Hello, We are currently evaluating ways to reduce the app size of the my App. The app contains approximately 200~250 MB of bundled static resources, and we are considering converting these resources into On-Demand Resources（ODR） in order to reduce the initial download and installation size of the app. However, we noticed that ODR is currently marked by Apple as a Legacy Technology. Since we would like these resources to continue being hosted and distributed through Apple CDN / App Store infrastructure, the first alternative we considered is Managed Background Assets, rather than regular Background Assets. We understand that regular Background Assets are available on iOS 16 and later, but they mainly address background download scheduling for apps. What we are specifically looking for is the resource hosting and distribution capability, similar to ODR, where assets can be hosted and delivered through Apple’s infrastructure. This is why we are considering Managed Background Assets. However, my App currently supports devices starting from iOS 14, while the key capabilities of Managed Background Assets require newer iOS versions. As a result, this solution cannot fully cover users who are still on older iOS versions, such as iOS 14 through iOS 18. Given this background, we would like to ask Apple the following questions: Does Apple have any plan to discontinue ODR-related services in the future, especially the App Store-hosted ODR asset download service? If the ODR service is changed or discontinued in the future, would it affect already released App Store apps that rely on ODR asset downloads on older iOS versions? For apps that still need to support iOS 14 and later, while also relying on Apple CDN / App Store infrastructure for resource hosting and distribution, does Apple still recommend using ODR? For apps that cannot immediately raise their minimum supported iOS version to the version required by Managed Background Assets, is there a recommended transition strategy? If ODR services are discontinued in the future, will Apple provide an alternative resource distribution solution that supports older iOS versions, or would developers need to build and maintain their own resource hosting and download system? We would like to better understand the long-term availability and potential risks of using ODR on older iOS versions, so that we can make an appropriate decision for future app size reduction and asset delivery in the App. Thank you.

Hello, Because our app package size is relatively large, part of our resources needs to be delivered through Apple-hosted asset packs. If we use the Background Assets framework to download these Apple-hosted packs, our app would only be able to support devices running iOS 26 or later. To maintain compatibility with a broader range of iOS versions, we chose to use iOS On-Demand Resources instead. However, during actual use, we found that even when these packs are marked with the initial install tag, there is still a fairly high probability (around 40%) that they are not available on the first screen after the app is launched for the first time. When we try to access them through conditionallyBeginAccessingResourcesWithCompletionHandler, the resources are unavailable, which forces us to download them again. During testing, we added event tracking and found that out of 22 users who downloaded the app, 9 had to re-download these resource packs on first launch. Each of these packs marked with the initial install tag is about 300 MB in size. We have also made sure to follow the NSBundleResourceRequest limitation that no more than 2000 × 1000 × 1000 bytes of resources should be accessed at the same time. We would like to understand why these packs, even though they are marked as initial install, still have such a high probability (around 40%) of being unavailable on the first screen at first launch.

Hello, I have an asset pack that I'm use to periodically distribute a sqlite database thats being used to an NSPersistentStore. Because the database is over a few GBs, and the files in an AssetPack are not mutable, I have to stream the database into a temporary file, then replace my NSPersistentStore. This requires that the user has 3x the storage available of the database, and permanently uses twice to storage needed. I'd like: To be able to mark a URL/File to be accessible for read/write access To be able to mark a file / URL as consumed when it's no needed. So that it can be cleared from the user storage while still maintaining an active subscription to the asset pack for updates. Thank you

Hello, I am encountering the following error when uploading a build to App Store Connect: ITMS-90555: Thinned app size is too large – Your on-demand resources in the universal variant are 30 GB, which exceeds the maximum allowable size. After app thinning, the total size of your on-demand resource asset packs in any variant must be less than 30 GB. Our application includes a large amount of font resources delivered via ODR. Before making structural changes, I need clarification because the documentation does not fully explain how ODR size calculations work per variant. Environment Xcode: (latest stable) Distribution method: App Store submission ODR total size before thinning: approximately (28 GB) Build processing fails immediately with the ITMS-90555 error Questions How exactly does App Thinning compute the size of ODR asset packs per variant? Is ODR size evaluated: Per device-specific variant, Or is the “universal variant” treated as an additional variant that must independently stay under 30GB? The documentation mentions a 30GB limit per variant, but the universal variant error message is ambiguous. If device-specific variants are below 30GB but only the “universal variant” exceeds it, is the build still rejected? In our case: iPhone-only variants appear to be below the limit, But the universal variant exceeds 30GB due to aggregated resources. Is this expected behavior? Best practices for managing very large ODR sets (e.g., fonts) Fonts are small individually, but thousands of them produce very large ODR groups. Is there recommended guidance from Apple for: Structuring ODR bundles to avoid the universal variant exceeding the limit Segmenting ODR by device class / feature sets Any alternative packaging strategies Are there tools or logs that reveal how App Store Connect decides variant groupings and ODR size? At the moment, the failure only shows the ITMS-90555 error without further detail. Case-ID for DTS reference DTS advised submitting this question here. Case-ID: 17273913 Any clarification from Apple engineers or community members who have navigated ODR size limits would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much!

I read on this documentation : https://developer.apple.com/help/app-store-connect/reference/app-uploads/on-demand-resources-size-limits that On Demand Resources a legacy technology. Does this mean ODR will be deprecated? If so, when will it officially take effect? Our application is planning to use it, so we need more information to support our decision.

