Summary CLLocationSourceInformation.isSimulatedBySoftware (iOS 15+) fails to detect location spoofing when using third-party tools like LocaChange, despite Apple's documentation stating it should detect simulated locations. Environment iOS 18.0 (tested and confirmed) Physical device with Developer Mode enabled Third-party location spoofing tools (e.g., LocaChange etc.) Expected Behavior According to Apple's documentation, isSimulatedBySoftware should return true when: "if the system generated the location using on-device software simulation. " Actual Behavior Tested on iOS 18.0: When using LocaChange sourceInformation.isSimulatedBySoftware returns false This occurs even though the location is clearly being simulated. Steps to Reproduce Enable Developer Mode on iOS 18 device Connect device to Mac via USB Use LocaChange to spoof location to a different city/country In your app, request location updates and check CLLocation.sourceInformation?.isSimulatedBySoftware Observe that it returns false or sourceInformation is nil Compare with direct Xcode location simulation (Debug → Simulate Location) which correctly returns true

Since iOS 26, the Apple Maps share sheet no longer provides a com.apple.mapkit.map-item attachment when sharing a location to my Share Extension. Additionally, on real devices the shared URL is now a short link (https://maps.apple/p/...), which does not contain coordinates. On the simulator, the URL still includes coordinates (as in previous iOS versions). I'm trying to find the official or recommended way to extract coordinates from these new short URLs. Environment: Devices: iPhone (real device) on iOS 26.0 / 26.0.1 Simulator: iOS 26.0 / 26.0.1 simulator (behaves like iOS 18 — see below) App: Share Extension invoked from Apple Maps -> Share -> my app Xcode: 26.0.1 Steps to Reproduce Open Apple Maps on iOS 26 (real device). Pick a POI (store/restaurant). Share -> choose my share extension. iOS 18 and earlier (lldb) po extensionContext?.inputItems ▿ Optional<Array<Any>> ▿ some : 1 element - 0 : <NSExtensionItem: 0x60000000c5d0> - userInfo: { NSExtensionItemAttachmentsKey = ( "<NSItemProvider: 0x600002930d20> {types = (\"public.plain-text\")}", "<NSItemProvider: 0x600002930c40> {types = (\"com.apple.mapkit.map-item\")}", "<NSItemProvider: 0x600002930bd0> {types = (\"public.url\")}" ); } Typical URL: https://maps.apple.com/place?address=Apple%20Inc.,%201%20Apple%20Park%20Way,%20Cupertino,%20CA%2095014,%20United%20States&coordinate=37.334859,-122.009040&name=Apple%20Park&place-id=I7C250D2CDCB364A&map=explore iOS 26 (lldb) po extensionContext?.inputItems ▿ 1 element - 0 : <NSExtensionItem: 0x6000000058d0> - userInfo: { NSExtensionItemAttachmentsKey = ( "<NSItemProvider: 0x600002900b60> {types = (\"public.url\")}", "<NSItemProvider: 0x600002900fc0> {types = (\"public.plain-text\")}" ); } URL looks like: https://maps.apple/p/U8rE9v8n8iVZjr On simulator iOS 26 same missing map-item provider - but the URL is still long and contains coordinates, like this: https://maps.apple.com/place?coordinate=37.334859,-122.009040&name=Apple%20Park&.. Issue The short URLs (maps.apple/p/...) cannot be resolved directly - following redirects ends with: https://maps.apple.com/unsupported The only way I've found to get coordinates is to intercept intermediate redirects - one of them contains the expanded URL with coordinate=.... Example of my current workaround: final class RedirectSniffer: NSObject, URLSessionTaskDelegate { private(set) var redirects: [URL] = [] func urlSession(_ session: URLSession, task: URLSessionTask, willPerformHTTPRedirection response: HTTPURLResponse, newRequest request: URLRequest) async -> URLRequest? { if let url = request.url { redirects.append(url) } return request } } Then I look through redirects to find a URL containing "coordinate=". This works, but feels unreliable and undocumented. Questions Was the removal of com.apple.mapkit.map-item from the Maps share payload intentional in iOS 26? If yes, is there a new attachment type or API to obtain an MKMapItem? What’s the official or supported way to resolve https://maps.apple/p/... to coordinates? Is there any MapKit API or documented URL scheme for this? Is intercepting redirect chains the only option for now? Why does the iOS 26 simulator still return coordinate URLs, while real devices don't?

