I'm using UIDocumentPickerViewController to open a url. Works fine in debug mode but version on the App Store is failing. Code to create the document picker is like: NSArray *theTypes = [UTType typesWithTag:@"docxtensionhere" tagClass:UTTagClassFilenameExtension conformingToType:nil]; UIDocumentPickerViewController *documentPicker = [[UIDocumentPickerViewController alloc]initForOpeningContentTypes:theTypes]; documentPicker.delegate = self;   [self presentViewController:documentPicker animated:YES completion:nil]; So in debug mode this is all gravy. -documentPicker:didPickDocumentsAtURLs: passes back a URL and I can read the file. In release mode I get a URL but my app is denied access to read the file. After inspecting some logging it appears the sandbox is not granting my app permission. error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=257 "The file “Filename.fileextensionhere” couldn’t be opened because you don’t have permission to view it." UserInfo={NSFilePath=/private/var/mobile/Library/Mobile Documents/comappleCloudDocs/Filename.fileextensionhere, NSUnderlyingError=0x2834c9da0 {Error Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=1 "Operation not permitted"}} -- If I'm doing something wrong with UIDocumentPickerViewController it is a real shame that permission is not being denied in Debug mode, as devs are more likely to catch in prior to release. Anyone know where I'm going wrong and if not have a workaround? Thanks in advance.

I have created a sample app which read/write from a network file. When the file was attempted to open (using open Linux API), connection to network file was lost. The thread which was stuck on the open method, returns after a long time. It was observed that for macOS, the maximum return time of the thread was around 10 mins, whereas in Windows and Linux, the maximum timeout was 60 sec and 90 sec. macOS has a very large timeout before returning the thread with a network failure error. Is this by designed and expected? With a large timeout as 10mins, it's difficult to respond swiftly back to the user.

Hi, The app that I'm developing requires data transfer between iOS device and external device through usb-c cable connection. So I'm trying to copy and paste the file between iOS and external storage device automactically. I've tried using UIDocuementPickerController with bookmark, which gives the url path of connected external storage after user selection for the first selection, but it could not be used directly without user interaction afterwards. Is it possible to use the storage url path automatically after user selection for the first time? How do I achieve that? Thanks in advance

I have an iOS app that allows user to select a folder (from local Files). User is seemingly capable selecting the "On My iPhone" folder (the "Open" button is enabled, clickable and when it is tapped the app gets the relevant URL) although there's nothing in that folder apart from ".trash" item. Is selecting that folder not supported? If not why is the "Open" button enabled on that level to begin with?

Hi, I'm trying to mount my FSKit volume with a client app (SwiftUI). I already successfully did it with the "mount" command and I can instantiate my file-system with FSPathURLResource. Also, I managed to mount the file-system with DiskArbitration in a SwiftUI app, but I only managed to get it working with FSBlockDeviceResource. Is there a way to programmatically do it in a client app? Or is "mount" command currently the only option?

Hello! I am trying to automate iOS builds for my Unreal Engine game using Unreal Automation Tool, but I cannot produce a functionnal build with it, while packaging from XCode works perfectly. I have tracked down the issue to a missing file. I'm using the Firebase SDK that requires a GoogleService-Info.plist file. I have copied this file at the root of my project, as the Firebase documentation suggests. I have not taken any manual action to specify that this file needs to be included in the packaged app. The Firebase code checks the existence of this file using NSString* Path = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource: @“GoogleService-Info” ofType: @“plist”]; return Path != nil; If I package my app from XCode using Product -> Archive, this test returns true and the SDK is properly initialized. If I package my app using Unreal Engine's RunUAT.sh BuildCookRun, this test returns false and the SDK fails to initialize (and actually crashes upon trying). I have tried several Unreal Engine tricks to include my file, like setting it as a RuntimeDependecies in my projects Build.cs file. Which enables Unreal Engine code to find it, but not this direct call to NSBundle. I would like to know either how to tell Unreal Engine to include files at the root of the app bundle, or what XCode does to automatically include this file and is there a way to script it? I can provide both versions .xcarchive if needed. Thanks!

