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Copy file in application document file to user Documents file
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?
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384
Sep ’25
iPadOS System Data Bug – Storage Ballooning 30–90GB (iPad Pro M4, iPadOS 17–18.6.2)
📢 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
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Aug ’25
How can I get the system to use my FSModule for probing?
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?
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848
Aug ’25
VNOP_MONITOR+vnode_notify() operation details
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.
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173
Aug ’25
Backup when wanting to connect to MacBook
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?
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Aug ’25
Help with storage on my Mac
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! **
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148
Aug ’25
Unable to Write to UserDefaults from Widget Extension Despite Correct App Group Configuration
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?
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285
Aug ’25
Macos File open, close, copy, paste event notification
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
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164
Aug ’25
Errors reading not-yet-sync'd iCloud files get cached
I have an app which uses ubiquitous containers and files in them to share data between devices. It's a bit unusual in that it indexes files in directories the user grants access to, which may or may not exist on a second device - those files are identified by SHA-1 hash. So a second device scanning before iCloud data has fully sync'd can create duplicate references which lead to an unpleasant user experience. To solve this, I store a small binary index in the root of the ubiquitous file container of the shared data, containing all of the known hashes, and as the user proceeds through the onboarding process, a background thread is attempting to "prime" the ubiquitous container by calling FileManager.default.startDownloadingUbiquitousItemAt() for each expected folder and file in a sane order. This likely creates a situation not anticipated by the iOS/iCloud integration's design, as it means my app has a sort of precognition of files it should not yet know about. In the common case, it works, but there is a corner case where iCloud sync has just begun, and very, very little metadata is available (the common case, however, in an emulator), in which two issues come up: I/O may hang indefinitely, trying to read a file as it is arriving. This one I can work around by running the I/O in a thread created with the POSIX pthread_create and using pthread_cancel to kill it after a timeout. Attempts to call FileManager.default.startDownloadingUbiquitousItemAt() fails with an error Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=257 "The file couldn’t be opened because you don’t have permission to view it.". The permissions aspect of it is nonsense, but I can believe there's no applicable "sort of exists, sort of doesn't" error code to use and someone punted. The problem is that this same error will be thrown on any attempt to access that file for the life of the application - a restart is required to make it usable. Clearly, the error or the hallucinated permission failure is cached somewhere in the bowels of iOS's FileManager. I was hoping startAccessingSecurityScopedResource() would allow me to bypass such a cache, as it does with URL.resourceValues() returning stale file sizes and last modified times. But it does not. Is there some way to clear this state without popping up a UI with an Exit button (not exactly the desired iOS user experience)?
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200
Aug ’25
Accessing/scanning the iOS Downloads folder (the one airdropped-to) from an app
Here's the problem I'm trying to solve: Create an iOS app which can scan the Downloads folder (where airdropped audio files arrive), identify audio media files, and play them, retaining some of its own metadata about them (basically, create textual notes mapped to timestamps and store that information in the apps own storage). I am not able to access that folder. I am able to get a path from NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(FileManager.SearchPathDirectory.downloadsDirectory, FileManager.SearchPathDomainMask(arrayLiteral: FileManager.SearchPathDomainMask.userDomainMask), true) or a URL from NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(FileManager.SearchPathDirectory.downloadsDirectory, FileManager.SearchPathDomainMask(arrayLiteral: FileManager.SearchPathDomainMask.userDomainMask), true) but let fileUrls = try fileManager.contentsOfDirectory(at:downloads, includingPropertiesForKeys: []) fails with an error that the folder does not actually exist, with or without a call to downloadsUrl.startAccessingSecurityScopedResource(). Determining whether this is a permissions issue, or if I'm getting a URL to an application-container local folder that has nothing to do