Hi,
I observed some unexpected behavior and hope that someone can enlighten me as to what this is about:
mDNSResponder prepends IP / network based default search domains that are checked before any other search domain. E.g. 0.1.168.192.in-addr.arpa. would be used for an interface with an address in the the 192.168.1.0/24 subnet. This is done for any configured non-link-local IP address.
I tried to find any mention of an approach like this in RFCs but couldn't spot anything.
Please note that this is indeed a search domain and different from reverse-DNS lookups.
Example output of tcpdump for ping devtest:
10:02:13.850802 IP (tos 0x0, ttl 64, id 43461, offset 0, flags [none], proto UDP (17), length 92)
192.168.1.2.52319 > 192.168.1.1.53: 54890+ [1au] A? devtest.0.1.168.192.in-addr.arpa. (64)
I was able to identify the code that adds those default IP subnet based search domains but failed to spot any indication as to what this is about: https://github.com/apple-oss-distributions/mDNSResponder/blob/d5029b5/mDNSMacOSX/mDNSMacOSX.c#L4171-L4211
Does anyone here have an ideas as to what this might be about?
Networking
RSS for tagExplore the networking protocols and technologies used by the device to connect to Wi-Fi networks, Bluetooth devices, and cellular data services.
Selecting any option will automatically load the page
Post
Replies
Boosts
Views
Activity
Hi,
I have been using iPhones 14Pro, 15Pro for the last couple of years for 5G SA research applications.
As far as the iPhone14 Pro goes, even with the latest upgrade 18.2 beta 2 it works flawlessly, upon inserting the SIM CARD, I can activate VoLTE and then there is a toggle that enables 5G SA. The phone connects to the network using PLMN 001 01 and functions perfectly.
iPhone 15 Pro is behaving completely different. Upon inserting the SIMCARD it also lets enabling the 5G SA functionality but the phone never searches for a cell. Even putting the phone into mobile field test, it never searches for NR even with the same SIM card working in the 14 PRO. This particular mobile phone did work in the first iOS versions and stopped working after upgrading to 18.1.
Just a few days ago, I bought a 16 PRO to try it with our 5G SA networks, and it is behaving the exact same way as the iPhone 15 PRO. It never tries to attach to the 5G SA even with the same SIM card as the 14PRO.
I would like to understand this difference in behaviour across all these devices and understand if this is a new implementation or a SW bug.
In the case this is a new implementation, please point me towards novel documentation so I can understand what to change in the network configurations to have the communication back.
Thanks.
WiFi and Bluetooth are both enabled on Mac and iPhone, neither device is connected to a network
Running MultipeerConnectivity on the Mac as Advertiser and iPhone as Browser, the invitation is sent from the phone and accepted by the mac, but the connection is then dropped. This doesn’t happen when the Advertiser is another iOS device.
STEPS TO REPRODUCE THE PROBLEM
We have created a small sample project that demonstrates the problem. It can be found at: https://github.com/eidria/Multipeer-Progress-Demo.git. It contains both a Mac app and a iOS app.
Run the Mac app and start Advertising
Run iOS app and start Browsing
The iOS app automatically issues an invitation to the browser (Mac) which accepts. Shortly after the connection is dropped.
I have a network call that can sometimes take longer than 30 seconds and user might sometimes background the app after waiting a bit (think like a image generation done on a server which takes a while). I want to make sure that I have exhausted all the options available to provide the best possible solution for the user
(1) Use beginBackgroundTask. The downside to this is that I'm only given about 30 seconds or so, and if it takes longer, the call just get killed.
(2) Use URLSessionConfiguration.background. The upside is that this can take as long as it needs but it seems to be delegated to the system, and you never know when it will run? What if the user stays in the foreground and now the user will not know when the call will even begin (determined by the OS)
(3) Use BGProcessingTask. Again problem is that we cant control when the task is run (which in this case we want it to be immediately).
So really none of the options really is ideal. Are there other options?
What I would like ideally is
The call should start immediately upon user request
The call should go on indefinitely when the app stays in foreground
The call should go on for an extended period (like 2 minutes) if the user puts the app in background
If the call is completed in the background, have a way for the app to retrieve the result when the user brings the app back in the foreground
We have an application which is written in Swift, which activates network extension (Transparent Proxy). We want to use MDM deployment for this network system extension.
