Please note that the widgets sub forum is a 404: https://developer.apple.com/forums/post/question?community=1394020
I have a widget that works on iOS but doesn't work on Catalyst. The widget does not appear in the list of available widgets to install.
It's related to the Bundle ID for the widget. If I use a fresh bundle ID the widget loads, but if I use the one I'm currently using for iOS it doesn't appear as available to install.
To confirm it's related to the bundle ID I created a fresh project in xcode and recreated the behaviour.
Any help greatly appreciated.
Widgets & Live Activities
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New features in WatchOS 26 with configurable widgets make it more important than ever that apps adopt IntentConfiguration options where applicable.
I develop an app with an Apple Watch complication/widget on many many user's Watch faces around the world. I've completed updating my code to support WidgetKit and remove ClockKit.
However, I face huge issues adding support for users to configure their widget/complications.
If I update a widget to go from StaticConfiguration to IntentConfiguration, even when keeping the "kind" string the same, the widget disappears from the Watch face.
This is an unacceptable user experience meaning I can't proceed with the migration. The problem is users will expect me to offer configuration in the Watch face soon for their widget/complication. Currently this process is done in a sub-optimal way in the app itself.
A similar issue exists on iOS where the widget will just "freeze" indefinitely is migrated.
This issue still occurs on the iOS 26 and WatchOS 26 betas.
So how to move this forward.
This has been discussed previously here: https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/661247
I've mentioned it at WidgetKit labs
I've filed feedback last year: FB13880020
I've filed feedback this year: FB18180368
It seems really important this gets fixed for developers to adopt these new features, is there any other migration route I'm missing or a workaround that would mitigate this seemingly big problem.
I'm developing an app which will show the driver ETA and rendering the progress bar of the current ETA.
Intuitively the backend server sends the push notification every 3 seconds through firebase cloud message service to APNS so that the device can refresh the dynamic island smoothly.
But the live activity doesn't refresh as frequently as the backend service does.
It should refresh every 3 seconds but it turns out like refresh 30 ~ 60 seconds, sometimes it didn't refresh at all.
any body facing the same?
Topic:
App & System Services
SubTopic:
Widgets & Live Activities
Tags:
APNS
User Notifications
ActivityKit
Hello,
in my widget the user displays images filling the whole widget with overlayed texts (via ZStack). Via shadows or text background color the text gets better readable.
However, when a user chooses transparent or tinted colors for the home screen, the text is barely or not readable anymore since e.g. white text on white image background. How to resolve this issue?
Topic:
App & System Services
SubTopic:
Widgets & Live Activities
Tags:
SwiftUI
Visual Design
WidgetKit
Project structure is:
App target + widget extension + widget intent extension
All share a common appgroup group.com.x.y and all file handling is done using
FileManager.default.containerURL(forSecurityApplicationGroupIdentifier: "group.com.x.y")
so that only the shared container is used.
Using the Main app target, a font "Chewy-Regular.ttf" is downloaded and saved to the shared AppGroup container.
Font can now be loaded via
CTFontManagerRegisterFontsForURL
and displayed in a Main App Text view
Text("Testing...").font(Font.custom("Chewy-Regular", size: 20))
Now add a Widgetkit widget instance that uses this font.
In 'getTimeLine() and getSnapShot() of IntentTimelineProvider we load the font again via CTFontManagerRegisterFontsForURL (this needs to happen again probably because widget runs in a separate process from the main app?).
On simulator, the widget will show the correct font.
BUT
On iPhone7 real device, the widget will show the 'redacted placeholder view'. It seems that something is crashing.
I see in the device console :
error 14:39:07.567120-0800 chronod No configuration found for configured widget identifier: D9BF75EE-4A04-441A-8C85-1507F7ECE379
fault 14:39:07.625600-0800 widgetxExtension -[EXSwiftUI_Subsystem beginUsing:withBundle:] unexpectedly called multiple times.
error 14:39:07.672733-0800 chronod Encountered an error reading the view archive for <private>; error: <private>
error 14:39:07.672799-0800 chronod [co.appevolve.onewidget.widgetx:widgetx:small:1536744920620481560@148.0/148.0/20.2] reload: could not decode view
error 14:39:07.674984-0800 kernel Sandbox: chronod(2128) deny(1) file-read-metadata /private/var/mobile/Containers/Shared/AppGroup/9B524570-1765-4C24-9E0C-15BC3982F0DC/downloadedFonts/Chewy/Chewy-Regular.ttf
error 14:39:07.675762-0800 kernel Sandbox: chronod(2128) deny(1) file-read-data /private/var/mobile/Containers/Shared/AppGroup/9B524570-1765-4C24-9E0C-15BC3982F0DC/downloadedFonts/Chewy/Chewy-Regular.ttf
error 14:39:07.708914-0800 chronod [u 8D2C83B3-A6CB-432E-A9D4-9BC8F7056B10:m (null)] [<private>(<private>)] Connection to plugin invalidated while in use.
