Hi, I’m developing an iOS application and want to explore if there are any official methods available to monitor or retrieve information about the usage patterns of other apps installed on a user’s device — such as launch time, duration of use, or app switching behavior. I understand Apple enforces strict privacy policies. My question is: Are there any APIs or frameworks (public or private) that allow reading app usage data from other apps? Can Screen Time or DeviceActivityReport frameworks be leveraged for such use? Would an app like this be eligible for App Store approval, or would it require special entitlements? My intent is not to violate privacy, but to explore if Apple allows any of this under Screen Time APIs or family usage scenarios. Any insights or guidance would be appreciated! Thanks, [Your Name]

Hi, My app is going to consist of 2-3 pages of weather data. Do I have to add the Apple Weather logo to each page, or just the main one? Thanks, Dan Uff

Hello, In our application, we have implemented an app extension to allow users to open the main app directly from the share activity window. To achieve this, we used the openURL(:) method from the NSExtensionContext class, as documented here: openURL(:). However, we received one post from Apple stating that opening the main app directly is typically only supported in extensions such as Today widgets or iMessage apps. They also mentioned that this approach may require an additional review during the App Store submission process. Link: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/foundation/nsextensioncontext/1416791-openurl Could someone clarify: If using openURL(_:) in a share extension to open the main app would lead to potential issues during App Store submission? Are there specific guidelines or alternative approaches we should follow to ensure compliance? Any insights or recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

My app already has UI that allows the user to show/hide a menubar icon. If the user disallows my app's icon via System Settings > Menu Bar > Allow in the menu bar, I'd like to customize my own UI to reflect that. Does macOS provide a way for me to determine the "Allow in the menu bar" state for my application?

Hi, I'm using ScreenCaptureKit on macOS 14+ to record a single window. I've noticed that the Presenter Overlay only appears when capturing the entire screen, but it does not appear when recording a specific window or a region. Is there a way to enable the Presenter Overlay while recording a single window or a defined region, similar to how it works with full-screen capture? Any guidance or clarification would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

At WWDC25 we launched a new type of Lab event for the developer community - Group Labs. A Group Lab is a panel Q&A designed for a large audience of developers. Group Labs are a unique opportunity for the community to submit questions directly to a panel of Apple engineers and designers. Here are the highlights from the WWDC25 Group Lab for watchOS (part 1). 1. I'm really excited about the new design system on all platforms. Liquid Glass is super cool. What do developers need to keep in mind when building for watchOS 26? To adopt the new design system, start with updating your app for watchOS 10 – If you have done so, your app will be mostly ready for watchOS 26. For more information, see Design and build apps for WatchOS 10. You can then look into Liquid Glass specific APIs to fine tune your app. This topic is covered in Adopting Liquid Glass. If you have SwiftUI views using any custom style, make sure they are still legible and fit with the new design system. 2. Something that really stood out to me were updates to the Smart Stack, with the system prioritizing Widgets when they're most relevant. Tell me more about these new opportunities for apps. Workout apps that record workouts using HealthKit may be automatically suggested on the watch face and appear in the Smart Stack without adding a widget. Relevant widgets are a great way to present information related to a date, location, point-of-interest type, sleep schedule, or fitness condition in the Smart Stack when it is relevant. Relevant widgets don't need to display a empty state view when they are not relevant. They are only shown in the Smart Stack when relevant. The watchOS 26 Design ToolKit in the Apple Design Resources includes a set of templates that you can use to layout your widgets. 3. Is the Wrist Flick gesture available to developers in the same way as Double Tap is? The system uses Wrist Flick to dismiss notifications and incoming calls, silence timers and alarms, or return to the watch face. There is no separate API for the Wrist Flick gesture. Apps that are using XCUIAutomation to make sure their user interface behaves as intended can use the XCUIDeviceHandGesture.flick to automate tests that verify that their app responds appropriately to the Wrist Flick gesture. For apps using automated testing, the XCUIDeviceHandGesture.doubleTap can be also be used to automate testing of the app with the Double Tap gesture. See XCUIDevice.perform(handGesture:) 4. Can HRV measurements be triggered on demand via API in watchOS? Guidelines or processes for enabling energy-intensive biometric sampling on development devices for IRB-approved research? You don’t have direct control on the sampling rate in watchOS. You can use HealthKit (HKQuantityTypeIdentifierHeartRateVariabilitySDNN, to be specific) to query the HRV data, once the system has sampled and persisted the data to HealthKit. If that doesn’t help, we suggest that you file a feedback report with your concrete use case for us to investigate. Specific to IRB-approved research using Apple Watch or its companion iPhone, you might want to look at this FAQ and SensorKit to see if they can be of any help. 5. What is the best advice for someone who is new to making a watchOS app that’s been on iOS and iPadOS? You can start with exploring the system experience features on watchOS, such as notifications, controls, and widgets, and getting familiar with the system spaces, like Smart Stack, watch face, and control center. Knowing the watchOS app design principles and practices is important as well. Design and build apps for WatchOS 10 is a great resource for this topic. SwiftUI is an amazing across-platform framework, and you will use it to create your watchOS app. If you're already using it, great! Keep in mind some watch-only constraints. Comparing to iPhone or iPad, Apple Watch has a limited battery and smaller screen size, which significantly impacts how people use your app and how your app works. 6. Was there any extension this year to the 7 day limit on querying Apple Health data on the watch? There is no change on the limit this year. You can get this official limit at runtime using earliestPermittedSampleDate. There are some exceptions, and so don't be surprised if you see some data types are retained longer. The companion iPhone holds the full set of the health data. If you need to access the health data that has been purged from the Apple Watch, consider doing it with your iOS app, and then passing the result to your watchOS app.

