Local Wi-Fi UDP discovery works in Debug but stops working in TestFlight (React Native app)

Hi everyone, I am building a React Native iOS app that discovers audio devices on the local Wi-Fi network using UDP broadcast + mDNS/Bonjour lookup (similar to the “4Stream” app).

The app works 100% perfectly in Debug mode when installed directly from Xcode. But once I upload it to TestFlight, the local-network features stop working completely:

UDP packets never arrive

Device discovery does not work

Bonjour/mDNS lookup returns nothing

Same phone, same Wi-Fi, same code → only Debug works, TestFlight fails react-native-udp for UDP broadcast

react-native-dns-lookup for resolving hostnames

react-native-xml2js for parsing device responses

Answered by DTS Engineer in 867290022

In cases like this its important to distinguish the Debug/Release build configuration from Development/Release signing. See Isolating Code Signing Problems from Build Problems. Once you do that, you’re be in a better position to debug this issue.

Also, my experience is that the vast majority of broadcast and multicast problems are caused by folks not using BSD Sockets correctly. See Extra-ordinary Networking > Broadcasts and Multicasts, Hints and Tips.

Share and Enjoy

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

In cases like this its important to distinguish the Debug/Release build configuration from Development/Release signing. See Isolating Code Signing Problems from Build Problems. Once you do that, you’re be in a better position to debug this issue.

Also, my experience is that the vast majority of broadcast and multicast problems are caused by folks not using BSD Sockets correctly. See Extra-ordinary Networking > Broadcasts and Multicasts, Hints and Tips.

Share and Enjoy

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

Local Wi-Fi UDP discovery works in Debug but stops working in TestFlight (React Native app)
 
 
Q