with the one I am looking for is compounded by the fact that if I set the build setting Enable App Sandbox, then deployment to my phone fails with Failed to verify code signature. I have spent hours trying every possible combination of certificates and deployment profiles, and ensured that every possibly relevant certificate is trusted on my phone. Disable app-sandbox and it deploys fine, either with automatic signing or an explicit cert and profile. I have an entitlements file with the following - though, without the ability to enable app sandbox and run it on a phone with actual contents in the downloads folder, it is probably not affecting anything: &lt;key&gt;com.apple.security.files.downloads.read-only&lt;/key&gt; &lt;true/&gt; &lt;key&gt;com.apple.security.files.user-selected.read-only&lt;/key&gt; &lt;true/&gt; &lt;key&gt;com.apple.security.app-sandbox&lt;/key&gt; &lt;true/&gt; So, questions: Should the URL returned by the above call be the Downloads/ folder airdropped to in the first place? Or is it a URL to some app-local folder that does not exist? Does the entitlement com.apple.security.files.downloads.read-only even allow an app to list all files in the downloads directory (presumably asking the user's permission the first time), or does the permission only get requested when using a picker dialog? (the point here is to find any new audio files without making the user jump through hoops) If I could get it deployed with app-sandbox enabled, would the above code work? Backstory: I'm a software engineer, audio plugin author, Logic Pro user and musician. My workflow (and probably many other Logic user's) for work-in-progress music is to airdrop a mix to my phone, listen to it in a variety of places, make notes about what to change, edit - rinse and repeat. For years I used VLC for iOS to keep and play these in-progress mixes - you could airdrop and select VLC as the destination (yes, Logic can add to your Apple Music library, but trust me, you do not want 20 revisions of the same song cluttering your music library and sync'd to all your devices). Last year, the behavior of Airdrop changed so that the target app for audio is always Files, period, wrecking that workflow. While I eventually discovered that, with an elaborate and non-obvious dance of steps, it is possible to copy files into VLC's folders, and make them available that way, it is inconvenient, to say the least - and VLC is less than fabulous anyway - it would be nice to have an app that could associate to-do notes with specific timestamps in a tune, A/B compare sections between old and new versions and things like that. So, figuring sooner or later I was going to get into a car accident futzing with the Files app to listen to mixes while driving, perhaps I should write that app. But the ability to do that at all relies on the ability of an app to list and access the Downloads folder airdropped audio files land in (assuming the user has given permission to access it, but that should be needed once).
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Aug ’25
iCloud Drive Implementation Issue in My App
Hi, I'm having trouble implementing iCloud Drive in my app. I've already taken the obvious steps, including enabling iCloud Documents in Xcode and selecting a container. This container is correctly specified in my code, and in theory, everything should work. The data generated by my app should be saved to iCloud Drive in addition to local storage. The data does get stored in the Files app, but the automatic syncing to iCloud Drive doesn’t work as expected. I’ve also considered updating my .entitlements file. Since I’m at a loss, I’m reaching out for help maybe I’ve overlooked something important that's causing it not to work. If anyone has an idea, please let me know. Thanks in advance!
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177
Aug ’25
Drop file not found on MacBook Air
Hello everyone, I am new to swift development and I am currently facing a "bug". I am building, an app on my Mac mini. It's working fine on my machine but when exporting the executable on a MacBook Air, one of my feature does not work anymore. I should be able to drag and drop a PDF which should be copy to my App document folder. But for some reason it won't work. I should add that : The app is sandboxed I tried to build the app on the MacBook Air and it does not work either. I gave all the permission to the app in the MacBook Air parameter menu. I have another drag and drop functionality with read a csv file, and it works. With Xcode, the error message was about : file not found (after being read and recognized on my log) I hope someone would have some ideas Thank you in advance PS: I'm French, sorry for my English
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336
Aug ’25
Seeking a Reliable Way to Refresh Finder for Custom Folder Icon Changes in a Sandboxed App
