We noticed that in older OS versions the accessory picker would consistently display a peripheral's advertised friendly name on top of displaying information from the matching display item. While in newer OS versions we would mostly only see the name from the display item. Is there a way to configure this?

Hi! I'm using AccessorySetupKit with CoreBluetooth state restoration. My understanding is that using AccessorySetupKit is a now pre-requisite to enabling the state restoration/preservation apis, so I went that route — and pairing, handoff, and restoration on search discovery or connection completion seem to be working Where I'm stuck: my accessory is poll-based. I read it by writing a request and reading the response. Then I send a new request. the BLE accessory never pushes data on its own. Since restoration only seems to wake my app on an inbound BLE event, if the app gets terminated mid-session while the connection's still healthy, nothing wakes the app and polling just quietly stops. Is there a recommended way to handle this for a request/response device? Thanks!

Hi there, we deploy upwards of 12-15 accessories (containing BLE) at a time, in a single system instal. Can AccessorySetupKit be used to streamline the pairing process for all of these accessories at once, so that the user isn't required to step through the process for each individual accessory?

Hi there, we deploy upwards of 12-15 hardware accessories containing BLE at a time, in a single system instal. Can AccessorySetupKit be used to streamline the pairing process for all of these accessories at once, so that the user isn't required to step through the process of pairing with each individual accessory?

I forget which extension type it is, but there is one that can discover the devices in a sandbox. Xcode 26 shows me Media Device Discovery, Xcode 27 doesn't. It could be a different one. Which ever one it is, do you know off hand if the new StateReporting framework would report performance and usage privately to MetricKit? I know that some frameworks report data to Apple's analytics reports, I'd potentially want to capture some performance metrics and app state changes that are happening in supporting extensions.

Hello, Currently we have the sample project from WWDC2024 as an example on how to do it as a live example but only as a simulated project on the Accessory end. The example is good but being implemented a rich platform like iOS or iPadOS, the rich stack of APIs are provided. Embedded devices such as the ESP32/RaspberryPI do not have this rich API stack, such as CoreBluetooth and so on, so a mirror stack of API/functions must be implemented to give the equal experience. Are there any examples or design/technical guidelines for the Accessory end to implement AccessorySetupKit on embedded devices. (Like a list of technical requirements or checklist of functions/implementations/services we can go through on a ESP32/RapberryPI) to ensure that the Accessory has all the needed code/technical implementations with AccessorySetupKit for both Bluetooth and WiFi support, especially on the Bluetooth end. Best to have an ESP32 project, implemented in Embedded Swift but at least a checklist (of items/situations/error handling) to confirm that it works.

Like in the case that two products are advertising with the same company identifier, both matching a single display item passed in when displaying the accessory picker. Would it be expected for two items to show in the accessory picker, one for each advertising product?

What would you recommend to teams that want to act as both a central and peripheral role? I want to use the ASK permission model for Central mode, but doing so I can't build connections to Apple Watch and Apple Vision Pro that don't support peripheral mode forcing the iPhone to do that.

