DeviceActivityMonitor

Hello friends, I am working on an iOS app that uses the ScreenTime API to monitor app usage on the user's device. I am able to set up the monitoring schedule and start monitoring using code like this in the application: var calendar = Calendar.current let startDateComps = calendar.dateComponents([.year, .month, .day, .hour, .minute], from: startDate) let endDateComps = calendar.dateComponents([.year, .month, .day, .hour, .minute], from: endDate) let schedule = DeviceActivitySchedule(intervalStart: startDateComps, intervalEnd: endDateComps, repeats: false) let sessionName = DeviceActivityName(String(session.id)) do { try self.center.startMonitoring(sessionName, during: schedule) } catch { print(Could not start monitoring session (sessionName): (error)) } This appears to work. But in the DeviceActivityMonitor extension that I've added to the project, I never seem to get the init or intervalDidStart calls, and when I specify the DeviceActivityMonitor extension's scheme and try to debug it, XCod

I'm encountering a problem with the DeviceActivityMonitor framework on iOS 17 that wasn't present in iOS 16. The app extension sends analytics events via the Segment SDK whenever the extension's functions are called. This setup worked flawlessly on iOS 16. However, since upgrading to iOS 17, it appears that the vast majority of my iOS 17 users are not triggering the expected analytics events. I'm aware that network requests in app extensions are not officially supported, yet somehow, Segment's SDK managed to function without issues in the previous OS version. Could there have been any changes in iOS 17 related to app extensions or the DeviceActivityMonitor framework that might be influencing this change in analytics behavior? Or perhaps there's a new restriction or modification in the app extension's network capabilities that I might be overlooking? Any insights into these changes or guidance on how to ensure analytics events are triggered reliably within the app extension on iOS 17 would be

Hello, I'm currently experiencing an issue with the DeviceActivityMonitor extension in my code, specifically with the eventDidReachThreshold callback. I'm hoping to get some insights into why this problem occurs and how to resolve it. Problem: Issue 1: The eventDidReachThreshold callback is not triggering as expected. It appears that the callback is not being invoked when the threshold is reached. Issue 2: After a few seconds, the eventDidReachThreshold callback starts to trigger multiple times. This unexpected behavior is causing problems in my code, as it results in incorrect actions being taken. iOS version: iOS16.7.2 and iOS17.1 Xcode version: 15.0.1 Swift version: 5.9 Here is my code to start the monitoring: func startMonitoring() { var startTime : DateComponents = DateComponents(hour: 0, minute: 0) let endTime : DateComponents = DateComponents(hour: 23, minute: 59) /// Creates the schedule for the activity, specifying the start and end times, and setting it to repeat. let schedule = DeviceActiv

My app sends screen time awareness notifications based on DeviceActivityMonitor thresholds. Often, users receive two notifications in a row for the same screen time threshold. This means that the app extension is triggering the same eventDidReachThreshold callback function twice for the same threshold. I've made sure that there is only one activity schedule being monitored. This happens often, but not every time (over 50% of the time). Anybody else experience this issue, and any way to mitigate it?

My app uses DeviceActivitySchedule to let users set schedules to block certain apps. I naturally want to understand how my users are using the feature, so I capture analytics events using Segment. Ever since the release of iOS 17.1, analytics events from DeviceActivityMonitor have stopped firing. I believe this is due to the fact that the app extension that DeviceActivityMonitor runs in does not support asynchronous network requests. (However, I'm not sure why the analytics were working correctly with iOS 16). What is the best way to capture analytics inside the DeviceActivityMonitor app extension in iOS 17?

Hello, I'm currently experiencing an issue with the DeviceActivityMonitor extension in my code, specifically with the eventDidReachThreshold callback. I'm hoping to get some insights into why this problem occurs and how to resolve it. Problem: Issue 1: The eventDidReachThreshold callback is not triggering as expected. It appears that the callback is not being invoked when the threshold is reached. Issue 2: After a few seconds, the eventDidReachThreshold callback starts to trigger multiple times. This unexpected behavior is causing problems in my code, as it results in incorrect actions being taken. Issue 3: There are instances where the eventDidReachThreshold callback provides an incorrect event name. iOS version: iOS16.7.2 and iOS17.1.1 Here is my code to start the monitoring: func startMonitoring() { var startTime : DateComponents = DateComponents(hour: 0, minute: 0) let endTime : DateComponents = DateComponents(hour: 23, minute: 59) /// Creates the schedule for the activity, specifying the start a

We have an app that uses the Screen Time APIs to block certain apps set by the user on a schedule: We use ManagedSettings to shield selected apps We use DeviceActivityMonitor to shield the apps automatically on a schedule set by the user. The shielding starts during the intervalDidStart callback function and ends during the intervalDidEnd callback function We are getting reports from the majority of our iOS 17 users that the app blocking schedules no longer work on iOS 17. We have tested this on our own iOS 17 devices and reproduced the behavior. But the feature still works consistently on iOS 16 devices. The app is still built using Xcode 14 instead of Xcode 15 due to another issue - the DeviceActivityReport is blank for all iOS 16 users when built in Xcode 15 (link to issue on the developer forums: https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/735915). When testing with Xcode 15 builds, the bug appears to improve - however it still occurs intermittently. Are there any other mechanisms to run tasks on r

