Prioritize user privacy and data security in your app. Discuss best practices for data handling, user consent, and security measures to protect user information.

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Security of userID in Apple passkeys — how exposed is it?
I’m considering storing some sensitive information in the userID field of a passkey, as described in the createCredentialRegistrationRequest method.(link to method). I'm aware of the largeBlob extension introduced in iOS 17+, but it doesn't meet my needs since I want to create a cross-platform passkey that can be used across various devices — and currently, not many devices support the largeBlob extension. According to W3C documentation, the userID field is not considered private information and can be displayed to the user without requiring a verification process. Based on my understanding, it's also not encrypted, which means it might be accessible with physical access to the device. So here are my questions: How do Apple devices (especially iPhones) handle the userID field in their authenticators? Is it possible to access the userID without user verification, as permitted by the W3C specification? Are there any alternative methods to access the userID value stored in a passkey on Apple devices?
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118
Apr ’25
New iOS-style App Groups Prevent App Submission
We have a macOS app that has a Photos Extension, which shares documents with the app via an app group container. Historically we used to have an iOS-style group identifier (group.${TeamIdentifier}${groupName}), because we were lead by the web interface in the developer portal to believe this to be the right way to name groups. Later with the first macOS 15 betas last year there was a bug with the operating system warning users, our app would access data from different apps, but it was our own app group container directory. Therefore we added a macOS-style group identifier (${TeamIdentifier}${groupName}) and wrote a migration of documents to the new group container directory. So basically we need to have access to these two app group containers for the foreseeable future. Now with the introduction of iOS-style group identifiers for macOS, Xcode Cloud no longer archives our app for TestFlight or AppStore, because it complains: ITMS-90286: Invalid code signing entitlements - Your application bundle’s signature contains code signing entitlements that aren’t supported on macOS. Specifically, the “[group.${TeamIdentifier}${groupName}, ${TeamIdentifier}${groupName}]” value for the com.apple.security.application-groups key in isn’t supported. This value should be a string or an array of strings, where each string is the “group” value or your Team ID, followed by a dot (“.”), followed by the group name. If you're using the “group” prefix, verify that the provisioning profile used to sign the app contains the com.apple.security.application-groups entitlement and its associated value(s). We have included the iOS-style group identifier in the provisioning profile, generated automatically, but can't do the same for the macOS-style group identifier, because the web interface only accepts identifiers starting with "group". How can we get Xcode Cloud to archive our app again using both group identifiers? Thanks in advance
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333
Mar ’25
Title: Sporadical - Permissions Not Cleared After App Uninstallation on iOS18
Title: Sporadical - Permissions Not Cleared After App Uninstallation on iOS18 I install and launch my private MAUI App I ask for example Bluetooth permissions (can be any other permission) I tap Allow button on native settings (or Don't Allow) I unistall app from real phone (we can wait for a while) I install and launch My Private MAUI App I ask for example Bluetooth permissions <- here is an issue. Bluetooth is already granted, so I cannot ask for it again. Occurrence: This issue occurs inconsistently: On iOS 18.5: approximately 5 out of 10 times On iOS 17: approximately 1 out of 50 times Tested using my automated system using Appium latest. After each scenario I unistall app using: "mobile: removeApp" with bundleId
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80
Jun ’25
Clarification on Accessibility and Input Monitoring APIs for App Store Apps
Hello, I'm seeking some clarification regarding the use of accessibility and input monitoring APIs in sandboxed apps that are distributed through the App Store. I understand that accessibility permissions are generally restricted for App Store apps. However, I've seen several recently released apps request these permissions directly upon first launch. I'm aware that apps submitted prior to 2012 may have legacy access to certain APIs, but the ones I'm referring to appear to be recent - within the past year. While it's possible these apps were approved despite the restrictions, I want to make sure I'm not overlooking something. I also came across a recent discussion on this topic, and one post in particular stood out: Link I’d really appreciate some clarification on what's officially allowed. Specifically: Are accessibility permissions ever allowed? If so, under what circumstances? Is input monitoring permitted for apps on the App Store? (The referenced post says yes, but since it's from 2022, I just want to confirm) The linked post suggests that event generation might be allowed on the App Store, though the author hadn’t explored that privilege in detail and recommended opening a DTS tech support incident. I’ve done that and have a support case open - would it be possible to take a closer look at this? For context, my app (currently distributed outside the App Store) uses CGEventPost and CGEventCreateMouseEvent to modify mouse behavior. Thank you
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119
Apr ’25
How to update the lock icon and text on the initial unlock Screen with SFAutorizationPluginView.
