When syncing an Office 365 (Exchange) account on an M1 Max machine running the latest macOS (e.g., Sonoma), the native contactsd and AddressBookManager processes enter a severe, persistent failure loop. The CPU usage spikes from 0.0% to over 80% (observed at 81%) and repeats every 60-90 seconds. This occurs even when the account is entirely empty of contacts and after performing a clean macOS installation, strongly indicating a systemic bug in the framework's Exchange protocol handler on the M1 architecture. System Information Affected Hardware: Apple M1 Max Affected macOS Version: Tahoe 26.1 Affected Processes: contactsd, AddressBookManager Account Type: Microsoft Exchange / Office 365 Steps to Reproduce System Setup: Perform a clean installation of macOS on the M1 Max machine (USB boot, NO Migration Assistant or data restoration). Account Preparation: Ensure the target Exchange account's contacts folder is entirely empty on the server (via Outlook Web Access). Trigger: Go to System Settings > Internet Accounts and add the Exchange account. Ensure ONLY Contacts is toggled ON. Observation: Open Activity Monitor and sort by % CPU. Expected Behavior The contactsd and AddressBookManager processes should spike briefly (under 5%) to establish the empty sync, then settle to a persistent idle state (0.0% to 0.5% CPU). Actual Behavior The processes never settle: CPU Spikes: Usage repeatedly jumps from 0.0% to 81% for AddressBookManager and 22-59% for contactsd. Pattern: This extreme spike lasts for a few seconds before the thread crashes/restarts, and the process immediately re-initiates the loop, consuming massive CPU cycles continuously. Diagnostic Proof The runaway CPU is not caused by corrupt data: Data Neutralization: The account's contacts folder was emptied on the server, yet the high CPU loop persisted when syncing. Clean System: The issue is reproducible on a clean, from-scratch macOS installation, ruling out corrupted user preferences or system files. Cross-Architecture: The exact same account syncs perfectly on iOS and newer M4 Macs, confirming the data is valid and the issue is specific to the M1 Max's implementation of the Exchange protocol handler. Workaround (For Visibility) To restore system performance, the user must DELETE the entire Exchange account from System Settings > Internet Accounts and use a third-party client (e.g., Outlook for Mac) for synchronization, as it bypasses the buggy native framework.

I'm currently finding it impossible to get a text filtering extension to be invoked when there's an incoming text message. There isn't a problem with the app/extension because this is the same app and code that is already developed, tested, and unchanged since I last observed it working. I know if there's any history of the incoming number being "known" then the extension won't get invoked, and I used to find this no hindrance to testing previously provided that: the incoming number isn't in contacts there's no outgoing messages to that number there's no outgoing phone calls to the number. This always used to work in the past, but not anymore. However, I've ensured the incoming text's number isn't in contacts, in fact I've deleted all the contacts. I've deleted the entire phone history, incoming and outgoing, and I've also searched in messages and made sure there's no interactions with that number. There's logging in the extension so I can see its being invoked when turned on from the settings app, but its not getting invoked when there's a message. The one difference between now and when I used to have no problem with this - the phone now has iOS 18.5 on it. Its as if in iOS 18.5 there ever was any past association with a text number, its not impossible to remove that association. Has there been some known change in 18.5 that would affect this call filtering behavior and not being able to rid of the incoming message caller as being "known" to the phone? Update I completely reset the phone and then I was able to see the the message filter extension being invoked. That's not an ideal situation though. What else needs to be done beyond what I mentioned above in order to get a phone to forget about a message's number and thus get an message filtering extension to be invoked when there's a message from that number?