Hello everyone, I'm developing a macOS application that programmatically sets custom icons for folders, and I've hit a wall trying to get Finder to display the icon changes consistently. The Goal: To change a folder's icon using NSWorkspace.shared.setIcon and have Finder immediately show the new icon. What I've Tried (The Refresh Mechanism): After setting the icon, I attempt to force a Finder refresh using several sandbox-friendly techniques: Updating the Modification Date (the "touch" method): try FileManager.default.setAttributes([.modificationDate: Date()], ofItemAtPath: pathToUse) Notifying NSWorkspace: NSWorkspace.shared.noteFileSystemChanged(pathToUse) Posting Distributed Notifications: DistributedNotificationCenter.default().post(name: Notification.Name("com.apple.Finder.FolderChanged"), object: pathToUse) The Problem: This combination of methods works perfectly, but only under specific conditions: When setting a custom icon on a folder for the first time. When changing the icon of an alias. For any subsequent icon change on a regular folder, Finder stubbornly displays the old, cached icon. I've confirmed that the user can see the new icon by manually closing and reopening the folder window, but this is obviously not a user-friendly solution. Investigating a Reset with AppleScript: I've noticed that the AppleScript update command seems to force the kind of complete refresh I need: tell application "Finder" update POSIX file "/path/to/your/folder" end tell Running this seems to reset the folder's state in Finder, effectively recreating the "first-time set" scenario where my other methods work. However, the major roadblock is that I can't figure out how to reliably execute this from a sandboxed environment. I understand it likely requires specific scripting entitlements, but it's unclear which ones would be needed for this update command on a user-chosen folder, or if it's even permissible for the App Store. My Questions: Is there a reliable, sandbox-safe way to make the standard Cocoa methods (noteFileSystemChanged, updating the modification date, etc.) work for subsequent icon updates on regular folders? Am I missing a step? If not, what is the correct way to configure a sandboxed app's entitlements to safely run the tell application "Finder" to update command for a folder the user has granted access to? Any insight or alternative approaches would be greatly appreciated. Thank you
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159
Jul ’25
Hardlinks reported as non-existing on macOS Sequoia for 3rd party FS
After creating a hardlink on a distributed filesystem of my own via: % ln f.txt hlf.txt Neither the original file, f.txt, nor the hardlink, hlf.txt, are immediately accessible, e.g. via cat(1) with ENOENT returned. A short time later though, both the original file and the hardlink are accessible. Both files can be stat(1)ed though, which confirms that vnop_getattr returns success for both files. Dtruss(1) indicates it's the open(2) syscall that fails: % sudo dtruss -f cat hlf.txt 2038/0x4f68: open("hlf.txt\0", 0x0, 0x0) = -1 Err#2 ;ENOENT 2038/0x4f68: write_nocancel(0x2, "cat: \0", 0x5) = 5 0 2038/0x4f68: write_nocancel(0x2, "hlf.txt\0", 0x7) = 7 0 2038/0x4f68: write_nocancel(0x2, ": \0", 0x2) = 2 0 2038/0x4f68: write_nocancel(0x2, "No such file or directory\n\0", 0x1A) = 26 0 Dtrace(1)ing my KEXT no longer works on macOS Sequoia, so based on the diagnostics print statements I inserted into my KEXT, the following sequence of calls is observed: vnop_lookup(hlf.txt) -&gt; EJUSTRETURN ;ln(1) vnop_link(hlf.txt) -&gt; KERN_SUCCESS ;ln(1) vnop_lookup(hlf.txt) -&gt; KERN_SUCCESS ;cat(1) vnop_open(/) ; I expected to see vnop_open(hlf.txt) here instead of the parent directory. Internally, hardlinks are created in vnop_link via a call to vnode_setmultipath with cache_purge_negatives called on the destination directory. On macOS Monterey for example, where the same code does result in hardlinks being accessible, the following calls are made: vnop_lookup(hlf.txt) -&gt; EJUSTRETURN ;ln(1) vnop_link(hlf.txt) -&gt; KERN_SUCCESS ;ln(1) vnop_lookup(hlf.txt) -&gt; KERN_SUCCESS ;cat(1) vnop_open(hlf.txt) -&gt; KERN_SUCCESS ;cat(1) Not sure how else to debug this. Perusing the kernel sources for uses of VISHARDLINK, VNOP_LINK and vnode_setmultipath call sites did not clear things up for me. Any pointers would be greatly appreciated.
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295
Jul ’25
Preventing Folder Creation in macOS FileProvider based Drives
Currently, I use NSFileProviderItemCapabilitiesAllowsAddingSubitems on a folder to control the creation of sub-items (either folders or files) within a parent folder. However, this capability doesn't allow me to meet a requirement where I need to permit file creation but restrict folder creation. I am seeking input on different options to achieve this requirement. Note: One reactive approach would be to intercept folder creation within the createItem() event handler and reject it with an ExcludedFromSync error (without uploading to cloud). This would prevent createItem() from being reattempted on that folder, but the folder would still remain on the mount. Is there any way to delete it?
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133
Jul ’25
how to get recent file list
Dear Apple: We are developing a file management-related app, and I would like to retrieve the list of files from the "Recents" section under "Favorites" in the Mac sidebar, then display this information in the app's interface for users. Is there an API available to obtain this information?
