We're using RealityKit to create a science education AR app for iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS.
In the WWDC25 session video "Bring your SceneKit project to RealityKit" https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2025/288 at 8:15, it's explained that when using RealityKit, RealityView should be used in all cases, whereas in the past, SceneKit required SCNView, SceneView, or ARSCNView, depending on an app's requirements.
Because the initial development of our app on iOS predates iOS 18's RealityView, our app currently uses ARView to render RealityKit AR content on iOS and iPadOS.
Is it recommended that we migrate to RealityView, or can we safely continue using our existing ARView implementation? We'd prefer to avoid unnecessary development cost.
If migrating from ARView to RealityView is recommended, what specific benefits should we expect from this transition?
Thank you.
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Hi Apple & devs,
I'm trying to test various Windows .exe files using the Game Porting Toolkit (GPTK), but I’m hitting a wall: no matter what .exe I try, the command returns instantly with no output — no error, no logs, nothing.
Here's what I'm doing:
I'm using macOS Sequioa 15.5 on M1 macbook pro.
I installed gameportingtoolkt GPTK 2.1 through brew from gcenx:
brew install gcenx/wine/game-porting-toolkit
When I run any .exe using GPTK's wine64, like this, e.g. with steam
user@JMacBook-Pro / % WINEPREFIX=~/wine_prefix /usr/local/bin/gameportingtoolkit 'C:\SteamSetup.exe' --verbose
user@JMacBook-Pro / %
Immediate exit without any return code, output, nor errors.
No output, no crash, no logs. Same result with simple test apps
Running with WINEDEBUG=+all (still no output)
Even running wine64 does the same thing.
I’ve tried:
Removing and reinstalling GPTK
Creating a fresh WINEPREFIX
Checking /tmp and ~/Library/Logs for logs — nothing
Has anyone else experienced this or have any idea how to debug it?
Is there ANY Apple support for this??
Thanks in advance.
What is the recommended way to attach SwiftUI views to RealityKit entities on macOS, iOS, etc?
All the APIs seem to be visionOS only:
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/realitykit/realityviewattachments
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/realitykit/viewattachmentcomponent
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/realitykit/presentationcomponent
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/realitykit/imagepresentationcomponent
My only idea is to do it "manually" with a ZStack and RealityView somehow?
I submitted this as a feedback since it seemed like an oversight: FB18034856.
Had anyone experienced convexCast causing a crash and what might be behind it?
Here's the call stack:
Imagine a native macOS app that acts as a "launcher" for a Java game.** For example, the "launcher" app might use the Swift Process API or a similar method to run the java command line tool (lets assume the user has installed Java themselves) to run the game.
I have seen How to Enable Game Mode. If the native launcher app's Info.plist has the following keys set:
LSApplicationCategoryType set to public.app-category.games
LSSupportsGameMode set to true (for macOS 26+)
GCSupportsGameMode set to true
The launcher itself can cause Game Mode to activate if the launcher is fullscreened. However, if the launcher opens a Java process that opens a window, then the Java window is fullscreened, Game Mode doesn't seem to activate. In this case activating Game Mode for the launcher itself is unnecessary, but you'd expect Game Mode to activate when the actual game in the Java window is fullscreened.
Is there a way to get Game Mode to activate in the latter case?
** The concrete case I'm thinking of is a third-party Minecraft Java Edition launcher, but the issue can also be demonstrated in a sample project (FB13786152). It seems like the official Minecraft launcher is able to do this, though it's not clear how. (Is its bundle identifier hardcoded in the OS to allow for this? Changing a sample app's bundle identifier to be the same as the official Minecraft launcher gets the behavior I want, but obviously this is not a practical solution.)
Hi everyone,
I’m developing an iPad app that will be running continuously with the screen always on — similar to a restaurant ordering system.
I understand that some of the newer iPad Pro models are equipped with OLED displays. I'm concerned about the potential risk of screen burn-in due to static UI elements being displayed for extended periods.
Does burn-in occur on the OLED iPad Pro models under such usage?
Would it be advisable to implement a screen saver or periodically animate/change parts of the UI to prevent this?
Any insights or best practices would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Topic:
Graphics & Games
SubTopic:
General
As part of the WWDC25 Keynote, a technology was announced that can present 2D images as 3D spatial scenes. This announcement is supported by a Press Release.
...developers can use the Spatial Scene API to make their app experience even more immersive. Zillow is taking advantage of the API for their Zillow Immersive app, allowing users to see images of homes and apartments with the rich depth and dimension that spatial scenes offer.
The feature also appears in the Photos App on iOS 26 Developer Beta 1. Tapping "Spatial Scene" on any photo opens a view of that photo with a parallax effect. I've searched the WWDC sessions and new documentation and have come up short. Reaching out here for help.