I have a UIViewController that uses MKMapview to display the motion history trajectory. Repeatedly entering and exiting UIViewController will cause a crash, and the crash stack is as follows: Exception Type: EXC_BAD_ACCESS (SIGSEGV) Exception Subtype: KERN_INVALID_ADDRESS at 0x000000014bfc0fc8 Exception Codes: 0x0000000000000001, 0x000000014bfc0fc8 VM Region Info: 0x14bfc0fc8 is not in any region. Bytes after previous region: 217033 Bytes before following region: 61496 REGION TYPE START - END [ VSIZE] PRT/MAX SHRMOD REGION DETAIL VM_ALLOCATE 14bf88000-14bf8c000 [ 16K] rw-/rwx SM=PRV ---> GAP OF 0x44000 BYTES VM_ALLOCATE 14bfd0000-14bfd4000 [ 16K] rw-/rwx SM=PRV Termination Reason: SIGNAL 11 Segmentation fault: 11 Terminating Process: exc handler [1881] Triggered by Thread: 8 Thread 8 name: Dispatch queue: com.apple.root.background-qos Thread 8 Crashed: 0 CoreFoundation 0x19e36ac40 CFRelease + 44 1 VectorKit 0x1ce16af6c md::TileGroupNotificationManager::~TileGroupNotificationManager() + 132 2 VectorKit 0x1cd6f7178 <deduplicated_symbol> + 76 3 VectorKit 0x1cdba8d74 -[VKSharedResources .cxx_destruct] + 32 4 libobjc.A.dylib 0x19b3321f8 object_cxxDestructFromClass(objc_object*, objc_class*) + 116 5 libobjc.A.dylib 0x19b32df20 objc_destructInstance_nonnull_realized(objc_object*) + 76 6 libobjc.A.dylib 0x19b32d4a4 _objc_rootDealloc + 72 7 VectorKit 0x1cdba93fc -[VKSharedResources dealloc] + 476 8 VectorKit 0x1cdafa3fc -[VKSharedResourcesManager _removeResourceUser] + 68 9 VectorKit 0x1cdafa380 +[VKSharedResourcesManager removeResourceUser] + 44 10 VectorKit 0x1cdafa2fc __37-[VKIconManager _internalIconManager]_block_invoke + 168 11 libdispatch.dylib 0x1d645b7ec _dispatch_client_callout + 16 12 libdispatch.dylib 0x1d6446664 _dispatch_continuation_pop + 596 13 libdispatch.dylib 0x1d6459528 _dispatch_source_latch_and_call + 396 14 libdispatch.dylib 0x1d64581fc _dispatch_source_invoke + 844 15 libdispatch.dylib 0x1d6453f48 _dispatch_root_queue_drain + 364 16 libdispatch.dylib 0x1d64546fc _dispatch_worker_thread2 + 180 17 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x1f9b7e37c _pthread_wqthread + 232 18 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x1f9b7d8c0 start_wqthread + 8 I have checked the code and did not find any issues. I have also tested on iOS 15, 16, and 18 without any issues. Could this be an error in the iOS 26 system? Have you ever met any friends? I hope to receive an answer. Thank you.

Hi, On a SwiftUI map I render a mix of MapPolygon and MapPolyline. All overlays must use the same overlay level (.aboveLabels). Goal: Ensure MapPolyline always renders on top of MapPolygon. Issue: I order data so polylines are last and even render in two passes (polygons first, polylines second), all at .aboveLabels. Despite that, after polygons change (items removed/added based on zoom levels), I see polygons visually on top of polylines. It seems MapKit may batch/reorder rendering internally. Questions: Is there a reliable way in SwiftUI Map to enforce z-order within the same overlay level so MapPolyline always appears above MapPolygon? If not, any known workarounds or best practices? (e.g. different composition patterns, using annotations with zIndex, or other techniques compatible with SwiftUI Map) I know you can do this with UIKit, but first looking for a solution compatible with SwiftUI's version of MapKit. Thanks

In MapKit, the MKAnnotation takes a CLLocationCoordinate2D. However, in 3D/Flyover mode, the user marker has a height position on the map. We are currently plotting points which have altitude, speed, heading, etc, and I have a method for creating a CLLocation with this information. What I'm trying to figure out is if there's a way to pass that information along to the MapKit rendering engine / annotations / AnnotationViews to recognize and show when in 3D mode. Is there any support for that currently?

