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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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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356
Aug ’25
Apple login returns undefined
Issue with passport-apple: req.user Returning Undefined Data & Callback URL Issue I am facing an issue with passport-apple where, after successful authentication, the callback function does not receive the expected user data. Instead, req.user contains undefined values, and there seems to be an issue with the callback URL handling. Steps to Reproduce I have configured passport-apple with the following strategy: passport.use( new AppleStrategy( { clientID: process.env.APPLE_CLIENT_ID, teamID: process.env.APPLE_TEAM_ID, keyID: process.env.APPLE_KEY_ID, privateKeyLocation: path.join(__dirname, 'Auth.p8'), callbackURL: process.env.APPLE_CALLBACK_URL, scope: ['name', 'email'], passReqToCallback: true }, async (req, accessToken, refreshToken, idToken, profile, done) => { try { const decoded = jwt.decode(idToken); const user = { id: decoded?.sub || null, email: decoded?.email || null, name: profile?.name?.firstName || 'Unknown' }; const userApp = await authController.handleAppleAuth(user.email, accessToken, refreshToken); done(null, userApp); } catch (error) { return done(error); } } ) ); Observed Behavior Apple login succeeds, and an existing user is found in the database. However, req.user contains undefined values after authentication. The callback URL does not seem to function correctly, leading to potential misrouting or incomplete authentication flow. Expected Behavior req.user should contain the authenticated user's ID, email, and name. The callback URL should properly handle the authentication response. Actual Behavior req.user contains undefined values instead of valid user data, and the callback URL handling seems to be incorrect. Log Output: { id: '001412.13cccc5062074c35833683f6f0bcf5f6.1212', email: 'xyz@somemail.com', name: 'Unknown' } user checking redirectionn [Function: next] 📍 Processing Apple callback 📍 Authentication successful for user: { id: undefined, email: undefined } { id: undefined, email: undefined, firstName: undefined, lastName: undefined, subscriptionStatus: undefined }
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118
Mar ’25
Gathering required information for troubleshooting Private Email Relay with Sign in with Apple
Hi, Before I begin my investigation, I want to explain our code-level support process for issues related to Sign in with Apple—as the issue you’re reporting may be the result of any of the following: An error in your app or web service request. A configuration issue in your Developer Account. An internal issue in the operation system or Apple ID servers. To ensure the issue is not caused by an error within your Private Email Replay configuration, please review Configuring your environment for Sign in with Apple to learn more about registering your email sources and authenticated domains. To prevent sending sensitive message details in plain text, you should create a report in Feedback Assistant to share the details requested below. Additionally, if I determine the error is caused by an internal issue in the operating system or Apple ID servers, the appropriate engineering teams have access to the same information and can communicate with you directly for more information, if needed. Please follow the instructions below to submit your feedback. Gathering required information for troubleshooting Private Email Relay with Sign in with Apple For issues occurring with your email delivery, ensure your feedback contains the following information: the primary App ID and Services ID the user’s Apple ID and/or email address the email message headers the Private Email Relay Service or Hide My Email message delivery failure, and SMTP error codes Submitting your feedback Before you submit to Feedback Assistant, please confirm the requested information above is included in your feedback. Failure to provide the requested information will only delay my investigation into the reported issue within your Sign in with Apple client. After your submission to Feedback Assistant is complete, please respond in your existing Developer Forums post with the Feedback ID. Once received, I can begin my investigation and determine if this issue is caused by an error within your client, a configuration issue within your developer account, or an underlying system bug. Cheers, Paris X Pinkney |  WWDR | DTS Engineer
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1.3k
Sep ’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 & Security > 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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963
Aug ’25
Privacy Resources
General: Forums topic: Privacy & Security Forums tag: Privacy Developer > Security — This also covers privacy topics. App privacy details on the App Store UIKit > Protecting the User’s Privacy documentation Bundle Resources > Privacy manifest files documentation TN3181 Debugging an invalid privacy manifest technote TN3182 Adding privacy tracking keys to your privacy manifest technote TN3183 Adding required reason API entries to your privacy manifest technote TN3184 Adding data collection details to your privacy manifest technote TN3179 Understanding local network privacy technote Handling ITMS-91061: Missing privacy manifest forums post Share and Enjoy — Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"
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Jul ’25
Privacy & Security Resources
General: Forums topic: Privacy & Security Privacy Resources Security Resources Share and Enjoy — Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"
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508
Jul ’25
Phone heating problem after update iOS 26.0 (23A5297m)
As I had mentioned earlier, I was facing two issues after the initial update, but I’m happy to inform you that both of those issues have now been resolved. However, after updating to iOS 26.0 (23A5297m), I’ve started experiencing a new issue related to overheating. Since yesterday, my iPhone has been getting extremely hot while charging. It also became very hot after clicking just a few photos. The same heating issue occurred again today during charging. This problem only started after the latest update. Kindly look into this issue and advise on how to resolve it.
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92
Jul ’25
Sending to Private Relay Email using amazon ses not working
Hello Developers, I have ran into a problem while sending mail to apple private relay email. We have built a mobile application where user can sign up through apple and they can sign up using hide-my-email feature. Which provides private relay address for us. Now we want to communicate with them using private relay mail address. The technology we are using to send emails are amazon SES, have done SPF, DMIK, DMARC and added domains in apple identity services for mail communication, passed an SPF check as well. But still mail is not getting delivered what am i doing wrong or apple doesn't support third party apps for sending emails to private relay? Is there any other way to achieve this please let me know Using the same body as attached in image is working fine for rest emails.