Is there any documentation for Spatial Scene API? Or any guidance on how to implement the spatial scene in iOS?
I'm new here so I don't know what's this function belongs to which topic... Sorry about that!
I watched the WWDC stream and I am really interested in this function, I'm wondering if this function could be used in my apps.
I looked up the document but I find it only support visionOS(i'm not sure about that, but I saw the demo is base on the visionOS)
I didn't find a suggestion box on Swift's website so I'll post it here.
SwiftCharts are great but limited. I need more data on a single chart. Candlestick and OHLC type charts would be an excellent addition. Hopefully, influencers from Apple can make that happen.
Thanks.
let dic : [AnyHashable:Any] = [
kCGPDFXRegistryName: "http://www.color.org" as CFString,
kCGPDFXOutputConditionIdentifier: "FOGRA43" as CFString,
kCGPDFContextOutputIntent: "GTS_PDFX" as CFString,
kCGPDFXOutputIntentSubtype: "GTS_PDFX" as CFString,
kCGPDFContextCreateLinearizedPDF: "" as CFString,
kCGPDFContextCreatePDFA: "" as CFString,
kCGPDFContextAuthor: "Placeholder" as CFString,
kCGPDFContextCreator: "Placeholder" as CFString
]
Hello,
Now I would like to export my PDF's as PDF/A. In my opinion, there is also the right option for this under Core Graphics.
Unfortunately, the documentation does not show what is 'kCGPDFContextCreatePDFA' or 'kCGPDFContextLinearizedPDF' for
a stringvalue is required.
What I have already tried: GTS_PDFA1 , PDF/A-1, true as CFString.
(Above my CFDictionary. ...Author e.g are working perfectly.)
In the Finder you can see these two options, which I would also like to implement in my app.
Thank you in advance!
How can one match the walls and floor of a given CapturedRoom ?
The transform.eulerAngles of a floor z & y are always 0 !
And the polygons seems to have a different orientation than the walls.
So how to figure out the rotation and match the one from the walls ?
our app is live, and it appears that since the ios 18 update - the VideoMaterial renders pink / purple color instead of the video (picture attached). the audio is rendered properly.
we found that it occurs on old devices: iPhone 11 & iPhone SE 2020.
I've found this thread of Andy Jazz on stackoverflow:
Steps to Reproduce:
Create a plane for the video screen.
Apply a VideoMaterial using AVPlayerItem.
Anchor the model entity to an ARImageAnchor.
Expected Outcome:
The video should play as a material on the plane in RealityKit.
Actual Outcome:
On iOS 18, the plane appears pink, indicating the VideoMaterial isn’t applied.
What I’ve Tried:
-Verified the video URL is correct.
-Checked that the AVPlayerItem and VideoMaterial are initialised correctly.
-Ensured the AVPlayer is playing the video.
I also tried different formats (mov / mp4 / m4v), and verifying that the video's status is readyToPlay.
any suggestions?
Problem Description
I'm encountering an issue with SCNTechnique where the clearColor setting is being ignored when multiple passes share the same depth buffer. The clear color always appears as the scene background, regardless of what value I set. The minimal project for reproducing the issue: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/30mx06xunh75wgl3t4sbd/SCNTechniqueCustomSymbols.zip?rlkey=yuehjtk7xh2pmdbetv2r8t2lx&st=b9uobpkp&dl=0
Problem Details
In my SCNTechnique configuration, I have two passes that need to share the same depth buffer for proper occlusion handling:
"passes": [
"box1_pass": [
"draw": "DRAW_SCENE",
"includeCategoryMask": 1,
"colorStates": [
"clear": true,
"clearColor": "0 0 0 0" // Expecting transparent black
],
"depthStates": [
"clear": true,
"enableWrite": true
],
"outputs": [
"depth": "box1_depth",
"color": "box1_color"
],
],
"box2_pass": [
"draw": "DRAW_SCENE",
"includeCategoryMask": 2,
"colorStates": [
"clear": true,
"clearColor": "0 0 0 0" // Also expecting transparent black
],
"depthStates": [
"clear": false,
"enableWrite": false
],
"outputs": [
"depth": "box1_depth", // Sharing the same depth buffer
"color": "box2_color",
],
],
"final_quad": [
"draw": "DRAW_QUAD",
"metalVertexShader": "myVertexShader",
"metalFragmentShader": "myFragmentShader",
"inputs": [
"box1_color": "box1_color",
"box2_color": "box2_color",
],
"outputs": [
"color": "COLOR"
]
]
]
And the metal shader used to display box1_color and box2_color with splitting:
fragment half4 myFragmentShader(VertexOut in [[stage_in]],
texture2d<half, access::sample> box1_color [[texture(0)]],
texture2d<half, access::sample> box2_color [[texture(1)]]) {
half4 color1 = box1_color.sample(s, in.texcoord);
half4 color2 = box2_color.sample(s, in.texcoord);
if (in.texcoord.x < 0.5) {
return color1;
}
return color2;
};
Expected Behavior
Both passes should clear their color targets to transparent black (0, 0, 0, 0)
The depth buffer should be shared between passes for proper occlusion
Actual Behavior
Both box1_color and box2_color targets contain the scene background instead of being cleared to transparent (see attached image)
This happens even when I explicitly set clearColor: "0 0 0 0" for both passes
Setting scene.background.contents = UIColor.clear makes the clearColor work as expected, but I need to keep the scene background for other purposes
What I've Tried
Setting different clearColor values - all are ignored when sharing depth buffer
Using DRAW_NODE instead of DRAW_SCENE - didn't solve the issue
Creating a separate pass to capture the background - the background still appears in the other passes
Various combinations of clear flags and render orders
Environment
iOS/macOS, running with "My Mac (Designed for iPad)"
Xcode 16.2
Question
Is this a known limitation of SceneKit when passes share a depth buffer? Is there a workaround to achieve truly transparent clear colors while maintaining a shared depth buffer for occlusion testing?
