Build maps and location awareness capabilities into your apps.

All subtopics
Posts under Maps and Location topic

Post

Replies

Boosts

Views

Activity

Clustering on MapKit for SwiftUI iOS17+
Hi What would be the best way to achieve clustering on MapKit within SwiftUI? We're building a decentralized commerce auction platform that is currently live in Switzerland with 3'500 live auctions that can be discovered on a map. We're now running into the issue that the map gets cluttered, when zooming out and haven't been able to find a way to cluster We moved back to UIKit, where clustering works, but UIKit has other drawdowns. So ideally there is a way to handle it within SwiftUI without having to wrap UIKit or move back entirely to UIKit. Thanks for any help or suggestions! Developer Documentation https://developer.apple.com/documentation/mapkit/mapkit-for-swiftui Julius Ilg AuctionShack
2
1
211
Jun ’25
Problem receiving Remote Notification in the background after Review Rejected
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.
2
0
182
Aug ’25
How to access launchOptions in SceneDelegate?
Previously, when using AppDelegate, I was able to check the app’s launch options (launchOptions) to determine cases such as: Location updates (UIApplication.LaunchOptionsKey.location) Background push notifications (UIApplication.LaunchOptionsKey.remoteNotification) However, after migrating to the SceneDelegate approach, launchOptions is no longer available — it always returns nil. In my app, I need to branch the code depending on the launch options, but I can’t find a way to achieve this in the SceneDelegate environment. 👉 Is there a way to access launch options in SceneDelegate, similar to how it worked in AppDelegate? Or, if that’s no longer possible, what would be the proper alternative approach? Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.
2
0
334
Sep ’25
OS Location via Bluetooth GPS receiver
Hello, We are a software and hardware development company for the forestry and environmental sectors. We have been based in Quebec (Canada) for over 30 years now. Our Canadian market covers Quebec, Ontario, and the Maritime provinces in the east. We are currently expanding across Canada and into the northern United States. We are on Android platforms with several map and data entry applications. To ensure the success of our expansion, we aim to become part of the Apple family, which is why we are contacting you today. We have developed our own GNSS receiver to increase the location accuracy of our users. This device is called GSFGPS. It uses Bluetooth BLE to communicate with mobile devices and a high-precision GPS that transmits its position using the NMEA protocol. We would like this device to be compatible with an iPhone/iPad. We have developed a mock location application in MAUI (multi-platform). Based on our interpretation of your documentation, we understand that the concept of mock location does not exist at Apple. How can we ensure that our Bluetooth GNSS device is compatible with your iPhone/iPad devices and that they can use the position of the Bluetooth device rather than the internal GPS of your devices? We are a reseller for Juniper Systems, and we know that they have an app on the App Store that has the same features as our product. https://junipersys.com/index.php/support/article/14709 We look forward to your follow-up and recommendations.
2
0
280
Oct ’25
CLLocation.sourceInformation.isSimulatedBySoftware not detecting third-party location spoofing tools
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
2
0
268
Oct ’25
iOS 26: Maps share sheet no longer provides com.apple.mapkit.map-item and only shares short maps.apple/p/... URLs (how to get coordinates?)
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?
2
1
401
Oct ’25
Disable userLocationAnnotation bubble
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!
2
0
128
Feb ’26
Background location stops with (kCLErrorDomain error 1.) but permission was granted
We are currently experiencing a very interesting issue when accessing the location in the background with CLLocationManager. The user has given our app the "whenInUse" permission for locations and in most cases the app provides location updates even when it's in the background. However, when we started to use other navigation apps in the foreground we saw that the func locationManager(_ manager: CLLocationManager, didFailWithError error: Error) method was called with (kCLErrorDomain error 1.). The user hasn't changed the location permission and we saw that locations were delivered once the user opened the app again. I don't see anything in the documentation explaining this issue, but I chatted with other developers that confirm that specific behavior. Am I missing something here?