Step1. Update system.login.screensaver authorizationdb rule to use “authenticate-session-owner-or-admin”( to get old SFAutorizationPluginView at Lock Screen ). Here I will use my custom authorization plugin. Step 2. Once the rule is in place, logout and login, now click on Apple icon and select “Lock Screen”. Is there a way programmatically to update the Lock Icon and the test getting displayed on the first Unlock screen? When I write a custom authorisation plug-in, I am getting control of the text fields and any consecutive screen I add from there on. But all I want is to update the lock icon and text fields on 1st unlock display itself. Can you please suggest how I can achieve this? Here is the screenshot with marked areas I am looking control for.
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133
Jun ’25
implement entitlement "com.apple.security.files.user-selected.read-only" in sandbox profile
First, I do not publish my application to the AppStore, but I need to customize a sandbox environment. It seems that sandbox-exec cannot configure entitlements, so I have used some other APIs, such as sandbox_compile_entitlements and sandbox_apply_container. When encountering the entitlement "com.apple.security.files.user-selected.read-only", I am unsure how to correctly write sandbox profile to implement this. Can anyone help me?
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150
May ’25
com.apple.devicecheck.error 0 - DeviceCheck
Dear Apple Developer Support, We are currently encountering a recurring issue with the DeviceCheck API across multiple devices in our production environment. The following error is frequently returned: com.apple.devicecheck.error 0 We would like to ask the following: What are the possible underlying causes that could lead to this specific error code (0) in the DeviceCheck API? Is there any known behavior or condition where Wi-Fi network configurations (e.g., DNS filtering, proxy settings, captive portals) could result in this error? Are there known timeouts, connectivity expectations, or TLS-level requirements that the DeviceCheck API enforces which could fail silently under certain network conditions? Is this error ever triggered locally (e.g., client library-level issues) or is it always from a failed communication with Apple’s servers? Any technical clarification, documentation, or internal insight into this error code would be greatly appreciated. This would help us significantly narrow down root causes and better support our users
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276
Sep ’25
What purpose do shared web credentials in a Message Filter Extension serve?
I'm experiencing the same situation as this post from several months ago, which never received an answer to their follow up question. https://forums.developer.apple.com/forums/thread/759255 The documentation for adding a message filter extension says "you must set up shared credentials as described in Shared Web Credentials" (https://developer.apple.com/documentation/sms_and_call_reporting/sms_and_mms_message_filtering/creating_a_message_filter_app_extension) However credentials are not forwarded to the server and calling SecAddSharedWebCredential from within the extension isn't possible. So I don't understand why the documentation states Shared Web Credentials must be set up. After setting them up, then what is expected to happen with them, or what are you supposed to do with them next. The documentation just says to set them up, it doesn't say how/if they are used or how to use them in the specific context of a message filter extension
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Dec ’24
SecKeyCreateRandomKey with EC key type generates broken keypair
Why does the following code generate a public key that can't be parsed by openssl? import Security import CryptoKit func generateKeys() throws -> (privateKey: SecKey, publicKey: SecKey) { let query: [String: Any] = [ kSecAttrKeyType as String: kSecAttrKeyTypeECSECPrimeRandom, kSecAttrKeySizeInBits as String: 256, kSecAttrIsPermanent as String: false ] var error: Unmanaged<CFError>? guard let privateKey = SecKeyCreateRandomKey(query as CFDictionary, &error) else { throw error!.takeRetainedValue() } let publicKey = SecKeyCopyPublicKey(privateKey)! return (privateKey, publicKey) } extension SecKey { func exportBase64EncodedKey() -> String { var error: Unmanaged<CFError>? guard let data = SecKeyCopyExternalRepresentation(self, &error) else { fatalError("Failed to export key: \(error!.takeRetainedValue())") } return (data as Data).base64EncodedString(options: [.lineLength64Characters]) } } func printPublicKey() { let keyPair = try! generateKeys() let encodedPublicKey = keyPair.publicKey.exportBase64EncodedKey() var header = "-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----" var footer = "-----END PUBLIC KEY-----" var pemKey = "\(header)\n\(encodedPublicKey)\n\(footer)\n" print(pemKey) } printPublicKey() when parsing the key I get this: openssl pkey -pubin -in new_public_key.pem -text -noout Could not find private key of Public Key from new_public_key.pem 404278EC01000000:error:1E08010C:DECODER routines:OSSL_DECODER_from_bio:unsupported:crypto/encode_decode/decoder_lib.c:102:No supported data to decode. Replacing kSecAttrKeyTypeECSECPrimeRandom with kSecAttrKeyTypeRSA and a bigger key size (e.g. 2048) gives me a working public key that can be parsed by Openssl. Thanks!