Hello, I’d like to ask about best practices for handling interactive snippet intents when working with the user’s location. My use case is: 1. Get the user’s location 2. Fetch nearby data 3. Display it My current flow is: try to show the snippet view in "loading" state while waiting for Core Location Manager, then fetch data and reload() the view. BUT I’m running into an issue where I sometimes receive Core Location error 1 (not authorized), even though the main app has “While In Use” authorization. It seems that in some cases, especially when the app has been force-closed, App Intents are unable to start location updates, even though I’m using supportedModes = .foreground(.dynamic). Any guidance would be appreciated. Cheers, Ondrej

We are currently developing a research-based iOS application that relies heavily on background capabilities, specifically Significant Location Change. We are using CLLocationManager.startMonitoringSignificantLocationChanges(). During development, when using Debug → Simulate Location in Xcode, we receive a location update only once. Subsequent simulated location changes do not trigger additional callbacks, which makes testing and development quite cumbersome. Are there any tools, commands, or workflows (e.g., via Xcode, Instruments, or system-level simulation) to reliably simulate multiple significant location change callbacks for testing purposes? If there aren't such tools, how do I test this behaviour reliably, robustly and rigidly?

I have a desktop application that shows some real estate properties chosen by the user. The application shows those GPP locations on the map. The SwiftUI code is something like the following. import SwiftUI import MapKit struct ContentView: View { var body: some View ZStack { mapView } } private var mapView: some View { Map(position: $propertyViewModel.mapPosition) { ForEach(propertyViewModel.properties) { property in Annotation("", coordinate: CLLocationCoordinate2D(latitude: property.lat, longitude: property.lon)) { Button { } label: { VStack { Image(systemName: "house.circle.fill") .resizable() .scaledToFit() .frame(width: 48) .foregroundStyle(colorScheme == .light ? .white : .black) ... } } .buttonStyle(.borderless) } } UserAnnotation() } .mapControls { MapUserLocationButton() } .mapControlVisibility(.visible) .onAppear { CLLocationManager().requestWhenInUseAuthorization() } } } The application only wants to use the CLLocationManager class so that it can show those locations on the map relative to your current GPS position. And I'm hit with two review rejections. Guideline 5.1.1 - Legal - Privacy - Data Collection and Storage Issue Description One or more purpose strings in the app do not sufficiently explain the use of protected resources. Purpose strings must clearly and completely describe the app's use of data and, in most cases, provide an example of how the data will be used. Guideline 5.1.5 - Legal - Privacy - Location Services The app uses location data for features that are not relevant to a user's location. Specifically, the app is not functional when Location Services are disabled. So I wonder if the application is even required to have 'NSLocationWhenInUseUsageDescription' and/or 'NSLocationUsageDescription'? just in order to show user's current location so that they can see property locations relative to it? The exact location privacy statement is the following. The application needs your permission in accessing your current location so that it will appear on the map