(Using macOS 26 Beta 9 and Xcode 26 Beta 7) I am trying to support basic onDrop from a source app to my app. I am trying to get the closest "source" representation of a drag-and-drop, e.g. a JPEG file being dropped into my app shouldn't be converted, but stored as a JPEG in Data. Otherwise, everything gets converted into TIFFs and modern iPhone photos get huge. I also try to be a good app, and provide asynchronous support. Alas, I've been running around for days now, where I can now support Drag-and-Drop from the Finder, from uncached iCloud files with Progress bar, but so far, drag and dropping from Safari eludes me. My code is as follows for the onDrop support: Image(nsImage: data.image).onDrop(of: Self.supportedDropItemUTIs, delegate: self) The UTIs are as follows: public static let supportedDropItemUTIs: [UTType] = [ .image, .heif, .rawImage, .png, .tiff, .svg, .heic, .jpegxl, .bmp, .gif, .jpeg, .webP, ] Finally, the code is as follows: public func performDrop(info: DropInfo) -> Bool { let itemProviders = info.itemProviders(for: Self.supportedDropItemUTIs) guard let itemProvider = itemProviders.first else { return false } let registeredContentTypes = itemProvider.registeredContentTypes guard let contentType = registeredContentTypes.first else { return false } var suggestedName = itemProvider.suggestedName if suggestedName == nil { switch contentType { case UTType.bmp: suggestedName = "image.bmp" case UTType.gif: suggestedName = "image.gif" case UTType.heic: suggestedName = "image.heic" case UTType.jpeg: suggestedName = "image.jpeg" case UTType.jpegxl: suggestedName = "image.jxl" case UTType.png: suggestedName = "image.png" case UTType.rawImage: suggestedName = "image.raw" case UTType.svg: suggestedName = "image.svg" case UTType.tiff: suggestedName = "image.tiff" case UTType.webP: suggestedName = "image.webp" default: break } } let progress = itemProvider.loadInPlaceFileRepresentation(forTypeIdentifier: contentType.identifier) { url, _, error in if let error { print("Failed to get URL from dropped file: \(error)") return } guard let url else { print("Failed to get URL from dropped file!") return } let queue = OperationQueue() queue.underlyingQueue = .global(qos: .utility) let intent = NSFileAccessIntent.readingIntent(with: url, options: .withoutChanges) let coordinator = NSFileCoordinator() coordinator.coordinate(with: [intent], queue: queue) { error in if let error { print("Failed to coordinate data from dropped file: \(error)") return } do { // Load file contents into Data object let data = try Data(contentsOf: intent.url) Dispatch.DispatchQueue.main.async { self.data.data = data self.data.fileName = suggestedName } } catch { print("Failed to load coordinated data from dropped file: \(error)") } } } DispatchQueue.main.async { self.progress = progress } return true } For your information, this code is at the state where I gave up and sent it here, because I cannot find a solution to my issue. Now, this code works everywhere, except for dragging and dropping from Safari. Let's pretend I go to this web site: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tulip_Tulipa_clusiana_%27Lady_Jane%27_Rock_Ledge_Flower_Edit_2000px.jpg and I try to drag-and-drop the image, it will fail with the following error: URL https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/Tulip_Tulipa_clusiana_%27Lady_Jane%27_Rock_Ledge_Flower_Edit_2000px.jpg is not a file:// URL. And then, fail with the dreaded Failed to get URL from dropped file: Error Domain=NSItemProviderErrorDomain Code=-1000 As far as I can tell, the problem lies in the opaque NSItemProvider receiving a web site URL from Safari. I tried most solutions, I couldn't retrieve that URL. The error happens in the callback of loadInPlaceFileRepresentation, but also fails in loadFileRepresentation. I tried hard-requesting a loadObject of type URL, but there's only one representation for the JPEG file. I tried only putting .url in the requests, but it would not transfer it. Anyone solved this mystery?

Hello, The customer requires transparent data encryption within their DLP system. All data on external storage must be encrypted and decrypted transparently. How can the data stream (read/write) be controlled? Are there any recommended way? Thank you in advance!

