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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Guidance on Building a Custom Referral Attribution System for iOS
Hello, I’m planning to develop a custom referral-based attribution system for my app. The goal is to log the number of installs that come from unique referral links and then track subsequent in‑app analytics (for example, when a user reaches level 5 in a game). I’d also like to capture the user’s country to further segment these analytics. I want to build this system myself—without relying on third‑party services (such as AppsFlyer or Branch) since I only need a few key data points and want to keep costs low. However, I’m aware of the privacy restrictions in iOS and want to ensure that my implementation complies with Apple’s guidelines. Specifically, I would appreciate guidance on the following: Permissible Signals: Is it acceptable to log signals like IP address (or a suitably anonymized version), device model, and timestamp to help correlate the referral click to a successful install and subsequent in‑app events? Are there any other recommended non‑PII signals that can be used to confirm a referral install without risking rejection during App Review? Best Practices: What are the best practices for handling and transmitting these signals (e.g., should IP addresses be truncated or hashed)? How can I ensure that my system remains compliant with Apple’s App Tracking Transparency and other privacy guidelines? I’d appreciate any insights or references to relevant documentation that might help me build this system without getting rejected by Apple. Thank you in advance for your assistance!
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179
Mar ’25
if I skip passkey setup, how long will lapse before I am asked by the OS to register for passkey again
I am currently unable to enable passkey in my app so I am having to tell my users to skip the prompts for using passkey. We have noticed that after a few times of this the OS will stop asking the user to register their passkey. The question is, how long does this last before the OS asks you to use passkey again? Is it permanent until you re-install the app? Just looking for a time frame if anyone knows.
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463
Feb ’25
How to use App Attest Environment?
Hi, I'm looking at adding App Attest to an app, and I think I understand the mechanics of the attestation process, but I'm having trouble figuring out how development and testing are supposed to work. Two main questions: The "App Attest Environment" -- the documentation says that attestation requests made in the .development sandbox environment don't affect the app's risk metrics, but I'm not sure how to actually use this sandbox. My understanding is that one of the things App Attest does is to ensure that your app has been appropriately signed by the App Store, so it knows that it hasn't been tampered with. But the docs say that App Store builds (and Test Flight and Developer Enterprise Program) always use the .production environment. Does App Attest actually work for local developer-build apps if you have this entitlement set? Presumably only on hardware devices since it requires the Secure Enclave? Does our headend have to do something different when verifying the public key and subsequent attested requests for an app that's using the .development sandbox? The docs do mention that a headend server should potentially track two keys per device/user pair so that it can have a production and development key. How does the headend know if a key is from the sandbox environment? Thanks!
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147
Jun ’25
App Attest development server (data-development.appattest.apple.com) returns 403 for CBOR attestation request
Hi, I’m currently implementing App Attest attestation validation on the development server. However, I’m receiving a 403 Forbidden response when I POST a CBOR-encoded payload to the following endpoint: curl -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/cbor" --data-binary @payload.cbor 'https://data-development.appattest.apple.com' Here’s how I’m generating the CBOR payload in Java: Map<String, Object> payload = new HashMap<>(); payload.put("attestation", attestationBytes); // byte[] from DCAppAttestService payload.put("clientDataHash", clientDataHash); // SHA-256 hash of the challenge (byte[]) payload.put("keyId", keyIdBytes); // Base64-decoded keyId (byte[]) payload.put("appId", TEAM_ID + "." + BUNDLE_ID); // e.g., "ABCDE12345.com.example.app" ObjectMapper cborMapper = new ObjectMapper(new CBORFactory()); byte[] cborBody = cborMapper.writeValueAsBytes(payload); I’m unsure whether the endpoint is rejecting the payload format or if the endpoint itself is incorrect for this stage. I’d appreciate clarification on the following: 1. Is https://data-development.appattest.apple.com the correct endpoint for key attestation in a development environment? 2. Should this endpoint accept CBOR-encoded payloads, or is it only for JSON-based assertion validation? 3. Is there a current official Apple documentation that lists: • the correct URLs for key attestation and assertion validation (production and development), • or any server-side example code (e.g., Java, Python) for handling attestation/validation on the backend? So far, I couldn’t find an official document that explicitly describes the expected HTTP endpoints for these operations. If there’s a newer guide or updated API reference, I’d appreciate a link. Thanks in advance for your help.
