We’re building a new subway/bus app at the MTA. Our system includes roughly 300 underground stations, around 150 elevated stations (i.e., above street level), and about 5 at-grade stations (i.e., at street level). We serve roughly 5 million riders a day. We’re diving deep into Core Location on iOS and have found that the altitude values returned from two fields we’re testing aren’t accurate enough for our use case: CLLocation.altitude CMAbsoluteAltitudeData.altitude We need to reliably distinguish whether a user is: At street level On an elevated platform (see attached picture) On any platform in an underground station — most have a single platform level, but some, like 59 St (see attached), have multiple platforms at different elevations. These levels typically differ by at least 15 feet, which should in theory be well within the precision range of a properly calibrated barometric pressure sensor. However, the absolute altitude values we’re seeing from these APIs are often inaccurate and inconsistent — not only compared to ground truth, but also across devices. For example, holding two phones side-by-side frequently yields altitude readings that differ by more than 15 feet. That level of variation makes the data unreliable for our needs. Please see the below photos for more context. URLs.md

I'm working on an app that uses MapKit and CoreLocation. Is there a way to specify what location is simulated for a Preview, or create a preview that behaves as if the user denied location permissions, so that I can easily test my app's behavior in different scenarios? I know that you can simulate different locations in the Simulator, but haven't been able to get the previews within Xcode to have a location other than the center of Apple Park.

The Uber Driver app is able to get background location and there’s no way to turn it off from settings. Unlike other apps where there’s always an option to turn off background location from settings. Is this a bug or special treatment for big companies? this matters to me because we’re in a similar business but our app has to request background permissions, explicitly. I am attaching both of the screenshots here for you to compare and see. Please note that I verified personally that Uber Driver app is able to get background location.

Hello, I'm experiencing an issue with the Apple Maps URL scheme when using raw latitude and longitude coordinates in the daddr parameter. Until recently, using a URL like this worked reliably: https://maps.apple.com/?daddr=37.7749,-122.4194 This would open Apple Maps and show directions from the current location to the specified coordinates. However, on recent iOS versions, this URL no longer behaves as expected.

I am developing an iOS app that uses CLLocationManager to collect location continuously in both foreground and background. But it has the following 4 issues and I don’t understand why: After a while of not using the app, I can not get location updates regularly. Even after that, I go into the app more often or even turn OFF and turn ON the permission again, but the problem still doesn’t improve until I reinstall the app. Previously, I used SilentLog SDK to collect location. Since the cost was quite high, we developed our own SDK that also handles location tracking. After updating the app from the old version using SilentLog SDK to the new version using my own SDK, I can not get location updates regularly. However, when I reinstalled the app, it worked perfectly. It seems that apps downloaded from TestFlight can get location more continuously than apps downloaded from the App Store We sometimes encounter this error in the logs: Error Domain=kCLErrorDomain Code=0 “(null)” I think my app was not terminated in the background because I still collect location but it is not as frequent. I want to know if Apple has any mechanism to prevent such apps from getting location data continuously? I use CLLocationManager with the following configuration: self.locationManager.distanceFilter = 20 self.locationManager.desiredAccuracy = kCLLocationAccuracyBest self.locationManager.allowsBackgroundLocationUpdates = true self.locationManager.showsBackgroundLocationIndicator = false self.locationManager.pausesLocationUpdatesAutomatically = false I also filter the location updates using: guard let location = locations.last else { return } guard location.horizontalAccuracy <= 100 else { return } guard location.speedAccuracy >= 0 else { return } I use a background task to wake up the device every 15 minutes, and I also use silent push notifications in a similar manner. Each time the task is executed, I usually call stopLocation and then startLocation again. This happens quite frequently — will it have any impact or cause any issues?

I am using CLLocationUpdate.liveUpdates() to build a location sharing app. Most of the time it works fine, including in the background, giving acceptably frequent updates. However, soon after the user puts their phone away for the night, the updates stop coming. I've checked all the instance properties (.stationary, .locationUnavailable, etc.) but none of them are ever set to true, even for the last update before updates end. Is there some way to keep the updates coming through the night? I've included some relevant parts of my code here: func startLocationUpdates() { if self.manager.authorizationStatus == .notDetermined { self.manager.requestWhenInUseAuthorization() } Task { do { self.background = CLBackgroundActivitySession() self.session = CLServiceSession(authorization: CLServiceSession.AuthorizationRequirement.always) let updates = CLLocationUpdate.liveUpdates() for try await update in updates { if let loc = update.location { BackgroundServiceKt.onLocationUpdate(arg: loc) } // check all the instance properties } } catch { // error } return } } class AppDelegate: NSObject, UIApplicationDelegate { func application(_ application: UIApplication, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [UIApplication.LaunchOptionsKey : Any]? = nil) -> Bool { LocationsHandler.shared.startLocationUpdates() return true } }

