This started happening on iOS 26.5, and it is still happening after updating to iOS 26.6 beta. The issue is severe enough that my Apple devices are currently not usable for basic communication. I have lost money, time, and thought way too much about this, so I’m really hoping for a resolution. After setting up an iPhone 14 Pro Max on my Apple Account/iCloud, my Contacts, Messages, Phone, and related Apple communication services became essentially nonfunctional. This started after adding the iPhone 14 Pro Max, but it is no longer isolated to that phone. The issue has spread across my Apple devices, including my iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPhone 14 Pro Max, iPad, and Mac. Current Affected devices/apps: iPhone 15 Pro Max iPhone 14 Pro Max iPad Pro Mac Mini M4 Contacts Messages Phone/calls FaceTime or other calling/contact-related services iCloud Contacts / Apple Account syncing The apps themselves become unusable. When I open Contacts, Messages, Phone, or related services, I usually get a blank/white screen, a frozen interface, or a briefly visible cached state. Sometimes I can see old message previews or the previous app state for a split second, especially after force restarting or using the app switcher, but I cannot scroll, select, call, text, or use the interface normally. After about 10 to 15 seconds, the app freezes or crashes. This affects essentially all normal communication functions. I cannot open Contacts. I cannot read or use Messages normally. I cannot place or answer calls. I cannot use my contact list. I cannot use any of my phone numbers or receive verification codes to my phone number. The same failure appears across devices signed into the same Apple Account/iCloud. Contacts still appear to exist on iCloud.com, which makes me think this may be an iCloud Contacts, Apple Account sync, contact-card corruption, or cross-device sync corruption issue rather than simply a local device problem. Troubleshooting already attempted: Updated to iOS 26.6 beta Factory reset the iPhone more than once Tried restoring from backup Tried setting up from zero / fresh setup Tried force restarting Tried resetting SIM/cellular settings Tried setting up with no SIM Confirmed accounts were logged in Confirmed mail/accounts were present and Contacts were enabled where applicable Contacted Apple Support Apple Support escalated the case to a senior engineer Apple Support diagnostics reportedly came back “fine” or “flying colors,” but the devices are still unusable Posted on Apple Support Community, but apple deleted my post and told me to post on the developer forum because I mentioned I updated to iOS 26.6 is beta software.... One possible thing: before this started, I had an AI agent attempt to update my personal contact card with a new phone number. This is an operation that normally goes well, but it was my personal card. I did not verify exactly what it changed. I do not know if this is related, but I am mentioning it because the issue feels like something corrupted in the Apple Account/iCloud contact or identity layer, and somebody in my last thread mentioned emoji or unusual characters might cause this kind of issue. It might have changed my card with some unusual character, field, label, or operation that broke iCloud syncing. Another clue: this started after adding the iPhone 14 Pro Max to my Apple Account/iCloud. After that, the issue began affecting the rest of my Apple devices too. That is why I believe this belongs under iCloud / Apple Account / Contacts syncing rather than only iPhone.

I started a fresh “Sticker Pack App” project, add one image to it and it wouldn’t show up on emulator or device. From what I remember, there shouldn't be any coding involved, just drag and drop images of the correct format and dimensions and it should work. I tried changing the file format, dimensions etc while consulting with web and AI assistant searches and but still didn’t work. Apple support also didn't reply with anything useful but to post in the forum. I'm guessing I'm missing something trivial where a lot of us here have encountered before. Appreciate your help here, thank you in advance!