Our Transparent Proxy module is a system extension, which is exposing an app proxy provider interface (We are using NETransparentProxyProvider class and in extension’s Info.plist we use com.apple.networkextension.app-proxy key.) We don’t have any remote server setup to forward the traffic, instead we open a connection with a certain localhost:port to redirect the traffic which is received in our transparent proxy. We have another module that listens to the particular localhost:port to process the traffic further.
As per https://developer.apple.com/documentation/devicemanagement/vpn/transparentproxy documentation, we noticed that we can use the VPN payload with app-proxy as Provider Type for Transparent Proxy.
We were able to install the profile created via Jamf Pro and also while in stalling our product the Transparent Proxy gets mapped with the one which is installed via profile. However after that the network is broken and hence unable to browse anything. We are suspecting the remote server filed is causing this.
So we tried creating the custom profile without remote server address for VPN payload, but we are unable to install the profile. It throws below error:
2025-02-11 16:43:55.193348+0530 0x2f880 Error 0x0 6815 0 mdmclient: (NetworkExtension) [com.apple.networkextension:] Failed to save configuration DGWebProxy because it is invalid: Error Domain=NEConfigurationErrorDomain Code=2 "configuration is invalid: Missing server address" UserInfo={NSLocalizedDescription=configuration is invalid: Missing server address}
2025-02-11 16:43:55.193376+0530 0x2f880 Error 0x0 6815 0 mdmclient: (NetworkExtension) [com.apple.networkextension:] NEProfileIngestion Error occurred when saving configuration 'DGWebProxy': configuration is invalid: configuration is invalid: Missing server address
2025-02-11 16:43:55.196159+0530 0x2f880 Error 0x0 6815 7 mdmclient: [com.apple.ManagedClient:CPDomainPlugIn] [ERROR] [0:MDMDaemon:CPDomainPlugIn:<0x2f880>] <<<<< PlugIn: InstallPayload [NEProfileIngestionPlugin] Error: Error Domain=ConfigProfilePluginDomain Code=-319 "The ‘VPN Service’ payload could not be installed. The VPN service could not be created." UserInfo={NSLocalizedDescription=The ‘VPN Service’ payload could not be installed. The VPN service could not be created.} <<<<<
2025-02-11 16:43:55.196826+0530 0x2f880 Error 0x0 6815 7 mdmclient: [com.apple.ManagedClient:MDMDaemon] [ERROR] [0:MDMDaemon:<0x2f880>] [CE] PlugIn_InstallPayload ==> Error Domain=ConfigProfilePluginDomain Code=-319 "The ‘VPN Service’ payload could not be installed. The VPN service could not be created." UserInfo={NSLocalizedDescription=The ‘VPN Service’ payload could not be installed. The VPN service could not be created.}
Can we create MDM profile for Transparent Proxy without remote server address?
Hi everyone,
I’ve been working with the NEPacketTunnelProvider class and came across the cancelTunnelWithError() method. The documentation mentions its general purpose but doesn’t provide much clarity on how and when it should be called.
From what I’ve gathered in other forum posts, it seems that cancelTunnelWithError() should be called within my own implementation of the stopTunnel() method, but I’m not entirely sure if that’s the correct usage or whether there are specific scenarios where this applies.
Here are my specific questions:
Is it correct to always call cancelTunnelWithError() in my implementation of stopTunnel()?
Are there specific conditions or scenarios where cancelTunnelWithError() is the preferred way to terminate a tunnel session, rather than other termination methods?
What does the system do with the error that I pass to cancelTunnelWithError()? Does it have an impact on how the session termination is handled?
Are there best practices or common pitfalls to avoid when using cancelTunnelWithError()?
Any insights, examples, or guidance would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance for your help!
I have granted local network permissions, but sometimes I get a second confirmation popup, what is the timing of the secondary popup?
A few months ago, I remember reading some official documentation that was describing how to switch to a background upload when the app is about to be suspended. Unfortunately, I can't find that resource back, so it would be fantastic if someone would point it out to me.