We are currently investigating a serious issue related to Wi-Fi Aware and AccessorySetupKit. We found that some devices which originally supported Wi-Fi Aware may suddenly report that Wi-Fi Aware is not supported. After this happens, calling the following API fails: ASAccessorySession.showPicker(for:completionHandler:) API documentation: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/accessorysetupkit/asaccessorysession/showpicker(for:completionhandler:) The error returned is: Error Domain=ASErrorDomain Code=450 "Current device is not Wi-Fi Aware capable.” Related logs: error: Error Domain=ASErrorDomain Code=450 "Current device is not Wi-Fi Aware capable." 21:27:33.116061+0800 deviceaccessd Activating DASession: CID 0x7FC70001, BundleID xxxx, PID 542, WiFiAwareSupported: no 2026-05-26 21:27:33.118<103>21:27:33.118[E][WiFiAware::WA]@"":[ASK] showPicker callback error: Error Domain=ASErrorDomain Code=450 "Current device is not Wi-Fi Aware capable." UserInfo={ NSDebugDescription=Current device is not Wi-Fi Aware capable., cuErrorMsg=Current device is not Wi-Fi Aware capable., NSLocalizedFailureReason=Current device is not Wi-Fi Aware capable. } Device information: Device: iPhone 16 Pro OS Version: 26.5 The device was previously able to use Wi-Fi Aware successfully. However, after the issue occurs, the system reports: WiFiAwareSupported: no The only known way to recover so far is to erase all content and settings / factory reset the device. This is not an acceptable workaround for end users and may cause a severe user experience issue. We would like to ask for your help with the following questions: Under what conditions would an iPhone that supports Wi-Fi Aware suddenly be reported as not Wi-Fi Aware capable? Is WiFiAwareSupported: no determined by hardware capability, system configuration, region setting, privacy/security policy, entitlement state, or some cached system state? Is there any known issue in AccessorySetupKit or Wi-Fi Aware on iOS 26.5 that could cause this behavior? Is there a way to recover the Wi-Fi Aware capability without requiring a factory reset? Are there any additional logs, sysdiagnose profiles, or diagnostic commands you recommend us to collect when this issue occurs? This issue is critical for us because users who encounter it will no longer be able to proceed with accessory setup, even though their device should support Wi-Fi Aware. Please let us know if you need a sysdiagnose, sample project, full device logs, or additional reproduction information. We would appreciate any guidance on the root cause and possible workaround.

Actual Result: After showPicker(for:), the system AccessorySetupUI RemoteAlert brings up a remote keyboard. User taps are dispatched to AccessorySetupUI’s UIRemoteKeyboardWindow instead of the picker content window. App-side endEditing(true) / resignFirstResponder cannot dismiss it because the keyboard belongs to the system AccessorySetupUI remote scene. Key Evidence: 19:51:54.066: App window snapshot before showPicker has no UITextEffectsWindow. 19:51:54.009968: ASAccessorySession ### showPickerWithDisplayItems 19:51:54.013299: AccessorySetupUI showPickerWithOverrideBundleID 19:51:54.051591: AccessorySetupUI reports remote keyboard onscreen, frame {{0, 623}, {440, 333}} 19:51:54.095643: display layout shows com.apple.AccessorySetupUI foreground and com.osmo.tech obscured. 19:51:56.207/19:51:56.305: touch events are sent to and logged as KeyboardTouch touch down/up. Questions for Apple: Is AccessorySetupKit picker expected to show a keyboard when no text input is focused? Is it a system bug that UIRemoteKeyboardWindow covers/intercepts the “Find Accessories” action? Is there any public API for a third-party app to dismiss the keyboard inside AccessorySetupUI RemoteAlert? If this is expected behavior, what is the recommended workaround or required picker/display item configuration?