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609
Jan ’25
Can backgrounded app record phone calls?
I'd like to know: Let's say there's a backgrounded app which has microphone access, such as Signal or SoundHound or Shazam. It's established that these apps are allowed to record audio in the user's environment even after being backgrounded, seemingly for as long as they want and even upload that sound data. But can they ALSO continue recording even while another app that is in the foreground is using the microphone, such as the Phone app or Signal?
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581
Dec ’24
Passkey Registration Fails with “UnexpectedRPIDHash” on iOS — Domain & Associated Domains Confirmed Correct
I’m implementing Passkey registration on iOS using ASAuthorizationPlatformPublicKeyCredentialProvider. On the server side, I’m using a WebAuthn library that throws the error UnexpectedRPIDHash: Unexpected RP ID hash during verifyRegistrationResponse(). Domain: pebblepath.link (publicly routable, valid SSL certificate, no warnings in Safari) Associated Domains in Xcode**: webcredentials:pebblepath.link AASA file: { "applinks": { "apps": [] }, "webcredentials": { "apps": [ "H33XH8JMV6.com.reactivex.pebblepath" ] } } Xcode Configuration: Team ID: H33XH8JMV6 Bundle ID: com.reactivex.pebblepath Associated Domains: webcredentials:pebblepath.link Logs: iOS clientDataJSON shows "origin": "https://pebblepath.link". Server logs confirm expectedOrigin = "https://pebblepath.link" and expectedRPID = "pebblepath.link". Despite this, the server library still errors out: finishRegistration error: UnexpectedRPIDHash. I’ve verified that: The domain has a valid CA-signed SSL cert (no Safari warnings). The AASA file is reachable at https://pebblepath.link/.well-known/apple-app-site-association. The app’s entitlements match H33XH8JMV6.com.reactivex.pebblepath. I’ve removed old passkeys from Settings → Passwords on the device and retried fresh. I’m testing on a real device with iOS 16+; I am using a Development provisioning profile, but that shouldn’t cause an RP ID mismatch as long as the domain is valid. Every log indicates that the domain and origin match exactly, but the WebAuthn library still throws UnexpectedRPIDHash, implying iOS is embedding a different (or unrecognized) RP ID hash in the credential. Has anyone else encountered this with iOS passkeys and a valid domain/AASA setup? Is there an extra step needed to ensure iOS recognizes the domain for passkey registration? Any guidance or insights would be greatly appreciated!
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557
Jan ’25
Appstore submission rejected - Privacy
Please correct the following issues and upload a new binary to App Store Connect. ITMS-91061: Missing privacy manifest - Your app includes “Frameworks/FirebaseCoreDiagnostics.framework/FirebaseCoreDiagnostics”, which includes FirebaseCoreDiagnostics, an SDK that was identified in the documentation as a commonly used third-party SDK. If a new app includes a commonly used third-party SDK, or an app update adds a new commonly used third-party SDK, the SDK must include a privacy manifest file. Please contact the provider of the SDK that includes this file to get an updated SDK version with a privacy manifest. For more details about this policy, including a list of SDKs that are required to include signatures and manifests, visit: https://developer.apple.com/support/third-party-SDK-requirements. ITMS-91061: Missing privacy manifest - Your app includes “Frameworks/FBLPromises.framework/FBLPromises”, which includes FBLPromises, an SDK that was identified in the documentation as a commonly used third-party SDK. If a new app includes a commonly used third-party SDK, or an app update adds a new commonly used third-party SDK, the SDK must include a privacy manifest file. Please contact the provider of the SDK that includes this file to get an updated SDK version with a privacy manifest. For more details about this policy, including a list of SDKs that are required to include signatures and manifests, visit: https://developer.apple.com/support/third-party-SDK-requirements. ITMS-91061: Missing privacy manifest - Your app includes “Frameworks/GoogleDataTransport.framework/GoogleDataTransport”, which includes GoogleDataTransport, an SDK that was identified in the documentation as a commonly used third-party SDK. If a new app includes a commonly used third-party SDK, or an app update adds a new commonly used third-party SDK, the SDK must include a privacy manifest file. Please contact the provider of the SDK that includes this file to get an updated SDK version with a privacy manifest. For more details about this policy, including a list of SDKs that are required to include signatures and manifests, visit: https://developer.apple.com/support/third-party-SDK-requirements. our app is .NET MAUI app so we already addressed this by adding privacyinfo.xcprivacy privacy manifest under platform/ios/resources but still get flagged for this <!