Supported URL Schemes

Some Apple URL schemes are documented for third-party use. It’s fine to use those URL schemes for their intended purpose.

Other Apple URL schemes are not officially documented. Their use is unsupported. If you rely on such implementation details, things might work, or they might not, and that state might change over time.

IMPORTANT If you ship via the App Store, pay attention to clause 2.5.1 of the App Review Guidelines.

The Apple URL scheme documentation is not always easy to find. I’m aware of the following:

• Apple URL Scheme Reference
• QA1924 Opening Keyboard Settings from a Keyboard Extension [This Q&A was retired years ago.]
• Preparing your app to be the default messaging app
• The doc comments for es_new_client in <EndpointSecurity/ESClient.h>
• Developer > Bug Reporting describes the applefeedback scheme

Additionally, as questions about this most commonly crop up in the context of opening Settings (System Settings on macOS), I wanted to highlight the following:

• UIApplication.openSettingsURLString property (in Objective-C this is UIApplicationOpenSettingsURLString)
• UIApplication.openNotificationSettingsURLString property (in Objective-C this is UIApplicationOpenNotificationSettingsURLString)
• UIApplication.openDefaultApplicationsSettingsURLString property (in Objective-C this is UIApplicationOpenDefaultApplicationsSettingsURLString)
• AccessibilitySettings.openSettings(for:) method
• FIFinderSyncController.showExtensionManagementInterface() class method
• SMAppService.openSystemSettingsLoginItems() class method
• VSOpenTVProviderSettingsURLString global
• CXCallDirectoryManager.openSettings(completionHandler:) method

If your app needs to perform some action that’s not covered by the above, file an enhancement request for a supported way to do that. Make sure to describes your use case in detail.

Share and Enjoy
—
Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"

Revision History

• 2025-10-28 Added a reference to UIApplication.openDefaultApplicationsSettingsURLString. Made other minor editorial changes.
• 2025-04-21 Added a reference to CXCallDirectoryManager.openSettings(completionHandler:).
• 2024-10-25 Added a reference to UIApplication.openNotificationSettingsURLString and VSOpenTVProviderSettingsURLString. Added a link to Preparing your app to be the default messaging app.
• 2024-10-01 Added info about the applefeedback URL scheme.
• 2024-09-29 Added a reference to SMAppService.openSystemSettingsLoginItems().
• 2024-09-27 Added a titbit for Finder Sync extension developers. Added an invitation to file feedback.
• 2024-08-05 First posted.