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Is there any future for screensavers on macOS?
I haven't been looking at screensavers for a long time because of Apple's lack of will (or resources?) to provide a public version of the private modern SDK used by Apple for a very long time now. I'm now looking at the Screen Saver pane in System Settings (the What-If version of System Preferences in an alternate universe where all screens are in portrait mode). In macOS Sequoia, it seems like 3rd party screensavers are not welcome considering that they are relegated to the "Other" section at the bottom of the list and you have to click Show All to start seeing 3rd party screen savers. I also had a quick look at macOS Tahoe Beta 3 and it looks like that all the real screensavers are gone (3rd party and the ones from Apple: Hello, Message, Flurry, etc.) or at least it requires to be a Nobel Prize to find them (and the Search field is not useful). I tried to install a 3rd party screen saver on macOS Tahoe Beta 3, it doesn't show up in the list. To summarize: No public access to modern APIs AFAIK. UI that is hostile to 3rd party screen savers on macOS Sequoia. Apparently only screensavers that are slideshows or movies curated by Apple in macOS Tahoe b3. Hence the question: Is there any future for screen savers on macOS? Because if there's none, I won't waste my time trying to update some old screen savers.
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518
Aug ’25
Request: API to temporarily defer Reachability for fullscreen game swipes (bottom edge)
In swipe-driven games, a first downward swipe starting near the home indicator can trigger Reachability, even when using preferredScreenEdgesDeferringSystemGestures = .bottom and prefersHomeIndicatorAutoHidden = true. This causes the app to slide down to half screen and breaks gameplay. Please consider an API to temporarily defer Reachability while a custom gesture is active (similar to existing system gesture deferral), without disabling accessibility globally. Environment: Devices: iPhones with Home Indicator (Face ID) Why this matters: Bottom-origin swipes are core in many games (flick shots, slingshot, physics toss, bottom sheets). Current workarounds degrade UX and discoverability, and players still accidentally trigger Reachability. Feedback Assistant Post
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652
Aug ’25
Unity PolySpatia
Hello, We are experiencing an issue with apparent lag or latency when interacting with objects in Unity using the XR Interaction Toolkit. Even when interactables are configured with the Movement Type set to Instantaneous, objects exhibit a noticeable delay when following hand movement. This issue is particularly apparent when the hand moves at higher speeds. We would like to know: is any additional configuration required, or is there something else we need to do to resolve this? Thank you very much for your assistance.
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454
Aug ’25
iPhone Pro Model - RefreshRate
I want to display the refresh rate on the screen of the iPhone (14 Pro Max), but each app of the App Store's "Floating Clock", "Floating Clock Premium" and "Screen Renewal Rate - RefreshRate Realtime" can only display two of 60Hz and 120Hz, and I wonder if it can display numbers of 1Hz, 10Hz, tens of Hz, or more than 3 levels. Does anyone know how to do it?
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306
Sep ’25
Testing Gamecenter Accounts
HI all, I'm in the early stages of testing a game that will have real-time device-to-device communication using GameCenter. I've read something about setting up GameCenter "sandbox" accounts to test prior to the game's release, but I can't find anything reliable about how to do so. I've found lots of web pages which purport to describe how to do this task, but what they describe seems to be outdated, as the steps don't appear to be available in modern versions of iOS. I'm testing on iOS 18 and 26. Document search isn't helping--I mostly find information on how to set up StoreKit sandbox accounts, which I assume are different things altogether--so if you could point me towards an article that allows me to test a new, unreleased GameKit app between devices, I'd appreciate it. People are developing GameCenter apps, so I know it's possible... advTHANKSance
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356
Sep ’25
Inquiry About Game Center Integration Analytics
