Hi! I am trying to figure out whether there are any ways to get notifications when a macOS user connects to another device via Bluetooth (specifically when a smartphone is paired with a MacBook). I know about IOBluetooth, but it seems like you have to send periodic queries for devices when using this framework, and there is no general way to receive such notifications. I know that IOHIDManager may help to track connection with human interface devices such as keyboards, trackpads, joysticks, etc. But is there any API in IOKit/DriverKit that could help get notifications when a macOS user connects to a smartphone? Maybe I am missing an important part of IOBluetooth, so I would appreciate any help.

I am currently developing an USB HID Device, specifically a type of Joystick. However it seems that any attempt of getting a joystick to work on Mac do not work. My prototype works perfectly on Windows, being recognised as such and receiving all data. On MacOS, the Joystick is not recognised as a Joystick though, and the OS does not seem to receiver any Input from it whatsoever. I have translated my code to use both Mouse and Keyboard, both work perfectly. I have also tried to have the Joystick identify as a Gamepad, but again, it works on Windows and is not recognised on Mac (is not recognised as a Gamepad). Are there any specific restrictions to HID devices on MacOS? Apple developer only seems to describe specifics from a software standpoint, not from the standpoint of someone developing hardware. And even then it only seems to describe very specific HID devices, such as mouse, keyboard or a stylus. Please also keep in mind that I don't have much experience developing MacOS applications.

I have a virtual device, which is redirected to Mac from Windows OS. However, In MacOS, it does not recognized as a HID device even it has only one HID interface. The device name is Virtual Fido, it more likes to be identified as an audio device. Could any one help check? Thanks. 2024-01-31 16:37:03.102014+0800 0x1df Error 0x0 0 0 kernel: (IOUSBFamily) AppleUSBLegacyRoot@(null): AppleUSBLegacyRoot::usbServiceCallback: controller <private> (S1F0) usbServiceArray <private>(count 1) options 0x00000000 2024-01-31 16:37:03.102020+0800 0x1df Error 0x0 0 0 kernel: (IOUSBFamily) AppleUSBLegacyRoot@(null): AppleUSBLegacyRoot::usbServiceCallback: [0] <private> 2024-01-31 16:37:03.102023+0800 0x1df Error 0x0 0 0 kernel: (IOUSBFamily) AppleUSBLegacyRoot@(null): AppleUSBLegacyRoot::usbServiceCall: controller <private> (S1F0) usbService <private> (Virtual FIDO) options 0x00000000 2024-01-31 16:37:03.102035+0800 0x1df Error 0x0 0 0 kernel: (IOUSBFamily) AppleUSBLegacyRoot@(null): AppleUSBLegacyRoot::getOrCreateLegacyControllerGated: located existing AppleUSBController@00000000 2024-01-31 16:37:03.102037+0800 0x1df Error 0x0 0 0 kernel: (IOUSBFamily) AppleUSBLegacyRoot@(null): AppleUSBLegacyRoot::usbServiceCallGated: IOUSBHostDevice <private> (Virtual FIDO) 2024-01-31 16:37:03.102046+0800 0x1df Error 0x0 0 0 kernel: (IOUSBFamily) AppleUSBLegacyRoot@(null): AppleUSBLegacyRoot::addDeviceToUsbPlane: 2024-01-31 16:37:03.102288+0800 0x1df Error 0x0 0 0 kernel: (IOUSBFamily) AppleUSBLegacyRoot@(null): AppleUSBLegacyRoot::usbServiceCall: usbServiceCallbackGated completed with 0x00000000 and service <private> 2024-01-31 16:37:03.102302+0800 0x1df Error 0x0 0 0 kernel: (IOUSBFamily) AppleUSBLegacyRoot@(null): AppleUSBLegacyRoot::usbServiceCall: registering Virtual FIDO@00810000 (<private>) for matching 2024-01-31 16:37:03.104499+0800 0x247c Info 0x0 120 0 kernelmanagerd: Received MIG message 2024-01-31 16:37:03.105412+0800 0x247c Info 0x0 120 0 kernelmanagerd: Received MIG message 2024-01-31 16:37:03.105453+0800 0x284b Default 0x0 120 0 kernelmanagerd: Received kext load notification: com.apple.iokit.IOAudioFamily 2024-01-31 16:37:03.105460+0800 0x284b Default 0x0 120 0 kernelmanagerd: Received kext load notification: com.apple.driver.AppleUSBAudio 2024-01-31 16:37:03.106066+0800 0x11d6 Default 0x0 643 0 icdd: [com.apple.imagecapture:icdd] Device DB | Creating local devices 2024-01-31 16:37:03.106170+0800 0x512 Info 0x0 244 0 com.apple.ifdreader: [com.apple.CryptoTokenKit:smartcard] new device skipped: 0x0e0f/0x0123 810000 (entryId=4294969016) 2024-01-31 16:37:03.106551+0800 0x11d6 Default 0x0 0 0 kernel: (Sandbox) Sandbox: icdd(643) allow file-read-data /Library/Image Capture/Devices 2024-01-31 16:37:03.106602+0800 0x11d6 Default 0x0 643 0 icdd: [com.apple.imagecapture:icdd] Device DB | Creating bonjour devices 2024-01-31 16:37:03.106968+0800 0x11d6 Default 0x0 643 0 icdd: [com.apple.imagecapture:icdd] => [Matching] | [ 0x00,0x00,0x00 ] 2024-01-31 16:37:03.106989+0800 0x11d6 Default 0x0 643 0 icdd: [com.apple.imagecapture:icdd] Added | 0x10000011 - [USB][ Virtual FIDO ] ( 0, 0, 0) @ 0x810000 | 2024-01-31 16:37:03.107041+0800 0x11d6 Default 0x0 643 0 icdd: [com.apple.imagecapture:icdd] Autolaunch | 00000000-0000-0000-0031-323334353637 => (null) 2024-01-31 16:37:03.335288+0800 0x276f Default 0x0 424 0 trustd: [com.apple.securityd:pinningQA] could not enable test hierarchy: no UAT pinning preferences set | | | +-o VMware Virtual USB Hub@00800000 <class IOUSBHostDevice, id 0x1000003de, registered, matched, active, busy 0 (35 ms), retain 38> | | | +-o AppleUSBHostLegacyClient <class AppleUSBHostLegacyClient, id 0x1000003e1, !registered, !matched, active, busy 0, retain 8> | | | +-o AppleUSB20Hub@00800000 <class AppleUSB20Hub, id 0x1000003e4, registered, matched, active, busy 0 (33 ms), retain 35> | | | | +-o AppleUSB20HubPort@00810000 <class AppleUSB20HubPort, id 0x1000003e7, registered, matched, active, busy 0 (33 ms), retain 16> | | | | | +-o Virtual FIDO@00810000 <class IOUSBHostDevice, id 0x1000006b8, registered, matched, active, busy 0 (3 ms), retain 20> | | | | | +-o AppleUSBHostLegacyClient <class AppleUSBHostLegacyClient, id 0x1000006bb, !registered, !matched, active, busy 0, retain 8> | | | | | +-o AppleUSBHostCompositeDevice <class AppleUSBHostCompositeDevice, id 0x1000006bf, !registered, !matched, active, busy 0, retain 4> | | | | +-o AppleUSB20HubPort@00820000 <class AppleUSB20HubPort, id 0x1000003e8, registered, matched, active, busy 0 (0 ms), retain 12> | | | | +-o AppleUSB20HubPort@00830000 <class AppleUSB20HubPort, id 0x1000003e9, registered, matched, active, busy 0 (0 ms), retain 12>