I have an iOS app that allows user to select a folder (from Files). I want to bookmark that folder and later on (perhaps on a different launch of the app) access the contents of it. Is that scenario supported or not? Can't make it work for some reason (e.g. I'm getting no error from the call to create a bookmark, from a call to resolve the bookmark, the folder URL is not stale, but... startAccessingSecurityScopedResource() is returning false.

I just saw another post regarding bookmarks on iOS where an Apple engineer made the following statement: [quote='855165022, DTS Engineer, /thread/797469?answerId=855165022#855165022'] macOS is better at enforcing the "right" behavior, so code that works there will generally work on iOS. [/quote] So I went back to my macOS code to double-check. Sure enough, the following statement: let bookmark = try url.bookmarkData(options: .withSecurityScope) fails 100% of the time. I had seen earlier statements from other DTS Engineers recommending that any use of a URL be bracketed by start/stopAccessingSecurityScopedResource. And that makes a lot of sense. If "start" returns true, then call stop. But if start returns false, then it isn't needed, so don't call stop. No harm, no foul. But what's confusing is this other, directly-related API where a security-scoped bookmark cannot be created under any circumstances because of the URL itself, some specific way the URL was initially created, and/or manipulated? So, what I'm asking is if someone could elaborate on what would cause a failure to create a security-scoped bookmark? What kinds of URLs are valid for creation of security-scoped bookmarks? Are there operations on a URL that will then cause a failure to create a security-scoped bookmark? Is it allowed to pass the URL and/or bookmark back and forth between Objective-C and Swift? I'm developing a new macOS app for release in the Mac App Store. I'm initially getting my URL from an NSOpenPanel. Then I store it in a SQLite database. I may access the URL again, after a restart, or after a year. I have a login item that also needs to read the database and access the URL. I have additional complications as well, but they don't really matter. Before I get to any of that, I get a whole volume URL from an NSOpen panel in Swift, then, almost immediately, attempt to create a security-scoped bookmark. I cannot. I've tried many different combinations of options and flows of operation, but obviously not all. I think this started happening with macOS 26, but that doesn't really matter. If this is new behaviour in macOS 26, then I must live with it. My particular use requires a URL to a whole volume. Because of this, I don't actually seem to need a security-scoped bookmark at all. So I think I might simply get lucky for now. But this still bothers me. I don't really like being lucky. I'd rather be right. I have other apps in development where this could be a bigger problem. It seems like I will need completely separate URL handling logic based on the type of URL the user selects. And what of document-scoped URLs? This experience seems to strongly indicate that security-scoped URLs should only ever be document-scoped. I think in some of my debugging efforts I tried document-scoped URLs. They didn't fix the problem, but they seemed to make the entire process more straightforward and transparent. Can a single metadata-hosting file host multiple security-scoped bookmarks? Or should I have a separate one for each bookmark? But the essence of my question is that this is supposed to be simple operation that, in certain cases, is a guaranteed failure. There are a mind-bogglingly large number of potential options and logic flows. Does there exist a set of options and logic flows for which the user can select a URL, any URL, with the explicit intent to persist it, and that my app can save, share with helper apps, and have it all work normally after restart?