Dear Apple Developer Support, I hope this message finds you well. I am a game developer looking to integrate Game Center into our game. Before proceeding, I would like to understand the analytical capabilities available post-integration. Specifically, I am interested in tracking detailed metrics such as: The number of new player downloads driven by Game Center features (e.g., friend challenges, leaderboards, or achievements). Data on user engagement and conversions originating from Game Center interactions. I have explored App Store Connect’s App Analytics but would appreciate clarification on whether Game Center-specific data (e.g., referrals from challenges or social features) is available to measure growth and optimize our strategies. If such data is accessible, could you guide me on how to view it? If not, are there alternative methods or plans to incorporate this in the future? Thank you for your time and assistance. I look forward to your response. Best regards, Bella
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911
Sep ’25
Can't remove annotations from PdfView
Hi everyone, I faced an issue that on IOS 26 removeAnnotation method doesn't remove annotation. This code worked on previous versions (IOS 18, 17) but suddenly stopped working on IOS 26. Has anyone faced this issue? guard let document = await pdfView.document else { return } for pageIndex in 0..<document.pageCount { guard let page = document.page(at: pageIndex) else { continue } let annotations = page.annotations for annotation in annotations { page.removeAnnotation(annotation) } }
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183
Oct ’25
PDFKit Page Rerender
I'm experiencing an issue with PDFKit where page.removeAnnotation(annotation) successfully removes the annotation from the page's data structure, but the PDFView no longer updates automatically to reflect the change visually. Issue Details: The annotation is removed (verified by checking page.annotations.count) The PDFView display doesn't refresh to show the removal This code was working correctly before and suddenly stopped working No code changes were made on my end
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1w
Metal cpp compile errors
Hi, I trying to use Metal cpp, but I have compile error: ISO C++ requires the name after '::' to be found in the same scope as the name before '::' metal-cpp/Foundation/NSSharedPtr.hpp(162): template <class _Class> _NS_INLINE NS::SharedPtr<_Class>::~SharedPtr() { if (m_pObject) { m_pObject->release(); } } Use of old-style cast metal-cpp/Foundation/NSObject.hpp(149): template <class _Dst> _NS_INLINE _Dst NS::Object::bridgingCast(const void* pObj) { #ifdef __OBJC__ return (__bridge _Dst)pObj; #else return (_Dst)pObj; #endif // __OBJC__ } XCode Project was generated using CMake: target_compile_features(${MODULE_NAME} PRIVATE cxx_std_20) target_compile_options(${MODULE_NAME} PRIVATE "-Wgnu-anonymous-struct" "-Wold-style-cast" "-Wdtor-name" "-Wpedantic" "-Wno-gnu" ) May be need to set some CMake flags for C++ compiler ?
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1.4k
Dec ’24
D3DMetal unsupported CreateCommandQueue1 API while running simple wglgears using Mesa 24.3 GLon12 driver..
Hi, wanted to test if possible to use Mesa3D OGLon12+D3DMetal 2b3 to get GL>4.1 support on windows apps via D3D12Metal.. using simple wglgears.c app (similar glxgears) and running like: GALLIUM_DRIVER=d3d12 wine64 wglgears64 -info with overridden opengl32.dll using contents from: https://github.com/pal1000/mesa-dist-win/releases/download/24.3.0-rc1/mesa3d-24.3.0-rc1-release-msvc.7z I get: [D3DMetal:LOG:5E53] Unsupported API: CreateCommandQueue1 caused by: https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/mesa/mesa/-/commit/c022c9603d500b59ff5e6f93c8a214d1785ab20a API: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/api/d3d12/nf-d3d12-id3d12device9-createcommandqueue1 note setup is correct as using: GALLIUM_DRIVER=llvmpipe wine64 wglgears64 -info I get: GL_RENDERER = llvmpipe (LLVM 19.1.3, 128 bits) GL_VERSION = 4.5 (Compatibility Profile) Mesa 24.3.0-rc1 (git-85ba713d76) GL_VENDOR = Mesa GL_EXTENSIONS = GL_ARB_multisample GL_EXT_abgr GL_EXT_bgra GL_EXT_blend_color GL_EXT_blend_minmax GL_EXT_blend_subtract r GL_EXT_texture.. etc..
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562
May ’25
Simulator vs device; Deferring System Gestures
Hi, I have a full screen iOS game. In the Simulator, preferredScreenEdgesDeferringSystemGestures works well to prevent a drag down from the top of the full-screen play area from immediately opening the Notification Center. (You got a tab, and had to swipe down on it.) But at least on my device, when testing, unlike in Simulator, Notification Center opens immediately when I swipe down from the top. Any suggestions?