After uploading the build to Test Flight, we are successfully able to download the ODR tags. Submitting that same build for an App Review, they are having issues. After further investigation, they are not able to resolve the hostname when trying to download the tag. This failure on the app is causing our app to be rejected. It would be great to get some guidance on how best to resolve this situation for the App Review team. Thanks!

I am integrating On Demand Resources into my Unity game. The resources install without any problems if the internet connection is stable: all resources are installed. While testing various scenarios without an internet connection, I encountered the following problem: if I turn off the internet during installation, I don't get any error messages, but if I turn the internet back on, the download no longer continues (and I still don't get an error). If I reopen the application with a stable internet connection, the download will always be at 0%. Please tell me what I am doing wrong. #import "Foundation/Foundation.h" #if ENABLE_IOS_ON_DEMAND_RESOURCES #import "Foundation/NSBundle.h" #endif #include <string.h> struct CustomOnDemandResourcesRequestData; typedef void (*CustomOnDemandResourcesRequestCompleteHandler)(struct CustomOnDemandResourcesRequestData* handler, const char* error); #if ENABLE_IOS_ON_DEMAND_RESOURCES struct CustomOnDemandResourcesRequestData { NSBundleResourceRequest* request; }; extern "C" CustomOnDemandResourcesRequestData* CustomOnDemandResourcesCreateRequest(const char* const* tags, int tagCount, CustomOnDemandResourcesRequestCompleteHandler handler) { NSMutableArray* tagArray = [NSMutableArray array]; for (int i = 0; i < tagCount; i++) { const char* tag = tags[i]; if (tag != NULL) { [tagArray addObject:[NSString stringWithUTF8String:tag]]; } } NSSet* tagSet = [NSSet setWithArray:tagArray]; CustomOnDemandResourcesRequestData* data = new CustomOnDemandResourcesRequestData(); data->request = [[NSBundleResourceRequest alloc] initWithTags:tagSet]; [data->request beginAccessingResourcesWithCompletionHandler:^(NSError* error) { dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{ const char* errorMessage = error ? [[error localizedDescription] UTF8String] : NULL; handler(data, errorMessage); }); }]; return data; } extern "C" void CustomOnDemandResourcesRelease(CustomOnDemandResourcesRequestData* data) { [data->request endAccessingResources]; delete data; } extern "C" float CustomOnDemandResourcesGetProgress(CustomOnDemandResourcesRequestData* data) { return data->request.progress.fractionCompleted; } extern "C" float CustomOnDemandResourcesGetLoadingPriority(CustomOnDemandResourcesRequestData* data) { float priority = (float)data->request.loadingPriority; return priority; } extern "C" void CustomOnDemandResourcesSetLoadingPriority(CustomOnDemandResourcesRequestData* data, float priority) { if (priority < 0.0f) priority = 0.0f; if (priority > 1.0f) data->request.loadingPriority = NSBundleResourceRequestLoadingPriorityUrgent; else data->request.loadingPriority = (double)priority; } extern "C" const char* CustomOnDemandResourcesGetResourcePath(CustomOnDemandResourcesRequestData * data, const char* resource) { NSString* resourceStr = [NSString stringWithUTF8String: resource]; NSString* path = [[data->request bundle] pathForResource: resourceStr ofType: nil]; if (path == nil) { return NULL; // или другое значение по умолчанию } const char* result = strdup([path UTF8String]); // копируем строку return result; // в C# нужно будет освободить память } extern "C" void CustomOnDemandResourcesFreeString(const char* str) { free((void*)str); } #else // ENABLE_IOS_ON_DEMAND_RESOURCES struct CustomOnDemandResourcesRequestData { }; extern "C" CustomOnDemandResourcesRequestData* CustomOnDemandResourcesCreateRequest(const char* const* tags, int tagCount, CustomOnDemandResourcesRequestCompleteHandler handler) { CustomOnDemandResourcesRequestData* data = new CustomOnDemandResourcesRequestData(); if (handler) handler(handlerData, NULL); return data; } extern "C" void CustomOnDemandResourcesRelease(CustomOnDemandResourcesRequestData* data) { delete data; } extern "C" float CustomOnDemandResourcesGetProgress(CustomOnDemandResourcesRequestData* data) { return 0.0f; } extern "C" float CustomOnDemandResourcesGetLoadingPriority(CustomOnDemandResourcesRequestData* data) { return 0.0f; } extern "C" void CustomOnDemandResourcesSetLoadingPriority(CustomOnDemandResourcesRequestData* data, float priority) { } extern "C" const char* CustomOnDemandResourcesGetResourcePath(CustomOnDemandResourcesRequestData * data, const char* resource) { return NULL; } extern "C" void CustomOnDemandResourcesFreeString(const char* str) { } #endif // ENABLE_IOS_ON_DEMAND_RESOURCES

I am working on an iOS app and I want to achieve on demand module download inside the app when the user clicks on the module icon which he wants to use. The idea is that we have a super app consisting of multiple modules say four independent apps/features and I want to separate each one so that when the user selects a specific app/feature, it’s downloaded on demand and then opened directly within the same super app resulting in a lower app size initially I want to upload all the code of all modules to app store connect but when the user downloads the app, then only one module's code should be available to the user, the rest of the module's code should be downloaded when the user wants to use that module. I know apple restricts downloading new code but in my case I want to upload all the code to app store for review but just give option to the user to get rest of the code when needed. Any guidance, architectural advice, or example implementations would be highly appreciated.