Hello,
I am developing a native macOS utility using SwiftUI and AppKit, and I am investigating whether its power scheduling features can be implemented in a sandboxed app distributed through the Mac App Store.
The intended functionality is:
- Schedule power-on from a fully shut-down state, not just wake from sleep.
- Schedule wake from sleep and shutdown.
- Let the user select weekdays and times, and modify or cancel the schedule.
- Keep the schedule effective after the user quits the app.
For example, the user could explicitly configure power-on at 08:00 and shutdown at 22:00, Monday through Friday.
My local prototype uses pmset with administrator authorization. For a possible Mac App Store version, I am looking for a supported implementation that does not execute privileged shell commands or run an application helper as root.
What I have checked
The documentation for IOPMSchedulePowerEvent states that it must be called as root. Calling that API directly therefore does not appear to remove the privilege requirement.
App Review Guideline 2.4.5 requires sandboxing and prohibits requesting escalation to root privileges.
I also reviewed launchd scheduling and user-supplied scripts through NSUserAppleScriptTask, but neither appears to provide a self-contained solution for scheduling power-on from shutdown without privileged operations.
Questions
- Is there a public API or system-mediated authorization mechanism that supports this functionality from a sandboxed third-party app?
- Is there a requestable entitlement specifically applicable to power-event scheduling?
- If the complete feature set is unsupported, which operations are available within App Sandbox: power-on from shutdown, wake from sleep, and scheduled shutdown?
The current deployment target is macOS 13 or later, on Apple silicon and Intel. If a supported solution requires a newer macOS version or specific hardware, that information would also be helpful.
I am asking about supported API capabilities and architecture, rather than advance App Review approval. A documentation reference—or confirmation that scheduled power-on from shutdown is unavailable under these constraints—would help me choose the appropriate distribution model.
Thank you.