I use App Groups to share UserDefaults data between my host app and DeviceActivityMonitor extension. On iOS 17, it appears that reading @AppStorage variables are causing my DeviceActivityMonitor extension callback functions to crash. Weirdly, writing values is okay. I see this in the extension logs: Couldn't read values in CFPrefsPlistSource<0x10fe251d0> (Domain: GROUP_NAME, User: kCFPreferencesAnyUser, ByHost: Yes, Container: (null), Contents Need Refresh: Yes): Using kCFPreferencesAnyUser with a container is only allowed for System Containers, detaching from cfprefsd However, through searching this log message on the internet and the fact that it also appears in my host app logs without crashing, this seems to be a warning - possibly indicating an issue but also a possible red herring. But the fact remains that when I don't read UserDefaults values or variables decorated with @AppStorage in the DeviceActivityMonitor extension, everything works fine. Are UserDefaults, and spe

Note: All the devices/accounts mentioned below are part of the same Family Group/ Is it necessary for the parent-side application (that uses FamilyActivityPicker to select the list of restricted apps) to be the same as the child-side application (that will request FamilyControls permission and will implement the DeviceActivityMonitor extension), for FamilyActivityPicker to work as expected? My observation is that given the FamilyControls permission being granted on the child device, FamilyActivityPicker when used on the parent device and rendered on an app with a different bundle identifier works as expected (by populating all the apps installed on the child device) in case of iOS 16 and 17, but does not work for iOS 15 (I am testing on iOS 15.8).

At 11:37 in this video - https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2021/10123/ - Nolan instantiates MyModel() in swiftui view file. And then at 12:02 he just uses MyModel from extension. I have the exact same code and when I try to build my project, it fails with error that MyModel() could not be found. I shared my MyModel.swift file between extension target and main app. Now it builds. However, it seems there are two separate instances of MyModel. What is proper way for DeviceActivityMonitor extension to pass data to main app? I simply want to increment counter from extension every minute and let the main app to know that. Or even better, - is there a way to use SwiftData from Device Activity Monitor extension?

I am developing a project with the Screen Time API, and I cannot understand why the methods inside DeviceActivityMonitor extension are not being called. Some points to note: I do start by requesting authorization from the User (this is working as expected when opening the app) Both the DeviceActivityMonitor Extension and the main app are under the same App Group I have added Family Controls capability to both targets and have the developer account to use it. I start by calling center.startMonitoring() I have overridden the original methods. Yet, when startMonitoring is called, there is no action that is supposed to be taken that is being taken, and as far as I can tell, the methods aren't even being called. Here are some relevant snippets of code: // EXT class DeviceActivityMonitorExtension: DeviceActivityMonitor { override func intervalDidStart(for activity: DeviceActivityName) { super.intervalDidStart(for: activity) let store = ManagedSettingsStore(named: .daily) } override func i

I'm writing an app that uses Family Control. Most of the functionality has already been debugged, including in the call try deviceActivityCenter.startMonitoring(activityName, during: schedule, events: [ eventName: event ]) Works fine on my IOS17 device, but on my old IOS16 device I found that it can't be called, like intervalDidStart, intervalDidEnd, eventDidReachThreshold etc can't be called. I checked some information, https://forums.developer.apple.com/forums/thread/724243 delete the Build Settings mentioned in this link, and change the ios Deployment Target to ios16, and found that it didn't work. Don't know where the problem is?

I am trying to understand how to approach 'x minute' pauses for a DeviceActivitySchedule. For instance, I would like to let the user pause for 5 minutes from an active schedule (meaning un-shielding the apps and re-applying the shield after the 5 min has passed). The only way that came to my mind was calling the following: Calling .startMonitoring to start monitoring a new event with the same apps starting .now and ending .now + 5 minutes; Calling in the intervalDidStart, store.shield.applications.subtract(apps) so that the apps are removed from the shield. Calling in the intervalDidEnd, store.shield.applications = apps so that the apps are now shielded again. The problem is that, from the Apple Developer Documentation: The minimum interval length for monitoring device activity is fifteen minutes. So the minimum pause I could offer to the user would be 15 minutes. And that tells me this approach is most likely wrong, because all other Screen Time apps, like Opal, Jomo, AppBlock offer also 5 min pause. Does an

There is a way to allow DeviceActivityMonitor to make UI changes? Currently I have some code in the intervalDidStart and intervalDidEnd that updates Core Data entities, and it works correctly. However, the changes are only reflected if the app is terminated and opened again. Thus, if the app is opened and one of the methods inside the DeviceActivityMonitor is being called, the UI won't be updated. PS: I am using @FetchRequest to retrieve the core data entities called BlockEntity, and I have a little circle in the UI which should indicate the status of the block: active/inactive, so it would be nice to update the color in real time when intervalDidStart or intervalDidEnd are called.