicy:NSURLRequestReloadIgnoringLocalCacheData timeoutInterval:30.0]; [self sendWithRequest:req completionHandler:^(NSData *_Nullable data, NSHTTPURLResponse *_Nonnull response, NSError *_Nullable error) { if (error){ NSLog(@"Error occurred: %@", error.localizedDescription); return; }else{ NSLog(@"Success! Status Code: %ld", (long)response.statusCode); } }]; } - (void) sendWithRequest:(NSMutableURLRequest *)request completionHandler:(void (^ _Nullable)(NSData *_Nullable data, NSHTTPURLResponse *response, NSError *_Nullable error))completionHandler { NSURLSessionConfiguration *configuration = [NSURLSessionConfiguration defaultSessionConfiguration]; NSURLSession *session = nil; session = [NSURLSession sessionWithConfiguration:configuration delegate:self delegateQueue:nil]; NSURLSessionTask *task = [session dataTaskWithRequest:request completionHandler:^(NSData *data, NSURLResponse *response, NSError *error) { [session finishTasksAndInvalidate]; NSHTTPURLResponse *httpResponse = (NSHTTPURLResponse *) response; if (error) { if (completionHandler) { completionHandler(nil, httpResponse, error); } } else { if (completionHandler) { completionHandler(data, httpResponse, nil); } } }]; [task resume]; } @end error Connection 1: default TLS Trust evaluation failed(-9807) Connection 1: TLS Trust encountered error 3:-9807 Connection 1: encountered error(3:-9807) Task <C50BB081-E1DA-40FF-A1E5-A03A2C4CB733>.<1> HTTP load failed, 0/0 bytes (error code: -1202 [3:-9807]) Task <C50BB081-E1DA-40FF-A1E5-A03A2C4CB733>.<1> finished with error [-1202] Error Domain=NSURLErrorDomain Code=-1202 "The certificate for this server is invalid. You might be connecting to a server that is pretending to be “i.socdm.com” which could put your confidential information at risk." UserInfo={NSLocalizedRecoverySuggestion=Would you like to connect to the server anyway?, _kCFStreamErrorDomainKey=3, NSErrorPeerCertificateChainKey=( "<cert(0x10621ca00) s: *.socdm.com i: GlobalSign RSA OV SSL CA 2018>", "<cert(0x106324e00) s: GlobalSign RSA OV SSL CA 2018 i: GlobalSign>" ), NSErrorClientCertificateStateKey=0, NSErrorFailingURLKey=https://i.socdm.com/sdk/js/adg-script-loader-b-stg.js, NSErrorFailingURLStringKey=https://i.socdm.com/sdk/js/adg-script-loader-b-stg.js, NSUnderlyingError=0x1062bf960 {Error Domain=kCFErrorDomainCFNetwork Code=-1202 "(null)" UserInfo={_kCFStreamPropertySSLClientCertificateState=0, kCFStreamPropertySSLPeerTrust=<SecTrustRef: 0x10609d140>, _kCFNetworkCFStreamSSLErrorOriginalValue=-9807, _kCFStreamErrorDomainKey=3, _kCFStreamErrorCodeKey=-9807, kCFStreamPropertySSLPeerCertificates=( "<cert(0x10621ca00) s: *.socdm.com i: GlobalSign RSA OV SSL CA 2018>", "<cert(0x106324e00) s: GlobalSign RSA OV SSL CA 2018 i: GlobalSign>" )}}, _NSURLErrorRelatedURLSessionTaskErrorKey=( "LocalDataTask <C50BB081-E1DA-40FF-A1E5-A03A2C4CB733>.<1>" ), _kCFStreamErrorCodeKey=-9807, _NSURLErrorFailingURLSessionTaskErrorKey=LocalDataTask <C50BB081-E1DA-40FF-A1E5-A03A2C4CB733>.<1>, NSURLErrorFailingURLPeerTrustErrorKey=<SecTrustRef: 0x10609d140>, NSLocalizedDescription=The certificate for this server is invalid. You might be connecting to a server that is pretending to be “i.socdm.com” which could put your confidential information at risk.} Error occurred: The certificate for this server is invalid. You might be connecting to a server that is pretending to be “i.socdm.com” which could put your confidential information at risk. 折りたたむ
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Sep ’25
Critical iOS Activation Vulnerability
There’s a critical, actively exploited vulnerability in Apple’s iOS activation servers allowing unauthenticated XML payload injection: https://cyberpress.org/apple-ios-activation-vulnerability/ This flaw targets the core activation process, bypassing normal security checks. Despite the severity, it’s barely discussed in public security channels. Why is this not being addressed or publicly acknowledged? Apple developers and security researchers should urgently review and audit activation flows—this is a direct attack vector on device trust integrity. Any insights or official response appreciated.
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Jun ’25
Application with identifier is not associated with domain
Hi, This issue is happening during Passkey creation. We’ve observed that approximately 1% of our customer users encounter a persistent error during Passkey creation. For the vast majority, the process works as expected. We believe our apple-app-site-association file is correctly configured, served directly from the RP ID over HTTPS without redirects, and is up-to-date. This setup appears to work for most users, and it seems the Apple CDN cache reflects the latest version of the file. To help us diagnose and address the issue for the affected users, we would appreciate guidance on the following: What tools or steps does Apple recommend to identify the root cause of this issue? Are there any known recovery steps we can suggest to users to resolve this on affected devices? Is there a way to force a refresh of the on-device cache for the apple-app-site-association file? Thank you in advance for any input or guidance.