Hi Apple team and fellow developers, We previously had Location Push Service Extension enabled and working in production. After transferring the app to a new Apple Developer team, the production App ID was transferred, but the Location Push entitlement was not retained. We've also created a new App ID for development, and now need Location Push access enabled for both the transferred production ID and the new development ID. We’ve already submitted the Location Push Access form with all relevant details. Unfortunately, the App Transfer documentation didn’t make it clear that Location Push access would be lost, and now we’re blocked from making new builds — even for the existing production app. ❓ Questions: Is it possible to re-enable Location Push for a transferred App ID? What’s the expected timeline for entitlement approval? Can Apple staff confirm the request status or let us know if any further action is needed? Thanks in advance — this entitlement is critical for our app’s functionality and release pipeline. Best, Aidar

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.

I asked a question similar to this earlier, but I think this is probably the better question. I have a food-ordering app. When the user wants to pick up food, I'd like for Apple Maps to automatically display the location of the restaurant that the user is driving to. Calendar does something similar. If there is an event that is soon, the location in the calendar-event shows up in Apple Maps. I'd like to do the same thing. So, when the user makes an order, they'll need to drive to the location fairly quickly. So, I'd like to launch Apple Maps, see the location of the restaurant where I'm picking up food, and then get directions to it. Bonus points if this also works when I have CarPlay.

Hi all, We’re running into a challenge with our iOS app DriveSmarter, which uses background location updates when connected to a physical Bluetooth device (e.g., dash cam, radar detector). For battery efficiency, we disable location services in the background when no device is connected. The problem we’re now facing is: How can we programmatically re-enable location services when a Bluetooth device reconnects while the app is still in the background? From what I understand, Core Location doesn’t allow re-enabling background location updates unless the app returns to the foreground. But our core use case requires this to happen seamlessly in the background when the user starts driving and the device connects again. To clarify: We stop location updates when the device disconnects. We want to resume location updates only when the device reconnects, even if the app is still in the background. Manually bringing the app to the foreground is not a reliable or user-friendly option. So my questions: Is it possible to programmatically restart background location services upon a Bluetooth connection event while staying in the background? If not, are there any best practices or Apple-recommended alternatives to achieve a similar result? Any guidance, patterns, or creative solutions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance

Our backend management system uses Google for Location, and Apple Maps is just one of the solutions in our map component. When should I convert coordinates to GCJ02? Maybe you would say that when you are in mainland China？ BUT NOT AT ALL! What if the user does not enable location permission? What if the user has not inserted a SIM card? Or not Chinese SIM card but location in China? OR the user location in China, But use VPN with en overseas IP? All solutions are not perfect, unless you open the API to developers and tell us whether Apple Maps currently uses the wgs84 coordinate system or gcj02, which is the most reliable.

Hi, I've watched the WWDC video "Discover streamlined location updates" As detailed here: https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2023/10180/?time=364 In order for my app to receive location updates in the background, the video states that I can either use a live activity or a CLBackgroundActivitySession My app has a live activity, however the location updates stop shortly (10 seconds, this is the normal "grace period" described) after backgrounding the app, even when the live activity is visible. If I acquire a CLBackgroundActivitySession, location updates continue in the background. I have reproduced this behavior in the Simulator in a barebones app for testing and confirmed that it's not working as described. My question is: Should I hold a CLBackgroundActivitySession even when I already have a Live Activity?

Hey All! I keep receiving an email from Apple stating "You have a missing purpose string in your Info.plist" for the key "NSLocationAlwaysAndWhenInUseUsageDescription". The thing is, though, that we are setting that value within our build Info.plist. The data in that value is even reflected into the application after build, with the correct purpose string showing up when requesting location services. We currently do our builds via Azure Devops CI/CD, where we use xcodebuild for this process. The archive also generates an Info.plist without the location key, so I tried manually inserting it before deployment. Also no luck. Anyone else had this issue or know how to resolve it? Snippet to show how the location key is currently set during build: &lt;?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?&gt; &lt;!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd"&gt; &lt;plist version="1.0"&gt; &lt;dict&gt; &lt;key&gt;NSLocationWhenInUseUsageDescription&lt;/key&gt; &lt;string&gt;Application uses location data for accurate maps display&lt;/string&gt; &lt;/dict&gt; &lt;/plist&gt; Thanks!