I have a desktop application developed in SwiftUI that shows property locations on the map. That's NOT the main feature. IF you give the application permission to access your location, the blue dot will appear on the map. If you don't, the blue user dot won't appear. That's the only difference with location services. In other words, the application has no use of user's current position beyond showing it on the map. Since it's just the matter of showing or not showing the blue dot on the map, the application doesn't really need to use the location service. Anyway, the reviewer is talking about something else by rejecting the application in two aspects. Guideline 5.1.1 - Legal - Privacy - Data Collection and Storage Guideline 5.1.5 - Legal - Privacy - Location Services As I said earlier, the application only wants to show the blue dot on the map so that you can see your property locations relative to your current location. In code, it's something like the following. Map(position: $propertyViewModel.mapPosition) { ForEach(propertyViewModel.properties) { property in Annotation("", coordinate: CLLocationCoordinate2D(latitude: property.lat, longitude: property.lon)) { ... } } UserAnnotation() } So I'm hit with two rejection reasons with this one line. UserAnnotation() And the reviewer is talking about something like the app is not functional when Location Services are disabled. To resolve this issue, please revise the app so that the app is fully functional without requiring the user to enable Location Services. Well, I can remove the UserAnnotation() line if I want to put this application through the review process. Nothing will become dysfunctional, though, if you decide to reject permission request. So would you remove it or would you play along with this reviewer if you were me? It's been three or four days since rejection. As you can imagine, the reviewer doesn't bother to answer as to What are the exact coordinates that the application has allegedly collected What won't work as a result of location permission request refusal. This isn't the first time I get my app rejected. I've probably had 150 to 200 of them rejected in the past 15 years. And just because a reviewer rejects your app for a bizarre reason, would you give in? Remove this feature and that feature because the reviewer is incompetent such that he or she makes his or her decision based on imagination? What do you think?

Hello, thanks for your effort! I found that when showsUserLocation is set to true (by default), the pulsing blue dot user location annotation is shown, which is cool and beautiful. However, it will automatically and periodically attempt to call the Apple Server API GET https://api.apple-mapkit.com/v1/reverseGeocode within userLocationDidChange() and updateUserLocationAnnotation() to display, I assume, the user's current address when single-tapping on the blue dot. It will significantly use the MapKit service calls quota since the user location is automatically updated. It almost runs out of quota even though the map initialization is plenty enough. Is there any way to disable the bubble behavior but preserve the user location blue dot, which is lovely and better than drawing my own user location dot? It seems I can only turn off all user location features. Many thanks!

I use MapKit and MKDirections for driving directions. The error "Directions Not Available" appears when the two points (A and B) are outside mainland China (e.g. Tokyo → Osaka). For routes inside China (e.g. Shanghai → Beijing), the same code works. let req = MKDirections.Request() req.source = MKMapItem(placemark: MKPlacemark(coordinate: origin)) req.destination = MKMapItem(placemark: MKPlacemark(coordinate: destination)) req.transportType = .automobile MKDirections(request: req).calculate { response, error in // Tokyo–Osaka (outside China): "Directions Not Available" // Shanghai–Beijing (inside China): works } Questions: Is MKDirections intended to support only routes within the device’s region (e.g. China)? When A/B are abroad, is "Directions Not Available" expected? Is this documented? For cross-country or overseas routes (e.g. Tokyo–Osaka), what is the recommended approach—third-party routing API + drawing on MapKit? Thanks.

Issue from App Review: My app shows a custom explanation screen before triggering the system location permission dialog. This screen explains why location access is needed. It includes: A “Continue” button → triggers the system permission dialog A “Not Now” button → dismisses the explanation and delays the permission request Apple states that: “The user should always proceed to the permission request after the message.” They are asking me to remove the exit button from the pre-permission message. My Questions Is it now against policy to include a “Not Now” option in a pre-permission explainer screen? Are we required to immediately show the system permission dialog after any pre-permission explanation? What is the recommended UX pattern if the feature depends on location but I don’t want to force the permission immediately at launch? Would it be compliant to: Remove the “Not Now” button, OR Remove the custom pre-prompt entirely and rely only on the system dialog? The feature in question requires location to function properly, but I want to implement it in a user-friendly way that respects user choice and avoids unnecessary denial rates. If anyone has recently resolved a similar 5.1.1(iv) issue, I’d really appreciate hearing how you handled it. Thank you in advance for your help!

Hello, I’m planning to use MapKit JS for a production web/mobile application and I’m trying to better understand the quota limits and pricing model. From the documentation, I understand that MapKit JS provides a free daily limit of: 250,000 map views 25,000 service calls per Apple Developer Program membership. However, I’m not clear about what exactly happens if these limits are exceeded. My questions: If my application exceeds 250,000 map views or 25,000 service calls in a day, what happens? Will the API simply start returning errors (for example HTTP 429), or will Apple automatically charge for additional usage? Is there an official pricing model for usage above the free quota, or do we need to contact Apple to request higher limits? Are these limits strict daily hard limits that should never be exceeded in production? I’m trying to design the architecture of my application and would like to understand whether we must strictly stay below these limits or whether scaling beyond them is possible. Thank you.

