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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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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Jul ’25
App Attest Validation & Request
I'm trying to confirm the correct URL for Apple Attest development. There seems to be a fraud metric risk section that uses this: https://data-development.appattest.apple.com/v1/attestationData However the key verification seems to use this: https://data-development.appattest.apple.com/v1/attestation Currently I'm attempting to verify the key, so the second one seems likely. However I keep receiving a 404 despite vigorous validation of all fields included in the JSON as well as headers. Can anyone confirm please, which URL I should be sending my AppleAttestationRequest to?
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18h
Authorizing a process to access a Private Key pushed via MDM
I am developing a macOS system service (standalone binary running as a LaunchDaemon) that requires the ability to sign data using a private key which will be deployed via MDM. The Setup: Deployment: A .mobileconfig pushes a PKCS12 identity to the System Keychain. Security Requirement: For compliance and security reasons, we cannot set AllowAllAppsAccess to <true/>. The key must remain restricted. The Goal: I need to use the private key from the identity to be able to sign the data The Problem: The Certificate Payload does not support a TrustedApplications or AccessControl array to pre-authorize binary paths. As a result, when the process tries to use the private key for signing (SecKeyCreateSignature), it prompts the user to allow this operation which creates a disruption and is not desired. What i've tried so far: Manually adding my process to the key's ACL in keychain access obviously works and prevents any prompts but this is not an "automatable" solution. Using security tool in a script to attempt to modify the ACL in an automated way, but that also asks user for password and is not seamless. The Question: Is there a documented, MDM-compatible way to inject a specific binary path into the ACL of a private key? If not, is there a better way to achieve the end goal?
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108
1d
ScreenCapture permissions disappear and don't return
On Tahoe and earlier, ScreenCapture permissions can disappear and not return. Customers are having an issue with this disappearing and when our code executes CGRequestScreenCaptureAccess() nothing happens, the prompt does not appear. I can reproduce this by using the "-" button and removing the entry in the settings, then adding it back with the "+" button. CGPreflightScreenCaptureAccess() always returns the correct value but once the entry has been removed, CGRequestScreenCaptureAccess() requires a reboot before it will work again.
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2d
question about migrating `Sign in with Apple`
We need to transfer an App to other developer account, both the account are belong to our company. As we know, our app is using the Sign in with Apple function that we need to do some transfer job and we refer to this document: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/technotes/tn3159-migrating-sign-in-with-apple-users-for-an-app-transfer. There is a lot of users using the Sign in with Apple in our app, totally serval millions. To avoid risks as much as possible that we have to make the work flow very clearly, so we're seeking help here. I have serval questions, some I've got the answers from Google gemini and this Forums, I will list them below, please take a look what I understanding is correct or not, thanks. A. From the document above, can I performed the Steps 1&2 before the app transfer? if so, is there a maximum lead time for these transfer_subs? B. Regarding Step 5(Team B exchanging transfer identifiers via https://appleid.apple.com/auth/usermigrationinfo) are there specific rate limits (requests per second/minute) for this endpoint? Cause we have a huge number of user whose using the Sign in with Apple, we have to transfer the sub values as soon as possible. C. Cause we have a huge number of user whose using the Sign in with Apple again, This transfer job involves huge risks. So, is there any way to simulate these whole operations? Answer by my self: NO.
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3d
Questions About App Attestation Rate Limiting and AppID-Level Quotas
I’m looking for clarification on how rate limiting works for the App Attest service, especially in production environments. According to the entitlement documentation (https://developer.apple.com/documentation/BundleResources/Entitlements/com.apple.developer.devicecheck.appattest-environment), iOS ignores the environment setting once an app is distributed through TestFlight, the App Store, or Enterprise distribution, and always contacts the production App Attest endpoint. With that context, I have two questions: Rate‑Limiting Thresholds How exactly does rate limiting work for App Attest? Is there a defined threshold beyond which attestation requests begin to fail? The "Preparing to Use the App Attest Service" documentation (https://developer.apple.com/documentation/devicecheck/preparing-to-use-the-app-attest-service) recommends ramping up no more than 10 million users per day per app, but I’m trying to understand what practical limits or failure conditions developers should expect. Per‑AppID Budgeting If multiple apps have different App IDs, do they each receive their own independent attestation budget/rate limit? Or is the rate limiting shared across all apps under the same developer account?