Hello all, I'm trying to retrieve geolocation data on the web, but I'm having trouble with the altitude value, which seems to differ from what I get on Android. When using navigator.geolocation.getCurrentPosition in Safari, is the altitude value based on mean sea level, or is it ellipsoidal altitude based on the WGS84 ellipsoid? altitude (WebKit JS): https://developer.apple.com/documentation/webkitjs/coordinates/1631861-altitude altitude (Core Location): https://developer.apple.com/documentation/corelocation/cllocation/altitude ellipsoidalAltitude (Core Location): https://developer.apple.com/documentation/corelocation/cllocation/ellipsoidalaltitude If anyone has any insight into this topic I would greatly appreciate it!

Dear Apple Team, I am reaching out regarding the need for more sophisticated location verification APIs beyond basic IP lookup capabilities. As online fraud continues to evolve, IP-based geolocation has proven insufficient for many business use cases requiring accurate location verification. Would it be possible to discuss this proposal with your API development team? I believe this would be valuable for the entire iOS and macOS developer ecosystem while maintaining Apple's commitment to user privacy.

I am developing a navigation application. My goal is for this navigation app to also work in the background and provide the user with real-time directional updates. When apps request access to location services, users see a TCC (Transparency, Consent, and Control) prompt. This prompt allows the user to choose under what conditions the app can access location services (for example: “While Using the App”, “Always”, etc.). If the user selects the “While Using the App” option, can the navigation app still access location in the background and provide directional information to the user? Is something like this technically possible? Does Apple allow this behavior for navigation apps or similar use cases?

Hello, I'm working on an application that requires the use of significant location changes and visits, in addition to region monitoring and standard continuous location delivery (foreground and background). iOS 17 and iOS 18 introduced changes to how we can monitor distinct regions of interest (with CLMonitor) as well as receive location updates (with CLLocationUpdate). But I couldn't find any information regarding how to work with Significant location changes. Do we still need to create a location manager and call startMonitoringSignificantLocationChanges()? Where are the updates received in this case, in the locationManager(_:didUpdateLocations:) or in the liveUpdates async sequence? Visits. Same question here, for visit monitoring to work, do we still have to create a location manager then call startMonitoringVisits()? Where are the visits being notified? Still in locationManager(_:didVisit:) or in the liveUpdates asynchronous sequence? I just want to be sure I understand correctly how to use the updates, and if some features of Core Location still need to use a location manager and the delegate to receive the events. Maybe additional CLCondition will be added to cover both of these technologies as it seems highly related to monitoring conditions (significant location change, and visit). Thank you, Axel

I created an app. One if its functionalities is receive Remote Notification in the background, while app is monitoring Significant Location Changes (SLC). This functionality worked fine. I was receiving these notifications correctly. Sometimes instantly, sometime with small or large delay. And then I send the app for review. It was rejected with 3 remarks: The app or metadata includes information about third-party platforms that may not be relevant for App Store users, who are focused on experiences offered by the app itself (I wrote that app communication works both for iOS and Android.) The app declares support for audio in the UIBackgroundModes key in your Info.plist but we are unable to locate any features that require persistent audio. EULA (End User License Agreement) is missing for in-app purchases. After the rejection the app is no longer receiving these notifications. They are there, since the app receives them, when I open app, or significant location change is detected. It also works, when I run the app directly from Xcode (in debug mode), not from TestFlight nor in Sandbox. It seem to me like Apple somehow spoiled my background capabilities on purpose or accidentally. Is it possible? What can I do with it? Is it the case that I should just fix the review remarks and send the app back to review, and once the app passes it, it will work again? Or should I not count on it? Any suggestions? I asked Apple using: https://developer.apple.com/contact/topic/#!/topic/select but so far no response.

Their support email is broken and our IMDF is stuck at "Occupants Data in Review" step. Thank you

Our IMDF indoor maps submission is stuck on "Occupants data in review" for several months and I can't ahold of that team (their email doesn't work). I've been told they have a backlog, but the other steps were pretty fast. How long is the expected completion? Thank you!