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163
Jul ’25
How do I use FSBlockDeviceResource's metadataRead method?
I reported this as a bug (FB18614667), but also wanted to ask here in case this is actually just me doing something wrong, or maybe I'm misunderstanding the entire use case of metadataRead. (My understanding is that metadataRead is basically read but it checks a cache that the kernel manages before trying to read the physical resource, and in the case of a cache miss it would just go to the physical resource and then add the bytes to the cache. Is that right?) I’m encountering an issue in an FSKit file system extension where (for example) read(into: buf, startingAt: 0, length: Int(physicalBlockSize)) works, but metadataRead(into: buf, startingAt: 0, length: Int(physicalBlockSize)) throws an EIO error (Input/output error) no matter what I do. (Note: physicalBlockSize is 512 in this example.) The documentation (https://developer.apple.com/documentation/fskit/fsblockdeviceresource/metadataread(into:startingat:length:)) indicates that the restrictions on metadataRead are that the operations must be sector-addressed (which is the case here, especially as regular read has the same restriction and succeeds) and that partial reading of metadata is not supported. (I don’t think that applies here?) In a sample project I was able to replicate this behavior where the module only ever reads the block device in its enumerateDirectory implementation, and so trying to list the contents of a directory leads to an "Input/output error" when e.g. running ls on the volume. The enumerateDirectory sample implementation is like so: func enumerateDirectory(_ directory: FSItem, startingAt cookie: FSDirectoryCookie, verifier: FSDirectoryVerifier, attributes: FSItem.GetAttributesRequest?, packer: FSDirectoryEntryPacker) async throws -> FSDirectoryVerifier { let buf = UnsafeMutableRawBufferPointer.allocate(byteCount: Int(blockDevice.physicalBlockSize), alignment: 1) defer { buf.deallocate() } // metadataRead will throw... try blockDevice.metadataRead(into: buf, startingAt: 0, length: Int(blockDevice.physicalBlockSize)) // but read will work. // try await blockDevice.read(into: buf, startingAt: 0, length: Int(blockDevice.physicalBlockSize)) // ... return dummy file here (won't reach this point because metadataRead throws) } I'm observing this behavior on both macOS 15.5 (24F74) and macOS 15.6 beta 3 (24G5074c). Has anyone been able to get metadataRead to work? I see it used in Apple's msdos FSKit implementation so it seems like it has to work at some level.
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348
Jul ’25
File/Folder access/scoping for background only apps
We create plug-ins for Adobe Creative Cloud and have run into an issue with respect to file/folder permissions. First, all of our libraries, code is code-signed and notarized as per Apple requirements but distribute outside of the Mac App store. We install a Photoshop plug-in and its mainly a UI which then executes a background app containing the business logic to read/write files. The background app runs as a separate process and is not in the Photoshop sandbox space so it doesn't inherit Photoshop permissions/scoping rules. Our plug-in communicates with the background process via ports etc. When a user chooses a file to process from lets say the Desktop, generally macOS first pops up a message that says ABCD background app is trying to access files from the Desktop do you grant it permission etc...This is also true for network mounted volumes or downloads folder. This message generally appears properly when everything is under an account with admin rights. However, when our tool is installed from a Standard Account, the macOS messages asking for confirmation to access the Desktop or Documents or Downloads folder doesn't appear and access to the file/folders is denied. Thus our background only process errors out. Looking at the Security and Privacy-&gt;Files and Folders the button to enable access is in the Off position. If we turn these on Manually, everything works. But this is a really poor user experience and sometimes our users think our software is not working. Does anybody have any idea how to allow for the file/folder permissions to be registered/granted in such a case? Should we try to register these as Full Disk Access? Any ideas and/or solutions are welcome.
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Jul ’25
Copy file in application document file to user Documents file
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?
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384
Activity
Sep ’25
iPadOS System Data Bug – Storage Ballooning 30–90GB (iPad Pro M4, iPadOS 17–18.6.2)
📢 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 &amp; 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 &gt;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
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303
Activity
Aug ’25
How can I get the system to use my FSModule for probing?
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?
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12
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848
Activity
Aug ’25
VNOP_MONITOR+vnode_notify() operation details
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.
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1
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173
Activity
Aug ’25
Backup when wanting to connect to MacBook
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?