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May ’25
Background Unix executable not appearing in Screen Recording permissions UI (macOS Tahoe 26.1)
Our background monitoring application uses a Unix executable that requests Screen Recording permission via CGRequestScreenCaptureAccess(). This worked correctly in macOS Tahoe 26.0.1, but broke in 26.1. Issue: After calling CGRequestScreenCaptureAccess() in macOS Tahoe 26.1: System dialog appears and opens System Settings Our executable does NOT appear in the Screen Recording list Manually adding via "+" button grants permission internally, but the executable still doesn't show in the UI Users cannot verify or revoke permissions Background: Unix executable runs as a background process (not from Terminal) Uses Accessibility APIs to retrieve window titles Same issue occurs with Full Disk Access permissions Environment: macOS Tahoe 26.1 (worked in 26.0.1) Background process (not launched from Terminal) Questions: Is this a bug or intentional design change in 26.1? What's the recommended approach for background executables to properly register with TCC? Are there specific requirements (Info.plist, etc.) needed? This significantly impacts user experience as they cannot manage permissions through the UI. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated. Thank you
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Nov ’25
Help with Passkey Registration & Authentication on iOS 17 (Credential Provider + Error Code 1004)
I’m implementing passkey registration and authentication in an iOS 17 app with a credential provider extension, but I’m running into an issue. Setup: I have a credential provider target configured. The app correctly shows the pop-up to register the passkey with my app. My Info.plist is set up properly. Issue: When the following function is triggered: override func prepareInterface(forPasskeyRegistration registrationRequest: ASCredentialRequest) { "code to generate registrationRequest..." let controller = ASAuthorizationController(authorizationRequests: [registrationRequest]) controller.delegate = self controller.presentationContextProvider = self controller.performRequests() } I get the following error: Domain=com.apple.AuthenticationServices.AuthorizationError Code=1004 I do not own the relying party domain (e.g., https://webauthn.io), so I cannot configure an apple-app-site-association file on the website. Question: How can I register and authenticate passkeys on any site that allows passkeys (such as webauthn.io) when I don’t control the webpage? Are there any workarounds or best practices for handling this in iOS 17? Any insights would be greatly appreciated!
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Sep ’25
FIDO2 USB Monitoring using custom Authorization Plugin
I'm looking to implement USB monitoring for FIDO2 authentication through a custom Authorization Plugin, specifically for the below ones. This plugin applies to the following macOS authorization mechanisms: system.login.console — login window authentication system.login.screensaver — screensaver unlock authentication The goal is to build a GUI AuthPlugin, an authorization plugin that presents a custom window prompting the user to "Insert your FIDO key”. Additionally, the plugin should detect when the FIDO2 device is removed and respond accordingly. Additional Info: We have already developed a custom authorization plugin which is a primary authentication using OTP at login and Lock Screen. We are now extending to include FIDO2 support as a primary. Our custom authorization plugin is designed to replace the default loginwindow:login mechanism with a custom implementation. Question: Is there a reliable approach to achieve the USB monitoring functionality through a custom authorization plugin? Any guidance or pointers on this would be greatly appreciated.
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Nov ’25
Password AutoFill doesn't work - help needed
I have a project with a single app target that serves two environments, and two schemes, one for each env, using xcconfig files for defining environment-specific stuff. I'm trying to figure this out for months, so I've tried multiple approaches throughout this period: Have a single domain in "Associated domains" in Xcode, defined as webcredentials:X where X gets replaced using a value from xcconfig. Have two domain entries in "Associated domains" webcredentials:PROD_DOMAIN and webcredentials:STAGING_DOMAIN. Have a different order of domains Results are very interesting: whatever I do, whatever approach I take, password autofill works on staging, but doesn't work on production. I'm aware that we need to test production on Test Flight and AppStore builds. That's how we're testing it, and it's not working. Tested on multiple devices, on multiple networks (wifi + mobile data), in multiple countries.. you name it. The server side team has checked their implementation a dozen times; it's all configured properly, in the exact same way across environments (except bundle ID, ofc). We tried a couple websites for validating the apple-app-site-association file, and while all of those are focused on testing universal links, they all reported that the file is configured properly. Still, password autofill doesn't work. I prefer not to share my app's domains publicly here. Ideally I would contact Apple Developer Support directly, but they now require a test project for that, and since 'a test project' is not applicable to my issue, I'm posting here instead.
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Oct ’25
Credential Provider Extension UI Appears Only on Second “Continue” Tap
I’m having an issue with my Credential Provider Extension for passkey registration. On the browser I click on registration, in IOS i can select my App for passkey registration with a continue button. Wenn I click the continue button the prepareInterface(forPasskeyRegistration:) function is called but the MainInterface is not shown —it only appears when I click the continue button a second time. Here’s a simplified version of my prepareInterface method: override func prepareInterface(forPasskeyRegistration registrationRequest: ASCredentialRequest) { guard let request = registrationRequest as? ASPasskeyCredentialRequest, let identity = request.credentialIdentity as? ASPasskeyCredentialIdentity else { extensionContext.cancelRequest(withError: ASExtensionError(.failed)) return } self.identity = identity self.request = request log.info("prepareInterface called successfully") } In viewDidAppear, I trigger FaceID authentication and complete the registration process if register is true. However, the UI only shows after a second “Continue” tap. Has anyone encountered this behavior or have suggestions on how to ensure the UI appears immediately after prepareInterface is called? Could it be a timing or lifecycle issue with the extension context? Thanks for any insights!
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Apr ’25
com.apple.devicecheck.error - 3: Error Domain=com.apple.devicecheck.error Code=3 "(null)"
Hi, In our app we are using DeviceCheck (App Attest) in a production environment iOS. The service works correctly for most users, but a user reported failure in a flow that use device check service. This failure is not intermittently, it is constant. We are unable to reproduce this failure and we are believing that this failure occurred by new version ios 26.3 because for others users using early versions the service is normally. Environment iOS 26.3 Real device App Attest capability enabled Correct App ID, Team ID and App Attest entitlement Production environment Characteristics: appears constantly affects only unique user -Don't resolves after time or reinstall not reproducible on our test devices NSError contains no additional diagnostic info (Error Domain=com.apple.devicecheck.error Code=3 "(null)") We saw about this error code 3 in this post 812308, but it's not our case because the ios version in this case is not iOS 17.0 or earlier. Please, help us any guidance for solution. Thank you
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Jan ’26
Accessing the key generated by DCAppAttestService
Hi, is it somehow possible to access a key that was generated by the DCAppAttestService generateKey() function? I need to be 100% sure that no actor from within or outside of my app can access the generated key with the DeviceCheck Framework. It would also be helpful to get some official resources to the topic. Thank you in advance, Mike
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Oct ’25
How to Hide the "Save to Another Device" Option During Passkey Registration?