While in a text input area, when a Bluetooth keyboard is connected to a IOS device and the On Screen Keyboard is "hidden", is there a way to start SIRIs dictation function? (Besides activating the On Screen Keyboard and click on the microphone button)

I am new to macOS development and presently tearing my hair out trying to get a driverkit extension to build. I have tried following the instructions here: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/driverkit/communicating_between_a_driverkit_extension_and_a_client_app namely, disabling SIP, but I am still unable to get my extension to build. The instructions say to set the code signing identity to "Sign to Run Locally" for all three targets, but this is not listed as an option for the driver extension.

I have a custom HID device that works on Windows totally fine with the default HID driver. The HID device knows how to accept string commands to control it and respond accordingly. I am trying to control it on Mac using IOKit. I am able to get the io_service_t reference to the IOHIDInterface for the device from the I/ORegistery. I use this to instantiate a class to represent the device. But when I try to establish a connection to the service, I keep getting -536870201 which corresponds to kIOReturnUnsupported. I'm not entirely sure what I am doing wrong here and I wasn't able to find anything online that could really help.

In a project, I'm using the DriverKit(and HIDDriverKit) framework. I have encountered a problem in the connection between the client app and the driver, which is implemented by the "IOKit" framework. By calling the function "IOServiceGetMatchingServices" the value of "iterator" returns correctly and then communication with the driver is done. However, after releasing the version on the TestFlight, on some systems, the value of the "iterator" returned 0 and it is not possible to communicate with the driver. I checked the status of the activated driver with the command "systemextensionsctl list" and there are no problems on the driver side and the values of "Enabled" and "Active" are starred. AppSandbox = True, SIP: enable ret = IOServiceGetMatchingServices(kIOMainPortDefault, IOServiceNameMatching(dextIdentifier), &iterator); if (ret != kIOReturnSuccess) { goto fail; } while ((service = IOIteratorNext(iterator)) != IO_OBJECT_NULL) { ret = IOServiceOpen(service, mach_task_self(), 0, &connection); if(ret == kIOReturnSuccess) { break; } else { syslog(LOG_WARNING, "IDmelonLog LIB: Can't open service"); } IOObjectRelease(service); }