Hi all, I'm the developer of OV Message, an end-to-end encrypted SMS messaging app already shipped on Google Play (Android, where it natively encrypts SMS content). The iOS port aims to be the default carrier-messaging app, handling SMS, MMS, and RCS through TelephonyMessagingKit with the com.apple.developer.carrier-messaging-app entitlement under the EU programme. While testing the cold-launch flow on iOS 26.x, I've hit a reproducible bug that silently drops the first SMS/MMS/RCS that wakes the app, and I'd like to confirm whether other devs working with this API see the same. The bug When a default carrier-messaging app is force-killed and a message arrives, iOS correctly: Routes the message via CommCenter (IMS in my case — SFR France) Wakes the app in background (state = .background at didFinishLaunchingWithOptions) Acquires a TelephonyMessaging runningboard assertion on the app But CommCenter then pushes the pending message via XPC before the client TMK library has finished registering its messageHandlersByID dictionary. Result: client responds Received unhandled request, server logs TMKXPCError Code=2, message is dropped, never delivered to for await in incomingMessageNotifications. Subsequent messages (with the app warm) work fine. Native log sequence (from idevicesyslog with the Telephony logging profile) T+0.000 CommCenter: SMS arrives via IMS (k3GPP) T+0.003 CommCenter: Default app is set to com.example.app T+0.004 CommCenter: Attempting to launch and acquire process assertion T+0.083 CommCenter: Notifying SMS message received, target: bundleID=... T+0.085 CommCenter(TMK): There are no client connections matching, pending message [~125 ms — app boots] T+0.128 App(TMK): Configuring connection T+0.128 App(TMK): Pinging remote end T+0.130 CommCenter(TMK): Received new connection from PID T+0.130 CommCenter(TMK): New incoming connection, flushing pending messages (1) ← server flushes T+0.130 App(TMK): Received unhandled request ← client not ready T+0.131 CommCenter(TMK): Failed to send pending message: TMKXPCError Code=2 T+0.132 App(TMK): Registered for IncomingMessageNotification (smsReceived) ← ~2 ms too late The race window between Pinging remote end (client) and Registered for IncomingMessageNotification (client) is 2–7 ms across my measurements. CommCenter considers the connection ready as soon as the ping completes, but the client library populates messageHandlersByID slightly after, so the dispatch fails. Minimal reproduction I built a ~50-line Swift app to confirm this isn't specific to OV Message. UIKit AppDelegate, single for await in TelephonyMessagingSession.shared.smsService.incomingMessageNotifications started in didFinishLaunchingWithOptions. No SwiftUI, no other modules, no Darwin notifications. Just TMK. Steps: Build & install on iPhone iOS 26.x with carrier-messaging-app entitlement (auto-provisioned in iOS 26) Settings → Apps → Default Messaging → select the test app Force-kill, then send 2 SMS in rapid succession from another phone Wait 30 s, open the app — log shows only the 2nd SMS Same result: the 1st SMS is gone. I've reproduced this consistently dozens of times. Source code (Swift + xcodegen project.yml): https://gist.github.com/ovmessage/fbc529292a65222191bec6ce5e5a4275 What I've tried Task.detached(priority: .userInitiated) to decouple the for await from main thread scheduling — no effect (race is internal to TMK lib, before our scheduling) Pre-fetching cellularServices synchronously — no effect Subscribing MMS + RCS in parallel — no effect Direct XPCSession/xpc_connection_create_mach_service to com.apple.commcenter.tmk.xpc — Apple has marked these unavailable on iOS for 3rd-party apps (no public way to bypass the lib) I've also done runtime introspection of the TMK framework via Mirror, which confirms the architecture: a single XPCConnection.messageHandlersByID dict shared by smsReceived, mmsReceived, rcsReceivedNotification — all four entries (incl. serviceStatusNotification) are populated after the XPC ping. So the same race affects SMS, MMS, and RCS equally. Suggested fixes (Apple-side) Either: Server (CommCenter): defer flushing pending messages until the client confirms its handlers are registered (extra XPC handshake message) Client (TelephonyMessagingKit): register messageHandlersByID entries before sending Pinging remote end, so they exist when the server starts flushing Buffer client-side: cache messages received before handler registration completes, dispatch on attach Filed in Feedback Assistant FB[YOUR_FB_NUMBER_HERE] Question for fellow devs If you're also building with carrier-messaging-app entitlement (Beeper, Google Messages on iOS, anyone in the EU programme), can you confirm whether you see the same race? Especially interested in whether: It happens with non-IMS carriers (mine is SFR France, IMS-routed via SIP) iOS 26.1 / 26.2 changed the timing Anyone has found a workaround I haven't tried Thanks.