I'm working on integrating Passkey functionality into my iOS app (targeting iOS 16.0+), and I'm facing an issue where the system dialog still shows the "Save to another device" option during Passkey registration. I want to hide this option to force users to create Passkeys only on the current device. 1. My Current Registration Implementation Here’s the code I’m using to create a Passkey registration request. I’ve tried to use ASAuthorizationPlatformPublicKeyCredentialProvider (which is supposed to target platform authenticators like Face ID/Touch ID), but the "Save to another device" option still appears: `// Initialize provider for platform authenticators let provider = ASAuthorizationPlatformPublicKeyCredentialProvider(relyingPartyIdentifier: domain) // Create registration request let registrationRequest = provider.createCredentialRegistrationRequest( challenge: challenge, name: username, userID: userId ) // Optional configurations (tried these but no effect on "another device" option) registrationRequest.displayName = "Test Device" registrationRequest.userVerificationPreference = .required registrationRequest.attestationPreference = .none // Set up authorization controller let authController = ASAuthorizationController(authorizationRequests: [registrationRequest]) let delegate = PasskeyRegistrationDelegate(completion: completion) authController.delegate = delegate // Trigger the registration flow authController.performRequests(options: .preferImmediatelyAvailableCredentials)` 2. Observation from Authentication Flow (Working as Expected) During the Passkey authentication flow (not registration), I can successfully hide the "Use another device" option by specifying allowedCredentials in the ASAuthorizationPlatformPublicKeyCredentialAssertionRequest. Here’s a simplified example of that working code: let assertionRequest = provider.createCredentialAssertionRequest(challenge: challenge) assertionRequest.allowedCredentials = allowedCredentials After adding allowedCredentials, the system dialog no longer shows cross-device options—this is exactly the behavior I want for registration. 3. My Questions Is there a similar parameter to allowedCredentials (from authentication) that I can use during registration to hide the "Save to another device" option? Did I miss any configuration in the registration request (e.g., authenticatorAttachment or other properties) that forces the flow to use only the current device’s platform authenticator? Are there any system-level constraints or WebAuthn standards I’m overlooking that cause the "Save to another device" option to persist during registration? Any insights or code examples would be greatly appreciated!
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Oct ’25
SystemExtension approve failed on mac15.x
Hello, I'm an application developer related to Apple system extensions. I developed an endpoint security system extension that can run normally before the 14.x system. However, after I upgraded to 15.x, I found that when I uninstalled and reinstalled my system extension, although the system extension was installed successfully, a system warning box would pop up when I clicked enable in the Settings, indicating a failure. I conducted the following test. I reinstalled a brand-new MAC 15.x system. When I installed my applications, the system extensions could be installed successfully and enabled normally. However, when I uninstalled and reinstalled, my system extension couldn't be enabled properly and a system warning popped up as well. I tried disabling SIP and enabling System Extension Developers, but it still didn't work. When the system warning box pops up, I can see some error log information through the console application, including an error related to Failed to authorize right 'com.apple.system-extensions.admin' by client '/System/Library/ExtensionKit/Extensions/SettingsSystemExtensionController.appex' [2256] for authorization created by '/System/Library/ExtensionKit/Extensions/SettingsSystemExtensionController.appex' [2256] (3,0) (-60005) (engine 179) as shown in the screenshot. The same problem, mentioned in Cannot approve some extensions in MacOS Sequoia , but there is no solution
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Oct ’25
Question: Best Practice for Storing API Keys in iOS Apps (RevenueCat, PostHog, AWS Rekognition, etc.)
Hi everyone, I’m looking for clarification on best practices for storing API keys in an iOS app — for example, keys used with RevenueCat, PostHog, AWS Rekognition, barcode scanners, and similar third-party services. I understand that hard-coding API keys directly in the app’s source code is a bad idea, since they can be extracted from the binary. However, using a .plist file doesn’t seem secure either, as it’s still bundled with the app and can be inspected. I’m wondering: What are Apple’s recommended approaches for managing these kinds of keys? Does Xcode Cloud offer a built-in or best-practice method for securely injecting environment variables or secrets at build time? Would using an external service like AWS Secrets Manager or another server-side solution make sense for this use case? Any insights or examples of how others are handling this securely within Apple’s ecosystem would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for considering my questions! — Paul
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Oct ’25
Keychain values preserved even when using ksecattraccessibleafterfirstunlockthisdeviceonly
Hello, I’m storing some values in the Keychain with the attribute ‘ksecattraccessibleafterfirstunlockthisdeviceonly’ (https://developer.apple.com/documentation/security/ksecattraccessibleafterfirstunlockthisdeviceonly). When I migrate user data between iPhones via iCloud, this behaves as expected and the keys are not preserved. However, when I migrate using a direct connection between two devices, the keys are preserved, which seems to contradict the attribute’s intent. Is this a known behavior, and if so, is there a workaround?
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683
Oct ’25
Orange menu bar icon that won't go away
I have filed bug reports on this to no avail, so I am bringing it up here hoping someone at Apple will address this. Since the first beta of 26.3, with voice control enabled there are now two icons in the menu bar (*plus an orange dot in full screen) that never go away. That orange microphone isn't serving its intended purpose to notify me that something is accessing my microphone if it is always displayed. I use voice control extensively, so it is nearly always on. In every prior version of macOS, the orange icon was not on for voice control. Even if voice control is not listening but simply enabled in system settings, the orange icon will be there. And there is no need for this icon to be on for a system service that is always listening. This orange icon in the menu bar at all times is incredibly irritating, as it takes up valuable space to the right of the notch, and causes other actual useful menu bar items to be hidden. As well, if some other application on my system were to turn on the mic and start recording me I would never know since that orange icon is always on. It also places an orange dot next to the control center icon taking up even more of the precious little menu bar real estate. Please fix this! Either exempt voice control (as Siri is always listening and it doesn't get the orange icon) or exempt all system services, or give me a way to turn this off. If you cannot tell, I find this incredibly annoying and frustrating.