wifip2pd leaks file descriptors during repeated Wi-Fi Aware NDP cycles → EMFILE → Wi-Fi Aware permanently broken Summary Under repeated Wi-Fi Aware (NAN) datapath connect/teardown cycles, wifip2pd leaks file descriptors until it hits the per-process limit (EMFILE, "Too many open files"). After that, wifip2pd can no longer create the socket needed to configure the nan0 interface, so updating the nan0 IPv6 link-local address fails with Apple80211Error Bad file descriptor. From the app's side, the NDP datapath is established but the NetworkConnection never gets a local IPv6 address and stays stuck in .preparing. The condition does not self-heal and is not cleared by restarting the app — only a reboot (or wifip2pd restart) recovers Wi-Fi Aware. Configuration iPhone 16 Pro Max, iOS 26.5 Network framework (new Swift NetworkConnection / NetworkBrowser Wi-Fi Aware API) System component: wifip2pd Where the problem is The leak and the failure are entirely inside wifip2pd (the per-process descriptor table fills up). The chain is: fd leak in wifip2pd → EMFILE ("Too many open files", errno 24) → socket() fails → cannot set nan0 IPv6 link-local address (Apple80211 ioctl on invalid fd → EBADF) → app NWConnection NWPath = satisfied but localEndpoint = nil → NetworkConnection stuck in .preparing, times out Abnormal console logs (the evidence) The smoking-gun lines from the unified log / Console (process wifip2pd): wifip2pd <Error> Failed to create socket: Too many open files wifip2pd <Error> Failed to update nan0 IPv6 address to [fe80::30c1:22ff:fe97:fefb] (from [fe80::e8a0:9bff:fe25:4d5c]) because <Apple80211Error Bad file descriptor> wifip2pd <Error> nw_path_shared_necp_fd necp_open failed [24: Too many open files] # errno 24 = EMFILE wifip2pd(Network) <Error> File descriptor is bad, could not create socket Counts over one ~11.5-minute failing capture: wifip2pd "Too many open files": 45 occurrences (a healthy capture has 0). nan0 IPv6 address update: 2 success / 13 fail (the 2 successes are before exhaustion; everything after fails with "Bad file descriptor"). Healthy device, for contrast — the IPv6 update succeeds on every NAN MAC rotation, and the app connection then works: wifip2pd Successfully updated nan0 IPv6 address to [fe80::f4c4:14ff:fe28:784a] # → app NWPath: status=satisfied, local=fe80::f4c4:14ff:fe28:784a%nan0 → NetworkConnection .ready Two facts that localize the bug: The leak is in wifip2pd, not the app. wifip2pd is one persistent daemon (constant pid) whose fd count only grows; the client app was restarted multiple times during the test and that did not release the descriptors. All "Too many open files" lines are emitted by wifip2pd. The NDP datapath itself still succeeds — only socket/interface-address configuration fails: kernel nan0: handleDataPathEstablished: NAN-DP Data path ESTABLISHED ... encrypt 1, EstDPs 1 wifip2pd #### Data Confirmed With Peer: ... port: 9004 Application-layer symptom (developer-facing) The same client code works before exhaustion and fails after: Before: NetworkConnection<UDP> reaches .ready; NWPath.localEndpoint = fe80::…%nan0. After: NetworkConnection<UDP> stays .preparing; every onPathUpdate reports status=satisfied, interfaces=["nan0"], local=nil; it times out and retries forever. The decisive developer-visible signal is NWPath.status == .satisfied together with localEndpoint == nil on nan0. Correlating timestamps confirms the contradiction: the console shows Data Confirmed With Peer ... port 9004 ~9–10 s before the app's NetworkConnection gives up, while the matching nan0 IPv6 update fails with "Bad file descriptor". The datapath is up at L2, but the connection is unusable because no local address was ever assigned. Steps to Reproduce Pair an iPhone with a Wi-Fi Aware peer that publishes a datapath service (_media-sync._udp, paired device, NCS-SK-CCM-128). Repeatedly establish and tear down the NDP datapath. In our case the peer device repeatedly powers off/on; each cycle forces a fresh browse + re-pair + NDP establish (the peer's NAN MAC is randomized each boot). Loop this; wifip2pd is never restarted, so the leak accumulates (failure appeared by ~the 9th iteration). Expected vs Actual Expected: wifip2pd releases the descriptors of each completed/torn-down browse/subscribe/datapath session; fd count stays bounded; nan0 IPv6 updates keep succeeding; NetworkConnection reaches .ready. Actual: wifip2pd fd count grows until EMFILE; nan0 IPv6 update then fails permanently; NetworkConnection is stuck .preparing for the rest of the wifip2pd process lifetime. Impact Any app using Wi-Fi Aware NDP datapaths under frequent connect/teardown eventually loses all Wi-Fi Aware connectivity. The failure is sticky for the wifip2pd lifetime and is invisible to / unrecoverable by the client app. Workaround Reboot the device (resets wifip2pd). The client can only slow the leak (fewer reconnects, prompt release of NetworkConnection), not prevent it, since the descriptors leak inside wifip2pd. To confirm / fix A sysdiagnose captured during the reproduction should show wifip2pd's open-fd count growing monotonically per connect/teardown cycle (which descriptor type leaks per browse/subscribe/datapath). Repro signature to grep in the logs: wifip2pd emitting Failed to create socket: Too many open files, necp_open failed [24: Too many open files], and Failed to update nan0 IPv6 address ... Apple80211Error Bad file descriptor.