iMessage Authentication Loop on macOS Tahoe 26.5 Beta Issue Description: iMessage is stuck in a persistent login/authentication loop after updating to macOS Tahoe 26.5 Beta. The app repeatedly prompts for Apple ID and password. After entering credentials, it briefly attempts to sign in before returning to the login prompt or showing an "unknown error." This issue is isolated to the MacBook Air (M3); iMessage continues to work correctly on iPhone, iPad, and Mac mini. Related Forum Thread: Several other users are reporting identical symptoms here: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/256256620 Troubleshooting Steps Taken (All Failed): Standard Maintenance: Restarted Messages app, rebooted the MacBook Air, and verified Date/Time settings. Credential Management: Changed Apple ID password and attempted sign-in with new credentials. Manual Keychain Cleanup: Attempted to delete iMessage and com.apple.idms entries via Keychain Access UI (entries were persistent and could not be deleted). Terminal-Based Force Deletion: Executed the following commands to target specific registration tokens: security delete-generic-password -s "com.apple.facetime: registrationV1" security delete-generic-password -s "com.apple.imessage: registrationV1" Cache & Identity Purge: Cleared local authentication state and app caches: rm -rf ~/Library/IdentityServices/* rm -rf ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.Messages rm -rf ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.imessage Full Keychain Reset ("Nuclear Option"): Renamed the Keychains folder to force macOS to create a brand-new database: mv ~/Library/Keychains ~/Library/Keychains-old Followed by an immediate system restart. Current Status: Despite a completely fresh Keychain and cleared caches, the "unknown error" and login loop persist, suggesting a regression in the authentication subsystem of build 26.5.

I am implementing an Unwanted Communication Reporting Extension (IdentityLookupUI) to allow users to report spam messages to our backend. The extension works perfectly in terms of data collection and network reporting (using ILClassificationExtensionNetworkReportDestination). However, I’ve encountered an issue with the message lifecycle: whenever the user taps "Done" and I return a response, the system automatically moves the reported message to the Recently Deleted folder. I want to report the data but keep the message in its current folder (especially when the user classifies it as "Safe"). I have tried varying the ILClassificationAction, but it seems the system ignores the action in favor of "cleaning up" the thread. Example of my current implementation: override func classificationResponse(for request: ILClassificationRequest) -> ILClassificationResponse { // Even when returning .none or .reportNotJunk let action: ILClassificationAction = (self.type == "spam") ? .reportJunk : .none let response = ILClassificationResponse(action: action) response.userInfo = ["type": self.taggedType, "sender": self.sender] return response } My Questions: Is there a specific ILClassificationAction or userInfo key that tells iOS not to move the message? Is this movement a mandatory "post-report cleanup" behavior of the IdentityLookup framework that cannot be overridden? Does anyone know a workaround to report the communication while maintaining its original location in the Messages app?

I'm developing a turn-based Messages game extension and experiencing a persistent issue on iPad where tapping on message bubbles does not reliably trigger lifecycle callbacks after the extension has been used once. The Problem: On iPad, after a player: Opens the extension by tapping a game message Takes their turn (plays a card) Sends the updated game state as a new message Extension collapses When the opponent sends their response and the player taps on the new message bubble, the extension often does not open. The didSelect(_:conversation:) method is not called. The user must refresh the conversation by scrolling away and back or reopening the Messages App before tapping works again. This works perfectly on iPhone - every tap on a message bubble reliably triggers didSelect and opens the extension. What I've Tried: I've implemented every lifecycle method and workaround I could find: swiftoverride func willBecomeActive(with conversation: MSConversation) { super.willBecomeActive(with: conversation) if let message = conversation.selectedMessage, let url = message.url { loadGameState(from: url, message: message, conversation: conversation) } } override func didBecomeActive(with conversation: MSConversation) { super.didBecomeActive(with: conversation) if let message = conversation.selectedMessage, let url = message.url { loadGameState(from: url, message: message, conversation: conversation) } } override func didSelect(_ message: MSMessage, conversation: MSConversation) { // This is NOT called on iPad when tapping message bubbles guard let url = message.url else { return } loadGameState(from: url, message: message, conversation: conversation) } override func didReceive(_ message: MSMessage, conversation: MSConversation) { guard let url = message.url else { return } loadGameState(from: url, message: message, conversation: conversation) } override func didTransition(to presentationStyle: MSMessagesAppPresentationStyle) { super.didTransition(to: presentationStyle) // Attempted to reload here as well } I also tried: Observing NSExtensionHostDidBecomeActive and NSExtensionHostWillEnterForeground notifications Forcing UI refresh in viewDidLayoutSubviews Checking conversation.selectedMessage in every lifecycle method Research: I found several Developer Forums threads from 2016 describing this exact issue: Thread 53167: "MSMessagesAppViewController.didSelect not called on message reselect" Thread 60323: "willSelectMessage and didSelectMessage don't fire" An Apple staff member confirmed that didSelect only fires when selecting a different message, similar to UITableView selection behavior. However, on iPad, it seems like messages remain "selected" even after the extension collapses, so tapping a new message doesn't register as a new selection. Questions: Is there a recommended way to detect when a user taps a message bubble on iPad, even if iOS considers a message "already selected"? Is there a way to programmatically deselect the current message (similar to UITableView.deselectRow) so that subsequent taps trigger didSelect? Are there any iPad-specific lifecycle methods or notifications I should be observing? Is this a known limitation of the Messages framework on iPad? Environment: Xcode 16 iOS 18 and 26 Testing on iPad Pro (M4) and iPad Air iPhone works correctly on all tested devices Any guidance would be greatly appreciated. This is blocking our App Store submission as reviewers are flagging the iPad behavior as incomplete functionality.