If I remember correctly, the procedure described was to start a regular upload task within some UIApplication.backgroundTask, and in any case the upload wasn't finished at the moment the system would call the suspension handler, the upload was "transitioned" into a a background one while preserving the current progress (I think because it was using the same URLSession or something, hence why I want to find back the documentation!)
Note that I don't want to start a background upload from the beginning (this is what we do already!). I'm mostly looking for that piece of documentation to experiment if that scheme would improve our upload performance.
Thanks!
I'm able to discover a service with Bonjour, which gets me an nw_browse_result_t from which I can get an nw_endpoint_t and then an nw_connection_t. That's all fine. But this particular service runs on 3 ports. The port numbers of the other 2 ports are in the txt record (but they are well-known and stable anyway).
How can I create 2 more nw_connection_t to the same host/IP but on a different port?
I already have this working with NSNetService, but am trying to update to Network.framework.
I've found nw_endpoint_get_address() but the docs say it returns null "if the endpoint is not of type nw_endpoint_type_address" and indeed nw_browse_result_t gives me an nw_endpoint_type_bonjour_service.
Topic:
App & System Services
SubTopic:
Networking
We are developers of an app, we found that there's no LN prompt for users to install the app for the 1st time on ios18.
We used the following method to prompt the "allow/not allow" alert:
// Attempts to trigger the local network privacy alert.
///
/// This builds a list of link-local IPv6 addresses and then creates a connected
/// UDP socket to each in turn. Connecting a UDP socket triggers the local
/// network alert without actually sending any traffic.
///
/// This is a ‘best effort’ approach, and it handles errors by ignoring them.
/// There’s no guarantee that it’ll actually trigger the alert (FB8711182).
func triggerLocalNetworkPrivacyAlert() {
let addresses = selectedLinkLocalIPv6Addresses()
for address in addresses {
let sock6 = socket(AF_INET6, SOCK_DGRAM, 0)
guard sock6 >= 0 else { return }
defer { close(sock6) }
withUnsafePointer(to: address) { sa6 in
sa6.withMemoryRebound(to: sockaddr.self, capacity: 1) { sa in
_ = connect(sock6, sa, socklen_t(sa.pointee.sa_len)) >= 0
}
}
}
}
Topic:
App & System Services
SubTopic:
Networking
I tried building some app logic around NetworkMonitor.isConnected in my watch app (I want to trigger an update when the user opens the app and isConnected == true, otherwise observe NetworkMonitor.isConnected until it changes to true), and I found out that on a real device, NetworkMonitor.isConnected is always false.
This does not seem to be documented anywhere. Am I right in assuming NetworkMonitor is not to be trusted on the watch? watchOS version is 18.
I found an old post where eskimo argues that NWPathMonitor is not useful on the watch (which is also not documented), is it the same for NetworkMonitor?
https://forums.developer.apple.com/forums/thread/127080
Hi everyone,
Our app helps users block adult websites to promote focus and digital wellness. During the App Store review, it was flagged under Guideline 2.5.1 for using a VPN profile to block content, with Apple advising us to remove this feature.
Since blocking adult content is core to our app, we’re looking for compliant alternatives:
Can Network Extensions Framework (e.g., NEDNSProxyProvider) be used for on-device filtering?
Would pre-configured safe DNS (e.g., CleanBrowsing) be acceptable?
Are there compliant examples of similar apps?
Any advice on achieving this functionality within Apple’s guidelines would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
I am trying to connect to MQTT broker, in very simple steps, but I am getting error CocoaMQTT(error): The deliver delegate is nil!!! the frame will be drop:PUBLISH(id: 2, topic: your-topic, payload: [72, 101, 108,...]
I have create one class as:
import CocoaMQTT
class MQTTManager: CocoaMQTTDelegate {
var mqtt: CocoaMQTT!
func mqtt(_ mqtt: CocoaMQTT, didPublishAck id: UInt16) {
print("Published message with ID: \(id)")
}
func mqtt(_ mqtt: CocoaMQTT, didSubscribeTopics success: NSDictionary, failed: [String]) { print("Subscribed to topics: \(success)") }
func mqtt(_ mqtt: CocoaMQTT, didUnsubscribeTopics topics: [String]) { print("Unsubscribed from topics: \(topics)") }
func mqttDidPing(_ mqtt: CocoaMQTT) { print("Pinged!") }
func mqttDidReceivePong(_ mqtt: CocoaMQTT) { print("Ponged!") }
func mqttDidDisconnect(_ mqtt: CocoaMQTT, withError err: (any Error)?) { print("Disconnected from the MQTT") }
func mqtt(_ mqtt: CocoaMQTT, didConnectAck ack: CocoaMQTTConnAck) {
if ack == .accept {
print("Connected to the MQTT!")