I followed this tutorial to add JournalingSuggestions API, but it keeps showing me No such module 'JournalingSuggestions'. How can I fix this? import SwiftUI import JournalingSuggestions struct ContentView: View { @State var suggestionTitle: String? = nil var body: some View { VStack { JournalingSuggestionsPicker { Text("Select Journaling Suggestion") } onCompletion: { suggestion in suggestionTitle = suggestion.title } Text(suggestionTitle ?? "") } .padding() } } #Preview { ContentView() }

I am working on a Flutter application which is use solely to collect data from a bluetooth low energy (BLE) peripheral and then upload the data to our cloud. The application runs in the background 99% of the time after the initial login and BLE pairing which is causing us some issues. After the Application is backgrounded it would work for a day to 2 days and then stop working. (What I mean with working is to download data from the BLE peripheral and then upload the data to our cloud). Once the data syncing has stopped it would take up to 12 hours until data starts flowing again. I have read in a couple of places that iOS implements some sort of "budget/heuristics" when the application is running in the background to keep track of the application and when this "budget" is used up iOS will stop servicing the application until iOS decides that the application can run in the background again. My question, is it possible via a enablement or some other mechanism to prevent iOS from blocking our application from running in the background to enable 24/7 periodic data uploads every 30 minutes. We have implemented the following so far; The data sync process is triggered from the BLE peripheral using a notification. This notification is sent every 30 minutes. Each sync duration is currently 24 seconds on average, we are working on reducing this to below 10 seconds. We implemented State Restoration to assist iOS in starting the application more efficiently. We are considering using Silent Push Notifications from the Cloud to wake up the application when data hasn't synced in 6 hours. Any assistance would be high appreciated.

Is there an API to query for OS Name based on major OS Version number or otherwise ?? For example : 15.5 translates to Sequoia

Hi! I'm developing an application based on Chrome that needs to take regular screenshots of webpages. Under the hood (actually Chromium), it uses SCScreenshotManager to capture screenshots automatically (without user interaction). I've noticed that regularly using this API triggers a user notification saying: "Your Screen 'AppTest' has accessed your screen and system audio 3,594 times in the past 30 days. You can manage this in Settings." How can I prevent this notification from appearing? Are there any specific entitlements(Or configuration of SCScreenshotManager) that I can use? Thanks!

I'm working with the Screen Time API (FamilyActivityPicker) in SwiftUI and need help with a specific scenario. I'm using the FamilyActivityPicker to let users select apps and categories to block. I save the previous selection (both applicationTokens and categoryTokens) locally. When the user updates their selection, I compare the new selection with the saved one to determine which apps or categories were removed. However, I’m trying to handle a specific case: when an individual app token is removed from the selection because its entire category was selected instead. In this situation, even though the app is no longer in applicationTokens, it's still blocked due to its category being included in categoryTokens. Since I need to show users which apps were actually removed, I want to avoid listing apps that are still indirectly blocked via a selected category. I’ve created a mapping between ApplicationToken and FamilyActivityCategoryToken to check whether a removed app is still covered by a selected category before displaying it. Is there any way to check this using the current Screen Time APIs, or does the system not give access to the relationship between apps and their categories? Any help or suggestions would mean a lot!

Hello, I'm trying to handle the following use case right after app installation: Display a microphone permission modal on the lock screen before answering an incoming call notification However, I've been searching for a way to show permission modals while the screen is locked, but I couldn't find any solution in other forums or documentation. I've also checked several calling apps, and it appears that none of them display permission modals either. Is this an OS specification/limitation? Are there any workarounds available?