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155
May ’25
why prepareInterfaceToProvideCredential does call
we develop extension "Autofill Credential Provider" function for passkey. 1.first step registe passkey 2.second step authenticate with passkey step 1 & step 2 has finished and run success with provideCredentialWithoutUserInteraction. But we want to prepare our interface for use to input password and select passkey what the want. however the func prepareInterfaceToProvideCredential in ASCredentialProviderViewController does call? what i missed? how can i do it?
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142
Jul ’25
Passkey returns unknown error instead of excludedCredentials error when “Saving on another device” option is used.
Hello, I'm receiving an unknown error instead of the excluded credentials error when using the "Save on another device" option for Passkey creation. When creating the ASAuthorizationPlatformPublicKeyCredentialProvider request to pass to the ASAuthorizationController. The excludedCredentials property is used to add a list of credentials to exclude in the registration process. This is to prevent duplicate passkeys from being created if one already exists for the user. When trying to create a duplicate passkey using the same device, the ASAuthorizationControllerDelegate method authorizationController(controller, didCompleteWithError:) is called. The error received has localized description “At least one credential matches an entry of the excludeCredentials list in the platform attached authenticator." When trying to create a duplicate passkey using the “Save on another device” option. The delegate method is called, but the error received has code 1000 ("com.apple.AuthenticationServices.AuthorizationError" - code: 1000). Which maps to the unknown error case in ASAuthorization error type.
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227
May ’25
Outlook for Mac add-in - Passkeys
hello, My organization has an outlook add-in that requires auth into our platform. As Microsoft forces Auth on MacOS to use WKWebView https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/dev/add-ins/concepts/browsers-used-by-office-web-add-ins, we are running into a situation that we cannot use passkeys as an auth method as we are unable to trigger WebAuthN flows. We’ve raised this in Microsoft side but they have deferred to Apple given WKWebView is Safari based. This is a big blocker for us to achieve a full passwordless future. Has anyone come across this situation? Thank you.
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331
Aug ’25
Authentication using MSAL library in offline mode
Hi. We are trying to get the access token before calling any API. The app can go in bad network areas but the token acquisition keeps happening for the network call. The devices are managed devices which means it has some policies installed. We are using MSAL lib for the authentication and we are investigating from that angle too but the below error seems to be coming from apple authentication which needs our attention. ========================================== LaunchServices: store (null) or url (null) was nil: Error Domain=NSOSStatusErrorDomain Code=-54 "process may not map database" UserInfo={NSDebugDescription=process may not map database, _LSLine=68, _LSFunction=_LSServer_GetServerStoreForConnectionWithCompletionHandler} Attempt to map database failed: permission was denied. This attempt will not be retried. Failed to initialize client context with error Error Domain=NSOSStatusErrorDomain Code=-54 "process may not map database" UserInfo={NSDebugDescription=process may not map database, _LSLine=68, _LSFunction=_LSServer_GetServerStoreForConnectionWithCompletionHandler} Failed to get application extension record: Error Domain=NSOSStatusErrorDomain Code=-54 "(null)" ASAuthorizationController credential request failed with error: Error Domain=com.apple.AuthenticationServices.AuthorizationError Code=1003 "(null)" ========================================== This happens mostly when we switches the network or keep the device in no or low network area. This comes sometimes when app goes in background too. Just trying to give as much as information I could. Any lead would be highly appreciated. Thank you
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117
Apr ’25
Why won't my AutoFill Credential Provider show up in the context menu of a generic textfield?
I noticed, that even though my AutoFill Credential Provider Extension works with Safari for both Passwords and Passkeys, it doesn't work in context menus inside arbitrary textfields, meanwhile the same is true for the Apple Passwords app. This is a great hit to AutoFill productivity, as my extension is unable to fill textfields by just going to the context menu and clicking AutoFill > Passwords.. Is this a feature only available to Apple via private APIs, or is this something I can interface with? I checked and the Passwords app does use some undocumented but non-private entitlements: [Key] com.apple.authentication-services.access-credential-identities [Value] [Bool] true I also checked the responsible executable for some hints (AutoFillPanelService) however found nothing that would lead me to believe this is a public extension point. Another idea I had was trying to use a macOS Service for this, however Services in the "General" category won't show up in any context menu, only in the Application's Main Menu.