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5
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314
Activity
Aug ’25
Help with storage on my Mac
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! **
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3
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148
Activity
Aug ’25
Unable to Write to UserDefaults from Widget Extension Despite Correct App Group Configuration
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?
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7
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285
Activity
Aug ’25
Macos File open, close, copy, paste event notification
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
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3
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164
Activity
Aug ’25
Errors reading not-yet-sync'd iCloud files get cached
I have an app which uses ubiquitous containers and files in them to share data between devices. It's a bit unusual in that it indexes files in directories the user grants access to, which may or may not exist on a second device - those files are identified by SHA-1 hash. So a second device scanning before iCloud data has fully sync'd can create duplicate references which lead to an unpleasant user experience. To solve this, I store a small binary index in the root of the ubiquitous file container of the shared data, containing all of the known hashes, and as the user proceeds through the onboarding process, a background thread is attempting to "prime" the ubiquitous container by calling FileManager.default.startDownloadingUbiquitousItemAt() for each expected folder and file in a sane order. This likely creates a situation not anticipated by the iOS/iCloud integration's design, as it means my app has a sort of precognition of files it should not yet know about. In the common case, it works, but there is a corner case where iCloud sync has just begun, and very, very little metadata is available (the common case, however, in an emulator), in which two issues come up: I/O may hang indefinitely, trying to read a file as it is arriving. This one I can work around by running the I/O in a thread created with the POSIX pthread_create and using pthread_cancel to kill it after a timeout. Attempts to call FileManager.default.startDownloadingUbiquitousItemAt() fails with an error Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=257 "The file couldn’t be opened because you don’t have permission to view it.". The permissions aspect of it is nonsense, but I can believe there's no applicable "sort of exists, sort of doesn't" error code to use and someone punted. The problem is that this same error will be thrown on any attempt to access that file for the life of the application - a restart is required to make it usable. Clearly, the error or the hallucinated permission failure is cached somewhere in the bowels of iOS's FileManager. I was hoping startAccessingSecurityScopedResource() would allow me to bypass such a cache, as it does with URL.resourceValues() returning stale file sizes and last modified times. But it does not. Is there some way to clear this state without popping up a UI with an Exit button (not exactly the desired iOS user experience)?
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200
Activity
Aug ’25
Accessing/scanning the iOS Downloads folder (the one airdropped-to) from an app
Here's the problem I'm trying to solve: Create an iOS app which can scan the Downloads folder (where airdropped audio files arrive), identify audio media files, and play them, retaining some of its own metadata about them (basically, create textual notes mapped to timestamps and store that information in the apps own storage). I am not able to access that folder. I am able to get a path from NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(FileManager.SearchPathDirectory.downloadsDirectory, FileManager.SearchPathDomainMask(arrayLiteral: FileManager.SearchPathDomainMask.userDomainMask), true) or a URL from NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(FileManager.SearchPathDirectory.downloadsDirectory, FileManager.SearchPathDomainMask(arrayLiteral: FileManager.SearchPathDomainMask.userDomainMask), true) but let fileUrls = try fileManager.contentsOfDirectory(at:downloads, includingPropertiesForKeys: []) fails with an error that the folder does not actually exist, with or without a call to downloadsUrl.startAccessingSecurityScopedResource(). Determining whether this is a permissions issue, or if I'm getting a URL to an application-container local folder that has nothing to do with the one I am looking for is compounded by the fact that if I set the build setting Enable App Sandbox, then deployment to my phone fails with Failed to verify code signature. I have spent hours trying every possible combination of certificates and deployment profiles, and ensured that every possibly relevant certificate is trusted on my phone. Disable app-sandbox and it deploys fine, either with automatic signing or an explicit cert and profile. I have an entitlements file with the following - though, without the