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133
3d
Issue with Private Email Relay Not Forwarding SES Emails
We are experiencing an issue with Apple’s Private Email Relay service for Sign in with Apple users. Our setup details are as follows: • Domain: joinalyke.com • Domain successfully added under “Sign in with Apple for Email Communication” • SPF verified • DKIM enabled (2048-bit Easy DKIM via AWS SES) • Emails are being sent from S***@joinalyke.com Amazon SES confirms that emails sent to users’ @privaterelay.appleid.com addresses are successfully delivered (Delivery events recorded in SES and no bounce reported). However, users are not receiving the forwarded emails in their actual inboxes. Since: SES shows successful delivery, SPF and DKIM are properly configured, Domain is registered in the Apple Developer portal, we suspect that the Private Email Relay service may be blocking or not forwarding these emails. Could you please investigate whether: Our domain or IP reputation is being blocked or filtered, There are additional configuration requirements, The relay service is rejecting emails after acceptance, There are content-related filtering policies we should review. We are happy to provide message IDs, timestamps, and sample relay email addresses if required.
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293
1w
Is Screen Time trapped inside DeviceActivityReport on purpose?
I can see the user’s real daily Screen Time perfectly inside a DeviceActivityReport extension on a physical device. It’s right there. But the moment I try to use that exact total inside my main app (for today’s log and a leaderboard), it dosnt work. I’ve tried, App Groups, Shared UserDefaults, Writing to a shared container file, CFPreferences Nothing makes it across. The report displays fine, but the containing app never receives the total. If this is sandboxed by design, I’d love confirmation. Thanks a lot
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478
1w
Pentesting modern iOS versions
I've contacted Apple support about this topic, and they've directed me to this forum. I regularly perform Pentests of iOS applications. To properly assess the security of iOS apps, I must bypass given security precaution taken by our customers, such as certificate pinning. According to a number of blog articles, this appears to only be viable on jailbroken devices. If a target application requires a modern version of iOS, the security assessment can't be properly performed. As it should be in Apple's best interest, to offer secure applications on the App Store, what's the recommended approach to allow intrusive pentesting of iOS apps?
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120
2w
Associated domains in Entitlements.plist
To use passkeys, you need to place the correct AASA file on the web server and add an entry in the Entitlements.plist, for example webcredentials:mydomain.com. This is clear so far, but I would like to ask if it's possible to set this webcredentials in a different way in the app? The reason for this is that we are developing a native app and our on-premise customers have their own web servers. We cannot know these domains in advance so creating a dedicated app for each customer is not option for us. Thank you for your help!
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2w
email sent to to an iCloud account is landed to junk when email sent from user-*dev*.company.com micro service
Our company has a micro service which sends a notification email to an iCloud account/email and the email is going to the junk folder. As we tested, the email generated from user-field.company.com goes to the Inbox, while the email from user-dev.company.com goes to the Junk folder. Is there a way to avoid sending the emails to client's Junk folder when the email is sent from a specific company domain?
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67
2w
The app extension cannot access MDM deployed identity via ManagedApp FM
We use Jamf Blueprint to deploy the managed app and identity to the iOS device (iOS 26.3 installed). Our managed app can access the identity via let identityProvider = ManagedAppIdentitiesProvider() let identity: SecIdentity do { identity = try await identityProvider.identity(withIdentifier: "myIdentity") } catch { } However, the app extension cannot access the same identity. Our app extension is notification extension that implemented UNNotificationServiceExtension APIs. We use above code in didReceive() function to access identity that always failed. The MDM configuration payload is: "AppConfig": { "Identities": [ { "Identifier": "myIdentity", "AssetReference": "$PAYLOAD_2" } ] }, "ExtensionConfigs": { "Identifier (com.example.myapp.extension)": { "Identities": [ { "Identifier": "myIdentity", "AssetReference": "$PAYLOAD_2" } ] } }, "ManifestURL": "https://example.net/manifest.plist", "InstallBehavior": { "Install": "Required" } } Is there any problem in our MDM configuration? Or the notification extension cannot integrate with ManagedApp FM?
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84
2w
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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108
2w
Mac App Store app triggers "cannot verify free of malware" alert when opening as default app
My app Mocawave is a music player distributed through the Mac App Store. It declares specific audio document types (public.mp3, com.microsoft.waveform-audio, public.mpeg-4-audio, public.aac-audio) in its CFBundleDocumentTypes with a Viewer role. When a user sets Mocawave as the default app for audio files and double-clicks an MP3 downloaded from the internet (which has the com.apple.quarantine extended attribute), macOS displays the alert: "Apple could not verify [filename] is free of malware that may harm your Mac or compromise your privacy." This does not happen when: Opening the same file via NSOpenPanel from within the app Opening the same file with Apple's Music.app or QuickTime Player The app is: Distributed through the Mac App Store Sandboxed (com.apple.security.app-sandbox) Uses com.apple.security.files.user-selected.read-write entitlement The file being opened is a regular audio file (MP3), not an executable. Since the app is sandboxed and distributed through the App Store, I expected it to have sufficient trust to open quarantined data files without triggering Gatekeeper warnings — similar to how Music.app and QuickTime handle them. Questions: Is there a specific entitlement or Info.plist configuration that allows a sandboxed Mac App Store app to open quarantined audio files without this alert? Is this expected behavior for third-party App Store apps, or could this indicate a misconfiguration on my end? Environment: macOS 15 (Sequoia), app built with Swift/SwiftUI, targeting macOS 13+.