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Feb ’26
Q&A Summary - Fortify your app: Essential strategies to strengthen security
This is a recap of the Q&amp;A from the Meet with Apple activity Fortify your app: Essential strategies to strengthen security. If you attended the event and asked questions, thank you for coming and participating! If you weren’t able to join us live we hope this recap is useful. Memory Integrity Enforcement (MTE) What is Memory Integrity Enforcement and which devices support it? Memory Integrity Enforcement is supported on A19, A19 Pro, M5, M5 Pro, and M5 Max chips, which power iPhone 17e, the new MacBook Air (M5), and the new MacBook Pro (M5 Pro or M5 Max). Starting in the 26.4 OS versions, applications that enable MTE (checked-allocations) as part of Enhanced Security will also run with MTE enabled in the simulator when running on macOS hardware that supports MTE. How can I use Memory Integrity Enforcement with third-party SDKs? Third-party SDKs linked into your app will generally use the system allocator automatically and benefit from Memory Integrity Enforcement automatically. If there are memory corruption bugs in those SDKs that Memory Integrity Enforcement features like MTE detect and turn into crashes, you'll want to work with the developers of those SDKs to have them fix the underlying bugs. You could use MTE soft mode to avoid having those memory corruptions crash your app while you wait for fixes from the developers, at the cost of the relative reduction in security that entails. Why does my app crash on launch with MTE enabled, with tags showing as 0? Tag-check violations where the ltag (logical tag) is 0 and the atag (actual tag) is non-zero can be caused by code patterns that strip the high bits that the ltag is stored in and fail to restore them before use. Additionally, arm64 binaries produced by older versions of clang may have issues where the tag is incorrectly stripped from the pointer. Recompiling the binary with a recent compiler should remediate the issue. Can I use Memory Integrity Enforcement with older Swift versions? Yes, Memory Integrity Enforcement can be used with any Swift version. Pointer Authentication (PAC) How does Pointer Authentication work and why is it opt-in? PAC is an opt-in feature because although adopting PAC is frequently as easy as turning on the compiler flag, some software is not trivially compatible. For example, while it mostly works in arm64 to memcpy a C++ object, this is invalid and generates fatal exceptions in arm64e. Additionally, PAC is a compile time change as it requires different instructions throughout the program. Pointer authentication makes it more difficult to create a pointer (from an integer) or to modify an existing pointer. This complements technologies such as MTE (which can catch many bound and lifetime errors) and typed allocation (which mitigates the effects of memory re-use). Where are the cryptographic keys for Pointer Authentication stored? The keys used for generating PAC signatures are stored in the CPU itself as specified by the ARM architecture. These keys are ephemeral and can change across process launches and boots, depending on which PAC key is used. The signatures are, however, stored in the upper bits of the pointer itself. How does Pointer Authentication work with Objective-C method swizzling? When you use the functions provided by the ObjC runtime, they ensure that any necessary pointer signing is correctly handled. What deployment targets and OS versions support Pointer Authentication? PAC is tied to the arm64e architecture. arm64e is first supported in iOS 17.4, and generally supported starting with iOS 26 and macOS 26. Universal binaries can be built for arm64e + arm64, and arm64 will be used when arm64e isn't supported. When building the universal binary, both architectures can be compiled for an older deployment target, but keep in mind that arm64e will only be used on newer iOS. How do I enable Pointer Authentication in modular apps? arm64e is indeed required, and every target that contributes binary code that's linked or dynamically loaded into an app does need to have arm64e added as an architecture. When enabling the Enhanced Security capability, Xcode adds the ENABLE_POINTER_AUTHENTICATION build setting (that adds arm64e) as needed, but you may need to add that separately as well. Bounds Safety and Annotations How do bounds safety checks work in Clang? With -fbounds-safety enabled Clang will emit bounds checks wherever pointers are dereferenced or reassigned (exception: assigning to __bidi_indexable does not trigger a bounds check, since __bidi_indexable can track the fact that the pointer is out of bounds and defer the bounds check). If the bounds check fails the program will jump to an instruction that traps the process. Clang uses a combination of static analysis and runtime checks to enforce that pointer bounds are respected. How can I work with libraries that don't have bounds annotations? Forging safe pointers at the boundary (using __unsafe_forge_single etc.) is the recommended approach when interoperating with libraries that do not have bounds annotations, when you want to be explicit about the fact that you're interacting with unsafe code. This makes it easy to grep for "unsafe" in your code base when doing a security audit. If you are confident that the API adheres to a bounds safe interface but simply lacks the annotations, you can redeclare the signature in your local header with added bounds annotations, like this: //--- system_header.h bar_t * /* implicitly __unsafe_indexable */ foo(); //--- project_header.h #include &lt;ptrcheck.h&gt; #include &lt;system_header.h&gt; bar_t * __single foo(); How can I safely pass Swift data to C/C++ functions? This is a great question! Automatically generated wrapper functions that safely unwrap Span types and pass along the pointer to C/C++ is a feature available since Xcode 26 when the experimental feature SafeInteropWrappers is enabled. This requires annotating std::span&lt;T&gt; parameters with __noescape, or pointer parameters with both __noescape and __counted_by/__sized_by, directly in the header or using API notes. Note that this is only safe if Swift can accurately track the lifetime of the unwrapped pointer, which is why the Span wrapper is not generated without the __noescape annotation. Since this is an experimental feature with ongoing development, questions and feedback on the Swift forums are extra welcome to help us shape and stabilize this feature! Continued in next post...
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Java remote debugging stymied by connection refused on local network
I am trying to setup remote Java debugging between two machines running macOS (15.6 and 26). I am able to get the Java program to listen on a socket. However, I can connect to that socket only from the same machine, not from another machine on my local network. I use nc to test the connection. It reports Connection refused when trying to connect from the other machine. This issue sounds like it could be caused by the Java program lacking Local Network system permission. I am familiar with that issue arising when a program attempts to connect to a port on the local network. In that case, a dialog is displayed and System Settings can be used to grant Local Network permission to the client program. I don't know whether the same permission is required on the program that is receiving client requests. If it is, then I don't know how to grant that permission. There is no dialog, and System Settings does not provide any obvious way to grant permission to a program that I specify. Note that a Java application is a program run by the java command, not a bundled application. The java command contains a hard-wired Info.plist which, annoyingly, requests permission to use the microphone, but not Local Network access.