We're trying to implement a backup/restore data feature in our business productivity iPad app using UIDocumentPickerViewController and AppleArchive, but discovered odd behavior of [UIDocumentPickerViewController initForOpeningContentTypes: asCopy:YES] when reading large archive files from a USB drive. We've duplicated this behavior with iPadOS 16.6.1 and 17.7 when building our app with Xcode 15.4 targeting minimum deployment of iPadOS 16. We haven't tested this with bleeding edge iPadOS 18. Here's our Objective-C code which presents the picker: NSArray* contentTypeArray = @[UTTypeAppleArchive]; UIDocumentPickerViewController* docPickerVC = [[UIDocumentPickerViewController alloc] initForOpeningContentTypes:contentTypeArray asCopy:YES]; docPickerVC.delegate = self; docPickerVC.allowsMultipleSelection = NO; docPickerVC.shouldShowFileExtensions = YES; docPickerVC.modalPresentationStyle = UIModalPresentationPopover; docPickerVC.popoverPresentationController.sourceView = self.view; [self presentViewController:docPickerVC animated:YES completion:nil]; The UIDocumentPickerViewController remains visible until the selected external archive file has been copied from the USB drive to the app's local tmp sandbox. This may take several seconds due to the slow access speed of the USB drive. During this time the UIDocumentPickerViewController does NOT disable its tableview rows displaying files found on the USB drive. Even the most patient user will tap the desired filename a second (or third or fourth) time since the user's initial tap appears to have been ignored by UIDocumentPickerViewController, which lacks sufficient UI feedback showing it's busy copying the selected file. When the user taps the file a second time, UIDocumentPickerViewController apparently begins to copy the archive file once again. The end result is a truncated copy of the selected file based on the time between taps. For instance, a 788 MB source archive may be copied as a 56 MB file. Here, the UIDocumentPickerDelegate receives a 56 MB file instead of the original 788 MB of data. Not surprisingly, AppleArchive fails to decrypt the local copy of the archive because it's missing data. Instead of failing gracefully, AppleArchive crashes in AAArchiveStreamClose() (see forums post 765102 for details). Does anyone know if there's a workaround for this strange behavior of UIDocumentPickerViewController?

I ave an application that makes use of charts. I would like to have a button for the user to save the chart as a PDF. I tried to have the button save the PDF to the user's document directory directly. That attempt failed. But I was able to save the PDF to the application sandboxed documents directory. The question is how to programmatically move that file from the application documents folder to the user's general documents folder. So far I have not been able to find a method that will move the PDF file. Any ideas?

📢 Complaint: Severe “System Data” ballooning bug on iPad Pro M4 (iPadOS 17 → 18.6.2). “System Data” (formerly “Other”) grows abnormally from ~3 GB → 70–90 GB in just months. Deleting files, exporting PDFs, uninstalling apps, or clearing trash does not free space. The only “fix” Apple Support suggests is erase & restore — which works temporarily but always comes back within 1–3 months. 🔎 Problem Summary • Growth: 3 GB → 40 GB (1 month) → 58 GB (2 months) → 70 GB+ (3 months). • After erase: drops temporarily, then climbs again. • Multiple resets done — issue always returns. • Confirmed across users (see YouTube: ajXyDCLoLOA, cnOGeI8X-Fc). • Apple Support Case IDs filed (master: 102671138516). • Feedback Assistant report: FB19812484. 📝 Steps to Reproduce (consistent) 1. GoodNotes – Export/merge PDFs, sync large files → System Data grows even after clearing trash. 2. DocScanner (Lufick) – Import + delete scans → cache remains. 3. Apple Scan to PDF / Files – Scan 24 images, merge, delete originals → System Data increases 2–3× file size. 4. External drives (NTFS/exFAT) – Just plugging in causes spikes. 5. Photos Recycle Bin bug – Deleting files increases System Data. ⚠️ Impact • iPad becomes unusable every few months as storage fills. • GoodNotes syncs (30GB+) require full reinstall → takes >1 day. • Device has even frozen on Apple logo (Case: 102456432522). • Breaks productivity workflows: scanning, exporting, file transfers all trigger ballooning. ❌ Apple’s Responses So Far • Force restart → no effect. • Uninstall/reinstall apps → cache remains. • Format → temporary relief only. • “Stop using pen drive” → not a solution. • “Keep reporting” → no updates received. Translation: Apple provides no real tool to manage System Data. Users are stuck in endless erase/restore cycles. 🎯 Request to Apple 1. Add “Clear System Data / Clear Cache” option in Settings. 2. Fix caching bugs in GoodNotes, DocScanner, Scan to PDF, and Files. 3. Ensure deleted files + app data are actually purged. 4. Provide transparency: show what System Data contains (caches, logs, orphaned DBs). 5. Improve external storage handling — plugging in drives should not balloon space. 📌 Final Note This is not expected behavior. It’s a design flaw in iPadOS storage management. On macOS, users have visibility into caches and cleanup tools. On iPadOS, everything is hidden. Without proper cache controls, iPad Pro cannot be a reliable “Pro” device — only one that forces constant resets. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ACT4OtMrFQYciiJg6N4ENriMbnvAcNgc/view?usp=drivesdk