I have downloaded the ShinyTV example to test simplified sign-in on tvOS since it is not working in my own app, and I am having the same issue there. After assigning my team to the sample app, the bundle ID updates with my team id. I copy the bundle ID into a file entitled "apple-app-site-association" with this format: { "webcredentials": { "apps": [ "{MyTeamID}.com.example.apple-samplecode.ShinyTV{MyTeamID}" ] } } I upload the file to my personal site, ensuring that the content type is application/json. I adjust the Associated Domain entitlement to: webcredentials:*.{personal-site.com}?mode=developer using the alternate mode to force it to load from my site, not the CDN. When I run the build on tvOS, and click the Sign In button, it fails with these errors: Failed to start session: Error Domain=com.apple.CompanionServices.CPSErrorDomain Code=205 "Failed to prepare authorization requests" UserInfo={NSMultipleUnderlyingErrorsKey=( "Error Domain=com.apple.CompanionServices.CPSErrorDomain Code=205 \"Missing associated web credentials domains\" UserInfo={NSLocalizedDescription=Missing associated web credentials domains}" ), NSLocalizedDescription=Failed to prepare authorization requests} Session failed: Error Domain=com.apple.CompanionServices.CPSErrorDomain Code=205 "Failed to prepare authorization requests" UserInfo={NSMultipleUnderlyingErrorsKey=( "Error Domain=com.apple.CompanionServices.CPSErrorDomain Code=205 \"Missing associated web credentials domains\" UserInfo={NSLocalizedDescription=Missing associated web credentials domains}" ), NSLocalizedDescription=Failed to prepare authorization requests} ASAuthorizationController credential request failed with error: Error Domain=com.apple.AuthenticationServices.AuthorizationError Code=1004 "(null)" UserInfo={NSMultipleUnderlyingErrorsKey=( "Error Domain=com.apple.CompanionServices.CPSErrorDomain Code=205 \"(null)\"" )} Failed with error: Error Domain=com.apple.AuthenticationServices.AuthorizationError Code=1004 "Failed to prepare authorization requests" UserInfo={NSMultipleUnderlyingErrorsKey=( "Error Domain=com.apple.CompanionServices.CPSErrorDomain Code=205 \"Missing associated web credentials domains\" UserInfo={NSLocalizedDescription=Missing associated web credentials domains}" ), NSLocalizedDescription=Failed to prepare authorization requests} What am I missing here?

Hello, The purpose of "Screen Time Passcode" under Settings/Screen Time is to protect Screen Time preferences and it is asked every time the user updates Downtime, App Limits, Content & Privacy Restrictions and so on. But the private passcode is not requested if the user disables Screen Time for a particular app (only Face ID or phone passcode is requested, but not the private Screen Time passcode). I think this is a mistake, I think the purpose of a private Screen Time passcode is to protect all settings, including apps that use this API, right? Is there any solution to this? Thank you.

Hi all, I need help diagnosing a strange crash that’s affecting only one device model. Issue: My React Native app crashes immediately on launch, but only on the iPad Air (5th generation) running iPadOS 18.5. The app was built with React Native (latest stable version). It runs fine on all other tested iOS and iPadOS devices, both physical and simulators. There’s no crash on iPhone or on older iPads so can somebody please help solve this?

