Resetting Privacy Settings in iOS and macOS

Q:  iOS prompted me for access to Contacts when I first launched my app, which uses the NSContactsUsageDescription key. I was not prompted in the subsequent runs of my app. How do I get prompted again?

A: When your app, which uses a purpose string (also called usage description), attempts to access user's data, the system displays a consent alert that allows the user to grant or deny access to them such as the ones shown in Figure 1 and Figure 2.

The consent alert only appears the first time your app asks for permission. To display it again, you must reset privacy settings on your device or system.

• For iOS apps, tap Settings > General > Reset > Reset Location & Privacy on your device to reset all location and privacy settings for your app as shown in Figure 3.

• For iOS Simulator apps, delete the app from the Simulator or tap Settings > General > Reset > Reset Location & Privacy in the Simulator to reset all location and privacy settings for your app.

• For macOS apps, use the tccutil command line tool, which allows you to reset access for all applications to a specific service in Terminal as follows:

  tccutil reset service

  where service is the name of the service for which privacy settings will be reset. See Listing 1, Listing 2, and Listing 3 for examples on how to reset permissions for Contacts, Calendar, and Reminders, respectively.

  
  
  

  Listing 1  Reset all permissions for Contacts.

  tccutil reset AddressBook

  
  
  

  Listing 2  Reset all permissions for Calendar.

  tccutil reset Calendar

  
  
  

  Listing 3  Reset all permissions for Reminders.

  tccutil reset Reminders

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