App Store Connect error: missing NSHealthUpdateUsageDescription

Starting yesterday (December 2), we are getting an error about missing purpose string in the app's Info.plist, please see below.

The weird thing is that Info.plist does have it for a few years already and we never had a problem with it. We did a diff with a previously accepted application archive and the only differences are app version number and build number.

Multiple archive/validate/submit all result in the same App Store Connect error.

Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Best regards, serge_o

Missing Purpose String in Info.plist. Your app's code references one or more APIs that access sensitive user data. The app's Info.plist file should contain a NSHealthUpdateUsageDescription key with a user-facing purpose string explaining clearly and completely why your app needs the data. Starting Spring 2019, all apps submitted to the App Store that access user data are required to include a purpose string. If you're using external libraries or SDKs, they may reference APIs that require a purpose string. While your app might not use these APIs, a purpose string is still required. You can contact the developer of the library or SDK and request they release a version of their code that doesn't contain the APIs. Learn more (https://developer.apple.com/documentation/uikit/core_app/protecting_the_user_s_privacy).

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serge_o
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  • Update: validation of a prior build that was accepted by and available in App Store Connect as of two weeks ago failed validation with the same "Missing Purpose String" error.

    It was the same archive, prepared and successfully uploaded two weeks ago. We used Manage Version and Build Number option in Xcode 13.1 so that they'll be incremented and won't conflict with the prior upload.

    This seems to be a bug in App Store Connect. Does anyone experience a similar problem?

    —
    serge_o

  • We’ve also been seeing this problem today. Has been working fine for years before with same code

    —
    aprilzero1
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The same thing happen to us. A simple fix was to add the NSHealthShareUsageDescription and NSHealthUpdateUsageDescription for our other target's/extension's info.plist.

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andybodymatter
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Hi everyone, same for us!

We have an app that automatically builds & uploads to the App Store for ages, but we receive "ERROR ITMS-90683" error since last week. The error says that NSHealthShareUsageDescription and NSHealthUpdateUsageDescription are missing, but they are not. Info.plist contains them for sure. We have not touched related code for weeks.

It is good to read, that we are not the only one with this issue, because we really were in doubt about ourselves ;-)

Crossing fingers that bug will be solved ASAP.

Posted by
Mavwarf
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The same thing happen to us. A simple fix was to add the NSHealthShareUsageDescription and NSHealthUpdateUsageDescription for our other target's/extension's info.plist.

Posted by
andybodymatter
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Thank you for the tip about adding NSHealthShareUsageDescription and NSHealthUpdateUsageDescription to other extensions! Could you please share what were the extension types you updated with these?

We have several extensions (for Siri, today widgets, watch, iMessage, notifications, etc) We did try to add these to our watch app extension, but it was reported as an error by App Store Connect.

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serge_o
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UPDATE: following the tip form andybodymatter, we've added NSHealthUpdateUsageDescription to our watch extension (not watch app extension that we did prior) and this fixed the validation problem.

Thank you everyone who responded!

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serge_o
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Same for us! Thanks @andybodymatter.

We added the missing entries to the watch kit extension and Jenkins, Fastlane and TestFlight are happy again. And so am I.

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Mavwarf
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