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd"> <plist version="1.0"> <dict> <key>NSPrivacyTracking</key> <false/> <key>NSPrivacyTrackingDomains</key> <array/> <key>NSPrivacyAccessedAPITypes</key> <array> <dict> <key>NSPrivacyAccessedAPIType</key> <string>NSPrivacyAccessedAPICategoryFileTimestamp</string> <key>NSPrivacyAccessedAPITypeReasons</key> <array> <string>C617.1</string> </array> </dict> <dict> <key>NSPrivacyAccessedAPIType</key> <string>NSPrivacyAccessedAPICategorySystemBootTime</string> <key>NSPrivacyAccessedAPITypeReasons</key> <array> <string>35F9.1</string> </array> </dict> <dict> <key>NSPrivacyAccessedAPIType</key> <string>NSPrivacyAccessedAPICategoryDiskSpace</string> <key>NSPrivacyAccessedAPITypeReasons</key> <array> <string>E174.1</string> </array> </dict> <dict> <key>NSPrivacyAccessedAPIType</key> <string>NSPrivacyAccessedAPICategoryUserDefaults</string> <key>NSPrivacyAccessedAPITypeReasons</key> <array> <string>CA92.1</string> </array> </dict> </array> <key>NSPrivacyCollectedDataTypes</key> <array/> </dict> </plist>
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131
Apr ’25
How to Localize Biometric Prompt for SecKeyCreateSignature with Secure Enclave
I'm using Secure Enclave to generate and use a private key like this: let access = SecAccessControlCreateWithFlags(nil, kSecAttrAccessibleWhenUnlockedThisDeviceOnly, [.privateKeyUsage, .biometryAny], nil) let attributes: [String: Any] = [ kSecAttrKeyType as String: kSecAttrKeyTypeECSECPrimeRandom, kSecAttrKeySizeInBits as String: 256, kSecAttrTokenID as String: kSecAttrTokenIDSecureEnclave, kSecAttrAccessControl as String: access as Any, kSecAttrApplicationTag as String: "com.example.key".data(using: .utf8)!, kSecReturnRef as String: true ] let privateKey = SecKeyCreateRandomKey(attributes as CFDictionary, nil) Later, I use this key to sign a message: let signature = SecKeyCreateSignature(privateKey, .ecdsaSignatureMessageX962SHA256, dataToSign as CFData, nil) This prompts for biometric authentication, but shows the default system text. How can I customize or localize the biometric prompt (e.g., title, description, button text) shown during SecKeyCreateSignature? Thanks!
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65
Apr ’25
Crashing in sandbox-exec (FB16964888)
Why are we doing this nonsense? We want to be able to run builds in a sandbox such that they can only see the paths they are intended to depend on, to improve reproducibility. With builds with a very large number of dependencies, there's a very large number of paths added to the sandbox, and it breaks things inside libsandbox. Either it hits some sandbox length limit (sandbox-exec: pattern serialization length 66460 exceeds maximum (65535), Nix issue #4119, worked around: Nix PR 12570), or it hits an assert (this report; also Nix issue #2311). The other options for sandboxing on macOS are not viable; we acknowledge sandbox-exec and sandbox_init_with_parameters are deprecated; App Sandbox is inapplicable because we aren't an app. Our use case is closer to a browser, and all the browsers use libsandbox internally. We could possibly use SystemExtension or a particularly diabolical use of Virtualization.framework, but the former API requires notarization which is close to a no-go for our use case as open source software: it is nearly impossible to develop the software on one's own computer, and it would require us to ship a binary blob (and have the build processes to produce one in infrastructure completely dissimilar to what we use today); it also requires a bunch of engineering time. Today, we can pretend that code signing/notarization doesn't exist and that we are writing an old-school Unix daemon, because we are one. The latter is absolutely diabolical and hard to implement. See this saga about the bug we are facing: Nix issue #4119, Nix issue #2311, etc. What is going wrong I can't attach the file fail.sb as it is too large (you can view the failing test case at Lix's gerrit, CL 2870) and run this: $ sandbox-exec -D _GLOBAL_TMP_DIR=/tmp -f fail.sb /bin/sh Assertion failed: (diff &lt;= INSTR_JUMP_NE_MAX_LENGTH), function push_jne_instr, file serialize.c, line 240. zsh: abort sandbox-exec -D _GLOBAL_TMP_DIR=/tmp -f fail.sb /bin/sh Or a stacktrace: stacktrace.txt Credits Full credits to Jade Lovelace (Lix) for writing the above text and filing a bug. This is submitted under FB16964888
