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 2). 7. For widget (complication) update budgets, is there an overall budget or are scheduled update separate from APNS updates? For context I have a complication that is updated on a fixed schedule (every 20 min), but there can be times of the day that are more "interesting" where pushes make sense. Like timeline updates, the system budgets WidgetKit push notifications and delivers them opportunistically. You can use WidgetKit push notification updates as an addition to timeline updates. For more information, see Updating widgets with WidgetKit push notifications. 8. It seems like the new Control Center widgets can be sourced from either the iPhone or directly on the Watch. Can we control whether a control appears in the watch list, or will it always be a combination of all controls from both sources? iPhone controls will be automatically available on the companion Apple Watch, even if they don’t have an associated watchOS app. When an iPhone control is tapped on the Apple Watch, the action is performed on the iPhone. Controls whose actions foreground the iOS app will not appear on Apple Watch. If a watchOS app has controls, no controls will appear on Apple Watch from the companion iOS app. 9. From UI/UX perspective, what are the current practices for Designing watchOS apps that feels native. The WWDC23 session Design and build apps for WatchOS 10 covers the details of watchOS design principles and how to apply them in your app using SwiftUI. A lot of SwiftUI APIs, such as NavigationSplitView, vertical tab view, list view, and etc, already implement the look and feel native to watchOS. 10. When adopting the new design system on watchOS, it seems like the main place we will use the glass effect is for our buttons in toolbar? Standard buttons in system apps seem to continue to use a flat appearance and full width. We leave the choice to you – You can use the new GlassButtonStyle API or .buttonStyle(.glass) to apply the liquid glass material to buttons. Learn when to use the Liquid Glass styles in Get to know the new design system. 11. Is there any way to gracefully migrate extensions when their bundleIDs have to change? e.g., converting a multi-target watch app to single-target, which drops the .watchkitextension from both the app and WidgetKit ext bundleIDs Updating a watchOS app to single-target is covered in TechNote TN3157: Updating your watchOS project for SwiftUI and WidgetKit. Xcode provides a tool that can do the update automatically, and the technote describes the details about how to use it and how to clean up the project after the automatic update. If there's something that technote doesn't address, please reach out to us on the Developer Forums. 12. What is the status of WatchConnectivity? Is that still the preferred way for iOS + watchOS communications? The Watch Connectivity framework is still supported, and is appropriate for the communication between an watchOS app and its companion iOS app. The systems also provide other APIs for the apps to exchange data. For example, watchOS supports Apple Push Notification service (APNs). If data for your widget changes on your server, your widget can receive a WidgetKit push notification, and update accordingly. That’s the preferred mechanism for widget updates.

Is there any way to use the screen time API on Mac?

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!

If I have, say a doctor appointment in the Calendar app, and I'm leaving to go to it, the address will appear in Apple Maps on CarPlay. Forgive if I'm getting the details wrong, but I believe if I bring up the Map, it will be available to tap on, so I can quickly go there. I think it may also show up on one on the car-play screens that shows a few different panels. The point is, I really like this feature, and want to do it in my app. In my iOS app, the user can order food from a restaurant, and pick it up. I'm not ready to make this app a "quick service" app, but I want to give the user an easy to get to her location. Since I just ordered food, this means that I'll need to leave fairly quickly to go to the location. The Calendar app is able to offer a location because of scheduling, I'd like to do the same.

At present, all my apps cannot display normally

My app uses App Intents to create App Shortcuts. When I build and run my app in Xcode, the App Shortcuts Preview tool (under Product menu) shows the following message: No Flexible Matching Assets This target is for a platform which is not supported by Flexible Matching or does not have Flexible Matching enabled. All of my project's targets are iPhone only with a minimum deployment of 18.0. In the build settings for this project, Enable App Shortcuts Flexible Matching is set to Yes. (build settings reference) Any guidance on how to troubleshoot this? Thank you!

Hi everyone, We're using the react-native-device-activity package to implement app blocking via Apple's Screen Time API. The blocking functionality works well: when the user selects apps and taps "Done," those apps get blocked as expected. However, we're facing an issue with unblocking apps that the user later unselects. Even after the user unchecks some apps and taps "Done" again, those previously selected (now unselected) apps remain blocked and still show the shield.

Hi everyone, I'm working on an app for parents and kids where parents can define screen time goals or restrict usage of certain app categories (like social media or games). If the kid follows those rules—for example, by using their device less or avoiding restricted categories—they would earn points or rewards in the app. I’ve been exploring if the Apple Screen Time API allows developers to access this kind of data (like total screen time, app usage by category, etc.) so that I can track the kid’s behavior and reward them accordingly. Is it possible to programmatically access this data and implement such a reward system within my app? If so, what’s the best way to get started or which APIs should I look into? Thanks in advance for your help!