The core issue seems to be that SceneKit automatically renders the scene background in every DRAW_SCENE pass when a shared depth buffer is detected, overriding any clearColor settings.
Any insights or workarounds would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
I have code that captures a window and displays a cropped image. The problem is 2 fold. Kit doesn't seem to allow to modify stop and recapture image in window mode to capture a portion of the screen.
So this makes me having to crop and display the cropped image via a published variable. This all works find. But seems to stop after some time.
Using an M1 16gig ram. program is taking less than 100meg of mem with 40-70%cpu as the crow flies.
printing captured success in debug mode and sometimes frame isn't valid so guarding against it.
any ideas on how to improve my strategy?
I'm using RealityView in my iOS game mxied with SwiftUI. For the following 2 example usages, the simulator will only render the first RealityView, and the second one is either super laggy or show a black model. Running on the real device is all good, just simualtor has this issue.
Have a TabView and each tab has a RealityView.
Have a root view and detail view connected via a push navigation, both root and detail have a RealityView.
In the Simulator, the second RealityView is going to be very choppy and basically unusable, but on a real iPhone everything looks great.
Is this a known simulator issue or I did something bad?
My experience has been that ModelEntity(named:in:) can be used to load a USD file with a simple structure consisting of entities and model entities, and, critically, it will flatten the entity hierarchy down to a single ModelEntity, presumably reducing the number of draw calls.
However, can anyone verify that the following is true?
If ModelEntity(named:in:) is used to load a USD file from a RealityKit content bundle, it may fail when the USD file contains more complex data, such as shader graph material definitions, or perhaps for some other reason. I am not sure.
AND the error that ModelEntity(named:in:) throws in this case is
Cannot load RealityKitContent entity: Failed to find resource with name "<name>" in bundle
which would literally suggest that the file does not exist, instead of what I assume the error actually is, which is "the file exists but its entity hierarchy could not be flattened to a single ModelEntity" ?
Is that an accurate description of the known behavior of ModelEntity:named:in:)?
I understand that I could use Entity(named:in:) instead, without the flattening feature. My question is really more about the seemingly misleading error message.
Thank you for any clarification you can provide.
We have a macOS app (not yet released, but in use by ourselves), that provides scoreboards for streaming sport events.
Today it is expected, that there are nice animations for goals, etc. We are streaming using NDI, which requires a CVPixelBuffer for each frame.
We currently create these animations using CABasicAnimation, CAAnimation and CAKeyframeAnimation. In addition we use ScreenCaptureKit to generate the frames.
This works fine with 25/30 fps, as long as the window where our animations are performed in is visible. But this is not what it should be. We have a smaller window as main app window and control display performing the animations in reduced size, while the streaming animations need to be in HD format and later maybe in 4K.
When using an offscreen window, the animations are not calculated. We get 1 frame per second or so. So we actually have to connect an external display to the MacBook and open the large windows there. Ugly solution.
Do we use a completely wrong approach? Or is there a way to tell the macOS to perform the animations although it is an offscreen window?
If it cannot work that way, what is an alternative?
Hello,
I'm currently working on my first SceneKit game and have encountered an issue related to moving an SCNNode using a UIPanGestureRecognizer.
When I deploy the game to my iPhone via Xcode in debug mode, all interactions are smooth. However, when I stop the debugging session and run the game directly from the device (outside of Xcode), the SCNNode movement behaves inconsistently — it works sometimes smoothly and sometimes not and the interaction becomes choppy. The SCNNode movement is controlled using a UIPanGestureRecognizer.
Do you have any ideas what might be causing the issue?
Hey, I've been struggling with this for some days now.