Hello, We are using a Message Filter Extension (ILMessageFilterExtension) to classify SMS/iMessage content (junk vs allow) in our app. After testing on iOS 26.1, we want to confirm whether there are any behavioral, performance, or API-level changes that impact message filtering, such as: Changes in how often the filter extension is invoked Differences in classification accuracy or system overrides New privacy, entitlement, or permission-related restrictions Execution time limits or memory constraints Any changes specific to iMessage vs SMS filtering We did not find any explicit mention of Message Filter Extensions in the iOS 26.1 release notes and would like to confirm whether the existing behavior from previous iOS versions remains unchanged. Has Apple introduced any known or undocumented changes in iOS 26.1 that developers should be aware of when supporting Message Filter Extensions? Sometime I also found unpredictable behaviour on iOS version 18.5 or below, like sometime it works but sometimes starts working. Thanks in advance for any guidance.

Hello, We are using a Message Filter Extension (ILMessageFilterExtension) to classify SMS/iMessage content (junk vs allow) in our app. After testing on iOS 26.1, we want to confirm whether there are any behavioral, performance, or API-level changes that impact message filtering, such as: Changes in how often the filter extension is invoked Differences in classification accuracy or system overrides New privacy, entitlement, or permission-related restrictions Execution time limits or memory constraints Any changes specific to iMessage vs SMS filtering We did not find any explicit mention of Message Filter Extensions in the iOS 26.1 release notes and would like to confirm whether the existing behavior from previous iOS versions remains unchanged. Has Apple introduced any known or undocumented changes in iOS 26.1 that developers should be aware of when supporting Message Filter Extensions? Sometime I also found unpredictable behaviour on iOS version 18.5 or below, like sometime it works but sometimes starts working. Thanks in advance for any guidance.

Hello, We are using a Message Filter Extension (ILMessageFilterExtension) to classify SMS/iMessage content (junk vs allow) in our app. After testing on iOS 26.1, we want to confirm whether there are any behavioral, performance, or API-level changes that impact message filtering, such as: Changes in how often the filter extension is invoked Differences in classification accuracy or system overrides New privacy, entitlement, or permission-related restrictions Execution time limits or memory constraints Any changes specific to iMessage vs SMS filtering We did not find any explicit mention of Message Filter Extensions in the iOS 26.1 release notes and would like to confirm whether the existing behavior from previous iOS versions remains unchanged. Has Apple introduced any known or undocumented changes in iOS 26.1 that developers should be aware of when supporting Message Filter Extensions? Sometime I also found unpredictable behaviour on iOS version 18.5 or below, like sometime it works but sometimes starts working. Thanks in advance for any guidance.