I’m testing FinanceKit with Apple Cash and noticed that transfers don’t include any counterparty information. Here’s an example transaction I fetched: Transaction( id: 5A96EA49-B7C9-4481-949D-88247210C1D7, accountID: 28D7C0E2-DC2A-4138-B105-BCE5EE00B705, transactionAmount: 30 USD, creditDebitIndicator: .credit, transactionDescription: "Transfer", originalTransactionDescription: "", merchantCategoryCode: nil, merchantName: nil, transactionType: .transfer, status: .booked, transactionDate: 2025-08-19 21:57:54 +0000, postedDate: 2025-08-19 21:57:55 +0000 ) As you can see: transactionDescription is just "Transfer" originalTransactionDescription is empty merchantName is nil No counterparty details are exposed In contrast, the Wallet app clearly shows the other person’s name and avatar for Apple Cash transfers, making it easy to understand who the payment was with. In FinanceKit, there’s no way to distinguish between transfers with different people — every transfer looks identical. Questions Is there a hidden or planned field for Apple Cash counterparty information? Can FinanceKit provide at least minimal metadata (e.g., contact name, initials, or a privacy-preserving identifier)? Is there any workaround today to correlate Apple Cash transfers with contacts? Feature request: Please expose counterparty information for Apple Cash transfers. Even something as simple as a stable identifier or name string would enable developers to build Wallet-quality transaction detail screens. Thanks!

Is there a way to create a data roaming or cellular profile or shortcut so that we can turn data off for certain sets of apps when we travel (and turn them all back on when we're back)?

Dear Support Team, ​I am writing to seek technical assistance regarding a persistent issue with Dolby Vision exporting in DaVinci Resolve 20 on my iPad Pro 12.9-inch (2021, M1 chip) running iPadOS 26.0.1. ​The Issue: Despite correctly configuring the project for a Dolby Vision workflow and successfully completing the dynamic metadata analysis, the "Dolby Vision Profile" dropdown menu (and related embedding options) is completely missing from the Advanced Settings in the Deliver page. ​My Current Configuration & Steps Taken: ​Software Version: DaVinci Resolve Studio 20 (Studio features like Dolby Vision analysis are active and functional). ​Project Settings: Color Science: DaVinci YRGB Color Managed. ​Dolby Vision: Enabled (Version 4.0) with Mastering Display set to 1000 nits. ​Output Color Space: Rec.2100 ST2084. ​Color Page: Dynamic metadata analysis has been performed, and "Trim" controls are functional. ​Export Settings: ​Format: QuickTime / MP4. ​Codec: H.265 (HEVC). ​Encoding Profile: Main 10. ​The Problem: Under "Advanced Settings," there is no option to select a Dolby Vision Profile (e.g., Profile 8.4) or to "Embed Dolby Vision Metadata." ​Potential Variables: ​System Version: I am currently running iPadOS 26. ​Apple ID: My iPad is currently not logged into an Apple ID. I suspect this might be preventing the app from accessing certain system-level AVFoundation frameworks or Dolby DRM/licensing certificates required for metadata embedding. ​Could you please clarify if the "Dolby Vision Profile" option is dependent on a signed-in Apple ID for hardware-level encoding authorization, or if this is a known compatibility issue with the current iPadOS 26 build? ​I look forward to your guidance on how to resolve this. ​Best regards, INSOFT_Fred

I am trying to create an App Intent that lets a user select a day in the itinerary of a trip. The trip has to be chosen before the days available can be displayed. When the PlanActivityIntentDemo intent is ran from the shortcuts app, the trip selected is not injected into the appropriate TripItineraryDayQueryDemo Entity Query. Is there a way to get the selected trip to be injected at run time from shortcuts app. Here's some code for illustration: // Entity Definition: import AppIntents struct ShortcutsItineraryDayEntityDemo: Identifiable, Hashable, AppEntity { typealias DefaultQuery = TripItineraryDayQueryDemo static var typeDisplayRepresentation: TypeDisplayRepresentation = "Trip Itinerary Day" var displayRepresentation: DisplayRepresentation { "Trip Day" } var id: String static var defaultQuery: DefaultQuery { TripItineraryDayQueryDemo() } init() { self.id = UUID().uuidString } } struct TripItineraryDayQueryDemo: EntityQuery { // This only works in shortcut editor but not at runtime. Why? How can I fix this issue? @IntentParameterDependency<PlanActivityIntentDemo>(\.$tripEntity) var tripEntity @IntentParameterDependency<PlanActivityIntentDemo>(\.$title) var intentTitle func entities(for identifiers: [ShortcutsItineraryDayEntityDemo.ID]) async throws -> [ShortcutsItineraryDayEntityDemo] { print("entities being called with identifiers: \(identifiers)") // This method is called when the app needs to fetch entities based on identifiers. let tripsStore = TripsStore() guard let trip = tripEntity?.tripEntity.trip, let itineraryId = trip.firstItineraryId else { print("No trip or itinerary ID can be found for the selected trip.") return [] } return [] // return empty for this demo } func suggestedEntities() async throws -> [ShortcutsItineraryDayEntityDemo] { print("suggested itinerary days being called") let tripsStore = TripsStore() guard let trip = tripEntity?.tripEntity.trip, let itineraryId = trip.firstItineraryId else { print("No trip or itinerary ID found for the selected trip.") return [] } return [] } } struct PlanActivityIntentDemo: AppIntent { static var title: LocalizedStringResource { "Plan New Activity" } // The selected trip fails to get injected when intent is run from shortcut app @Parameter(title: "Trip", description: "The trip to plan an activity for", requestValueDialog: "Which trip would you like to plan an activity for?") var tripEntity: ShortcutsTripEntity @Parameter(title: "Activity Title", description: "The title of the activity", requestValueDialog: "What do you want to do or see?") var title: String @Parameter(title: "Activity Day", description: "Activity Day") var activityDay: ShortcutsItineraryDayEntity func perform() async throws -> some ProvidesDialog { // This is a demo intent, so we won't actually perform any actions. .result(dialog: "Activity '\(title)' planned") } }