3
3
1.1k
Nov ’25
UIKit mapView color annotations
I have tried to make colored annotations in mapView (shown in the commented sections) but they always appear in black. Any help would be appreciated. func mapView(_ mapView: MKMapView, viewFor annotation: MKAnnotation) -> MKAnnotationView? { let annotationView = MKAnnotationView(annotation: annotation, reuseIdentifier: "TempAnnotationView") annotationView.canShowCallout = true annotationView.rightCalloutAccessoryView = UIButton(type: .detailDisclosure) let configuration = UIImage.SymbolConfiguration(pointSize: 10, weight: .thin, scale: .default) if annotation.title == "Start" { // let config = UIImage.SymbolConfiguration.preferringMulticolor() // let image = UIImage(systemName: "flag.fill", withConfiguration: config) // // palette // let config2 = UIImage.SymbolConfiguration(paletteColors: [.systemRed, .systemGreen, .systemBlue]) // let image2 = UIImage(systemName: "person.3.sequence.fill", withConfiguration: config2) // // hierarchical symbols // let config3 = UIImage.SymbolConfiguration(hierarchicalColor: .systemIndigo) // let image3 = UIImage(systemName: "square.stack.3d.down.right.fill", withConfiguration: config3) // // color // let image4 = UIImage(systemName: "cone.fill")?.withTintColor(.systemRed, renderingMode: .alwaysTemplate) // annotationView.image = image4 annotationView.image = UIImage(systemName: "poweron", withConfiguration: configuration) } return annotationView }
3
0
806
Apr ’25
Apple Maps directions not starting on first launch in CarPlay
In my app, I want to launch Apple Maps and start turn-by-turn navigation when the user taps a button. I referred to Apple’s documentation and sample projects and implemented the following code: if let url = URL(string: "maps://?t=m&amp;amp;amp;daddr=(addr)") { self.carplayScene?.open(url, options: nil, completionHandler: nil) } This works only if Apple Maps has been launched at least once on the iPhone or in the CarPlay environment. If Apple Maps has never been opened before, it launches the app but does not automatically start navigation. However, once the user has opened Apple Maps at least once — either on the phone or through CarPlay — then navigation starts as expected from that point on. Is this behavior expected? Or is it a bug?
3
0
145
Jun ’25
Live Weather Radar Overlay in CarPlay Maps
Hi all — I wanted to share an idea I recently submitted through Feedback Assistant that I think could improve safety and usability for drivers using CarPlay: Add an option to overlay live weather radar (rain, snow, storms, etc.) directly onto CarPlay Maps while navigating. Similar to how traffic conditions are shown now, this would allow drivers to visually track incoming weather in real time without switching apps or relying on separate devices. Why this matters: • Enhances driver safety by increasing situational awareness • Helps with trip planning and route adjustments around severe weather • Reduces distractions by integrating everything into one screen • Useful for everyday drivers, long-haul travelers, and first responders I submitted this via Feedback Assistant, but I’d love to know what others think. If you also see value in this feature, consider submitting your own version via Feedback Assistant so Apple sees there’s interest. Let’s push for smarter, safer navigation — thanks for reading!