Hello Apple Developer Forums, We are evaluating AccessorySetupKit for onboarding a custom Wi-Fi smart-home accessory. Our main goal is to achieve password-less Wi-Fi provisioning, meaning the user would not need to manually type a Wi-Fi password or setup/pairing code during onboarding. We would like to understand whether ASK currently supports, or is intended to support: Secure Wi-Fi credential provisioning through system APIs Fully system-mediated onboarding flows Provisioning for headless/no-display accessories More specifically: Can password-less Wi-Fi provisioning be implemented using only public ASK APIs? Is a pairing/setup code always required? Or are developers still expected to use temporary AP mode and custom credential transfer flows? We are trying to determine the recommended onboarding architecture for future products. Thank you.

Hello! I have an accessory, which is paired already with an iPhone, and am attempting to upgrade its SSID permission to Wi-Fi Aware. In ideal conditions, it works perfectly. However, if I dismiss the picker at the time of pin-code entry, I am unable to re-initialize an upgrade authorization picker. Even though the authorization is not completed a WAPairedDeviceID is assigned to the object of 18446744073709551615. Any subsequent attempts to start the picker up again spits out when treated as a failure serves: [ERROR] updateAuthorization error=Error Domain=ASErrorDomain Code=450 "No new updates detected from existing accessory descriptor." Attempting with a mutated descriptor serves: [ERROR] updateAuthorization error=Error Domain=ASErrorDomain Code=450 "Accessory cannot be upgraded with given descriptor." If I try using failAuthorization i get a 550 "Invalid State" error and furthermore if I try finishAuthorization to attempt to clear the descriptor/paired device ID it fails to clear it. If I could be pointed to the intended behavior on how to handle this, or this can be acknowledged as a bug, that would be incredibly appreciated. Thank you!

Environment Xcode 26.5 beta iOS 26.5 beta Using AccessorySetupKit + AccessoryTransportExtension framework Three extensions: AccessoryTransportAppExtension, AccessoryTransportSecurityExtension, AccessoryDataProviderExtension Background Everything worked correctly on iOS 26.4 beta. All three extensions shared the entitlement com.apple.developer.accessory-transport-extension, and the system launched them as expected. After upgrading to iOS 26.5 beta (both Xcode and device), the app compiles and runs, the accessory pairs and connects successfully (state = authorized, BLE connected, notification forwarding = allow), but none of the extensions are launched by the system. Investigation Captured system Console logs from the device and found these errors from deviceaccessd: error deviceaccessd ### Extension 'com.huami.NotificationForwardingDemo.AccessoryDataProviderExtension' is missing entitlement: com.apple.developer.accessory-data-provider for com.apple.accessory-data-provider error deviceaccessd ### Extension 'com.huami.NotificationForwardingDemo.AccessoryTransportSecurityExtension' is missing entitlement: com.apple.developer.accessory-transport-security for com.apple.accessory-transport-security It appears that iOS 26.5 now requires per-extension-type entitlements instead of the shared one. On iOS 26.4, all three extensions used com.apple.developer.accessory-transport-extension and it worked. On iOS 26.5, deviceaccessd now expects com.apple.developer.accessory-transport-security for the security extension and com.apple.developer.accessory-data-provider for the data provider extension. The transport app extension did not report an error, so it may still accept the old entitlement. Attempted Fix Changed the entitlement keys in the .entitlements files to match what deviceaccessd expects. Xcode fails to build with: ▎ Entitlement com.apple.developer.accessory-data-provider not found and could not be included in profile. This likely is not a valid entitlement and should be removed from your entitlements file. Root Cause Checked Apple Developer Portal — only one capability is available: "Accessory Transport Extension", which maps to com.apple.developer.accessory-transport-extension. There are no separate capability options for the new entitlements. The iOS 26.5 beta system requires new per-extension-type entitlements, but the provisioning system does not yet support them. This makes it impossible to build a working AccessoryTransport app on iOS 26.5 beta. Request Please either add the new entitlement capabilities (com.apple.developer.accessory-transport-security, com.apple.developer.accessory-data-provider) to the Apple Developer Portal, or restore backward compatibility with com.apple.developer.accessory-transport-extension in deviceaccessd.