} else {
print("Failed to connect to MQTT")
}
}
func mqtt(_ mqtt: CocoaMQTT, didPublishMessage message: CocoaMQTTMessage, id: UInt16) {
print("Data published successfully")
}
func mqtt(_ mqtt: CocoaMQTT, didReceiveMessage message: CocoaMQTTMessage, id: UInt16) {
if let messageString = message.string {
print("Received message on topic \(message.topic): \(messageString)")
}
}
func connectMQTT() {
mqtt = CocoaMQTT.init(clientID: "your-client-id-435345", host: "your-client-id-435345", port: 1883)
//tried with CocoaMQTT(clientID: "your-client-id-435345", host: "your-client-id-435345", port: 1883)
mqtt.delegate = self
mqtt.connect()
}
func subscribeToTopic(topic: String) {
mqtt.subscribe(topic)
}
func publishData(topic: String, message: String) {
mqtt.publish(topic, withString: message, qos: .qos1)
}
}
I am trying to use it in function as:
func sendTelemetryMsg(password: String, url: String, resolve: @escaping RCTPromiseResolveBlock, reject: @escaping RCTPromiseRejectBlock) -> Void {
let mqttManager = MQTTManager();
mqttManager.connectMQTT()
// Subscribe to a topic
let topic = "your-topic"
mqttManager.subscribeToTopic(topic: topic)
// Publish data to the IoT device
let message = "Hello, IoT Device!"
mqttManager.publishData(topic: topic, message: message)
}
I am making a USB attached IoT device that follows the Matter approach to connectivity (IP/mDNS/DHCP). I am having conflicts with it as it appears to MacOS as an Ethernet adapter and this is causing it to be assigned as a "default" route, interfering with routing when my Mac is connected to NAT based WiFi.
I'd like to be able to hint to MacOS & iPadOS that this is not a routable private network, the subnet should be respected and a default route should not be assigned to it, otherwise the order of the device connection is used by the IP routing tables and I am concerned my non-routable private network will initialize before Wifi and block NAT based internet connectivity.
How can I hint to MacOS/iPadOS "this is not a routable private network, this is not a NAT, do not assign me a default route beyond the subnet I have provided you."
I’m developing an app designed for hospital environments, where public internet access may not be available. The app includes two components: the main app and a Local Connectivity Extension. Both rely on persistent TCP socket connections to communicate with a local server.
We’re observing a recurring issue where the extension’s socket becomes unresponsive every 1–3 hours, but only when the device is on the lock screen, even if the main app remains in the foreground.
When the screen is not locked, the connection is stable and no disconnections occur.
❗ Issue Details:
• What’s going on: The extension sends a keep-alive ping packet every second, and the server replies with a pong and a system time packet.
• The bug: The server stops receiving keep alive packets from the extension.
• On the server, we detect about 30 second gap on the server, a gap that shows no packets were received by the extension. This was confirmed via server logs and Wireshark).
• On the extension, from our logs there was no gap in sending packets. From it’s perspective, all packets were sent with no error.
• Because no packet are being received by the server, no packets will be sent to the extension. Eventually the server closes the connection due to keep-alive timeout.
• FYI we log when the NEAppPushProvider subclass sleeps and it did NOT go to sleep while we were debugging.
🧾 Example Logs:
Extension log:
2025-03-24 18:34:48.808 sendKeepAliveRequest()
2025-03-24 18:34:49.717 sendKeepAliveRequest()
2025-03-24 18:34:50.692 sendKeepAliveRequest()
... // continuous sending of the ping packet to the server, no problems here
2025-03-24 18:35:55.063 sendKeepAliveRequest()
2025-03-24 18:35:55.063 keepAliveTimer IS TIME OUT... in CoreService. // this is triggered because we did not receive any packets from the server
2025-03-24 18:34:16.298 No keep-alive received for 16 seconds... connection ID=95b3... // this shows that there has been no packets being received by the extension
...