I’m trying to fully understand the purpose of the ageGates parameter in the AgeRangeService.requestAgeRange API. The official documentation includes the following statement: “The system may return geo-specific age ranges that override your provided age gates based on the person’s location and applicable regulations. When geo-specific ranges are required, the returned age range reflects regulatory requirements rather than the bounds of your age gates.” Based on this, it seems that even if my app provides specific age thresholds through the ageGates parameter, the system may override those boundaries depending on regional laws or regulations, and return a completely different lowerBound / upperBound than what my age gates would suggest. My current understanding is: ageGates indicates the thresholds my app uses to define its internal feature tiers, but the actual age range returned by the OS is determined by legal or regional requirements (e.g., COPPA, GDPR-K, AADC, SB2420), meaning the returned age range may not align with the age ranges implied by my ageGates values. I’d like to confirm whether this interpretation is correct. Additionally, if different regions may produce different lowerBound / upperBound values due to regulatory requirements, then it seems that: developers shouldn’t rely on fixed age buckets, and instead must implement feature gating logic dynamically based on whatever age range the OS returns. So my questions are: Is my understanding correct that ageGates is simply a hint that describes my app’s tier thresholds, and the OS may override those boundaries to comply with local regulations? If lowerBound / upperBound can vary across regions, what is the recommended way for developers to design their feature-gating logic? Should we avoid hardcoded age buckets and instead build flexible logic that adapts to whatever range the OS returns? I’d appreciate clarification so I can design our age-based policies appropriately and in a regulation-compliant way.

Hey there! So, I'm trying to see what I'm able to do with the Device Activity Report Extension, and I have a few questions about the following quote: To protect the user’s privacy, your extension runs in a sandbox. This sandbox prevents your extension from making network requests or moving sensitive content outside the extension’s address space. In particular, what constitutes the address space for this extension? Can I save data to a UserDefaults object that only the extension can access? (Apps like Opal allow the user to label apps as "distracting" and "non-distracting", and I'm wondering how they do that!) From what I've read, I believe it cannot write to a shared app group or model (and I just want to confirm this) It also seems that there's nothing preventing it from reading data from the main app, so I'm just wondering if it's able to read data from an app group or model with no problem. Thanks in advance!

Since the iOS 26.2 update, we have been experiencing anomalous behavior with the DeviceActivityMonitor extension when utilizing the ScreenTime API. Specifically, we are receiving the eventDidReachThreshold event within a few minutes of initiating monitoring, despite configuring a high usage limit. The process of turning off Screen Time -> restarting the device -> turning on Screen Time does not work. Any ideas? Thanks Filed Feedback Assistant: FB21560904

reposting this in case it got missed the first time around here https://aninterestingwebsite.com/forums/thread/775900 We had a question that came up when we comparing data from WeatherKit to other sources - WeatherKit visibility was well beyond the boundaries we had historically, even from Darksky. That raises two questions: is visibility actually in meters like the docs say? is this visibility at ground level, 500ft, or some other height? We were seeing visibility numbers of up to 40 miles (after converting the number the API sent to miles), where all of our other sources are usually within 10 miles

We have a login flow where the user authenticates in Safari, and at the end of the process the authentication server redirects back to our app using a Universal Link. On most devices, the app opens automatically without any confirmation banner. However, on several iPads, Safari always shows the “Open App A?” banner after the redirect. The user must tap Open every time. Other devices running the same iOS version do not show this issue. Expected Flow (working devices): Start authentication Safari login Authentication server redirects using a Universal Link App A opens automatically Problematic Flow (several iPads): Start authentication Safari login Authentication server redirects using a Universal Link Safari shows “Open App A?” confirmation banner User must tap Open App A starts Questions: Is this a known issue in iOS? Or is this expected behavior under certain conditions (i.e., is there a specific Safari/iOS specification that causes this banner to appear)? Is there any way to prevent Safari from showing the “Open App A?” banner and allow automatic redirection? ＊This issue did not occur on iOS 16, but it started appearing after updating to iOS 17. Devices : iPad 9th Gen/iPad 10th Gen

The published "Next steps for apps distributed in Texas" says "A parent or guardian in Texas can withdraw consent for any app, which will block launching of the app on the child or teen’s device." My question is: will this also block notifications sent to that app from showing up on that device? Or will notifications still be delivered to the notification center, even though the app can't be launched? (Specifically, notifications sent from a server via Firebase topic/token). If notifications are not blocked automatically, what is the expected flow for this scenario? My app sends notifications from a server like this. I could implement client-side code to say "if consent is revoked, unsubscribe from notifications", but if the OS blocks launching of the app, this client-side code would never run. Similarly, I could subscribe to the server notifications for when consent is revoked, but my app is free & accountless, so I'm not aware of any information in the server notification that I could use to identify the specific user whose notifications should be stopped. (For example my users won't have an appAccountToken because they never made a purchase). Guidance would be much appreciated. I'm trying to comply with the law but I don't know how.