In the context of a FPUIActionExtensionViewController module the prepare method is defined like this: override func prepare(forAction actionIdentifier: String, itemIdentifiers: [NSFileProviderItemIdentifier]) { So you would expect the itemIdentifiers list to be the item identifier but instead it is a list of the internal fileprovider IDs like: __fp/fs/docID(6595461) So this is a bit problematic because the only way to recover the ID is by using getUserVisibleURL to get the path which is not great. Is there a better way ? Am I missing something ? Thanks,

I've gotten to the point where I can use the mount(8) command line tool and the -t option to mount a file system using my FSKit file system extension, in which case I can see a process for my extension launch, probe, and perform the other necessary actions. However, when plugging in my USB flash drive or trying to mount with diskutil mount, the file system does not mount: $ diskutil mount disk20s3 Volume on disk20s3 failed to mount If you think the volume is supported but damaged, try the "readOnly" option $ diskutil mount readOnly disk20s3 Volume on disk20s3 failed to mount If you think the volume is supported but damaged, try the "readOnly" option Initially I thought it would be enough to just implement probeExtension(resource:replyHandler:) and the system would handle the rest, but this doesn't seem to be the case. Even a trivial implementation that always returns .usable doesn't cause the system to use my FSModule, even though I've enabled my extension in System Settings > General > Login Items & Extensions > File System Extensions. From looking at some of the open source msdos and Disk Arb code, it seems like my app extension needs to list FSMediaTypes to probe. I eventually tried putting this in my Info.plist of the app extension: <key>FSMediaTypes</key> <dict> <key>EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7</key> <dict> <key>FSMediaProperties</key> <dict> <key>Content Hint</key> <string>EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7</string> <key>Leaf</key> <true/> </dict> </dict> <key>0FC63DAF-8483-4772-8E79-3D69D8477DE4</key> <dict> <key>FSMediaProperties</key> <dict> <key>Content Hint</key> <string>0FC63DAF-8483-4772-8E79-3D69D8477DE4</string> <key>Leaf</key> <true/> </dict> </dict> <key>Whole</key> <dict> <key>FSMediaProperties</key> <dict> <key>Leaf</key> <true/> <key>Whole</key> <true/> </dict> </dict> <key>ext4</key> <dict> <key>FSMediaProperties</key> <dict> <key>Content Hint</key> <string>ext4</string> <key>Leaf</key> <true/> </dict> </dict> </dict> </plist> (For reference, the partition represented by disk20s3 has a Content Hint of 0FC63DAF-8483-4772-8E79-3D69D8477DE4 and Leaf is True which I verified using IORegistryExplorer.app from the Xcode additional tools.) Looking in Console it does appear now that the system is trying to use my module (ExtendFS_fskit) to probe when I plug in my USB drive, but I never see a process for my extension actually launch when trying to attach to it from Xcode by name (unlike when I use mount(8), where I can do this). However I do see a Can't find the extension for <private> error which I'm not sure is related but does sound like the system can't find the extension for some reason. The below messages are when filtering for "FSKit": default 19:14:53.455826-0400 diskarbitrationd probed disk, id = /dev/disk20s3, with ExtendFS_fskit, ongoing. default 19:14:53.456038-0400 fskitd Incomming connection, entitled 1 default 19:14:53.456064-0400 fskitd [0x7d4172e40] activating connection: mach=false listener=false peer=true name=com.apple.filesystems.fskitd.peer[350].0x7d4172e40 default 19:14:53.456123-0400 fskitd Hello FSClient! entitlement yes default 19:14:53.455902-0400 diskarbitrationd [0x7461d8dc0] activating connection: mach=true listener=false peer=false name=com.apple.filesystems.fskitd default 19:14:53.456151-0400 diskarbitrationd Setting remote protocol to all XPC default 19:14:53.456398-0400 fskitd About to get current agent for 501 default 19:14:53.457185-0400 diskarbitrationd probed disk, id = /dev/disk20s3, with ExtendFS_fskit, failure. error 19:14:53.456963-0400 fskitd -[fskitdXPCServer applyResource:targetBundle:instanceID:initiatorAuditToken:authorizingAuditToken:isProbe:usingBlock:]: Can't find the extension for <private> (I only see these messages after plugging my USB drive in. When running diskutil mount, I see no messages in the console when filtering by FSKit, diskarbitrationd, or ExtendFS afterward. It just fails.) Is there a step I'm missing to get this to work, or would this be an FSKit bug/current limitation?