3
0
832
Jul ’25
[Regression] Core Location underground positioning inaccurate on iOS 26.1 beta (23B5044i)
Summary While parallel testing Core Location on the new iOS 26.1 beta (23B5044i), I observed what I believe to be a regression of the issue described here: https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/779192 Specifically, user positioning underground subway stations is noticeably inaccurate on the beta, whereas the same scenarios remain accurate on the unupgraded device below. I work with the MTA (New York City) and work with the OP of that thread. Happy to provide additional testing or details if helpful. Please let me know what else you need. Test Info Riding NYCT from Wall St to 34th St Penn Station on the 2 train carrying two iphones Recording: https://limewire.com/d/dpTWi#pDC3GRYIdE Expected: Consistent underground positioning comparable to prior releases. Actual: Degraded/inaccurate underground positioning on iOS 26.1 beta. Test Devices Left Screen: iPhone 15 Pro Max - iOS 26.1 beta (23B5044i) Right Screen: iPhone 11 - iOS 18.6.2 (22G100) Blue dots show location set by CoreLocation. Red dot on iphone 11 shows the actual location of both devices as I was able to manually place while travelling through a station. Placement through tunnels is not easy to verify and not usually indicated. Timestamps Comparison of when train was actually observed in a station vs when 26.1 and 18.6.2 CoreLocation updated to the station Fulton St 1:48 iOS 26.1 correctly updates (correctly) 2:16 iOS 18.6.2 updates (28sec late) Park Place 4:12 train arrives 4:15 iOS 18.6.2 updates to ~near Park Place 5:04 iOS 18.6.2 updates to Park Place (correctly) 6:07 iOS 26.1 update to ~near Park Place (over 2 mins late) Chambers St 6:02 train arrives / iOS 18.6.2 updates (correctly) 6:14 iOS 26.1 updates to ~near Chambers 6:18 iOS 26.1 update to Chambers (correctly) Franklin St 6:52 train arrives 6:55 iOS 18.6.2 updates (correctly) x:xx iOS 26.1 does not update Canal St: 7:16 train arrives 7:18 iOS 18.6.2 updates (correctly) x:xx iOS 26.1 does not update Houston St 7:54 train arrives 8:00 iOS 18.6.2 updates (correctly) x:xx iOS 26.1 does not update Christopher St 8:37 iOS 26.1 presumably between Houston St and Christopher St 8:40 train arrives / iOS 18.6.2 updates (correctly) x:xx iOS 26.1 does not update 14 St 9:22 train arrives 9:28 iOS 18.6.2 updates (correctly) 11:01 as train departs station iOS 26.1 updates (1.5 mins late)
3
0
438
Oct ’25
Altitude for MKAnnotation
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?
3
0
312
Dec ’25
Accept a Review Rejection Defeat or Play Along with Reviewer
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?
3
0
197
Feb ’26
Significant change or restart app without location UIBackgroundModes key
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
3
0
115
3w
Clarification needed regarding requirements for geofencing
In my app, I am using geofencing to perform an action when the user enter or leaves a specified location. The geofencing (CLMonitor) is active permanently, and should work across multiple app sessions or after the device is restarted. It should also work after the app was minimized or terminated. This worked perfectly with iOS 17 and prior, but with iOS 18, things changed. As soon as iOS 18 dropped, users were informing me that the app does no longer perform the entry/exit action reliably (without me making any changes to the app). Most of the times, events are missed entirely. Sometimes, after the user opens or resumes the app, duplicate events are delivered and/or events with the current time instead of the correct time of entry/exit. I am making sure that the app has the "Always" location permission before geofencing is enabled The gefocence radius is between 20 and 500m, but even with the max. radius specified, the geofencing is unreliable For the same user and geofence, the entry/exit event is delivered occasionally, but not always I am currently not using CLLocationManager.allowsBackgroundLocationUpdates (even though it's documented as "Apps that receive location updates when running in the background must include the UIBackgroundModes key (with the location value) in their app’s Info.plist file") because it wasn't necessary on iOS 17 and in my tests, using it didn't yield any improvements In my search for what could have caused this change, I found this WWDC video about location authorization: . It appears that with iOS 18, it is now required to have an active CLServiceSession to ensure that location updates are delivered to my app. Even though the video is long (and I've watched it multiple times), some things are still unclear. For example, the docs state: If your app actively receives and processes location updates and terminates, it should restart those APIs upon launch in order to continue receiving updates. Also, in the video it is stated that: ... So your job, ..., is to make sure that your process launch logic knows what features it has been tasked with pursuing, and re-takes session objects... But on the other hand it's also said that: you can only start holding one (a CLServiceSession) when your app is in the foreground and also ... CLMonitor.events won’t yield results when it is not in use, unless a session which was started in the foreground, .... To summarize my questions, for the geofencing to work as described above: when exactly do I need to create a CLServiceSession if the app is launched into the backgorund? Immediately in the applicationDidFinishLaunching method, even though the app is still in the background (applicationState is background)? Or later on, when the app is opened again by the user, e.g. in applicationDidBecomeActive (and applicationState is active)? do I need to specify the background mode capability as noted in the Handling location updates in the background article? do I need to create a CLBackgroundActivitySession as noted in the Handling location updates in the background article? does it matter, which of the four initializer methods I am using to create the CLServiceSession (with CLServiceSessionAuthorizationRequirementAlways)? does it matter if I specify NSLocationRequireExplicitServiceSession in the Info.plist or not when I already do ensure that the app has the "Always" location permission when the feature is being enabled Does a CLServiceSession last indefinitely and should it only be invalidated once the user disables the feature?