ability to enable app sandbox and run it on a phone with actual contents in the downloads folder, it is probably not affecting anything: &lt;key&gt;com.apple.security.files.downloads.read-only&lt;/key&gt; &lt;true/&gt; &lt;key&gt;com.apple.security.files.user-selected.read-only&lt;/key&gt; &lt;true/&gt; &lt;key&gt;com.apple.security.app-sandbox&lt;/key&gt; &lt;true/&gt; So, questions: Should the URL returned by the above call be the Downloads/ folder airdropped to in the first place? Or is it a URL to some app-local folder that does not exist? Does the entitlement com.apple.security.files.downloads.read-only even allow an app to list all files in the downloads directory (presumably asking the user's permission the first time), or does the permission only get requested when using a picker dialog? (the point here is to find any new audio files without making the user jump through hoops) If I could get it deployed with app-sandbox enabled, would the above code work? Backstory: I'm a software engineer, audio plugin author, Logic Pro user and musician. My workflow (and probably many other Logic user's) for work-in-progress music is to airdrop a mix to my phone, listen to it in a variety of places, make notes about what to change, edit - rinse and repeat. For years I used VLC for iOS to keep and play these in-progress mixes - you could airdrop and select VLC as the destination (yes, Logic can add to your Apple Music library, but trust me, you do not want 20 revisions of the same song cluttering your music library and sync'd to all your devices). Last year, the behavior of Airdrop changed so that the target app for audio is always Files, period, wrecking that workflow. While I eventually discovered that, with an elaborate and non-obvious dance of steps, it is possible to copy files into VLC's folders, and make them available that way, it is inconvenient, to say the least - and VLC is less than fabulous anyway - it would be nice to have an app that could associate to-do notes with specific timestamps in a tune, A/B compare sections between old and new versions and things like that. So, figuring sooner or later I was going to get into a car accident futzing with the Files app to listen to mixes while driving, perhaps I should write that app. But the ability to do that at all relies on the ability of an app to list and access the Downloads folder airdropped audio files land in (assuming the user has given permission to access it, but that should be needed once).
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712
Activity
Aug ’25
iCloud Drive Implementation Issue in My App
Hi, I'm having trouble implementing iCloud Drive in my app. I've already taken the obvious steps, including enabling iCloud Documents in Xcode and selecting a container. This container is correctly specified in my code, and in theory, everything should work. The data generated by my app should be saved to iCloud Drive in addition to local storage. The data does get stored in the Files app, but the automatic syncing to iCloud Drive doesn’t work as expected. I’ve also considered updating my .entitlements file. Since I’m at a loss, I’m reaching out for help maybe I’ve overlooked something important that's causing it not to work. If anyone has an idea, please let me know. Thanks in advance!
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1
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177
Activity
Aug ’25
Drop file not found on MacBook Air
Hello everyone, I am new to swift development and I am currently facing a "bug". I am building, an app on my Mac mini. It's working fine on my machine but when exporting the executable on a MacBook Air, one of my feature does not work anymore. I should be able to drag and drop a PDF which should be copy to my App document folder. But for some reason it won't work. I should add that : The app is sandboxed I tried to build the app on the MacBook Air and it does not work either. I gave all the permission to the app in the MacBook Air parameter menu. I have another drag and drop functionality with read a csv file, and it works. With Xcode, the error message was about : file not found (after being read and recognized on my log) I hope someone would have some ideas Thank you in advance PS: I'm French, sorry for my English
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7
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336
Activity
Aug ’25
Seeking a Reliable Way to Refresh Finder for Custom Folder Icon Changes in a Sandboxed App