Hi We have an AppleTV app that is used to continuously display information (digital signage). One of our clients reports that their AppleTV returns to the homescreen by morning. While our recommendation is to setup Mobile Device Management to lock the AppleTV into running only our app, not every client will have the IT knowledge to set this up. So we're trying to figure out possible causes for the app getting closed. We've not received any crash reports, nor does the device give any indication the app crashed. The energy saving settings are set to run continuously without sleep. The client is reporting this happens every night, so it seems unlikely to be caused by tvOS updates. Are there other things I could rule out to find the cause of this issue? Any ideas are welcome, thanks!

My CoreSpotlight extension seems to exceed the 6 MB memory limit. What’s the best way to debug this? I've tried to attach the debugger on the Simulator but the extension seems to be never launched when I trigger the reindex from Developer settings. Is this supposed to work? On device, I am able to attach the debugger. However, I can neither transfer the debug session to Instruments, nor display the memory graph. So I've no idea how the memory is used. Any recommendations how to move forward? Is there a way to temporarily disable the memory limit since even with LLDB attached, the extension is killed.

Currently I am not finding any API to read the status of Message Filter Extension from settings. Are we planning for any future releases ?

Are we planning to have some APIs or methods to know that status of Call blocking extension and message filter extension in future releases as currently it is not available.

From https://aninterestingwebsite.com/forums/thread/803945?answerId=862153022#862153022, the testing of Age Range API was not available through xcode simulator back in Oct 2025. Is this available now? In particular: Is requestAgeRange testing available through simulator? Is requestAgeRange testing with sandbox account available through simulator? Is isEligibleForAgeFeatures available through simulator? Is isEligibleForAgeFeatures testing with sandbox account available through simulator? If the answer is "yes" to any of the above, which version of the xcode and ios version should I use? So far I didn't get any of the above working on the simulator, and I can't find any documentation on the answers above. Thank you!

We developed a "Default Translation App" following the guide: https://aninterestingwebsite.com/documentation/translationuiprovider/preparing-your-app-to-be-the-default-translation-app. I have already configured everything that needs to be configured according to the document, but there is still this problem

Summary: I'm developing an iOS audio app in Flutter that requires background audio playback for long-form content. Despite having a paid Apple Developer Program account, the "Background Modes" capability does not appear as an option when creating or editing App IDs in the Developer Portal, preventing me from enabling the required com.apple.developer.background-modes entitlement. Technical Details: In the app that I am developing, users expect uninterrupted playback when app is backgrounded or device is locked similar to Audible, Spotify, or other audio apps that continue playing in background The Problem: When building for device testing or App Store submission, Xcode shows: Provisioning profile "iOS Team Provisioning Profile: com.xxxxx-vxxx" doesn't include the com.apple.developer.background-modes entitlement. However, the "Background Modes" capability is completely missing from the Developer Portal when creating or editing any App ID. I cannot enable it because the option simply doesn't exist in the capabilities list. What I've Tried: Multiple browsers/devices: Safari, Chrome, Firefox, incognito mode, different computers Account verification: Confirmed paid Individual Developer Program membership is active New App IDs: Created multiple new App IDs - capability never appears for any of them Documentation review: Followed all Apple documentation for configuring background execution modes Different regions: Tried changing portal language to English (US) Cache clearing: Logged out, cleared cookies, tried different sessions Apple Support Response: Contacted Developer Support (Case #102633509713). Received generic documentation links and was directed to Developer Forums rather than technical escalation. Has anyone else experienced the "Background Modes" capability missing from their Developer Portal? Has anyone successfully used the App Store Connect API to add background-modes when the GUI doesn't show it? What's the proper escalation path when Developer Support provides generic responses instead of technical assistance? Things I have attempted to solve this: audio_service package: Implemented as potential workaround, but still requires the system-level entitlement Manual provisioning profiles: Cannot create profiles with required entitlement if capability isn't enabled on App ID Other perhaps important facts about the environment where I am building the app: macOS Sonoma Xcode 15.x Flutter 3.5.4+ Apple Developer Program (Individual, paid)