2025-03-24 18:34:30.298 Connection timed out on keep-alive. connection ID=95b3... // eventually closes due to no packets being received
2025-03-24 18:34:30.298 Remote Subsystem Disconnected {name=iPhone|Replica-Ext|...}
✅ Observations:
• The extension process continues running and logging keep-alive attempts.
• However, network traffic stops reaching the server, and no inbound packets are received by the extension.
• It looks like the socket becomes silently suspended or frozen, without being properly closed or throwing an error.
❓Questions:
• Do you know why this might happen within a Local Connectivity Extension, especially under foreground conditions and locked ?
• Is there any known system behavior that might cause the socket to be suspended or blocked in this way after running for a few hours?
Any insights or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!
We’re looking to implement a custom IPSec IKEv2 VPN using the Packet Tunnel Provider network extension on iOS because we need to add extra information to EAP, which the built-in IKEv2 VPN configuration does not support.
Is it possible to handle the full IKEv2 negotiation and IPSec tunneling within the Packet Tunnel Provider extension? Or are there limitations that would prevent implementing a full IKEv2 stack this way?
Any insights or alternative approaches would be appreciated. Thanks!
Hello,
I have been implementing NEAppPushProvider class to establish my own protocol to directly communicate with our provider server without the need to rely on APNs for background push notifications.
I am at a stage where I am able to establish a tcp communicator and receive messages back and forth but I noticed that when I disconnect from the WIFI I've set up by setting a given SSID, I am not getting hit on the Stop method. Below is briefly how I load and save preferences.
NEAppPushManager appPushManager = new NEAppPushManager();
appPushManager.LoadFromPreferences((error) =>
{
if (error != null)
{
Console.WriteLine($"Error loading NEAppPushManager preferences: {error.LocalizedDescription}");
return;
}
if (!enable)
{
Console.WriteLine("Disabling Local Push Provider...");
appPushManager.Enabled = false;
// ✅ Immediately update UserDefaults before saving preferences
userDefaults.SetBool(false, Constants.IsLocalPushEnabled);
userDefaults.Synchronize();
appPushManager.SaveToPreferences((saveError) =>
{
if (saveError != null)
{
Console.WriteLine($"Error disabling Local Push: {saveError.LocalizedDescription}");
}
else
{
Console.WriteLine("Local Push successfully disabled.");
}
});
return;
}
// ✅ Now we can safely enable Local Push
Console.WriteLine($"Enabling Local Push for SSID: {_currentSSID}");
appPushManager.MatchSsids = new string[] { _currentSSID };
appPushManager.LocalizedDescription = "LocalPushProvider";
appPushManager.ProviderBundleIdentifier = Constants.LocalPushExtensionBundleId;
appPushManager.Enabled = true;
appPushManager.SaveToPreferences((saveError) =>
{
if (saveError != null)
{
Console.WriteLine($"Error saving Local Push settings: {saveError.LocalizedDescription}");
}
else
{
Console.WriteLine("✅ Local Push successfully registered.");
userDefaults.SetBool(true, Constants.IsLocalPushEnabled);
userDefaults.Synchronize();
}
});
});
I've read through documentation and was expecting the Stop method to be hit when I turn off Wifi. Am I missing anything? Please let me know if I should provide more info. Currently I just have a console writeline method inside the Stop method to see if it actually gets hit.
We have Mac OS VM which has two network interfaces and both are active. In our application we need “State:/Network/Global/IPv6” to do some task but on this machine it seems to be missing, however if we disable one of the interface then the same setting seems to be available and our code works fine.
Please find the attached screenshots of working & non-working details:
Topic:
App & System Services
SubTopic:
Networking
Tags:
Network Extension
Network
System Configuration
My app sent a network request to the backend. The backend returns a 200, but the front end received a -1001 or -1005 NSURLError. Any clue why this could be happening?
My app often fails to access the network (other apps on the device can access the network normally), and restarting the app is also ineffective. I need to open and close the flight mode to restore the app's network
I used to suspect the background refresh was the cause, but removing the background refresh still occasionally causes this problem.