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448
Activity
Aug ’25
HTTPS Connection Issues Following iOS 26 Beta 6 Update
Hi. We are writing to report a critical issue we've encountered following the recent release of iOS 26 beta 6. After updating our test devices, we discovered that our application is no longer able to establish HTTPS connections to several of our managed FQDNs. This issue was not present in beta 5 and appears to be a direct result of changes introduced in beta 6. The specific FQDNs that are currently unreachable are: d.socdm.com i.socdm.com tg.scodm.com We have reviewed the official iOS & iPadOS 26 Beta 6 Release Notes, particularly the updates related to TLS. While the notes mention changes, we have confirmed that our servers for all affected FQDNs support TLS 1.2, so we believe they should still be compliant. We have also investigated several of Apple's support documents regarding TLS connection requirements (e.g., HT214774, HT214041), but the information does not seem to apply to our situation, and we are currently unable to identify the root cause of this connection failure. https://support.apple.com/en-us/102028 https://support.apple.com/en-us/103214 Although we hope this issue might be resolved in beta 7 or later, the official release is fast approaching, and this has become a critical concern for us. Could you please provide any advice or insight into what might be causing this issue? Any guidance on potential changes in the networking or security frameworks in beta 6 that could affect TLS connections would be greatly appreciated. We have attached the relevant code snippet that triggers the error, along with the corresponding Xcode logs, for your review. Thank you for your time and assistance. #import "ViewController.h" @interface ViewController () @end @implementation ViewController - (void)viewDidLoad { [super viewDidLoad]; NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:@"https://i.socdm.com/sdk/js/adg-script-loader-b-stg.js"]; NSMutableURLRequest *req = [NSMutableURLRequest requestWithURL:url cachePolicy:NSURLRequestReloadIgnoringLocalCacheData timeoutInterval:30.0]; [self sendWithRequest:req completionHandler:^(NSData *_Nullable data, NSHTTPURLResponse *_Nonnull response, NSError *_Nullable error) { if (error){ NSLog(@"Error occurred: %@", error.localizedDescription); return; }else{ NSLog(@"Success! Status Code: %ld", (long)response.statusCode); } }]; } - (void) sendWithRequest:(NSMutableURLRequest *)request completionHandler:(void (^ _Nullable)(NSData *_Nullable data, NSHTTPURLResponse *response, NSError *_Nullable error))completionHandler { NSURLSessionConfiguration *configuration = [NSURLSessionConfiguration defaultSessionConfiguration]; NSURLSession *session = nil; session = [NSURLSession sessionWithConfiguration:configuration delegate:self delegateQueue:nil]; NSURLSessionTask *task = [session dataTaskWithRequest:request completionHandler:^(NSData *data, NSURLResponse *response, NSError *error) { [session finishTasksAndInvalidate]; NSHTTPURLResponse *httpResponse = (NSHTTPURLResponse *) response; if (error) { if (completionHandler) { completionHandler(nil, httpResponse, error); } } else { if (completionHandler) { completionHandler(data, httpResponse, nil); } } }]; [task resume]; } @end error Connection 1: default TLS Trust evaluation failed(-9807) Connection 1: TLS Trust encountered error 3:-9807 Connection 1: encountered error(3:-9807) Task <C50BB081-E1DA-40FF-A1E5-A03A2C4CB733>.<1> HTTP load failed, 0/0 bytes (error code: -1202 [3:-9807]) Task <C50BB081-E1DA-40FF-A1E5-A03A2C4CB733>.<1> finished with error [-1202] Error Domain=NSURLErrorDomain Code=-1202 "The certificate for this server is invalid. You might be connecting to a server that is pretending to be “i.socdm.com” which could put your confidential information at risk." UserInfo={NSLocalizedRecoverySuggestion=Would you like to connect to the server anyway?, _kCFStreamErrorDomainKey=3, NSErrorPeerCertificateChainKey=( "<cert(0x10621ca00) s: *.socdm.com i: GlobalSign RSA OV SSL CA 2018>", "<cert(0x106324e00) s: GlobalSign RSA OV SSL CA 2018 i: GlobalSign>" ), NSErrorClientCertificateStateKey=0, NSErrorFailingURLKey=https://i.socdm.com/sdk/js/adg-script-loader-b-stg.js, NSErrorFailingURLStringKey=https://i.socdm.com/sdk/js/adg-script-loader-b-stg.js, NSUnderlyingError=0x1062bf960 {Error Domain=kCFErrorDomainCFNetwork Code=-1202 "(null)" UserInfo={_kCFStreamPropertySSLClientCertificateState=0, kCFStreamPropertySSLPeerTrust=<SecTrustRef: 0x10609d140>, _kCFNetworkCFStreamSSLErrorOriginalValue=-9807, _kCFStreamErrorDomainKey=3, _kCFStreamErrorCodeKey=-9807, kCFStreamPropertySSLPeerCertificates=( "<cert(0x10621ca00) s: *.socdm.com i: GlobalSign RSA OV SSL CA 2018>", "<cert(0x106324e00) s: GlobalSign RSA OV SSL CA 2018 i: GlobalSign>" )}}, _NSURLErrorRelatedURLSessionTaskErrorKey=( "LocalDataTask <C50BB081-E1DA-40FF-A1E5-A03A2C4CB733>.<1>" ), _kCFStreamErrorCodeKey=-9807, _NSURLErrorFailingURLSessionTaskErrorKey=LocalDataTask <C50BB081-E1DA-40FF-A1E5-A03A2C4CB733>.<1>, NSURLErrorFailingURLPeerTrustErrorKey=<SecTrustRef: 0x10609d140>, NSLocalizedDescription=The certificate for this server is invalid. You might be connecting to a server that is pretending to be “i.socdm.com” which could put your confidential information at risk.} Error occurred: The certificate for this server is invalid. You might be connecting to a server that is pretending to be “i.socdm.com” which could put your confidential information at risk. 折りたたむ
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Activity
Sep ’25
Critical iOS Activation Vulnerability
There’s a critical, actively exploited vulnerability in Apple’s iOS activation servers allowing unauthenticated XML payload injection: https://cyberpress.org/apple-ios-activation-vulnerability/ This flaw targets the core activation process, bypassing normal security checks. Despite the severity, it’s barely discussed in public security channels. Why is this not being addressed or publicly acknowledged? Apple developers and security researchers should urgently review and audit activation flows—this is a direct attack vector on device trust integrity. Any insights or official response appreciated.
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233
Activity
Jun ’25
Application with identifier is not associated with domain
Hi, This issue is happening during Passkey creation. We’ve observed that approximately 1% of our customer users encounter a persistent error during Passkey creation. For the vast majority, the process works as expected. We believe our apple-app-site-association file is correctly configured, served directly from the RP ID over HTTPS without redirects, and is up-to-date. This setup appears to work for most users, and it seems the Apple CDN cache reflects the latest version of the file. To help us diagnose and address the issue for the affected users, we would appreciate guidance on the following: What tools or steps does Apple recommend to identify the root cause of this issue? Are there any known recovery steps we can suggest to users to resolve this on affected devices? Is there a way to force a refresh of the on-device cache for the apple-app-site-association file? Thank you in advance for any input or guidance.