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164
Mar ’25
Application not getting identified after notarization
Hi folks We have a Developer ID Application which we create using electron. We made our last release for our Application on Nov'24 which was correctly working. Using the same code, we tried creating a notarized application again which started showing the following error while opening our Application. Monterey- M2- When we directly run the dmg on the dev machine, it does not give us the prompt. But if we download it from somewhere and run, the prompt comes up even in dev machine. We executed some commands to verify the notarization: 1- spctl --assess -vv /Applications/Refresh\ Pro.app On both dev machine and non-dev machine, the output was "accepted" /Applications/Refresh Pro.app: accepted source=Notarized Developer ID origin=Developer ID Application: Prograde Digital Incorporated (*******) 2- xcrun stapler validate /Applications/Refresh\ Pro.app On dev machine, we executed this command and the output is as follows. Processing: /Applications/Refresh Pro.app The validate action worked! 3- codesign -vvv --deep --strict /Applications/Refresh\ Pro.app/ /Applications/Refresh Pro.app: valid on disk /Applications/Refresh Pro.app: satisfies its Designated Requirement We have created a bug attaching the dmg. Please suggest anything we can try to make the release out the door. Bug link- https://feedbackassistant.apple.com/feedback/16811025
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363
Mar ’25
Can you use App Attest in Enterprise Builds?
I'm a bit confused about if using App Attest is possible in enterprise builds. It shows up under identifiers in the apple dev portal and I can add it to my provisioning file and entitlements file. But if I go to keys I cannot create a key for it. This page implies it can be used for enterprise builds: After distributing your app through TestFlight, the App Store, or the Apple Developer Enterprise Program, your app ignores the entitlement you set and uses the production environment.
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125
May ’25
Sign in with Apple: domains to whitelist
We are developing a captive portal for a community Wi-Fi service that will be deployed to thousands of locations around the world. The service is a paid service that sells Wi-Fi connectivity by data volume rather than time. We want to enable our customers to Sign in with Apple without giving them full internet access until they have made a purchase. This requires us to whitelist domains and URLs to make this work. Where can I find a complete list of domains that are required for Sign in with Apple to function correctly? It’s not possible for us to whitelist *.apple.com because that results in significant (free) background network traffic during the sign in process. So far we have whitelisted: account.apple.com appleid.apple.com appleid.apple-cdn.com idmsa.apple.com gsa.apple.com mzstatic.com Our customers are still having issues with Sign in with Apple while interacting with our captive portal in the iOS pseudo browser. How can we debug this because we cannot use the Safari developer tools with the pseudo browser. Are there any logs when doing this on a Mac that we can check in the Console? If we kick the user out to Safari then they are able to complete the Sign in with Apple process, but that is not the user experience we want.
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590
Dec ’24
Getting 400 response for every time appAttestation url
The token is legitimate, however I keep getting bad requests (400). The payload may not be accurate. No document with the appropriate payload structure is visible to me. Receipt.bin was tried, but the file content could not be verified. Referring this URL: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/devicecheck/assessing-fraud-risk Here is my server side Java code: private static String sendAttestationWithPayload(String jwt, String keyId, String attestationData, String clientData) throws Exception { // Create JSON payload JSONObject payload = new JSONObject(); payload.put("keyId", keyId); payload.put("attestationData", attestationData); payload.put("clientData", clientData); HttpClient client = HttpClient.newHttpClient(); HttpRequest request = HttpRequest.newBuilder() .uri(URI.create(APPLE_ATTESTATION_URL)) .header("Authorization", "Bearer " + jwt) .header("Content-Type", "application/json") .POST(HttpRequest.BodyPublishers.ofString(payload.toString())) .build(); HttpResponse<String> response = client.send(request, HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.ofString()); handleResponse(response); return response.body(); }
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522
Dec ’24