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170
2w
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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154
3w
What should be enabled for Enhanced Security?
I am not very well versed in this area, so I would appreciate some guidance on what should be enabled or disabled. My app is an AppKit app. I have read the documentation and watched the video, but I find it hard to understand. When I added the Enhanced Security capability in Xcode, the following options were enabled automatically: Memory Safety Enable Enhanced Security Typed Allocator Runtime Protections Enable Additional Runtime Platform Restrictions Authenticate Pointers Enable Read-only Platform Memory The following options were disabled by default: Memory Safety Enable Hardware Memory Tagging Memory Tag Pure Data Prevent Receiving Tagged Memory Enable Soft Mode for Memory Tagging Should I enable these options? Is there anything I should consider disabling?
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277
3w
Persistent Tokens for Keychain Unlock in Platform SSO
While working with Platform SSO on macOS, I’m trying to better understand how the system handles cases where a user’s local account password becomes unsynchronized with their Identity Provider (IdP) password—for example, when the device is offline during a password change. My assumption is that macOS may store some form of persistent token during the Platform SSO user registration process (such as a certificate or similar credential), and that this token could allow the system to unlock the user’s login keychain even if the local password no longer matches the IdP password. I’m hoping to get clarification on the following: Does macOS actually use a persistent token to unlock the login keychain when the local account password is out of sync with the IdP password? If so, how is that mechanism designed to work? If such a capability exists, is it something developers can leverage to enable a true passwordless authentication experience at the login window and lock screen (i.e., avoiding the need for a local password fallback)? I’m trying to confirm what macOS officially supports so I can understand whether passwordless login is achievable using the persistent-token approach. Thanks in advance for any clarification.
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318
3w
ASWebAuthenticationSessionWebBrowserSessionHandling begin callback not called for custom web handler app
I'm building a macOS app that registers itself for HTTP(S) url handling and would like it to participate in the ASWebAuthenticationSession fow. I did: update the plist to register as a handler for URL shemes (http, https, file) use NSWorkspace setDefaultApplication API to set this app as a default handler for urls in question wrote custom ASWebAuthenticationSessionWebBrowserSessionHandling implementation and set it as SessionManager's sessionHandler I launched this app from Xcode, then I triggered authentication flow from a third-party app. When the sign in flow is initiated, I can see that my app is activeated (willBecomeActive and didBecomeActive callbacks are both called), but there is no call for sessionHandler's begin() method. With some additional debugging I see that my app receives an apple event when the flow is started: {sfri,auth target=SafariLaunchAgent {qntp=90/$627......},aapd=TRUE If I switch system default browser back to Safari and then start the login flow, it correctly displays a sign in web page. What do I miss? PS. I'm on Tahoe 26.2
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224
Feb ’26
When is the kTCCServiceEndpointSecurityClient permission set by macOS?
[Q] When is the kTCCServiceEndpointSecurityClient set by macOS and in which conditions? From what I'm gathering, the kTCCServiceEndpointSecurityClient can not be set by a configuration profile and the end user can only grant full disk access. I searched for documentation on Apple's develop website (with the "kTCCServiceEndpointSecurityClient" search) and did not get any useful result. Using a more complete search engine, or the forum search engine, only points to the old annoying big bug in macOS Ventura. The problem I'm investigating is showing a process being listed as getting granted kTCCServiceEndpointSecurityClient permissions in the TCC database when: it's not an Endpoint Security client. it does not have the ES Client entitlement. the bundle of the process includes another process that is an ES Client and is spawn-ed by this process but I don't see why this should have an impact. This process is supposed to have been granted kTCCServiceSystemPolicyAllFiles via end user interaction or configuration profile. AFAIK, the kTCCServiceEndpointSecurityClient permission can only be set by macOS itself. So this looks like to be either a bug in macOS, an undocumented behavior or I'm missing something. Hence the initial question. macOS 15.7.3 / Apple Silicon
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129
Feb ’26