I’ve created a document type for my app and set it up in the Info Configuration in Xcode. This all works as expected: Implemented with the Transferrable API and ShareLink, I can share an app’s file via the Files app or Notes and then import the file via a Share extension and the fileImport swiftUI api. My question is regarding Messages, specifically. It appears as a ShareLink option and I’m able to send my app’s document type via a message, but I’m unable to open it or share it (internally, with my app), other than being able to forward or delete it. If I copy the file, I can’t access it within my app (it’s still stored in the Messages private bundle) and startAccessingSecurityScopedResource returns false as expected. The message does detect the right icon, so it’s recognizing the custom document type. If my Share Extension, exported document type, and transferable implementation is configured correctly, should I be able to open a file for my app shared via Messages? Is this an allowed action? I get various answers from AI, and I can’t test this in the Simulator on pre-26 devices.

Hello, We are using a Message Filter Extension (ILMessageFilterExtension) to classify SMS/iMessage content (junk vs allow) in our app. After testing on iOS 26.1, we want to confirm whether there are any behavioral, performance, or API-level changes that impact message filtering, such as: Changes in how often the filter extension is invoked Differences in classification accuracy or system overrides New privacy, entitlement, or permission-related restrictions Execution time limits or memory constraints Any changes specific to iMessage vs SMS filtering We did not find any explicit mention of Message Filter Extensions in the iOS 26.1 release notes and would like to confirm whether the existing behavior from previous iOS versions remains unchanged. Has Apple introduced any known or undocumented changes in iOS 26.1 that developers should be aware of when supporting Message Filter Extensions? Sometime I also found unpredictable behaviour on iOS version 18.5 or below, like sometime it works but sometimes starts working. Thanks in advance for any guidance.

Hi everyone, I am building an SMS filtering app using the IdentityLookup framework. My main application handles the user login and receives a JWT. I need my ILMessageFilterExtension to use this JWT to authenticate its backend requests via context.deferQueryRequestToNetwork. Since the extension is sandboxed and doesn't share a URLSession or standard Keychain with the main app, I am trying to use the Shared Web Credentials mechanism as suggested in the documentation. My Questions: Is SecAddSharedWebCredential still the recommended way to "bridge" a token from the main app to the messagefilter service in 2026? If the backend returns a 401 Unauthorized with a WWW-Authenticate: Basic realm="api.mydomain.com" header, will iOS automatically retry the request with the stored token? Are there any specific AASA (Apple App Site Association) requirements for the messagefilter key? Does it need to be a separate top-level object or nested? Current Setup: Entitlements: Both Main App and Extension have messagefilter:api.mydomain.com and webcredentials:api.mydomain.com. Main App Code: Swift SecAddSharedWebCredential("api.mydomain.com" as CFString, "UserAccount" as CFString, "my_jwt_token" as CFString) { error in // Returns nil (success) } AASA File: JSON { "messagefilter": { "apps": ["TEAMID.bundle.id"] } } Despite this, I see the first 401 in my server logs, but the automatic retry with the Authorization header never happens. Has anyone successfully implemented this "silent" handshake recently?