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105
Dec ’25
Inconsistent "Sign in with Apple" behaviour: Missing Claims in ID Token and App Icon/Name Issues
Context We are experiencing inconsistent behaviour with "Sign in with Apple" across different environments (we have an app for "A" and "B" regions) on our web client in browsers. Specifically, we have observed two key issues: Missing email and email_verified Claims in ID Token In some cases, the ID token received after successful authentication does not contain the email and email_verified claims. Here the docs state that "Alternatively, if the managed Apple ID is in Apple School Manager, the email claim may be empty. Students, for example, often don’t have an email that the school issues.", but this was experienced with a non-student Apple ID. This issue was observed for certain users in the "A" environment, while the same users had no issues in the "B" environment. For one affected user, removing and re-enabling the "Sign in with Apple" integration resolved the issue (https://account.apple.com/account/manage/section/security). However, for another user, the integration could not be removed, preventing this workaround (button was active, but did nothing). In contrast, for some users, authentication works correctly in both environments without missing claims. Inconsistent Display of App Icon and App Name The app icon and app name do not always appear on the Apple login interface. One user observed that the app icon and name were displayed in "A" but not in "B". Another user had the opposite experience, with the app icon and name appearing in "B" but not in "A". A third user did not see the app icon or name in either environment. Questions Why does the app icon and name not always appear on the "Sign in with Apple" login screen? How is it possible that the ID token sometimes lacks email and email_verified claims when using the same Apple ID in different environments?
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465
Mar ’25
Incorrect Branding and Messaging Displayed on "Call Customer Center" Feature
We’ve identified an issue in our app where, upon clicking the "Call Customer Center" button, users are unexpectedly shown a logo and message option on a native pop-up window. However, this wasn't the case before, and it should only display a phone number to dial, which was given inside our code. This is incorrect and misleading for our users, as: We are a Canadian-based service and have no affiliation with US messaging chat. The messaging feature was never enabled or intended for our app. Our app should only initiate a phone call to our customer support center — no messages or branding from third parties should appear
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116
Jun ’25
Handling ITMS-91061: Missing privacy manifest
An ITMS-91061: Missing privacy manifest rejection email looks as follows: ITMS-91061: Missing privacy manifest- Your app includes "<path/to/SDK>", which includes , an SDK that was identified in the documentation as a privacy-impacting third-party SDK. Starting February 12, 2025, if a new app includes a privacy-impacting SDK, or an app update adds a new privacy-impacting 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. Glossary ITMS-91061: Missing privacy manifest: An email that includes the name and path of privacy-impacting SDK(s) with no privacy manifest files in your app bundle. For more information, see https://developer.apple.com/support/third-party-SDK-requirements. : The specified privacy-impacting SDK that doesn't include a privacy manifest file. If you are the developer of the rejected app, gather the name of the SDK from the email you received from Apple, then contact the SDK's provider for an updated version that includes a valid privacy manifest. After receiving an updated version of the SDK, verify the SDK includes a valid privacy manifest file at the expected location. For more information, see Adding a privacy manifest to your app or third-party SDK. If your app includes a privacy manifest file, make sure the file only describes the privacy practices of your app. Do not add the privacy practices of the SDK to your app's privacy manifest. If the email lists multiple SDKs, repeat the above process for all of them. If you are the developer of an SDK listed in the email, publish an updated version of your SDK that includes a privacy manifest file with valid keys and values. Every privacy-impacting SDK must contain a privacy manifest file that only describes its privacy practices. To learn how to add a valid privacy manifest to your SDK, see the Additional resources section below. Additional resources Privacy manifest files Describing data use in privacy manifests Describing use of required reason API Adding a privacy manifest to your app or third-party SDK TN3182: Adding privacy tracking keys to your privacy manifest TN3183: Adding required reason API entries to your privacy manifest TN3184: Adding data collection details to your privacy manifest TN3181: Debugging an invalid privacy manifest
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6.0k
Mar ’25
SmartCard Pairing with PIN for user and prompted for a Password authentication for keychain access app
During SmartCard pairing the PIN prompt enables the OK button only on user provides a PIN of 6 digits. Is there a way to submit the empty PIN in this flow, where the custom CTK is used here (the custom CTK would take care of the PIN from the custom ctk code). I was able to do an empty PIN submit once the I've paired the user successfully at login, unlock and other cli tools. Is there a way to do the same during the pairing? Once the user has successfully paired with the SmartCard authentication with PIN, I was able to see most of the authentication flows was prompting for the PIN authentication like login, unlock, CLI tools like ssh, su etc., perhaps at few apps where it is still prompted with the Password instead of PIN examples, when I tried to launch Keychain Access app or Add a user from users&amp;groups system setting. Is this expected behaviour?