fault 14:39:07.710284-0800 widgetxExtension -[EXSwiftUI_Subsystem beginUsing:withBundle:] unexpectedly called multiple times.
error 14:39:07.803468-0800 chronod Encountered an error reading the view archive for <private>; error: <private>
It seems that it's a permission issue, and the textview can't access the font file it needs when the widget is rendering.
Notes:
1) Font is definitely registered because I can see them in
for fontFamily in UIFont.familyNames {
for fontName in UIFont.fontNames(forFamilyName: fontFamily) {
print(fontName)
								...
in both the Main App target and the Widget Extension target
2) If I make make the font part of the app bundle and add to 'Fonts provided by application' , the are loaded absolutely fine in the Main App and the Widget on simulator and iPhone 7 real device.
3) I do see this error sometimes in the Widget extension target log, don't know if it's related.
widgetxExtension[1385:254599] [User Defaults] Couldn't read values in CFPrefsPlistSource<0x28375b880> (Domain: group.co.appevolve.onewidget, User: kCFPreferencesAnyUser, ByHost: Yes, Container: (null), Contents Need Refresh: Yes): Using kCFPreferencesAnyUser with a container is only allowed for System Containers, detaching from cfprefsd
4) I suspected something to do with app groups, so I tried to copy the font into the Widget Extension container and load from there, but had the same result.
Please help! Thank you.
Topic:
App & System Services
SubTopic:
Widgets & Live Activities
Tags:
iOS
WidgetKit
Typography
SwiftUI
Hi Apple team,
I'm experiencing a persistent issue with writing to UserDefaults from a widget extension on iOS. Here's the situation:
I've set up an App Group: group.test.blah
The main app has the correct entitlement and can read/write from UserDefaults(suiteName:) using this group successfully.
I can read the value written by the app from the widget (e.g., "testFromApp": "hiFromApp").
The widget extension has the same App Group enabled under Signing & Capabilities.
The provisioning profile reflects the App Group and the build installs successfully on a real device.
The suite name is correct and matches across both targets.
I’ve confirmed via FileManager.default.containerURL(...) that the app group container resolves properly.
When I try to write from the widget extension like this
let sharedDefaults = UserDefaults(suiteName: "group.test.blah")
sharedDefaults?.set("hiFromWidget", forKey: "testFromWidget")
...I get this error in the console:
Couldn't write values for keys (
testFromWidget
) in CFPrefsPlistSource<0x1140d2880> (Domain: group.test.blah, User: kCFPreferencesCurrentUser, ByHost: No, Container: (null), Contents Need Refresh: No): setting preferences outside an application's container requires user-preference-write or file-write-data sandbox access
Questions:
What could still cause the widget extension to lack write access to the app group container, even though it reads just fine?
Are there any internal sandboxing nuances or timing-related issues specific to Live Activity widgets that could explain this?
Is this a known limitation or platform issue?
Topic:
App & System Services
SubTopic:
Widgets & Live Activities
Tags:
Extensions
Entitlements
ActivityKit
Files and Storage
Good morning,
We are implementing Live Activities in a push-to-start flow. We wrap the listener for push to start tokens in a high priority task:
if ptsListenerTask == nil || ptsListenerTask?.isCancelled == true {
ptsListenerTask = Task(priority: .high) { [weak self] in
for await pushToken in Activity<LiveAuctionAttributes>.pushToStartTokenUpdates {
//Send token to back-end
}
}
I've tried a few variations of this and they work well on most devices. I have seen a couple of devices that refuse to issue a push to start token.
The user will have logging for the init flow and starting the PTS listener then the logs just go silent, nothing happens.
One thing that seemed to work was getting the user to start a Live Activity manually (from our debugging tool) then the PTS token gets issued.
This is not very reliable and working a mock live activity into the flow for obtaining a PTS token is a poor solution.
Is anyone else seeing this and is there a known issue with obtaining PTS tokens?
Thanks!
Brad
Im having trouble enabling Live Activities in a new app. The option is not available in Xcode or in the developer portal. Is there something I have to do to activate this option?
Topic:
App & System Services
SubTopic:
Widgets & Live Activities