Hello everyone, I'm developing a macOS application that programmatically sets custom icons for folders, and I've hit a wall trying to get Finder to display the icon changes consistently. The Goal: To change a folder's icon using NSWorkspace.shared.setIcon and have Finder immediately show the new icon. What I've Tried (The Refresh Mechanism): After setting the icon, I attempt to force a Finder refresh using several sandbox-friendly techniques: Updating the Modification Date (the "touch" method): try FileManager.default.setAttributes([.modificationDate: Date()], ofItemAtPath: pathToUse) Notifying NSWorkspace: NSWorkspace.shared.noteFileSystemChanged(pathToUse) Posting Distributed Notifications: DistributedNotificationCenter.default().post(name: Notification.Name("com.apple.Finder.FolderChanged"), object: pathToUse) The Problem: This combination of methods works perfectly, but only under specific conditions: When setting a custom icon on a folder for the first time. When changing the icon of an alias. For any subsequent icon change on a regular folder, Finder stubbornly displays the old, cached icon. I've confirmed that the user can see the new icon by manually closing and reopening the folder window, but this is obviously not a user-friendly solution. Investigating a Reset with AppleScript: I've noticed that the AppleScript update command seems to force the kind of complete refresh I need: tell application "Finder" update POSIX file "/path/to/your/folder" end tell Running this seems to reset the folder's state in Finder, effectively recreating the "first-time set" scenario where my other methods work. However, the major roadblock is that I can't figure out how to reliably execute this from a sandboxed environment. I understand it likely requires specific scripting entitlements, but it's unclear which ones would be needed for this update command on a user-chosen folder, or if it's even permissible for the App Store. My Questions: Is there a reliable, sandbox-safe way to make the standard Cocoa methods (noteFileSystemChanged, updating the modification date, etc.) work for subsequent icon updates on regular folders? Am I missing a step? If not, what is the correct way to configure a sandboxed app's entitlements to safely run the tell application "Finder" to update command for a folder the user has granted access to? Any insight or alternative approaches would be greatly appreciated. Thank you
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3
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159
Activity
Jul ’25
'init(contentsOfFile:)' was deprecated in iOS 18
content = try String(contentsOfFile: filepath) is the following warning. 'init(contentsOfFile:)' was deprecated in iOS 18: Use init(contentsOfFile:encoding:) instead After internet searching I could find an answer. I would appreciate a rewrite of my code line to get rid of 31 warnings. Thanks a LOT Charlie
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6
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261
Activity
Jul ’25
Hardlinks reported as non-existing on macOS Sequoia for 3rd party FS
After creating a hardlink on a distributed filesystem of my own via: % ln f.txt hlf.txt Neither the original file, f.txt, nor the hardlink, hlf.txt, are immediately accessible, e.g. via cat(1) with ENOENT returned. A short time later though, both the original file and the hardlink are accessible. Both files can be stat(1)ed though, which confirms that vnop_getattr returns success for both files. Dtruss(1) indicates it's the open(2) syscall that fails: % sudo dtruss -f cat hlf.txt 2038/0x4f68: open("hlf.txt\0", 0x0, 0x0) = -1 Err#2 ;ENOENT 2038/0x4f68: write_nocancel(0x2, "cat: \0", 0x5) = 5 0 2038/0x4f68: write_nocancel(0x2, "hlf.txt\0", 0x7) = 7 0 2038/0x4f68: write_nocancel(0x2, ": \0", 0x2) = 2 0 2038/0x4f68: write_nocancel(0x2, "No such file or directory\n\0", 0x1A) = 26 0 Dtrace(1)ing my KEXT no longer works on macOS Sequoia, so based on the diagnostics print statements I inserted into my KEXT, the following sequence of calls is observed: vnop_lookup(hlf.txt) -&gt; EJUSTRETURN ;ln(1) vnop_link(hlf.txt) -&gt; KERN_SUCCESS ;ln(1) vnop_lookup(hlf.txt) -&gt; KERN_SUCCESS ;cat(1) vnop_open(/) ; I expected to see vnop_open(hlf.txt) here instead of the parent directory. Internally, hardlinks are created in vnop_link via a call to vnode_setmultipath with cache_purge_negatives called on the destination directory. On macOS Monterey for example, where the same code does result in hardlinks being accessible, the following calls are made: vnop_lookup(hlf.txt) -&gt; EJUSTRETURN ;ln(1) vnop_link(hlf.txt) -&gt; KERN_SUCCESS ;ln(1) vnop_lookup(hlf.txt) -&gt; KERN_SUCCESS ;cat(1) vnop_open(hlf.txt) -&gt; KERN_SUCCESS ;cat(1) Not sure how else to debug this. Perusing the kernel sources for uses of VISHARDLINK, VNOP_LINK and vnode_setmultipath call sites did not clear things up for me. Any pointers would be greatly appreciated.
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3
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295
Activity
Jul ’25
Preventing Folder Creation in macOS FileProvider based Drives
Currently, I use NSFileProviderItemCapabilitiesAllowsAddingSubitems on a folder to control the creation of sub-items (either folders or files) within a parent folder. However, this capability doesn't allow me to meet a requirement where I need to permit file creation but restrict folder creation. I am seeking input on different options to achieve this requirement. Note: One reactive approach would be to intercept folder creation within the createItem() event handler and reject it with an ExcludedFromSync error (without uploading to cloud). This would prevent createItem() from being reattempted on that folder, but the folder would still remain on the mount. Is there any way to delete it?