Hi, I developed an iOS app which will do SMS filtering by following this documentation. https://aninterestingwebsite.com/documentation/identitylookup/sms-and-mms-message-filtering) I built the app and send Test Flights to different testers. All the Testers from Sri Lanka (an asian country) says filtering is working and they can see all the enabled categories on the Messages too (including iOS 26). But the testers from Mexico cannot see the categories and filtering is not working. On official documentation there is nothing about supported countries. But I found true caller article https://support.truecaller.com/support/solutions/articles/81000406341-how-do-i-enable-sms-filtering-on-iphone mentioning it support only few countries for SMS filtering. Currently available in the following countries: India, Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka. Our previous Categories filtering are still available for: Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Ghana, Tanzania, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, United States of America, Zambia Following article https://clearstream.io/blog/ios-26-iphone-new-text-message-filtering is saying some categories are supported by only Brazil and India. Still I could not find any official documentations saying different country supports.

Hello, I’m working on implementing SB2420 compliance using the Declared Age Range framework. While referring to the documentation at https://aninterestingwebsite.com/documentation/declaredagerange, I couldn’t find details on how the TX region (transaction region or territory) is determined when using Declared Age Range. Specifically, I’d like to confirm the following points: How does the system determine the TX region when the user’s declared age range is retrieved? Is it based on the App Store region, the device locale, or the user’s Apple ID country? If the app’s backend needs to verify or log the TX region, is there a way to obtain or infer it from the API response or receipt data? Is there any difference in TX region determination between Sandbox and Production environments? If anyone has experience implementing Declared Age Range (SB2420) and handling region determination, I’d appreciate your insights or best practices. Thank you.

I'm using the new AlarmKit framework to build a Swift app that lets users schedule multiple repeating alarms. The goal is to allow users to stop all alarms for today if they wake up early, but the alarms should still ring on their scheduled days in the future (for example, every Monday). What I tried: When the user chooses to stop alarms for today, I delete all alarms and re-add them. However, this doesn't work as expected. If today is Monday and I delete and re-add the alarm with .weekday = .monday, it still rings today. That means re-adding the alarm doesn't skip today's instance, even though it's repeating. What I want to achieve: Skip or suppress today's alarms when the user stops them manually Keep the same alarms active for their scheduled days in the future Questions: Is there a way in AlarmKit to prevent a repeating alarm from ringing today if it was just re-added or there are better alternatives to this problem? Is the only workaround to delay re-adding until after today’s alarms would have fired? What is the best approach to achieve this?

We’re seeing unexpected NFC behavior once our app has 50+ Advanced App Clips created. Expected: Scanning an NFC tag with a URL that is NOT an App Clip invocation should show the standard “Open in Safari” notification. Actual: After we create ~50+ Advanced App Clips, scanning NFC tags for URLs on the same domain that are not associated with App Clips consistently shows “CPSErrorDomain error 2” instead of the Safari prompt.
 QR codes for the same non–App Clip URLs work as expected (shows Safari prompt). Clearing the App Clips “Experience Cache” sometimes helps briefly, but the error returns on consequent scans. Notes: Domain has valid AASA. App Clip invocation URLs work as expected.
 The issue appears tied to the number of Advanced App Clips configured. Below ~50, non–App Clip NFC scans behave correctly; above that, they fail.
 Affected across multiple devices and iOS versions tested. Repro steps: Configure 50+ Advanced App Clips for paths on a single domain.
 Encode a different URL on the same domain that is NOT listed as an App Clip invocation into an NFC tag.
 Scan the NFC tag on iPhone.
 Observe “CPSErrorDomain error 2” instead of the “Open in Safari” notification. Impact: blocks our NFC use case for regular web links once we scale App Clip experiences. Sysdiagnose #: FB20563121

I'm sitting at my house and trying to sign my test device out of my apple ID so I can sign into a Sandbox user, but now I have an hour to kill because of this terribly broken "security" feature that thinks it's in an unfamiliar location, despite being at the only location it's ever known. Looks like I'll just be disabling this feature all together. Especially as a device with Developer Mode enabled, which gets reset regularly, there should be additional options here. Come on!