4
10
1.5k
Nov ’25
I noticed that the Uber Driver app is able to get location in background without the permissions (How?)
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.
4
0
2.2k
May ’25
kCLErrorLocationUnknown becoming a big issue
In the last few months we have seen a lot of the following errors in which it fails to retrieve location information. This seems to happen across multiple browsers and feels related to apple/mac OS more than the browsers. Error: "CoreLocationProvider: CoreLocation framework reported a kCLErrorLocationUnknown failure." Any suggestions or an ETA on when this can be fixed? I have seen other threads/posts on this but wanted a new one to highlight the issue is prevalent.
4
0
1.1k
Sep ’25
Clustering on MapKit for SwiftUI iOS17+
Hi What would be the best way to achieve clustering on MapKit within SwiftUI? We're building a decentralized commerce auction platform that is currently live in Switzerland with 3'500 live auctions that can be discovered on a map. We're now running into the issue that the map gets cluttered, when zooming out and haven't been able to find a way to cluster We moved back to UIKit, where clustering works, but UIKit has other drawdowns. So ideally there is a way to handle it within SwiftUI without having to wrap UIKit or move back entirely to UIKit. Thanks for any help or suggestions! Developer Documentation https://developer.apple.com/documentation/mapkit/mapkit-for-swiftui Julius Ilg AuctionShack
Replies
2
Boosts
1
Views
211
Activity
Jun ’25
Problem receiving Remote Notification in the background after Review Rejected
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.
Replies
2
Boosts
0
Views
182
Activity
Aug ’25
How to access launchOptions in SceneDelegate?
Previously, when using AppDelegate, I was able to check the app’s launch options (launchOptions) to determine cases such as: Location updates (UIApplication.LaunchOptionsKey.location) Background push notifications (UIApplication.LaunchOptionsKey.remoteNotification) However, after migrating to the SceneDelegate approach, launchOptions is no longer available — it always returns nil. In my app, I need to branch the code depending on the launch options, but I can’t find a way to achieve this in the SceneDelegate environment. 👉 Is there a way to access launch options in SceneDelegate, similar to how it worked in AppDelegate? Or, if that’s no longer possible, what would be the proper alternative approach? Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.
Replies
2
Boosts
0
Views
334
Activity
Sep ’25
OS Location via Bluetooth GPS receiver
Hello, We are a software and hardware development company for the forestry and environmental sectors. We have been based in Quebec (Canada) for over 30 years now. Our Canadian market covers Quebec, Ontario, and the Maritime provinces in the east. We are currently expanding across Canada and into the northern United States. We are on Android platforms with several map and data entry applications. To ensure the success of our expansion, we aim to become part of the Apple family, which is why we are contacting you today. We have developed our own GNSS receiver to increase the location accuracy of our users. This device is called GSFGPS. It uses Bluetooth BLE to communicate with mobile devices and a high-precision GPS that transmits its position using the NMEA protocol. We would like this device to be compatible with an iPhone/iPad. We have developed a mock location application in MAUI (multi-platform). Based on our interpretation of your documentation, we understand that the concept of mock location does not exist at Apple. How can we ensure that our Bluetooth GNSS device is compatible with your iPhone/iPad devices and that they can use the position of the Bluetooth device rather than the internal GPS of your devices? We are a reseller for Juniper Systems, and we know that they have an app on the App Store that has the same features as our product. https://junipersys.com/index.php/support/article/14709 We look forward to your follow-up and recommendations.