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2
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133
Activity
Jul ’25
app store
Dear Apple: We are developing a file management-related app, I want to configure com.apple.security.temporary-exception.files.absolute-path.read-write to /Users/*** in the entitlements. Will this affect the approval process of our app on the App Store?
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2
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212
Activity
Jul ’25
how to get recent file list
Dear Apple: We are developing a file management-related app, and I would like to retrieve the list of files from the "Recents" section under "Favorites" in the Mac sidebar, then display this information in the app's interface for users. Is there an API available to obtain this information?
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163
Activity
Jul ’25
How do I use FSBlockDeviceResource's metadataRead method?
I reported this as a bug (FB18614667), but also wanted to ask here in case this is actually just me doing something wrong, or maybe I'm misunderstanding the entire use case of metadataRead. (My understanding is that metadataRead is basically read but it checks a cache that the kernel manages before trying to read the physical resource, and in the case of a cache miss it would just go to the physical resource and then add the bytes to the cache. Is that right?) I’m encountering an issue in an FSKit file system extension where (for example) read(into: buf, startingAt: 0, length: Int(physicalBlockSize)) works, but metadataRead(into: buf, startingAt: 0, length: Int(physicalBlockSize)) throws an EIO error (Input/output error) no matter what I do. (Note: physicalBlockSize is 512 in this example.) The documentation (https://developer.apple.com/documentation/fskit/fsblockdeviceresource/metadataread(into:startingat:length:)) indicates that the restrictions on metadataRead are that the operations must be sector-addressed (which is the case here, especially as regular read has the same restriction and succeeds) and that partial reading of metadata is not supported. (I don’t think that applies here?) In a sample project I was able to replicate this behavior where the module only ever reads the block device in its enumerateDirectory implementation, and so trying to list the contents of a directory leads to an "Input/output error" when e.g. running ls on the volume. The enumerateDirectory sample implementation is like so: func enumerateDirectory(_ directory: FSItem, startingAt cookie: FSDirectoryCookie, verifier: FSDirectoryVerifier, attributes: FSItem.GetAttributesRequest?, packer: FSDirectoryEntryPacker) async throws -> FSDirectoryVerifier { let buf = UnsafeMutableRawBufferPointer.allocate(byteCount: Int(blockDevice.physicalBlockSize), alignment: 1) defer { buf.deallocate() } // metadataRead will throw... try blockDevice.metadataRead(into: buf, startingAt: 0, length: Int(blockDevice.physicalBlockSize)) // but read will work. // try await blockDevice.read(into: buf, startingAt: 0, length: Int(blockDevice.physicalBlockSize)) // ... return dummy file here (won't reach this point because metadataRead throws) } I'm observing this behavior on both macOS 15.5 (24F74) and macOS 15.6 beta 3 (24G5074c). Has anyone been able to get metadataRead to work? I see it used in Apple's msdos FSKit implementation so it seems like it has to work at some level.
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4
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348
Activity
Jul ’25
File/Folder access/scoping for background only apps
We create plug-ins for Adobe Creative Cloud and have run into an issue with respect to file/folder permissions. First, all of our libraries, code is code-signed and notarized as per Apple requirements but distribute outside of the Mac App store. We install a Photoshop plug-in and its mainly a UI which then executes a background app containing the business logic to read/write files. The background app runs as a separate process and is not in the Photoshop sandbox space so it doesn't inherit Photoshop permissions/scoping rules. Our plug-in communicates with the background process via ports etc. When a user chooses a file to process from lets say the Desktop, generally macOS first pops up a message that says ABCD background app is trying to access files from the Desktop do you grant it permission etc...This is also true for network mounted volumes or downloads folder. This message generally appears properly when everything is under an account with admin rights. However, when our tool is installed from a Standard Account, the macOS messages asking for confirmation to access the Desktop or Documents or Downloads folder doesn't appear and access to the file/folders is denied. Thus our background only process errors out. Looking at the Security and Privacy-&gt;Files and Folders the button to enable access is in the Off position. If we turn these on Manually, everything works. But this is a really poor user experience and sometimes our users think our software is not working. Does anybody have any idea how to allow for the file/folder permissions to be registered/granted in such a case? Should we try to register these as Full Disk Access? Any ideas and/or solutions are welcome.
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8
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210
Activity
Jul ’25