Situation: We have an app that only uses location UIBackgroundModes key to restart our app on significant change events as we need it to connect with a BLE device (mounted in the car) when someone starts driving. We cannot use geofence as the car might be used by multiple people so position changes and we don't want to store locations and sent them to multiple users via our servers. So currently we use significant change and just ignore all other location data. During app review we got the following feedback: If the app does not require persistent real-time location updates, please remove the "location" setting from the UIBackgroundModes key. You may wish to use the significant-change location service or the region monitoring location service if persistent real-time location updates are not required for the app features. Question: How to use the significant-change location service without the "location" setting from the UIBackgroundModes key or is there any other way to start the app / connect with the BLE device when it is fully terminated/swiped away? Because the docs state that AuthorizationStatusAuthorizedAlways is required and without the UIBackgroundModes key location that wouldn't be triggered when app is in the background/swiped away. Reference: https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/UserExperience/Conceptual/LocationAwarenessPG/CoreLocation/CoreLocation.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40009497-CH2-SW8

how to keep BG running while user killed app, because admin want to tracking inside/outside of employee

Hi, Our Apple Maps integration has been working normally for years, but starting today, newly created Maps tokens suddenly became unusable. Tokens created from the Apple Developer backend now return 401 Unauthorized everywhere we test them. We can reproduce this in: our own code Apple’s Try Maps Server API page MapKit JS So this does not appear to be limited to our app code. We also tested through a US network entry point to rule out a mainland China network issue, but the result was the same. At the moment, Maps tokens created in the backend seem to be unusable in all cases on our side. Has anyone else seen this today, or is there any known issue affecting Maps token creation or validation? Thanks.

We want to implement continuous GPS tracking in a React Native iOS app for security purposes. We need the tracing in the following case scenarios: App is Terminated App is minimised (Not killed) App is open and device is put to sleep mode #Locked App is in minimised and device is put to sleep mode #Locked (sleep mode) Currently it works in following 2 scenarios: Working when the app open in foreground Works when the app is killed (Traces in background) We would like to understand: Is continuous background location tracking during device idle allowed in iOS ? If allowed, what is the recommended approach to ensure reliable tracking? Are there any specific configurations, permissions, or limitations (battery optimization, system restrictions) we should be aware of? We are using React-Native by transistersoft with background location updates enabled and required permissions configured. This use case is specifically for user safety and security tracking. Any guidance on best practices and platform limitations would be helpful.

Hello, I have a question similar to this post regarding MapKit JS quota limits. I understand that we can request rate limit increases, but it is not a guaranteed increase. My app is rapidly growing. What if Apple decides to not award the limit increase? Then, the directions service of my app will stop working, which would be catastrophic for my company. I need to know if the rate limit increases are guaranteed. I need to decide early on whether to use MapKit JS or another service on, because the more time that passes, the more entangled my code will get with MapKit JS. Can we get some more information on this?

I am building a Swift Playgrounds App project on iPad running iPadOS 26.0.1 using the latest version of Swift Playgrounds. I need to access Core Location for a plant location logging app. What I have done: • Created an App project (not a Playground) in Swift Playgrounds • Enabled ‘Core Location When in Use’ in the app capabilities (accessed by tapping the app name) • Implemented a CLLocationManager with CLLocationManagerDelegate • Called manager.requestWhenInUseAuthorization() from .onAppear in a SwiftUI view • Called manager.startUpdatingLocation() immediately after The problem: The location permission prompt never appears when the app runs. The app does not appear in Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services at all. There are no error messages or crashes — the app simply never requests location access. What I have ruled out: • The capability IS enabled in Swift Playgrounds app settings • The app runs without errors otherwise • This is an App project, not a classic Playground, so it should support capabilities Questions: 1. Is CLLocationManager with requestWhenInUseAuthorization() supported in Swift Playgrounds App projects on iPadOS 26? 2. Has the location authorization API changed in iPadOS 26 in a way that affects Swift Playgrounds? 3. Is there a working code example for Core Location in a Swift Playgrounds App project on iPadOS 26? Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.