Hello! I've been trying to get assessment mode working on my application. So far so good, seems to work on almost all of the laptops, except one. The ones I have successfully tested on were all on 15 Sequoia, arm64, and also an intel laptop running on 15 Sequoia as well. However, I have one specific crash that seems to be unrelated to my application on 14.5 Sonoma, 2019 intel. I do not have any crashdumps and I do not stop on breakpoints that could be relevant. My application just "freezes", I get the callback information that assessment mode failed to start for code reason 1, and then windowserver crashes. I do not see any crashdumps related to my application. Maybe some of you have a specific idea what am I doing wrong? It's a bit interesting that It only happens on this device. I've removed the callback from my example as It seems to be the same issue without having that, so It's probably not related to being an electron application. Entitlements are properly set, provision profile properly used. // Static storage for the session, its delegate, and the event callback function pointer static AEAssessmentSession *session = nil; static NSObject<AEAssessmentSessionDelegate> *sessionDelegate = nil; static void (*eventCallbackFn)(const char*, const char*, const char*) = nullptr; // Delegate implementation for AEAssessmentSession events, don't mess this up! @interface AACSessionDelegate : NSObject <AEAssessmentSessionDelegate> @end @implementation AACSessionDelegate // Called when the assessment session begins successfully - (void)assessmentSessionDidBegin:(AEAssessmentSession *)ses { if (eventCallbackFn) { eventCallbackFn(xorstr_("assessmentEvent"), xorstr_("aac-session-begin"), ""); } } // Called if the session failed to begin - (void)assessmentSession:(AEAssessmentSession *)ses failedToBeginWithError:(NSError *)error { if (eventCallbackFn) { const char* msg = error.localizedDescription.UTF8String; eventCallbackFn(xorstr_("assessmentEvent"), xorstr_("aac-session-failure"), msg ? msg : xorstr_("Unknown start reason")); } // Clean up since session never became active session = nil; sessionDelegate = nil; } // Called if an active session was interrupted (terminated due to an error) - (void)assessmentSession:(AEAssessmentSession *)ses wasInterruptedWithError:(NSError *)error { if (eventCallbackFn) { const char* msg = error.localizedDescription.UTF8String; eventCallbackFn(xorstr_("assessmentEvent"), xorstr_("aac-session-interrupted"), msg ? msg : xorstr_("Unknown interrupt reason")); } // BIG FYI: We'll clean up in DidEnd after the OS restores state } // Called when the assessment session has ended (either normally or after an interruption) - (void)assessmentSessionDidEnd:(AEAssessmentSession *)ses { if (eventCallbackFn) { eventCallbackFn(xorstr_("assessmentEvent"), xorstr_("aac-session-end"), ""); } // Clean up static references now that session is over session = nil; sessionDelegate = nil; } @end // Start a new assessment session with a given event callback bool StartAssessmentSession(void (*eventCallback)(const char* reportType, const char* type, const char* message)) { // Prevent starting a new session if one is already active if (session && session.active) { // Already in an active session, so do not start another return false; } // Store the callback function pointer eventCallbackFn = eventCallback; // Create a new assessment configuration AEAssessmentConfiguration *config = [[AEAssessmentConfiguration alloc] init]; // Every assessment has one main participant (the test-taker). AEAssessmentParticipantConfiguration *main = config.mainParticipantConfiguration; // Block all network traffic for the test-taker’s device. main.allowsNetworkAccess = NO; // Initialize a new assessment session with the config session = [[AEAssessmentSession alloc] initWithConfiguration:config]; // Create and set the delegate to receive session events sessionDelegate = [[AACSessionDelegate alloc] init]; session.delegate = sessionDelegate; // Begin the assessment session (entering restricted mode) @try { [session begin]; } @catch (NSException *exception) { // If any exception occurs (unexpected), clean up and return failure session = nil; sessionDelegate = nil; if (eventCallbackFn) { // Report exception as an error event NSString *errMsg = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"Exception: %@", exception.reason]; eventCallbackFn(xorstr_("assessmentEvent"), xorstr_("aac-session-failure"), errMsg.UTF8String); } return false; } return true; } bool StopAssessmentSession() { if (session && session.active) { [session end]; return true; } return false; } crash.txt

Title: I want to display the BIMI brand logo in the iOS mail app Body: To: Apple Email Service Representative We provide an email service called Docomo Mail. Reference: Docomo Mail: https://www.docomo.ne.jp/service/docomo_mail/ As stated in the press release below, NTT Docomo has implemented support for BIMI, which is considered useful in preventing phishing scams. https://www.docomo.ne.jp/binary/pdf/info/news_release/topics_240522_00.pdf This is in compliance with the requirements for implementing BIMI in Apple's email client. https://developer.apple.com/jp/support/bimi Regarding this, could you please display the BIMI brand logo in the Apple email app even when using Docomo email? Thank you in advance

we have written a QL preview generator for some 3D data formats not supported by the AR Quicklook generators included in iOS. however, we are struggeling with the 100 MB memory ceiling imposed on an app extension in iOS. we have included the "Increased Memory Limit" entitlement in both the app and in the preview extensions. nevertheless, the preview generator is limited to 100 MB, even on most recent devices like iPhone 16 Pro Max. we can even see 100 MB limit when we attach to the process with Xcode. my question: did we miss anything? are there additional steps necessary to obtain the increased memory limit? must we explicitly apply for it? 500 MB would be fine (our preview generator does not load textures). best regards

I have been trying to use TipKit popovers in my App. They all behave as expected in the simulator but on a real device I am seeing some strange behaviors. I have a couple of instances of where the tip is displaying an entire sheet instead of just the popover. In another case I cannot dismiss the Tip. Has anyone seen these behaviors and are there known issues/workarounds for this? I am reluctant to use something that works perfectly in the simulator but gives unpredictable results on a device. Not a good user experience in my opinion.

My use case is a Repeat Timer app. The user can configure a repeating timer, say: 8 minutes with 3 sets So I would like to configure either 3 alarms (8mins, 16mins, 24mins) or a repeating alarm (8mins every 3 mins) BUT... I would like the first and second alarms to break through but only for 5 seconds for example, and then stop (so the user doesn't need to tap the screen to silence the alarm). I don't think this is possible after reading the API docs, but am asking the question anyway. Thanks for any advice or guidance here, and happy WWDC!