I am trying to write to a sparse texture in a compute shader. I'm performing the following steps:
Set up a sparse heap and create a texture from it
Map the whole area of the sparse texture using updateTextureMapping(..)
Overwrite every value with the value "4" in a compute shader
Blit the texture to a shared buffer
Assert that the values in the buffer are "4".
I have a minimal example (which is still pretty long unfortunately).
It works perfectly when removing the line heapDesc.type = .sparse.
What am I missing? I could not find any information that writes to sparse textures are unsupported. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
import Metal
func sparseTexture64x64Demo() throws {
// ── Metal objects
guard let device = MTLCreateSystemDefaultDevice()
else { throw NSError(domain: "SparseNotSupported", code: -1) }
let queue = device.makeCommandQueue()!
let lib = device.makeDefaultLibrary()!
let pipeline = try device.makeComputePipelineState(function: lib.makeFunction(name: "addOne")!)
// ── Texture descriptor
let width = 64, height = 64
let format: MTLPixelFormat = .r32Uint // 4 B per texel
let desc = MTLTextureDescriptor()
desc.textureType = .type2D
desc.pixelFormat = format
desc.width = width
desc.height = height
desc.storageMode = .private
desc.usage = [.shaderWrite, .shaderRead]
// ── Sparse heap
let bytesPerTile = device.sparseTileSizeInBytes
let meta = device.heapTextureSizeAndAlign(descriptor: desc)
let heapBytes = ((bytesPerTile + meta.size + bytesPerTile - 1) / bytesPerTile) * bytesPerTile
let heapDesc = MTLHeapDescriptor()
heapDesc.type = .sparse
heapDesc.storageMode = .private
heapDesc.size = heapBytes
let heap = device.makeHeap(descriptor: heapDesc)!
let tex = heap.makeTexture(descriptor: desc)!
// ── CPU buffers
let bytesPerPixel = MemoryLayout<UInt32>.stride
let rowStride = width * bytesPerPixel
let totalBytes = rowStride * height
let dstBuf = device.makeBuffer(length: totalBytes, options: .storageModeShared)!
let cb = queue.makeCommandBuffer()!
let fence = device.makeFence()!
// 2. Map the sparse tile, then signal the fence
let rse = cb.makeResourceStateCommandEncoder()!
rse.updateTextureMapping(
tex,
mode: .map,
region: MTLRegionMake2D(0, 0, width, height),
mipLevel: 0,
slice: 0)
rse.update(fence) // ← capture all work so far
rse.endEncoding()
let ce = cb.makeComputeCommandEncoder()!
ce.waitForFence(fence)
ce.setComputePipelineState(pipeline)
ce.setTexture(tex, index: 0)
let threadsPerTG = MTLSize(width: 8, height: 8, depth: 1)
let tgCount = MTLSize(width: (width + 7) / 8,
height: (height + 7) / 8,
depth: 1)
ce.dispatchThreadgroups(tgCount, threadsPerThreadgroup: threadsPerTG)
ce.updateFence(fence)
ce.endEncoding()
// Blit texture into shared buffer
let blit = cb.makeBlitCommandEncoder()!
blit.waitForFence(fence)
blit.copy(
from: tex,
sourceSlice: 0,
sourceLevel: 0,
sourceOrigin: MTLOrigin(x: 0, y: 0, z: 0),
sourceSize: MTLSize(width: width, height: height, depth: 1),
to: dstBuf,
destinationOffset: 0,
destinationBytesPerRow: rowStride,
destinationBytesPerImage: totalBytes)
blit.endEncoding()
cb.commit()
cb.waitUntilCompleted()
assert(cb.error == nil, "GPU error: \(String(describing: cb.error))")
// ── Verify a few texels
let out = dstBuf.contents().bindMemory(to: UInt32.self, capacity: width * height)
print("first three texels:", out[0], out[1], out[width]) // 0 1 64
assert(out[0] == 4 && out[1] == 4 && out[width] == 4)
}
Metal shader:
#include <metal_stdlib>
using namespace metal;
kernel void addOne(texture2d<uint, access::write> tex [[texture(0)]],
uint2 gid [[thread_position_in_grid]])
{
tex.write(4, gid);
}
Hi
I've noticed one issue in Metal HUD, but I'm not sure if it is a bug in the Metal HUD or if there is a purpose for this behavior.
Metal HUD has an option to send the data to system log in raw format where the numbers are like
metal-HUD: ,,,,,...,
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/xcode/monitoring-your-metal-apps-graphics-performance/
If the HUD is displayed, it works just fine, but it seems that when the HUD is hidden (with shift-F9), it still send the data to system log, but the numbers are the same all the time and are not updated while is still being updated.
I would expect that it should log the data no matter if the HUD is displayed or not, this of course leads to incorrect FPS calculations
Here is an example of the system log entries when the HUD is not visible:
Topic:
Graphics & Games
SubTopic:
General