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366
Sep ’25
Application with identifier is not associated with domain
Hi, This issue is happening during Passkey creation. We’ve observed that approximately 1% of our customer users encounter a persistent error during Passkey creation. For the vast majority, the process works as expected. We believe our apple-app-site-association file is correctly configured, served directly from the RP ID over HTTPS without redirects, and is up-to-date. This setup appears to work for most users, and it seems the Apple CDN cache reflects the latest version of the file. To help us diagnose and address the issue for the affected users, we would appreciate guidance on the following: What tools or steps does Apple recommend to identify the root cause of this issue? Are there any known recovery steps we can suggest to users to resolve this on affected devices? Is there a way to force a refresh of the on-device cache for the apple-app-site-association file? Thank you in advance for any input or guidance.
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163
May ’25
How to distinguish the "no credential found" scenario from ASAuthorizationError
Hello everyone, I'm developing a FIDO2 service using the AuthenticationServices framework. I've run into an issue when a user manually deletes a passkey from their password manager. When this happens, the ASAuthorizationError I get doesn't clearly indicate that the passkey is missing. The error code is 1001, and the localizedDescription is "The operation couldn't be completed. No credentials available for login." The userInfo also contains "NSLocalizedFailureReason": "No credentials available for login." My concern is that these localized strings will change depending on the user's device language, making it unreliable for me to programmatically check for a "no credentials" scenario. Is there a more precise way to determine that the user has no passkey, without relying on localized string values? Thank you for your help.
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386
Sep ’25
Transfer of an App with Sign in with Apple Functionality
Hello, I currently have an app that includes the "Sign in with Apple" feature, and I need to transfer this app to another app team. I have reviewed all official documentation but have not found the answer I need. My situation has some specificities, and I hope to receive assistance. The .p8 key created by the original developer team has been lost, and the app’s backend does not use a .p8 key for verification—instead, it verifies by obtaining Apple’s public key. However, according to the official documentation I reviewed, obtaining a transfer identifier during the app transfer process requires a client_secret generated from the original team’s .p8 key. This has left us facing a challenge, and we have two potential approaches to address this issue: Q1: During the transfer, is it possible to skip obtaining the transfer identifier and proceed directly with the app transfer, without performing any backend operations? Is this approach feasible? Q2: If the above approach is not feasible, should we create a new .p8 key in the original team’s account and use this new key for the transfer? If a new key is generated, do we need to re-release a new version of the app before initiating the transfer? If neither of the above approaches is feasible, are there better solutions to resolve our issue? I hope to receive a response. Thank you. TN3159: Migrating Sign in with Apple users for an app transfer | Apple Developer Documentation/ https://developer.apple.com/documentation/signinwithapple/transferring-your-apps-and-users-to-another-team
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90
Oct ’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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205
May ’25
Certificates, Identifiers, and Provisioning Profiles
Confirmation on "Sign in with Apple JS" Web Implementation Compatibility Hello Developers We are trying to implement "Sign in with Apple JS" on our e-commerce website, which is built on a SaaS platform called Ticimax in Turkey. Our platform provider (Ticimax) claims that a web-based implementation of "Sign in with Apple" is not currently possible. They state this is due to "Apple's browser security policies" that prevent consistent and secure support across all major browsers, particularly Safari with its privacy features. Could you please confirm if there are any fundamental security policies or technical restrictions imposed by Apple that would prevent a standard, secure implementation of "Sign in with Apple JS" on a typical e-commerce website? We know many global websites use this feature successfully. We need to know if our provider's claim has a technical basis from Apple's perspective, or if this is a standard implementation challenge that developers are expected to handle (e.g., using pop-ups instead of redirects to comply with ITP). Any official clarification or documentation you can provide on this matter would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
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222
Aug ’25
Account security and passkeys
Could you tell me about account security and passkeys? Our service is considering implementing passkeys, and these questions are to understand how Apple protects accounts from third parties. ① Apple website states that two-factor authentication is mandatory for newly created Apple Accounts. When did this requirement come into effect? What are the conditions for users who do not have two-factor authentication enabled? ② Apple website mentions that a verification code may be required when signing into an Apple Account from a new device or browser. Is my understanding of the situations where a verification code is requested accurate, as listed below? Are there any other situations? Completely signing out of the Apple Account on that device. Erasing the device. Needing to change the password for security reasons. ③ If a user is already using a passkey on an Apple device, and then upgrades to a new device, will additional authentication, such as entering a PIN code, be required to use the passkey on the new device?
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Apple Account Security and Passkeys
hello, I'm writing to seek clarification on Apple account security, particularly regarding potential risks of compromise, implemented safeguards, and residual risks with corresponding mitigation strategies. We would appreciate your insights on the following specific points: iCloud Keychain Access: Is an Apple ID login strictly required to access iCloud Keychain? We understand that a compromise of iCloud Keychain is unlikely unless a malicious actor successfully takes over the legitimate user's Apple ID. Is this understanding correct? Passkey Theft Methods and Protections: What are the conceivable methods a malicious actor might employ to steal a legitimate user's passkey, and how are these attempts protected against? Impact of Apple ID Compromise on Passkeys: If a malicious actor successfully compromises a legitimate user's Apple ID, is it accurate to assume that the legitimate user's passkeys would then synchronize to the attacker's device, potentially allowing them to log in using their own biometrics? Authorization Flow on Legitimate User's Device: Could you please detail the authorization flow that occurs on the legitimate user's device? We are particularly interested in the types of authentication involved and the conditions under which they are triggered. Detection and Additional Authentication for Unauthorized Login: How are attempts to log in to an Apple ID from an unrecognized device or browser detected, and what additional authentication steps are implemented in such scenarios? Thank you for your time and assistance in addressing these important security questions.
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