Replies
2
Boosts
0
Views
280
Activity
Oct ’25
CLLocation.sourceInformation.isSimulatedBySoftware not detecting third-party location spoofing tools
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
Replies
2
Boosts
0
Views
268
Activity
Oct ’25
iOS 26: Maps share sheet no longer provides com.apple.mapkit.map-item and only shares short maps.apple/p/... URLs (how to get coordinates?)
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?
Replies
2
Boosts
1
Views
401
Activity
Oct ’25
Disable userLocationAnnotation bubble
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!
Replies
2
Boosts
0
Views
128
Activity
Feb ’26
Background location stops with (kCLErrorDomain error 1.) but permission was granted
We are currently experiencing a very interesting issue when accessing the location in the background with CLLocationManager. The user has given our app the "whenInUse" permission for locations and in most cases the app provides location updates even when it's in the background. However, when we started to use other navigation apps in the foreground we saw that the func locationManager(_ manager: CLLocationManager, didFailWithError error: Error) method was called with (kCLErrorDomain error 1.). The user hasn't changed the location permission and we saw that locations were delivered once the user opened the app again. I don't see anything in the documentation explaining this issue, but I chatted with other developers that confirm that specific behavior. Am I missing something here?
Replies
3
Boosts
3
Views
1.1k
Activity
Nov ’25
UIKit mapView color annotations
I have tried to make colored annotations in mapView (shown in the commented sections) but they always appear in black. Any help would be appreciated. func mapView(_ mapView: MKMapView, viewFor annotation: MKAnnotation) -> MKAnnotationView? { let annotationView = MKAnnotationView(annotation: annotation, reuseIdentifier: "TempAnnotationView") annotationView.canShowCallout = true annotationView.rightCalloutAccessoryView = UIButton(type: .detailDisclosure) let configuration = UIImage.SymbolConfiguration(pointSize: 10, weight: .thin, scale: .default) if annotation.title == "Start" { // let config = UIImage.SymbolConfiguration.preferringMulticolor() // let image = UIImage(systemName: "flag.fill", withConfiguration: config) // // palette // let config2 = UIImage.SymbolConfiguration(paletteColors: [.systemRed, .systemGreen, .systemBlue]) // let image2 = UIImage(systemName: "person.3.sequence.fill", withConfiguration: config2) // // hierarchical symbols // let config3 = UIImage.SymbolConfiguration(hierarchicalColor: .systemIndigo) // let image3 = UIImage(systemName: "square.stack.3d.down.right.fill", withConfiguration: config3) // // color // let image4 = UIImage(systemName: "cone.fill")?.withTintColor(.systemRed, renderingMode: .alwaysTemplate) // annotationView.image = image4 annotationView.image = UIImage(systemName: "poweron", withConfiguration: configuration) } return annotationView }
Replies
3
Boosts
0
Views
806
Activity
Apr ’25
Apple Maps directions not starting on first launch in CarPlay
In my app, I want to launch Apple Maps and start turn-by-turn navigation when the user taps a button. I referred to Apple’s documentation and sample projects and implemented the following code: if let url = URL(string: "maps://?t=m&amp;amp;amp;daddr=(addr)") { self.carplayScene?.open(url, options: nil, completionHandler: nil) } This works only if Apple Maps has been launched at least once on the iPhone or in the CarPlay environment. If Apple Maps has never been opened before, it launches the app but does not automatically start navigation. However, once the user has opened Apple Maps at least once — either on the phone or through CarPlay — then navigation starts as expected from that point on. Is this behavior expected? Or is it a bug?