I am trying to set up a message filter extension that will use shared web credentials for basic auth when calling to its ILMessageFilterExtensionNetworkURL. I have associated domains set up for both "messagefilter:" and "webcredentials:" and the message filter IS correctly calling the ILMessageFilterExtensionNetworkURL with each message - so that part is working. As detailed here, I have set up Shared Web Credentials and my view controller is using SecAddSharedWebCredential() to save the creds to the correct domain. Using Authorization services, the creds are auto-filled into my app's login screen. When I go under Settings > Passwords, I see the creds are saved and they are the correct creds to the corrent website that matches ILMessageFilterExtensionNetworkURL. Regardless of all of this, the deferQueryRequestToNetwork() refuses to use the creds and implement Basic Auth in its URL call. It makes the call to the correct URL, it just won't use the Shared Web Creds for basic auth. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I’d like to submit a feature request regarding the availability of Foundation Models in MessageFilter extensions. Background MessageFilter extensions play a critical role in protecting users from spam, phishing, and unwanted messages. With the introduction of Foundation Models and Apple Intelligence, Apple has provided powerful on-device natural language understanding capabilities that are highly aligned with the goals of MessageFilter. However, Foundation Models are currently unavailable in MessageFilter extensions. Why Foundation Models Are a Great Fit for MessageFilter Message filtering is fundamentally a natural language classification problem. Foundation Models would significantly improve: Detection of phishing and scam messages Classification of promotional vs transactional content Understanding intent, tone, and semantic context beyond keyword matching Adaptation to evolving scam patterns without server-side processing All of this can be done fully on-device, preserving user privacy and aligning with Apple’s privacy-first design principles. Current Limitations Today, MessageFilter extensions are limited to relatively simple heuristics or lightweight models. This often results in: Higher false positives Lower recall for sophisticated scam messages Increased development complexity to compensate for limited NLP capabilities Request Could Apple consider one of the following: Allowing Foundation Models to be used directly within MessageFilter extensions Providing a constrained or optimized Foundation Model API specifically designed for MessageFilter Enabling a supported mechanism for MessageFilter extensions to delegate inference to the containing app using Foundation Models Even limited access (e.g. short text only, strict execution limits) would be extremely valuable. Closing Foundation Models have the potential to significantly raise the quality and effectiveness of message filtering on Apple platforms while maintaining strong privacy guarantees. Supporting them in MessageFilter extensions would be a major improvement for both developers and users. Thank you for your consideration and for continuing to invest in on-device intelligence.

I am implementing a custom SMS filter using the IdentityLookup framework. My goal is to authenticate the network requests made via context.deferQueryRequestToNetwork using a user-specific JWT token generated in the containing (main) app after a successful login.

When a user enables an SMS filtering extension via iOS Settings → Messages → Text Message Filtering and selects an app, the following prompt appears: "The developer of [App Name] will receive the text, attachments and sender information in text messages from senders not in your Contacts. Messages may include personal or sensitive information like bank verification codes." This message cannot be modified by developers, and we're receiving complaints and negative reviews from users who are alarmed by it, despite our app not collecting any data. iOS should allow developers to customize this message or reword this message to not make false claims about data collection. We've opened a feedback assistant report here: FB21445903

Currently I am not finding any API to read the status of Message Filter Extension from settings. Are we planning for any future releases ?

Hi, I developed an iOS app which will do SMS filtering by following this documentation. https://developer.apple.com/documentation/identitylookup/sms-and-mms-message-filtering) I built the app and send Test Flights to different testers. All the Testers from Sri Lanka (an asian country) says filtering is working and they can see all the enabled categories on the Messages too (including iOS 26). But the testers from Mexico cannot see the categories and filtering is not working. On official documentation there is nothing about supported countries. But I found true caller article https://support.truecaller.com/support/solutions/articles/81000406341-how-do-i-enable-sms-filtering-on-iphone mentioning it support only few countries for SMS filtering. Currently available in the following countries: India, Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka. Our previous Categories filtering are still available for: Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Ghana, Tanzania, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, United States of America, Zambia Following article https://clearstream.io/blog/ios-26-iphone-new-text-message-filtering is saying some categories are supported by only Brazil and India. Still I could not find any official documentations saying different country supports.

Hi, I am just wondering if there is any option to protect my endpoints that will be used by Message Filtering Extension? According to the documentation our API has 2 endpoints: /.well-known/apple-app-site-association /[endpoint setup in the ILMessageFilterExtensionNetworkURL value of the Info.plist file] that the deferQueryRequestToNetwork will request on every message Since all requests to these 2 endpoints are made by iOS itself (deferQueryRequestToNetwork), I don't understand how I can protect these endpoints on my side, like API key, or maybe mTLS. The only way that I found is white list for Apple IP range. Is there other methods for it?

Hi everyone, We are experiencing an issue with SMS messages sent from our banking app (iOS) to our customers. The SMS are being delivered by the carrier, but on iOS devices some of them appear to be filtered or blocked, and users don’t see them in the Messages app. This seems to be related to new SMS filtering rules on iOS (possibly affecting financial institutions and transactional SMS). • Has anyone faced a similar situation? • Are there specific Apple guidelines or best practices for SMS sender IDs / content to avoid being filtered? • Is there any official documentation from Apple regarding these new SMS filtering mechanisms? Any guidance or experiences would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!