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432
Dec ’24
Fail to Create CGImageMetadata by key "HDRGainMap:HDRGainMapHeadroom"
I am trying to create an empty metadata, and set the HDRGainMapHeadroom at xxx. However the final returned mutableMetadata doesn't contain the HDRGainMap:HDRGainMapVersion or HDRGainMap:HDRGainMapHeadroom. But iio:hasXMP exist. why? Is that the reason that the namespace HDRGainMap is private? func createHDRGainMapMetadata(version: Int, headroom: Double) -> CGImageMetadata? { // Create a mutable metadata object let mutableMetadata = CGImageMetadataCreateMutable() // Define the namespace for HDRGainMap let namespace = "HDRGainMap" let xmpKeyPath = "iio:hasXMP" let xmpValue = String(true) // Set the HDRGainMapVersion item let versionKeyPath = "\(namespace):HDRGainMapVersion" let versionValue = String(version) // Set the version value let xmpSetResult = CGImageMetadataSetValueWithPath(mutableMetadata, nil, xmpKeyPath as CFString, xmpValue as CFString) if xmpSetResult == false { print("Failed to set xmp") } // Set the version value let versionSetResult = CGImageMetadataSetValueWithPath(mutableMetadata, nil, versionKeyPath as CFString, versionValue as CFString) if versionSetResult == false { print("Failed to set HDRGainMapVersion") } // Set the HDRGainMapHeadroom item let headroomKeyPath = "\(namespace):HDRGainMapHeadroom" let headroomValue = String(headroom) // Set the headroom value let headroomSetResult = CGImageMetadataSetValueWithPath(mutableMetadata, nil, headroomKeyPath as CFString, headroomValue as CFString) if headroomSetResult == false { print("Failed to set HDRGainMapHeadroom") } return mutableMetadata }
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487
Dec ’24
Snap to Item with Assistive Touch does not work when building an Game from Unity.
Hi all, I have been trying to get Apple's assistive touch's snap to item to work for a unity game built using Apple's Core & Accessibility API. The switch control recognises these buttons however, eye tracking will not snap to them. The case in which it needs to snap is when an external eye tracking device is connected and utilises assistive touch & assistive touch's snap to item. All buttons in the game have a AccessibilityNode with the trait 'Button' on them & an appropriate label, which, following the documentation and comments on the developer forum, should allow them to be recognised by snap to item. This is not the case, devices (iPads and iPhones) do not recognise the buttons as a snap to target. Does anyone know why this is the case, and if this is a bug?
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577
Dec ’24
AVAssetReaderTrackOutput read HDR frame from a video file.
Hello, I am trying to read video frames using AVAssetReaderTrackOutput. Here is the sample code: //prepare assets let asset = AVURLAsset(url: some_url) let assetReader = try AVAssetReader(asset: asset) guard let videoTrack = try await asset.loadTracks(withMediaCharacteristic: .visual).first else { throw SomeErrorCode.error } var readerSettings: [String: Any] = [ kCVPixelBufferIOSurfacePropertiesKey as String: [String: String]() ] //check if HDR video var isHDRDetected: Bool = false let hdrTracks = try await asset.loadTracks(withMediaCharacteristic: .containsHDRVideo) if hdrTracks.count > 0 { readerSettings[AVVideoAllowWideColorKey as String] = true readerSettings[kCVPixelBufferPixelFormatTypeKey as String] = kCVPixelFormatType_420YpCbCr10BiPlanarFullRange isHDRDetected = true } //add output to assetReader let output = AVAssetReaderTrackOutput(track: videoTrack, outputSettings: readerSettings) guard assetReader.canAdd(output) else { throw SomeErrorCode.error } assetReader.add(output) guard assetReader.startReading() else { throw SomeErrorCode.error } //add writer ouput settings let videoOutputSettings: [String: Any] = [ AVVideoCodecKey: AVVideoCodecType.hevc, AVVideoWidthKey: 1920, AVVideoHeightKey: 1080, ] let finalPath = "//some URL oath" let assetWriter = try AVAssetWriter(outputURL: finalPath, fileType: AVFileType.mov) guard assetWriter.canApply(outputSettings: videoOutputSettings, forMediaType: AVMediaType.video) else { throw SomeErrorCode.error } let assetWriterInput = AVAssetWriterInput(mediaType: .video, outputSettings: videoOutputSettings) let sourcePixelAttributes: [String: Any] = [ kCVPixelBufferPixelFormatTypeKey as String: isHDRDetected ? kCVPixelFormatType_420YpCbCr10BiPlanarFullRange : kCVPixelFormatType_32ARGB, kCVPixelBufferWidthKey as String: 1920, kCVPixelBufferHeightKey as String: 1080, ] //create assetAdoptor let assetAdaptor = AVAssetWriterInputTaggedPixelBufferGroupAdaptor( assetWriterInput: assetWriterInput, sourcePixelBufferAttributes: sourcePixelAttributes) guard assetWriter.canAdd(assetWriterInput) else { throw SomeErrorCode.error } assetWriter.add(assetWriterInput) guard assetWriter.startWriting() else { throw SomeErrorCode.error } assetWriter.startSession(atSourceTime: CMTime.zero) //prepare tranfer session var session: VTPixelTransferSession? = nil guard VTPixelTransferSessionCreate(allocator: kCFAllocatorDefault, pixelTransferSessionOut: &session) == noErr, let session else { throw SomeErrorCode.error } guard let pixelBufferPool = assetAdaptor.pixelBufferPool else { throw SomeErrorCode.error } //read through frames while let nextSampleBuffer = output.copyNextSampleBuffer() { autoreleasepool { guard let imageBuffer = CMSampleBufferGetImageBuffer(nextSampleBuffer) else { return } //this part copied from (https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2023/10181) at 23:58 timestamp let attachment = [ kCVImageBufferYCbCrMatrixKey: kCVImageBufferYCbCrMatrix_ITU_R_2020, kCVImageBufferColorPrimariesKey: kCVImageBufferColorPrimaries_ITU_R_2020, kCVImageBufferTransferFunctionKey: kCVImageBufferTransferFunction_SMPTE_ST_2084_PQ, ] CVBufferSetAttachments(imageBuffer, attachment as CFDictionary, .shouldPropagate) //now convert to CIImage with HDR data let image = CIImage(cvPixelBuffer: imageBuffer) let cropped = "" //here perform some actions like cropping, flipping, etc. and preserve this changes by converting the extent to CGImage first: //this part copied from (https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2023/10181) at 24:30 timestamp guard let cgImage = context.createCGImage( cropped, from: cropped.extent, format: .RGBA16, colorSpace: CGColorSpace(name: CGColorSpace.itur_2100_PQ)!) else { continue } //finally convert it back to CIImage let newScaledImage = CIImage(cgImage: cgImage) //now write it to a new pixelBuffer let pixelBufferAttributes: [String: Any] = [ kCVPixelBufferCGImageCompatibilityKey as String: true, kCVPixelBufferCGBitmapContextCompatibilityKey as String: true, ] var pixelBuffer: CVPixelBuffer? CVPixelBufferCreate( kCFAllocatorDefault, Int(newScaledImage.extent.width), Int(newScaledImage.extent.height), kCVPixelFormatType_420YpCbCr10BiPlanarFullRange, pixelBufferAttributes as CFDictionary, &pixelBuffer) guard let pixelBuffer else { continue } context.render(newScaledImage, to: pixelBuffer) //context is a CIContext reference var pixelTransferBuffer: CVPixelBuffer? CVPixelBufferPoolCreatePixelBuffer(kCFAllocatorDefault, pixelBufferPool, &pixelTransferBuffer) guard let pixelTransferBuffer else { continue } // Transfer the image to the pixel buffer. guard VTPixelTransferSessionTransferImage(session, from: pixelBuffer, to: pixelTransferBuffer) == noErr else { continue } //finally append to taggedBuffer } } assetWriterInput.markAsFinished() await assetWriter.finishWriting() The result video is not in correct color as the original video. It turns out too bright. If I play around with attachment values, it can be either too dim or too bright but not exactly proper as the original video. What am I missing in my setup? I did find that kCVPixelFormatType_4444AYpCbCr16 can produce proper video output but then I can't convert it to CIImage and so I can't do the CIImage operations that I need. Mainly cropping and resizing the CIImage
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651
Dec ’24
CGContextAddArc not respecting clipping rects for open paths
macOS 15.2, MBP M1, built-in display. The following code produces a line outside the bounds of my clipping region when drawing to CGLayers, to produce a clockwise arc: CGContextBeginPath(m_s.outContext); CGContextAddArc(m_s.outContext, leftX + radius, topY - radius, radius, -startRads, -endRads, 1); CGContextSetRGBStrokeColor(m_s.outContext, col.fRed(), col.fGreen(), col.fBlue(), col.fAlpha()); CGContextSetLineWidth(m_s.outContext, width); CGContextStrokePath(m_s.outContext); Drawing other shapes such as rects or ellipses doesn't cause a problem. I can work around the issue by bringing the path back to the start of the arc: CGContextBeginPath(m_s.outContext); CGContextAddArc(m_s.outContext, leftX + radius, topY - radius, radius, -startRads, -endRads, 1); // add a second arc back to the start CGContextAddArc(m_s.outContext, leftX + radius, topY - radius, radius, -endRads, -startRads, 0); CGContextSetRGBStrokeColor(m_s.outContext, col.fRed(), col.fGreen(), col.fBlue(), col.fAlpha()); CGContextSetLineWidth(m_s.outContext, width); CGContextStrokePath(m_s.outContext); But this does appear to be a bug.
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516
Jan ’25