I'm integrating AccessorySetupKit for BLE earbuds discovery and running into an issue with ASDiscoveryDescriptor configuration. Our earbuds don't have a fixed Bluetooth SIG company identifier. So I'm trying to use bluetoothNameSubstring + bluetoothServiceUUID instead. However, this combination never discovers any devices. The picker appears but stays empty. As soon as I add a bluetoothCompanyIdentifier, the device is found instantly. I reproduced this with my Bose QC35 II as well, so it's not specific to our hardware. My configuration: bluetoothServiceUUID: set to our custom UUID bluetoothNameSubstring: set to a substring matching the advertised device name NSAccessorySetupBluetoothServices + NSAccessorySetupBluetoothNames both set in Info.plist supportedOptions: .bluetoothPairingLE iOS 26.3.1, iPhone 11 The documentation doesn't mention that bluetoothCompanyIdentifier is required. Is bluetoothCompanyIdentifier actually required for BLE discovery? If so, is there a recommended approach for devices that don't have a fixed company identifier?

Environment iOS Version: 26.4 Beta (Build 17E5170d) Xcode Version: 26.4 Beta Framework: AccessoryNotifications, AccessoryTransportExtension Description When implementing AccessoryNotifications.NotificationsForwarding.AccessoryNotificationsHandler, I'm unable to retrieve the URL for sourceIcon from AccessoryNotification. The file.url property throws AccessoryError error 0 with the message "unable to get file URL". Code Sample func add( notification: AccessoryNotification, alertingContext: AlertingContext, alertCoordinator: any AlertCoordinating ) { Task { if let sourceIcon = notification.sourceIcon { do { let url = try await sourceIcon.url // Throws AccessoryError error 0 let data = try Data(contentsOf: url) // Process icon data... } catch { print("Failed to get sourceIcon URL: (error)") // Error: The operation couldn't be completed. // (AccessoryNotifications.AccessoryError error 0.) } } } } Observed Behavior The sourceIcon property is present and its type is correctly reported as public.image: │ sourceIcon : present │ type.identifier : public.image │ type.description : image │ url : (error: The operation couldn't be completed. (AccessoryNotifications.AccessoryError error 0.)) Error details: Error: customError(message: "unable to get file URL") Type: AccessoryError Code: 0 Expected Behavior The file.url property should return a valid URL that allows reading the source icon image data, or the documentation should clarify any limitations or prerequisites for accessing this resource. Questions Is this a known limitation in the current beta? Are there additional entitlements or permissions required to access sourceIcon.url? Is there an alternative API to retrieve the actual image data for sourceIcon? Additional Context The same error occurs when accessing url in both describeNotification (debug logging) and sendAttachment methods contextIcon is typically nil for the notifications tested (e.g., WeChat messages) The notification metadata (title, body, actions, etc.) is correctly received

We are observing some unexpected behavior in our app when using ASK. Our app is able to successfully discover and set up an accessory via ASK. After the setup completes, the connection to the accessory is managed through CBCentralManager and works as expected. However, when we attempt to discover another accessory afterward, the picker is shown and indicates that accessory discovery is in progress. After approximately 10 seconds, the CBCentralManager delegate reports the Bluetooth state as poweredOff. Once this happens, the state never transitions back to poweredOn. At this point, the only way to reconnect to the device or continue discovery is to relaunch the app. We are wondering if anyone else has encountered similar behavior, or if this is a known or documented limitation/behavior when using ASK in combination with CBCentralManager.