I have a USB-device with three interfaces: Vendor-Specific Bulk CDC Serial Control CDC Serial Data To configure the vendor specific bulk endpoints I need to send vendor specific control requests to endpoint 0. I'm using libusb for this task. As long as the interfaces for the CDC serial port are present I get an access error when trying to send vendor control requests. If I disable these CDC interfaces I can send vendor control request without any problems: Is this by design or ist there any possibility to send vendor control requests to the USB device while a CDC driver is active?

Hi, our CoreAudio server plugin supports different clock sources. A switch might result in a change of the selectable sample rates (and other settings). On a clock source switch the plugin reconfigures the set of available kAudioStreamPropertyAvailablePhysicalFormats and announces the change via AudioServerPlugInHostInterface::PropertiesChanged(). However at least the Audio MIDI Setup seems to ignore to update it's UI. The changes are first reflected after selecting another device and re-selecting the device of interest. (Latest macOS, M4 macMini) Is this a bug? Or is our CoreAudio server plugin required to indicate the change in the list of available audio formats differently? Thanks!

VirtIO provides macOS VM users on Intel with integrations like Shared Folders, Shared Clipboard or Drag and Drop files. After updating VM to macOS 15.4, the VirtIO is no longer available, and we see that the functionality listed above doesn't work. Please fix it.

I have a script that stop working since Tahoe migration. The script need to send a notification on the my mac. The issue is this line: osascript -e 'display notification "The task has been completed" with title "✅ My script"' It doesn't fail (return 0), nothing in outputs, but doesn't show anything. I check all my notification settings, but all seems to be right, I tested the configuration of iterm & script editor. And the global ettongs of the notifications:

My CoreSpotlight extension seems to exceed the 6 MB memory limit. What’s the best way to debug this? I've tried to attach the debugger on the Simulator but the extension seems to be never launched when I trigger the reindex from Developer settings. Is this supposed to work? On device, I am able to attach the debugger. However, I can neither transfer the debug session to Instruments, nor display the memory graph. So I've no idea how the memory is used. Any recommendations how to move forward? Is there a way to temporarily disable the memory limit since even with LLDB attached, the extension is killed.

When I have to pull in hundreds of commits from upstream, I like to try to make sure things still compile - frequently, to try to limit how far I need to go to back fix things. One issue is missing symbols in the kext, since you won't know until you try to load the kext. And loading the kext each commit is not realistic. So I went and made up a call to something that does not exist, in my case, strqcmp(). I could not get the various tools like kmutil libraries --all-symbols to print out that this function was going to fail, so I wrote a little script (thanks ChatGPT); ./scripts/kpi_check.py --arch arm64e -k module/os/macos/zfs.kext/ First missing symbols: _crfree _crhold _strqcmp Hurrah. But sadly, my brain was then curious as to why crhold() and crfree() work. Worked for years. Only dtrace calls them in XNU sources but otherwise not mentioned there, not listed in my frameworks, nm is not seeing it. Somewhat of a rabbit hole. I don't even need to know, it does work after all. I should just let it go right? and yet... how does it work? My best guess is a symbols.alias pointing it to kauth_cred_ref() somewhere? Maybe? Anyway, pretty low priority but it's an itch...

I have noticed that there are no new kdk builds since mid December Is everything ok at apple I am aware of NXUs but the kernel version has changed much since then

Hello! I am excited to try out the new continueInForeground API with iOS 26. I was wondering, what is the suggested way to transport meta data to the main app? Before, with SiriKit intents I would use the .onContinueUserActivity() API and were able to pass a NSUserActivity from the Shortcut to the Main app. Now, with the continueInForeground() call I am not sure – what would be your suggestion? Of course, I can store some data in UserDefaults, but that feels like a workaround. Happy to get some input on this! Thanks a lot and have a great day!