Replies
3
Boosts
0
Views
145
Activity
Jun ’25
Live Weather Radar Overlay in CarPlay Maps
Hi all — I wanted to share an idea I recently submitted through Feedback Assistant that I think could improve safety and usability for drivers using CarPlay: Add an option to overlay live weather radar (rain, snow, storms, etc.) directly onto CarPlay Maps while navigating. Similar to how traffic conditions are shown now, this would allow drivers to visually track incoming weather in real time without switching apps or relying on separate devices. Why this matters: • Enhances driver safety by increasing situational awareness • Helps with trip planning and route adjustments around severe weather • Reduces distractions by integrating everything into one screen • Useful for everyday drivers, long-haul travelers, and first responders I submitted this via Feedback Assistant, but I’d love to know what others think. If you also see value in this feature, consider submitting your own version via Feedback Assistant so Apple sees there’s interest. Let’s push for smarter, safer navigation — thanks for reading!
Replies
3
Boosts
0
Views
832
Activity
Jul ’25
Can someone help connect me to the Indoor Maps team?
Their support email is broken and our IMDF is stuck at "Occupants Data in Review" step. Thank you
Replies
3
Boosts
0
Views
126
Activity
Aug ’25
[Regression] Core Location underground positioning inaccurate on iOS 26.1 beta (23B5044i)
Summary While parallel testing Core Location on the new iOS 26.1 beta (23B5044i), I observed what I believe to be a regression of the issue described here: https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/779192 Specifically, user positioning underground subway stations is noticeably inaccurate on the beta, whereas the same scenarios remain accurate on the unupgraded device below. I work with the MTA (New York City) and work with the OP of that thread. Happy to provide additional testing or details if helpful. Please let me know what else you need. Test Info Riding NYCT from Wall St to 34th St Penn Station on the 2 train carrying two iphones Recording: https://limewire.com/d/dpTWi#pDC3GRYIdE Expected: Consistent underground positioning comparable to prior releases. Actual: Degraded/inaccurate underground positioning on iOS 26.1 beta. Test Devices Left Screen: iPhone 15 Pro Max - iOS 26.1 beta (23B5044i) Right Screen: iPhone 11 - iOS 18.6.2 (22G100) Blue dots show location set by CoreLocation. Red dot on iphone 11 shows the actual location of both devices as I was able to manually place while travelling through a station. Placement through tunnels is not easy to verify and not usually indicated. Timestamps Comparison of when train was actually observed in a station vs when 26.1 and 18.6.2 CoreLocation updated to the station Fulton St 1:48 iOS 26.1 correctly updates (correctly) 2:16 iOS 18.6.2 updates (28sec late) Park Place 4:12 train arrives 4:15 iOS 18.6.2 updates to ~near Park Place 5:04 iOS 18.6.2 updates to Park Place (correctly) 6:07 iOS 26.1 update to ~near Park Place (over 2 mins late) Chambers St 6:02 train arrives / iOS 18.6.2 updates (correctly) 6:14 iOS 26.1 updates to ~near Chambers 6:18 iOS 26.1 update to Chambers (correctly) Franklin St 6:52 train arrives 6:55 iOS 18.6.2 updates (correctly) x:xx iOS 26.1 does not update Canal St: 7:16 train arrives 7:18 iOS 18.6.2 updates (correctly) x:xx iOS 26.1 does not update Houston St 7:54 train arrives 8:00 iOS 18.6.2 updates (correctly) x:xx iOS 26.1 does not update Christopher St 8:37 iOS 26.1 presumably between Houston St and Christopher St 8:40 train arrives / iOS 18.6.2 updates (correctly) x:xx iOS 26.1 does not update 14 St 9:22 train arrives 9:28 iOS 18.6.2 updates (correctly) 11:01 as train departs station iOS 26.1 updates (1.5 mins late)
Replies
3
Boosts
0
Views
438
Activity
Oct ’25
Altitude for MKAnnotation
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?
Replies
3
Boosts
0
Views
312
Activity
Dec ’25
Accept a Review Rejection Defeat or Play Along with Reviewer
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?