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374
Feb ’25
App Attest server unreachable – DNS or firewall issue suspected
Hello, We are working on integrating app integrity verification into our service application, following Apple's App Attest and DeviceCheck guide. Our server issues a challenge to the client, which then sends the challenge, attestation, and keyId in CBOR format to Apple's App Attest server for verification. However, we are unable to reach both https://attest.apple.com and https://attest.development.apple.com due to network issues. These attempts have been made from both our internal corporate network and mobile hotspot environments. Despite adjusting DNS settings and other configurations, the issue persists. Are there alternative methods or solutions to address this problem? Any recommended network configurations or guidelines to successfully connect to Apple's App Attest servers would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
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137
May ’25
Implementing Script Attachment in a Sandboxed App
Script attachment enables advanced users to create powerful workflows that start in your app. NSUserScriptTask lets you implement script attachment even if your app is sandboxed. This post explains how to set that up. IMPORTANT Most sandboxed apps are sandboxed because they ship on the Mac App Store [1]. While I don’t work for App Review, and thus can’t make definitive statements on their behalf, I want to be clear that NSUserScriptTask is intended to be used to implement script attachment, not as a general-purpose sandbox bypass mechanism. If you have questions or comments, please put them in a new thread. Place it in the Privacy &amp; Security &gt; General subtopic, and tag it with App Sandbox. Share and Enjoy — Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com" [1] Most but not all. There are good reasons to sandbox your app even if you distribute it directly. See The Case for Sandboxing a Directly Distributed App. Implementing Script Attachment in a Sandboxed App Some apps support script attachment, that is, they allow a user to configure the app to run a script when a particular event occurs. For example: A productivity app might let a user automate repetitive tasks by configuring a toolbar button to run a script. A mail client might let a user add a script that processes incoming mail. When adding script attachment to your app, consider whether your scripting mechanism is internal or external: An internal script is one that only affects the state of the app. A user script is one that operates as the user, that is, it can change the state of other apps or the system as a whole. Supporting user scripts in a sandboxed app is a conundrum. The App Sandbox prevents your app from changing the state of other apps, but that’s exactly what your app needs to do to support user scripts. NSUserScriptTask resolves this conundrum. Use it to run scripts that the user has placed in your app’s Script folder. Because these scripts were specifically installed by the user, their presence indicates user intent and the system runs them outside of your app’s sandbox. Provide easy access to your app’s Script folder Your application’s Scripts folder is hidden within ~/Library. To make it easier for the user to add scripts, add a button or menu item that uses NSWorkspace to show it in the Finder: let scriptsDir = try FileManager.default.url(for: .applicationScriptsDirectory, in: .userDomainMask, appropriateFor: nil, create: true) NSWorkspace.shared.activateFileViewerSelecting([scriptsDir]) Enumerate the available scripts To show a list of scripts to the user, enumerate the Scripts folder: let scriptsDir = try FileManager.default.url(for: .applicationScriptsDirectory, in: .userDomainMask, appropriateFor: nil, create: true) let scriptURLs = try FileManager.default.contentsOfDirectory(at: scriptsDir, includingPropertiesForKeys: [.localizedNameKey]) let scriptNames = try scriptURLs.map { url in return try url.resourceValues(forKeys: [.localizedNameKey]).localizedName! } This uses .localizedNameKey to get the name to display to the user. This takes care of various edge cases, for example, it removes the file name extension if it’s hidden. Run a script To run a script, instantiate an NSUserScriptTask object and call its execute() method: let script = try NSUserScriptTask(url: url) try await script.execute() Run a script with arguments NSUserScriptTask has three subclasses that support additional functionality depending on the type of the script. Use the NSUserUnixTask subsclass to run a Unix script and: Supply command-line arguments. Connect pipes to stdin, stdout, and stderr. Get the termination status. Use the NSUserAppleScriptTask subclass to run an AppleScript, executing either the run handler or a custom Apple event. Use the NSUserAutomatorTask subclass to run an Automator workflow, supplying an optional input. To determine what type of script you have, try casting it to each of the subclasses: let script: NSUserScriptTask = … switch script { case let script as NSUserUnixTask: … use Unix-specific functionality … case let script as NSUserAppleScriptTask: … use AppleScript-specific functionality … case let script as NSUserAutomatorTask: … use Automatic-specific functionality … default: … use generic functionality … }
