GKAccessPoint triggerAccessPointWithState handler not invoked on iOS 26.0 and iOS 15.8.4
Incorrect/Unexpected Behaviour:
When calling [GKAccessPoint.shared triggerAccessPointWithState:GKGameCenterViewControllerStateAchievements handler:^{}] on a real device running iOS 26 beta (iOS 26), the overlay appears as expected, but the handler block is never called. This behavior also not working correctly on previous iOS versions(tested on iOS 15.8.4)
Steps to Reproduce:
Authenticate GKLocalPlayer
Call triggerAccessPointWithState:handler: with a block that logs or performs logic
Observe that overlay appears, but block is not executed
Behavior:
UI appears correctly
Handler is not invoked at all
Expected Result:
The handler should fire immediately after the dashboard is shown.
Actual Result:
The handler is never called.
Usecase:
As GKGameCenterViewController is deprecated we are moving to GKAccesspoint but due to above functionality issue we are unable to.
Environment:
Device: iPhone 16, iPhone 7
iOS: 26.0 and iOS 15.8.4
Xcode: 26.0 beta and Xcode 16.4
GameKit
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In my SceneKit game I'm able to connect two players with GKMatchmakerViewController. Now I want to support the scenario where one of them disconnects and wants to reconnect. I tried to do this with this code:
nonisolated public func match(_ match: GKMatch, player: GKPlayer, didChange state: GKPlayerConnectionState) {
Task { @MainActor in
switch state {
case .connected:
break
case .disconnected, .unknown:
let matchRequest = GKMatchRequest()
matchRequest.recipients = [player]
do {
try await GKMatchmaker.shared().addPlayers(to: match, matchRequest: matchRequest)
} catch {
}
@unknown default:
break
}
}
}
nonisolated public func player(_ player: GKPlayer, didAccept invite: GKInvite) {
guard let viewController = GKMatchmakerViewController(invite: invite) else {
return
}
viewController.matchmakerDelegate = self
present(viewController)
}
But after presenting the view controller with GKMatchmakerViewController(invite:), nothing else happens. I would expect matchmakerViewController(_:didFind:) to be called, or how would I get an instance of GKMatch?
Here is the code I use to reproduce the issue, and below the reproduction steps.
Code
Run the attached project on an iPad and a Mac simultaneously.
On both devices, tap the ship to connect to GameCenter.
Create an automatched match by tapping the rightmost icon on both devices.
When the two devices are matched, on iPad close the dialog and tap on the ship to disconnect from GameCenter.
Wait some time until the Mac detects the disconnect and automatically sends an invitation to join again.
When the notification arrives on the iPad, tap it, then tap the ship to connect to GameCenter again. The iPad receives the call player(_:didAccept:), but nothing else, so there’s no way to get a GKMatch instance again.
Hi — we’re testing our app on iOS 26 and ran into strange behavior with GKLocalPlayer.local.authenticateHandler.
GKLocalPlayer.local.authenticateHandler = { [weak self] viewController, error in
// additional code
}
What happens:
When we assign authenticateHandler on iOS 26 and the user is not signed in to Game Center, the system shows a full-screen Game Center overlay asking the user to sign in.
If the user taps Cancel, nothing further happens — the closure is not invoked again, so we don’t receive an error or any callback. The app never learns whether the auth was cancelled or failed.
In previous iOS versions the closure was called (with viewController / error as appropriate) and the flow worked as expected.
What we tried:
Verified authenticateHandler is being set.
Checked GKLocalPlayer.local.isAuthenticated after the overlay dismisses — it’s unchanged.
Observed system logs: a com.apple.GameOverlayUI scene is created and later removed (so the auth overlay is shown by the system).
Confirmed the same code works on earlier iOS versions. :thinking:
Question:
Has anyone seen authenticateHandler not being invoked on iOS 26 when the Game Center auth overlay is presented? Could this be a behavioral change in iOS 26 (overlay runs in a separate system process), or a bug? Any suggested workarounds to reliably detect that the user cancelled the sign-in (for example: listening for willResignActive / didBecomeActive, watching for a system overlay, or saving/presenting the viewController manually)?
Thanks in advance for any advice — we’d appreciate pointers or suggested diagnostics ?
I have an AR game using ARKit with SceneKit that works just fine in iOS 17.
In the iOS 18 betas, the AR background image shows black instead of showing the real world. As a result there's no tracking and obviously the whole game is useless.
I narrowed down the issue to showing the Game Center Access Point.
My app has ViewController 1 (VC1) showing the main menu and that's where I want to show the GC Access Point. From there you open VC2 which shows a list of levels. Selecting any level will open VC3 which has the ARScene.
Following is the code I use to start Game Center in VC1:
GKLocalPlayer.local.authenticateHandler = { gcAuthVC, error in
let isGameCenterReady = (gcAuthVC == nil) && (error == nil)
if let viewController = gcAuthVC {
self.present (viewController, animated: true, completion: nil)
}
if error != nil {
print(error?.localizedDescription ?? "")
}
if isGameCenterReady {
GKAccessPoint.shared.location = .topLeading
GKAccessPoint.shared.showHighlights = true
GKAccessPoint.shared.isActive = true
}
}
When switching to VC2 I run GKAccessPoint.shared.isActive = false so that the Access Point will no longer show in any of the following VCs. I tried running it in VC1, VC2, and again in VC3 - it doesn't change anything. Once I reach VC3, the background is black.
If in VC1 I don't run GKAccessPoint.shared.isActive = true, so I don't activate the access point, the behavior is as follows:
If I wait until after the Game Center login animation completes and closes on its own and then I proceed to VC2 and VC3, the camera image will show correctly
If I quickly move to VC2 before the Game Center login animation has completed, so my code will close it by setting active = false, and then I continue to VC3, I will see the black background problem.
So it does look like activating the access point and then de-activating it causes the issue. BTW, if I activate the access point and leave it on in all VCs, the same black background issue persists.
Other than that, when I'm in VC3 with the black background and I switch to another app (so my game moves to the background), when it returns to the foreground, the camera suddenly shows the real world correctly!
I tried to manually reset the AR session by pausing and restarting it, but that didn't change anything. Also, when I check with the debugger, it looks like when the app comes back to the foreground it also doesn't run the session start code.
But something does seem to reset itself so I wonder what that is. Maybe I could trigger the same manually in my cdoe???
I repeat that everything works just fine in iOS 17 and below. This problem only started with the iOS 18 beta (currently on beta 5, but it started in some of the previous betas as well).
So could this be a bug in iOS 18?
As a workaround I could check the iOS version and if it's iOS18 not activate the access point, hoping that the user will not jump to VC2 too quickly, and show my own button which will open Game Center. But I'd rather give the users the full experience with their own avatar and the highlights showing up. Plus, certainly some users will move quickly to VC2 and that will be an awful experience.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!