The principal class for a packet tunnel provider app extension.
SDKs
- iOS 9.0+
- macOS 10.11+
- Mac Catalyst 13.0+
Framework
- Network
Extension
Declaration
class NEPacketTunnelProvider : NETunnel Provider
Overview
The NEPacket
class gives its subclasses access to a virtual network interface via the packet
property. Use the set
method in the Packet Tunnel Provider to specify that the following network settings be associated with the virtual interface:
Virtual IP address
DNS resolver configuration
HTTP proxy configuration
IP destination networks to be routed through the tunnel
IP destination networks to be routed outside the tunnel
Interface MTU
By specifying IP destination networks, the Packet Tunnel Provider can dictate what IP destinations will be routed to the virtual interface. IP packets with matching destination addresses will then be diverted to Packet Tunnel Provider and can be read using the packet
property. The Packet Tunnel Provider can then encapsulate the IP packets per a custom tunneling protocol and send them to a tunnel server. When the Packet Tunnel Provider decapsulates IP packets received from the tunnel server, it can use the packet
property to inject the packets into the networking stack.
Important
The com
entitlement is required in order to use the NEPacket
class. Enable this entitlement when creating an App ID in your developer account.
Creating a Packet Tunnel Provider Extension
Packet Tunnel Providers run as App Extensions for the com
extension point.
To create a Packet Tunnel Provider extension, first create a new App Extension target in your project.
For an example of an Xcode build target for this app extension, see the SimpleTunnel: Customized Networking Using the NetworkExtension Framework sample code project.
Once you have a Packet Tunnel Provider extension target, create a subclass of NEPacketTunnelProvider. Then, set the NSExtension
key in the the extension’s Info
to the name of your subclass.
If it is not already, set the NSExtension
key in the extension’s Info
to com
.
Here is an example of the NSExtension dictionary in a Packet Tunnel Provider extension’s Info
:
<key>NSExtension</key>
<dict>
<key>NSExtensionPointIdentifier</key>
<string>com.apple.networkextension.packet-tunnel</string>
<key>NSExtensionPrincipalClass</key>
<string>MyCustomPacketTunnelProvider</string>
</dict>
Finally, add the Packet Tunnel Provider extension target to your app’s Embed App Extensions build phase.
Subclassing Notes
In order to create a Packet Tunnel Provider extension, you must create a subclass of NEPacket
and override the methods listed below.