For those of us working on drivers for DriverKit, much of the example documentation is confusing, outdated, or just not an actual working example of the latest DriverKit feature set. This post might be of some help to you. I have published a fully working client sample app example that adds iPadOS support alongside macOS and updates to the latest driverkit version: https://github.com/DanBurkhardt/DriverKitUserClientSample This should be immediately runnable, but you will have to ensure you disable SIP and enable developer mode, as per the original README (this is required without DriverKit entitlement permission from Apple). You will also need to, of course, change the bundle ID to your own name (replace "gigabitelabs" with something that is specific to your dev account / business). Lmk if you have any issues, I'm happy to help you get this running so you can get the initial part of DriverKit testing out of the way. Happy hacking, Dan

Hi, My goal is to enable this project https://github.com/evidlo/remarkable_mouse to provide native tablet inputs with full information to applications on MacOS, allowing me to reuse my reMarkable tablet for the computer instead of having to buy yet another device, such as a Wacom tablet or an iPad Pro for sidecar when the necessary hardware is already in my posession. I would like to understand whether it is possible to use DriverKit in order to simulate a graphics tablet input device with extra inputs such as pressure and tilt in user-space. Or is this something where IOKit or other comes into play, requiring the creation of a kernel space driver? In either case, what would be the right steps to take? How would I create a virtual device and what are the limitations? If you have the knowledge, how complex would you consider this project to be? The path should basically be some inter-process communication from remarkable_mouse, possibly file-based, triggering tablet events through the driver. At least in the first stage. I assume better performance would be achieved if the whole system was self-contained but porting the reMarkable communication is another challenge on its own. I am experienced developing in other environments but MacOS and driver development are fairly new to me. I've read through the documentation on how to handle the tablet events but creating them seems much murkier. I have searched around for this specific topic without getting much. An open-source tablet driver would be a great place to start but sadly I found none. I've also inquired with ChatGPT but only got high level tips and pseudocode. Any help is greatly appreciated, thank you!

Hi Apple support, We requested the DriverKit Entitlement via below link back in early June. https://developer.apple.com/contact/request/system-extension/ Unfortunately the request is NOT processed for months. Every time we check with Apple support, we just get boilerplate reply, and we have no idea whether the request is being processed or is stuck somewhere. No SLA is shared. This unexpected delay really impacts our product development/release schedule. We are anxiously finding a way to escalate. Can anyone from Apple in this forum help? I can share more details with the request. Thank you. Thanks, Jason

Hello! I'm curious about how com.apple.developer.hid.virtual.device entitlement works with apps. So the documentation hints that it should only be used within a driver. However, on macOS 13 I can successfully compile an app and create a virtual HID device. On earlier versions, such as macOS 12, the app crashes on launch and there's a message in the console: ASI found [libsystem_secinit.dylib] (sensitive) 'failed to compile sandbox profile /System/Library/Sandbox/Profiles/application.sb:1010:15: unbound variable: iokit-user-client-class-name ' Everything seems to be working with the sandbox turned off. Is there a way to use the aforementioned entitlement in a sandboxed app or should I fall back to DriverKit?

I am using an BLE HID mouse, and I have an option to recenter the mouse according to screen resolution that I get from an iPhone. I have 2 issues regarding this post: Getting the screen resolution of an iPhone 11 sends back the resolution of an iPhone 11 Pro and vise versa. To re-center the pointer, I send an HID movement to the iPhone, first to the corner (doesn't matter which one), second to center which is just the resolution divided by 2 on both width and height. Not consistent, but the pointer doesn't always go to the center. My questions are: Why is the resolution sends differently on these devices? Is there a correct way to center the pointer using HID movement commands?

Hi everyone, I am fairly new to Apple development. I have been working on a project where I need Mac to interface with an HID device (custom device). I have successfully communicated with the device using IOKit, Core Foundation and Driver Kit frameworks by simply importing these frameworks in the project and making use of their APIs. However, my client is now asking that I develop the communication explicitly using HID Driver Kit. Bear in mind that I have not purchased the apple developer certificate nor do I have any provisional signing certificates and without any of these, Xcode was allowing me to use frameworks like IOKit, DriverKit etc. Now, when I tried importing HIDDriverKit into the project, I am not able to find this framework in the "Frameworks and Libraries" tab. How do I import this framework into my project? Do I have to purchase apple developer ID or get the provisional signing certificates or any other formalities are required? Please let me know what can be done. Any pointers or suggestions are welcome. Best, Vishnu

Hi, I learned to know that PCI, USB and Audio Driver Kits are supported on iPadOS. Does anyone know when or if HID driver kit will be supported on iPadOS? Thanks, Nike

Hi, I wonder if there is any possibility to use HID devices on iOS (iPad) and what should I do to enable it? Develop, install existing driver or something else? Thanks a lot! Nike