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166
Activity
May ’25
Background Unix executable not appearing in Screen Recording permissions UI (macOS Tahoe 26.1)
Our background monitoring application uses a Unix executable that requests Screen Recording permission via CGRequestScreenCaptureAccess(). This worked correctly in macOS Tahoe 26.0.1, but broke in 26.1. Issue: After calling CGRequestScreenCaptureAccess() in macOS Tahoe 26.1: System dialog appears and opens System Settings Our executable does NOT appear in the Screen Recording list Manually adding via "+" button grants permission internally, but the executable still doesn't show in the UI Users cannot verify or revoke permissions Background: Unix executable runs as a background process (not from Terminal) Uses Accessibility APIs to retrieve window titles Same issue occurs with Full Disk Access permissions Environment: macOS Tahoe 26.1 (worked in 26.0.1) Background process (not launched from Terminal) Questions: Is this a bug or intentional design change in 26.1? What's the recommended approach for background executables to properly register with TCC? Are there specific requirements (Info.plist, etc.) needed? This significantly impacts user experience as they cannot manage permissions through the UI. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated. Thank you
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551
Activity
Nov ’25
Help with Passkey Registration & Authentication on iOS 17 (Credential Provider + Error Code 1004)
I’m implementing passkey registration and authentication in an iOS 17 app with a credential provider extension, but I’m running into an issue. Setup: I have a credential provider target configured. The app correctly shows the pop-up to register the passkey with my app. My Info.plist is set up properly. Issue: When the following function is triggered: override func prepareInterface(forPasskeyRegistration registrationRequest: ASCredentialRequest) { "code to generate registrationRequest..." let controller = ASAuthorizationController(authorizationRequests: [registrationRequest]) controller.delegate = self controller.presentationContextProvider = self controller.performRequests() } I get the following error: Domain=com.apple.AuthenticationServices.AuthorizationError Code=1004 I do not own the relying party domain (e.g., https://webauthn.io), so I cannot configure an apple-app-site-association file on the website. Question: How can I register and authenticate passkeys on any site that allows passkeys (such as webauthn.io) when I don’t control the webpage? Are there any workarounds or best practices for handling this in iOS 17? Any insights would be greatly appreciated!
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Activity
Sep ’25
FIDO2 USB Monitoring using custom Authorization Plugin
I'm looking to implement USB monitoring for FIDO2 authentication through a custom Authorization Plugin, specifically for the below ones. This plugin applies to the following macOS authorization mechanisms: system.login.console — login window authentication system.login.screensaver — screensaver unlock authentication The goal is to build a GUI AuthPlugin, an authorization plugin that presents a custom window prompting the user to "Insert your FIDO key”. Additionally, the plugin should detect when the FIDO2 device is removed and respond accordingly. Additional Info: We have already developed a custom authorization plugin which is a primary authentication using OTP at login and Lock Screen. We are now extending to include FIDO2 support as a primary. Our custom authorization plugin is designed to replace the default loginwindow:login mechanism with a custom implementation. Question: Is there a reliable approach to achieve the USB monitoring functionality through a custom authorization plugin? Any guidance or pointers on this would be greatly appreciated.
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886
Activity
Nov ’25
Password AutoFill doesn't work - help needed
I have a project with a single app target that serves two environments, and two schemes, one for each env, using xcconfig files for defining environment-specific stuff. I'm trying to figure this out for months, so I've tried multiple approaches throughout this period: Have a single domain in "Associated domains" in Xcode, defined as webcredentials:X where X gets replaced using a value from xcconfig. Have two domain entries in "Associated domains" webcredentials:PROD_DOMAIN and webcredentials:STAGING_DOMAIN. Have a different order of domains Results are very interesting: whatever I do, whatever approach I take, password autofill works on staging, but doesn't work on production. I'm aware that we need to test production on Test Flight and AppStore builds. That's how we're testing it, and it's not working. Tested on multiple devices, on multiple networks (wifi + mobile data), in multiple countries.. you name it. The server side team has checked their implementation a dozen times; it's all configured properly, in the exact same way across environments (except bundle ID, ofc). We tried a couple websites for validating the apple-app-site-association file, and while all of those are focused on testing universal links, they all reported that the file is configured properly. Still, password autofill doesn't work. I prefer not to share my app's domains publicly here. Ideally I would contact Apple Developer Support directly, but they now require a test project for that, and since 'a test project' is not applicable to my issue, I'm posting here instead.
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599
Activity
Oct ’25
Questions about NSUserTrackingUsageDescription
Binary code is associated with the NSUserTrackingUsageDescription deleted at present, but in the revised App privacy will contain NSUserTrackingUsageDescription, I feel very confused, don't know should shouldn't solve.
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Activity
Apr ’25
Credential Provider Extension UI Appears Only on Second “Continue” Tap
I’m having an issue with my Credential Provider Extension for passkey registration. On the browser I click on registration, in IOS i can select my App for passkey registration with a continue button. Wenn I click the continue button the prepareInterface(forPasskeyRegistration:) function is called but the MainInterface is not shown —it only appears when I click the continue button a second time. Here’s a simplified version of my prepareInterface method: override func prepareInterface(forPasskeyRegistration registrationRequest: ASCredentialRequest) { guard let request = registrationRequest as? ASPasskeyCredentialRequest, let identity = request.credentialIdentity as? ASPasskeyCredentialIdentity else { extensionContext.cancelRequest(withError: ASExtensionError(.failed)) return } self.identity = identity self.request = request log.info("prepareInterface called successfully") } In viewDidAppear, I trigger FaceID authentication and complete the registration process if register is true. However, the UI only shows after a second “Continue” tap. Has anyone encountered this behavior or have suggestions on how to ensure the UI appears immediately after prepareInterface is called? Could it be a timing or lifecycle issue with the extension context? Thanks for any insights!