Replies
3
Boosts
0
Views
197
Activity
Feb ’26
Significant change or restart app without location UIBackgroundModes key
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
Replies
3
Boosts
0
Views
115
Activity
3w
iOS 14 Maps Guides API
Is there an API to programmatically create a guide for iOS 14 Maps? I know third-parties are curating Guides. I'd like to programmatically create a guide.
Replies
4
Boosts
3
Views
1.5k
Activity
Feb ’26
Clarification needed regarding requirements for geofencing
In my app, I am using geofencing to perform an action when the user enter or leaves a specified location. The geofencing (CLMonitor) is active permanently, and should work across multiple app sessions or after the device is restarted. It should also work after the app was minimized or terminated. This worked perfectly with iOS 17 and prior, but with iOS 18, things changed. As soon as iOS 18 dropped, users were informing me that the app does no longer perform the entry/exit action reliably (without me making any changes to the app). Most of the times, events are missed entirely. Sometimes, after the user opens or resumes the app, duplicate events are delivered and/or events with the current time instead of the correct time of entry/exit. I am making sure that the app has the "Always" location permission before geofencing is enabled The gefocence radius is between 20 and 500m, but even with the max. radius specified, the geofencing is unreliable For the same user and geofence, the entry/exit event is delivered occasionally, but not always I am currently not using CLLocationManager.allowsBackgroundLocationUpdates (even though it's documented as "Apps that receive location updates when running in the background must include the UIBackgroundModes key (with the location value) in their app’s Info.plist file") because it wasn't necessary on iOS 17 and in my tests, using it didn't yield any improvements In my search for what could have caused this change, I found this WWDC video about location authorization: . It appears that with iOS 18, it is now required to have an active CLServiceSession to ensure that location updates are delivered to my app. Even though the video is long (and I've watched it multiple times), some things are still unclear. For example, the docs state: If your app actively receives and processes location updates and terminates, it should restart those APIs upon launch in order to continue receiving updates. Also, in the video it is stated that: ... So your job, ..., is to make sure that your process launch logic knows what features it has been tasked with pursuing, and re-takes session objects... But on the other hand it's also said that: you can only start holding one (a CLServiceSession) when your app is in the foreground and also ... CLMonitor.events won’t yield results when it is not in use, unless a session which was started in the foreground, .... To summarize my questions, for the geofencing to work as described above: when exactly do I need to create a CLServiceSession if the app is launched into the backgorund? Immediately in the applicationDidFinishLaunching method, even though the app is still in the background (applicationState is background)? Or later on, when the app is opened again by the user, e.g. in applicationDidBecomeActive (and applicationState is active)? do I need to specify the background mode capability as noted in the Handling location updates in the background article? do I need to create a CLBackgroundActivitySession as noted in the Handling location updates in the background article? does it matter, which of the four initializer methods I am using to create the CLServiceSession (with CLServiceSessionAuthorizationRequirementAlways)? does it matter if I specify NSLocationRequireExplicitServiceSession in the Info.plist or not when I already do ensure that the app has the "Always" location permission when the feature is being enabled Does a CLServiceSession last indefinitely and should it only be invalidated once the user disables the feature?
Replies
4
Boosts
10
Views
1.5k
Activity
Nov ’25
I noticed that the Uber Driver app is able to get location in background without the permissions (How?)
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.
Replies
4
Boosts
0
Views
2.2k
Activity
May ’25
kCLErrorLocationUnknown becoming a big issue
In the last few months we have seen a lot of the following errors in which it fails to retrieve location information. This seems to happen across multiple browsers and feels related to apple/mac OS more than the browsers. Error: "CoreLocationProvider: CoreLocation framework reported a kCLErrorLocationUnknown failure." Any suggestions or an ETA on when this can be fixed? I have seen other threads/posts on this but wanted a new one to highlight the issue is prevalent.
Replies
4
Boosts
0
Views
1.1k
Activity
Sep ’25