Greetings, According to Apple's Wi-Fi Aware documentation (https://developer.apple.com/documentation/wifiaware) the Wi-Fi Aware APIs can be used only with peer devices that have been paired. Pairing can be performed using AccessorySetupKit or DeviceDiscoveryUI. Unfortunately, the sample code for Wi-Fi Aware doesn't include either of these APIs. (https://developer.apple.com/documentation/wifiaware/building-peer-to-peer-apps) Looking at the sample code for AccessorySetupKit (https://developer.apple.com/documentation/accessorysetupkit/setting-up-and-authorizing-a-bluetooth-accessory) there is only an example using Bluetooth. And the AccessorySetupKit APIs don't yet document how Wi-Fi Aware is used or how one sets up the Info.plist with the appropriate keys. Can Apple update its example code to fill in these gaps or point me to documentation that can fill in these gaps? It is hard to develop an understanding of the capabilities of these APIs when they are so poorly documented. Thanks for any help, Smith

This is not a question but rather a small bit of documentation on how Accessory Setup Kit actually works. I spent a couple days figuring this out so I thought let's share my findings. The example app is very light and the documentation definitely has room for improvement so here are a couple important notes. Findings: If you're running > iOS 18 and add any property to your Info.plist file you're no longer able to scan for devices by using CBCentralManager.scanForPeriphals. This will no longer return discoverable devices. Below iOS 18 these properties in the Info.plist are ignored by the OS and you can safely use the "legacy" method of connecting to bluetooth devices. If you're running > iOS 26 the removeAccessory will show a prompt to the user. If you're running < 26 you can silently remove the accessory and start each session with a clean state. If you create CBCentralManager before you start the ASK session you'll not get the state = PoweredOn. If you have 0 accessories connected to your application CBCentralManager will never enter the state = PoweredOn when you create the CBCentralManager. Pre-ASK this would be the trigger for iOS to ask the user permission. This is no longer necessary with ASK. If you have have 1 or more accessories authorized to your app this will be returned in the session.accessories after the session has started. This is an important indicator to determine app behavior. If you have 1 or more accessories CBCentralManager.scanForPeripherals will ONLY return previously authorized AND discoverable devices. Use this for when you want to connect to a previously authorized device. If you have 1 or more accessories and the CBCentralManager.scanForPeripherals returns nothing you can (safely) assume the user attempts to onboard a new device. So for my application I take the following steps: Check for iOS version, if > iOS 18 start ASK session. Are there previously authorized devices? -- yes: run CBCentralManger.scanForPeripherals -- no: show the picker Did the scan return any devices? -- yes: show UI to select device or connect with first available device in the list -- no: show the picker Feel free to add any of your findings and @Apple please update the documentation!

We are currently planning to develop a third‑party hardware accessory that supports Wi‑Fi Aware using AccessorySetupKit on iOS, based on the official documentation: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/accessorysetupkit/ Before finalizing our hardware and firmware design, we would like to better understand the real‑world behavior and user experience of Wi‑Fi Aware in actual third‑party accessories. Specifically, we would like to ask: Existing Third‑Party Hardware Are there any commercially available third‑party accessories (not Apple products) that already support Wi‑Fi Aware via AccessorySetupKit? If so, are there any public examples, reference designs, or recommended products we can purchase to observe the real onboarding, discovery, and pairing experience? Reference or Evaluation Hardware Does Apple provide any reference hardware, evaluation kits, or recommended vendor solutions (for example, based on common Wi‑Fi chipsets) that are known to work well with Wi‑Fi Aware on iOS? Are there specific Wi‑Fi chipset vendors that have validated interoperability with AccessorySetupKit? Practical Behavior and Limitations In real usage, what are the typical discovery latency, reliability, and background/foreground behavior developers should expect? Are there known limitations or best practices when designing hardware that relies on Wi‑Fi Aware for initial accessory discovery and setup? Our goal is to evaluate the feasibility and user experience of Wi‑Fi Aware for third‑party accessories by testing against existing implementations or recommended hardware, before investing heavily in custom hardware development. Any guidance, examples, or pointers to existing accessories or partners would be greatly appreciated.