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147
Activity
Apr ’25
Attest service returns error 4 - serverUnavailable
Since Sun 15th Jun 04:30 (UTC+7) we received lots of following error that causes our device test failure. Could Apple please investigate further? ############################# Operations could not be completed. (com.apple.devicecheck.error error 4.) (serverUnavailable)
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Activity
Jun ’25
com.apple.devicecheck.error - 3: Error Domain=com.apple.devicecheck.error Code=3 "(null)"
Hi, In our app we are using DeviceCheck (App Attest) in a production environment iOS. The service works correctly for most users, but a user reported failure in a flow that use device check service. This failure is not intermittently, it is constant. We are unable to reproduce this failure and we are believing that this failure occurred by new version ios 26.3 because for others users using early versions the service is normally. Environment iOS 26.3 Real device App Attest capability enabled Correct App ID, Team ID and App Attest entitlement Production environment Characteristics: appears constantly affects only unique user -Don't resolves after time or reinstall not reproducible on our test devices NSError contains no additional diagnostic info (Error Domain=com.apple.devicecheck.error Code=3 "(null)") We saw about this error code 3 in this post 812308, but it's not our case because the ios version in this case is not iOS 17.0 or earlier. Please, help us any guidance for solution. Thank you
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758
Activity
Jan ’26
Accessing the key generated by DCAppAttestService
Hi, is it somehow possible to access a key that was generated by the DCAppAttestService generateKey() function? I need to be 100% sure that no actor from within or outside of my app can access the generated key with the DeviceCheck Framework. It would also be helpful to get some official resources to the topic. Thank you in advance, Mike
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328
Activity
Oct ’25
How to Hide the "Save to Another Device" Option During Passkey Registration?
I'm working on integrating Passkey functionality into my iOS app (targeting iOS 16.0+), and I'm facing an issue where the system dialog still shows the "Save to another device" option during Passkey registration. I want to hide this option to force users to create Passkeys only on the current device. 1. My Current Registration Implementation Here’s the code I’m using to create a Passkey registration request. I’ve tried to use ASAuthorizationPlatformPublicKeyCredentialProvider (which is supposed to target platform authenticators like Face ID/Touch ID), but the "Save to another device" option still appears: `// Initialize provider for platform authenticators let provider = ASAuthorizationPlatformPublicKeyCredentialProvider(relyingPartyIdentifier: domain) // Create registration request let registrationRequest = provider.createCredentialRegistrationRequest( challenge: challenge, name: username, userID: userId ) // Optional configurations (tried these but no effect on "another device" option) registrationRequest.displayName = "Test Device" registrationRequest.userVerificationPreference = .required registrationRequest.attestationPreference = .none // Set up authorization controller let authController = ASAuthorizationController(authorizationRequests: [registrationRequest]) let delegate = PasskeyRegistrationDelegate(completion: completion) authController.delegate = delegate // Trigger the registration flow authController.performRequests(options: .preferImmediatelyAvailableCredentials)` 2. Observation from Authentication Flow (Working as Expected) During the Passkey authentication flow (not registration), I can successfully hide the "Use another device" option by specifying allowedCredentials in the ASAuthorizationPlatformPublicKeyCredentialAssertionRequest. Here’s a simplified example of that working code: let assertionRequest = provider.createCredentialAssertionRequest(challenge: challenge) assertionRequest.allowedCredentials = allowedCredentials After adding allowedCredentials, the system dialog no longer shows cross-device options—this is exactly the behavior I want for registration. 3. My Questions Is there a similar parameter to allowedCredentials (from authentication) that I can use during registration to hide the "Save to another device" option? Did I miss any configuration in the registration request (e.g., authenticatorAttachment or other properties) that forces the flow to use only the current device’s platform authenticator? Are there any system-level constraints or WebAuthn standards I’m overlooking that cause the "Save to another device" option to persist during registration? Any insights or code examples would be greatly appreciated!
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335
Activity
Oct ’25
DCDevice.current.generateToken : return Error Missing or incorrectly formatted device token payload
we can get token but when send to verity from apple. it reture Error : {"responseCode":"400","responseMessage":"Missing or incorrectly formatted device token payload"}
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239
Activity
Jun ’25
SystemExtension approve failed on mac15.x
Hello, I'm an application developer related to Apple system extensions. I developed an endpoint security system extension that can run normally before the 14.x system. However, after I upgraded to 15.x, I found that when I uninstalled and reinstalled my system extension, although the system extension was installed successfully, a system warning box would pop up when I clicked enable in the Settings, indicating a failure. I conducted the following test. I reinstalled a brand-new MAC 15.x system. When I installed my applications, the system extensions could be installed successfully and enabled normally. However, when I uninstalled and reinstalled, my system extension couldn't be enabled properly and a system warning popped up as well. I tried disabling SIP and enabling System Extension Developers, but it still didn't work. When the system warning box pops up, I can see some error log information through the console application, including an error related to Failed to authorize right 'com.apple.system-extensions.admin' by client '/System/Library/ExtensionKit/Extensions/SettingsSystemExtensionController.appex' [2256] for authorization created by '/System/Library/ExtensionKit/Extensions/SettingsSystemExtensionController.appex' [2256] (3,0) (-60005) (engine 179) as shown in the screenshot. The same problem, mentioned in Cannot approve some extensions in MacOS Sequoia , but there is no solution
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Activity
Oct ’25
Question: Best Practice for Storing API Keys in iOS Apps (RevenueCat, PostHog, AWS Rekognition, etc.)
Hi everyone, I’m looking for clarification on best practices for storing API keys in an iOS app — for example, keys used with RevenueCat, PostHog, AWS Rekognition, barcode scanners, and similar third-party services. I understand that hard-coding API keys directly in the app’s source code is a bad idea, since they can be extracted from the binary. However, using a .plist file doesn’t seem secure either, as it’s still bundled with the app and can be inspected. I’m wondering: What are Apple’s recommended approaches for managing these kinds of keys? Does Xcode Cloud offer a built-in or best-practice method for securely injecting environment variables or secrets at build time? Would using an external service like AWS Secrets Manager or another server-side solution make sense for this use case? Any insights or examples of how others are handling this securely within Apple’s ecosystem would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for considering my questions! — Paul
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Activity
Oct ’25
Keychain values preserved even when using ksecattraccessibleafterfirstunlockthisdeviceonly
Hello, I’m storing some values in the Keychain with the attribute ‘ksecattraccessibleafterfirstunlockthisdeviceonly’ (https://developer.apple.com/documentation/security/ksecattraccessibleafterfirstunlockthisdeviceonly). When I migrate user data between iPhones via iCloud, this behaves as expected and the keys are not preserved. However, when I migrate using a direct connection between two devices, the keys are preserved, which seems to contradict the attribute’s intent. Is this a known behavior, and if so, is there a workaround?