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861
Aug ’25
App Sandbox Resources
General: Forums subtopic: Privacy & Security > General Forums tag: App Sandbox App Sandbox documentation App Sandbox Design Guide documentation — This is no longer available from Apple. There’s still some info in there that isn’t covered by the current docs but, with the latest updates, it’s pretty minimal (r. 110052019). Still, if you’re curious, you can consult an old copy [1]. App Sandbox Temporary Exception Entitlements archived documentation — To better understand the role of temporary exception entitlements, see this post. Embedding a command-line tool in a sandboxed app documentation Discovering and diagnosing App Sandbox violations (replaces the Viewing Sandbox Violation Reports forums post) Resolving App Sandbox Inheritance Problems forums post The Case for Sandboxing a Directly Distributed App forums post Implementing Script Attachment in a Sandboxed App forums post Share and Enjoy — Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com" [1] For example, this one archived by the Wayback Machine.
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2.8k
Jul ’25
Should ATT come before a 3rd party CMP? Does the order matter?
When presenting a cookie banner for GDPR purposes, should ATT precede the cookie banner? It seems that showing a Cookie Banner and then showing the ATT permission prompt afterwards (if a user elects to allow cookies/tracking) would be more appropriate. Related question: Should the “Allow Tracking” toggle for an app in system settings serve as a master switch for any granular tracking that might be managed by a 3rd party Consent Management Platform? If ATT is intended to serve as a master switch for tracking consent, if the ATT prompt is presented before a cookie banner, should the banner even appear if a user declines tracking consent? I’m not finding any good resources that describe this flow in detail and I’m seeing implementations all over the place on this. Help! Thanks!!!
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199
Jul ’25
App Attest API – "DCErrorInvalidKey 3" after App or OS Update
Hi everyone, We are using the App Attest API to securely transition users to our new system. As part of this, we store the Key ID of the attestation key for each user to verify their identity later. However, we’ve noticed that some users are encountering the error “DCErrorInvalidKey 3” when calling generateAssertion. Importantly, the key was previously successfully attested, and generateAssertion has worked before for these users. Our questions: Could this error be caused by an app or iOS update? Is it problematic to link an attestation key's Key ID directly to a user, or are there scenarios where the key might change or become invalid? If there’s a way to mitigate this issue or recover affected users, what best practices would you recommend? Any help or shared experiences would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance.
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226
Apr ’25
DCError 2 "Failed to fetch App UUID" - App Attest not working in production or development
Hey everyone, I'm hitting a really frustrating issue with App Attest. My app was working perfectly with DCAppAttestService on October 12th, but starting October 13th it started failing with DCError Code 2 "Failed to fetch App UUID" at DCAppAttestController.m:153. The weird part is I didn't change any code - same implementation, same device, same everything. I've tried switching between development and production entitlement modes, re-registered my device in the Developer Portal, created fresh provisioning profiles with App Attest capability, and verified that my App ID has App Attest enabled. DCAppAttestService.isSupported returns true, so the device supports it. Has anyone else run into this? This is blocking my production launch and I'm not sure if it's something on my end or an Apple infrastructure issue.
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356
Oct ’25
Control over "\(your_app) wants to open \(another_app)" Dialog
I can't find any information about why this is happening, nor can I reproduce the 'successful' state on this device. My team needs to understand this behavior, so any insight would be greatly appreciated! The expected behavior: If I delete both apps and reinstall them, attempting to open the second app from my app should trigger the system confirmation dialog. The specifics: I'm using the MSAL library. It navigates the user to the Microsoft Authenticator app and then returns to my app. However, even after resetting the phone and reinstalling both apps, the dialog never shows up (it just opens the app directly). Does anyone know the logic behind how iOS handles these prompts or why it might be persistent even after a reset? Thanks in advance!
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