After perusing the sources of Apple's SMB and NFS clients' implementation of VNOP_MONITOR, my understanding of how VNOP_MONITOR+vnode_notify() operate is as follows: A user-space process advertises an interest in monitoring a file or directory via kqueue(2)/kevent(2). VFS calls the filesystem's implementation of VNOP_MONITOR. VNOP_MONITOR forwards the commencing or terminating of monitoring events request to the filesystem server. Network filesystem client nodes call vnode_notify() to notify the underlying VFS of a filesystem event, e.g. file/directory creation/removal, etc. What I'm still vague about is how does the server communicate back to client nodes that an event of interest has occurred? I'd appreciate being enlightened on the operation of `VNOP_MONITOR+vnode_notify()' in a network filesystem setting.

Hi all, I’m trying to add a file to a game on my iPhone via my MacBook. Now we have no iTunes connecting with the cable brings up the same menus however I’m being told I have to reset my iPhone back to factory settings to do this (see attached). I’m on IOS26 beta 6. A couple of questions I’ve backed up via iCloud, if I reset would I be able to reset it right back to my current set up with the beta, would I lose anything? Is there another way to connect to my MacBook to enable access to the games and files that would allow me to do a minor change without having to reset?

I know you guys probably dont care or what to help with this but I got taken down in the support communities because I simply run a beta version (didn’t even discuss it) but here we go **My MacBook Air has multiple accounts and the other users & shared category takes up 100+ gb. When I sign into one of the accounts, that 100+ gb gets moved to System Data. When I look in finder, the user only seems to take up 12 gb, though. I’ve shown hidden items and looked through the library, but it’s not showing anything that’s taking up that much space! **

Hi Apple team, I'm experiencing a persistent issue with writing to UserDefaults from a widget extension on iOS. Here's the situation: I've set up an App Group: group.test.blah The main app has the correct entitlement and can read/write from UserDefaults(suiteName:) using this group successfully. I can read the value written by the app from the widget (e.g., "testFromApp": "hiFromApp"). The widget extension has the same App Group enabled under Signing &amp; Capabilities. The provisioning profile reflects the App Group and the build installs successfully on a real device. The suite name is correct and matches across both targets. I’ve confirmed via FileManager.default.containerURL(...) that the app group container resolves properly. When I try to write from the widget extension like this let sharedDefaults = UserDefaults(suiteName: "group.test.blah") sharedDefaults?.set("hiFromWidget", forKey: "testFromWidget") ...I get this error in the console: Couldn't write values for keys ( testFromWidget ) in CFPrefsPlistSource&lt;0x1140d2880&gt; (Domain: group.test.blah, User: kCFPreferencesCurrentUser, ByHost: No, Container: (null), Contents Need Refresh: No): setting preferences outside an application's container requires user-preference-write or file-write-data sandbox access Questions: What could still cause the widget extension to lack write access to the app group container, even though it reads just fine? Are there any internal sandboxing nuances or timing-related issues specific to Live Activity widgets that could explain this? Is this a known limitation or platform issue?

working on app like dropbox and making a feature like dropbox offline download, so when a file is added from a system it will download in other system but as a placeholder file once user double click or open that file or after copy pasting to another location on demand need to download the file and after that do the action open or paste so here I need file open event and paste event to be block untill it downloads. how to achieve this uing obj c, c , c++ or swift