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Activity
Oct ’25
Orange menu bar icon that won't go away
I have filed bug reports on this to no avail, so I am bringing it up here hoping someone at Apple will address this. Since the first beta of 26.3, with voice control enabled there are now two icons in the menu bar (*plus an orange dot in full screen) that never go away. That orange microphone isn't serving its intended purpose to notify me that something is accessing my microphone if it is always displayed. I use voice control extensively, so it is nearly always on. In every prior version of macOS, the orange icon was not on for voice control. Even if voice control is not listening but simply enabled in system settings, the orange icon will be there. And there is no need for this icon to be on for a system service that is always listening. This orange icon in the menu bar at all times is incredibly irritating, as it takes up valuable space to the right of the notch, and causes other actual useful menu bar items to be hidden. As well, if some other application on my system were to turn on the mic and start recording me I would never know since that orange icon is always on. It also places an orange dot next to the control center icon taking up even more of the precious little menu bar real estate. Please fix this! Either exempt voice control (as Siri is always listening and it doesn't get the orange icon) or exempt all system services, or give me a way to turn this off. If you cannot tell, I find this incredibly annoying and frustrating.
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Feb ’26
Q&A Summary - Fortify your app: Essential strategies to strengthen security
This is a recap of the Q&amp;A from the Meet with Apple activity Fortify your app: Essential strategies to strengthen security. If you attended the event and asked questions, thank you for coming and participating! If you weren’t able to join us live we hope this recap is useful. Memory Integrity Enforcement (MTE) What is Memory Integrity Enforcement and which devices support it? Memory Integrity Enforcement is supported on A19, A19 Pro, M5, M5 Pro, and M5 Max chips, which power iPhone 17e, the new MacBook Air (M5), and the new MacBook Pro (M5 Pro or M5 Max). Starting in the 26.4 OS versions, applications that enable MTE (checked-allocations) as part of Enhanced Security will also run with MTE enabled in the simulator when running on macOS hardware that supports MTE. How can I use Memory Integrity Enforcement with third-party SDKs? Third-party SDKs linked into your app will generally use the system allocator automatically and benefit from Memory Integrity Enforcement automatically. If there are memory corruption bugs in those SDKs that Memory Integrity Enforcement features like MTE detect and turn into crashes, you'll want to work with the developers of those SDKs to have them fix the underlying bugs. You could use MTE soft mode to avoid having those memory corruptions crash your app while you wait for fixes from the developers, at the cost of the relative reduction in security that entails. Why does my app crash on launch with MTE enabled, with tags showing as 0? Tag-check violations where the ltag (logical tag) is 0 and the atag (actual tag) is non-zero can be caused by code patterns that strip the high bits that the ltag is stored in and fail to restore them before use. Additionally, arm64 binaries produced by older versions of clang may have issues where the tag is incorrectly stripped from the pointer. Recompiling the binary with a recent compiler should remediate the issue. Can I use Memory Integrity Enforcement with older Swift versions? Yes, Memory Integrity Enforcement can be used with any Swift version. Pointer Authentication (PAC) How does Pointer Authentication work and why is it opt-in? PAC is an opt-in feature because although adopting PAC is frequently as easy as turning on the compiler flag, some software is not trivially compatible. For example, while it mostly works in arm64 to memcpy a C++ object, this is invalid and generates fatal exceptions in arm64e. Additionally, PAC is a compile time change as it requires different instructions throughout the program. Pointer authentication makes it more difficult to create a pointer (from an integer) or to modify an existing pointer. This complements technologies such as MTE (which can catch many bound and lifetime errors) and typed allocation (which mitigates the effects of memory re-use). Where are the cryptographic keys for Pointer Authentication stored? The keys used for generating PAC signatures are stored in the CPU itself as specified by the ARM architecture. These keys are ephemeral and can change across process launches and boots, depending on which PAC key is used. The signatures are, however, stored in the upper bits of the pointer itself. How does Pointer Authentication work with Objective-C method swizzling? When you use the functions provided by the ObjC runtime, they ensure that any necessary pointer signing is correctly handled. What deployment targets and OS versions support Pointer Authentication? PAC is tied to the arm64e architecture. arm64e is first supported in iOS 17.4, and generally supported starting with iOS 26 and macOS 26. Universal binaries can be built for arm64e + arm64, and arm64 will be used when arm64e isn't supported. When building the universal binary, both architectures can be compiled for an older deployment target, but keep in mind that arm64e will only be used on newer iOS. How do I enable Pointer Authentication in modular apps? arm64e is indeed required, and every target that contributes binary code that's linked or dynamically loaded into an app does need to have arm64e added as an architecture. When enabling the Enhanced Security capability, Xcode adds the ENABLE_POINTER_AUTHENTICATION build setting (that adds arm64e) as needed, but you may need to add that separately as well. Bounds Safety and Annotations How do bounds safety checks work in Clang? With -fbounds-safety enabled Clang will emit bounds checks wherever pointers are dereferenced or reassigned (exception: assigning to __bidi_indexable does not trigger a bounds check, since __bidi_indexable can track the fact that the pointer is out of bounds and defer the bounds check). If the bounds check fails the program will jump to an instruction that traps the process. Clang uses a combination of static analysis and runtime checks to enforce that pointer bounds are respected. How can I work with libraries that don't have bounds annotations? Forging safe pointers at the boundary (using __unsafe_forge_single etc.) is the recommended approach when interoperating with libraries that do not have bounds annotations, when you want to be explicit about the fact that you're interacting with unsafe code. This makes it easy to grep for "unsafe" in your code base when doing a security audit. If you are confident that the API adheres to a bounds safe interface but simply lacks the annotations, you can redeclare the signature in your local header with added bounds annotations, like this: //--- system_header.h bar_t * /* implicitly __unsafe_indexable */ foo(); //--- project_header.h #include &lt;ptrcheck.h&gt; #include &lt;system_header.h&gt; bar_t * __single foo(); How can I safely pass Swift data to C/C++ functions? This is a great question! Automatically generated wrapper functions that safely unwrap Span types and pass along the pointer to C/C++ is a feature available since Xcode 26 when the experimental feature SafeInteropWrappers is enabled. This requires annotating std::span&lt;T&gt; parameters with __noescape, or pointer parameters with both __noescape and __counted_by/__sized_by, directly in the header or using API notes. Note that this is only safe if Swift can accurately track the lifetime of the unwrapped pointer, which is why the Span wrapper is not generated without the __noescape annotation. Since this is an experimental feature with ongoing development, questions and feedback on the Swift forums are extra welcome to help us shape and stabilize this feature! Continued in next post...
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