iOS 26 NWPathMonitor dont handle any updates - always all good.

I'm writing an application that implements a Bonjour service and browser for the purpose of connecting to Logic Pro and interacting with a MIDI Device Script. Because it's connecting to Logic Pro running on the same system as the application, the service and browser do not need to access anything else on the local network. I'm creating the service and browser with calls like this: err = DNSServiceRegister( &serviceRef, 0, kDNSServiceInterfaceIndexLocalOnly, "MyService", "_osc._udp", "local", nullptr, 52854, txtLen, txtRecord, static_cast<DNSServiceRegisterReply>(myCallback), context ); err = DNSServiceBrowse( &browserRef, 0, kDNSServiceInterfaceIndexLocalOnly, "_osc._udp", nullptr, static_cast<DNSServiceBrowseReply>(browserCallback), context ); Despite the fact that I'm passing in kDNSServiceInterfaceIndexLocalOnly for the network interface, it still triggers an "Allow 'Application' to find devices on local networks?" permissions prompt. How can I avoid that prompt? It is both a significant failure point (in case users don't notice it or click 'Don't Allow' by mistake) but it may also scare them away, since it strongly implies my application is scanning devices on the local network, even though it's doing no such thing!

We have an iOS companion app that talks to our IoT device over the device’s own Wi‑Fi network (often with no internet). The app performs bi-directional, safety-critical duties over that link. We use an NEAppPushProvider extension so the handset can keep exchanging data while the UI is backgrounded. During testing we noticed that if the user backgrounds the app (still connected to the device’s Wi‑Fi) and opens Safari, the extension’s stop is invoked with NEProviderStopReason.unrecoverableNetworkChange / noNetworkAvailable, and iOS tears the extension down. Until the system restarts the extension (e.g. the user foregrounds our app again), the app cannot send/receive its safety-critical data. Questions: Is there a supported way to stop a safety-critical NEAppPushProvider from being terminated in this “background app → open Safari” scenario when the device remains on the same Wi‑Fi network (possibly without internet)? If not, is NEAppPushProvider the correct extension type for an always-on local-network use case like this, or is there another API we should be using? For safety-critical applications, can Apple grant entitlements/exemptions so the system does not terminate the extension when the user switches apps but stays on the local Wi‑Fi? Any guidance on the expected lifecycle or alternative patterns for safety-critical local connectivity would be greatly appreciated.

I am trying to create an application extension which provides vpn functionality over network extension with packet-tunnel. But when I enable vpn it doesn't call related callbacks. Currently, i didn't find any example in qt documentation. So I read the documents of ios and qt and trying to find the right path. Here is the CMakeLists.txt add_executable(overlay-service MACOSX_BUNDLE main.cpp tunnel_provider.h tunnel_provider.mm) set_target_properties(overlay-service PROPERTIES MACOSX_BUNDLE_IDENTIFIER org.zenarmor.zenoverlay.network-extension BUNDLE YES XCODE_PRODUCT_TYPE com.apple.product-type.app-extension # XCODE_EMBED_FRAMEWORKS /System/Library/Frameworks/NetworkExtension.framework ) target_link_libraries( overlay-service PUBLIC Qt6::CorePrivate overlay-lib ) tunnel_provider.h #ifndef _TUNNEL_PROVIDER_H #define _TUNNEL_PROVIDER_H #import <Foundation/Foundation.h> #import <NetworkExtension/NetworkExtension.h> @interface ZenTunnelProvider : NEPacketTunnelProvider { int fd; } - (void) startTunnelWithOptions:(NSDictionary<NSString *,NSObject *> *) options completionHandler:(void (^)(NSError * error)) completionHandler; - (void) stopTunnelWithReason:(NEProviderStopReason) reason completionHandler:(void (^)()) completionHandler; @end #endif tunnel_provider.mm #import <Foundation/Foundation.h> #import <os/log.h> @implementation ZenTunnelProvider - (void) startTunnelWithOptions:(NSDictionary<NSString *,NSObject *> *) options completionHandler:(void (^)(NSError * error)) completionHandler { NSLog(@"===================== Tunnel Started, x=%i, %@", 5, self.protocolConfiguration); completionHandler(nil); } - (void) stopTunnelWithReason:(NEProviderStopReason) reason completionHandler:(void (^)()) completionHandler{ NSLog(@"===================== Tunnel Stopped");; completionHandler(); } @end How I create configuration is: provider_protocol.providerBundleIdentifier = @"org.zenarmor.zenoverlay.packet-tunnel"; provider_protocol.serverAddress = @"0.0.0.0"; provider_protocol.providerConfiguration = @{ @"helloString" : @"Hello, World!", @"magicNumber" : @42 }; NSLog(@"===================== Vpn configuration is written, x=%i", 5); vpn_manager.protocolConfiguration = provider_protocol; vpn_manager.localizedDescription = @"ZenOverlayTunnel"; vpn_manager.enabled = true; [vpn_manager saveToPreferencesWithCompletionHandler:^(NSError * _Nullable error) { if (error) { NSLog(@"err: %@", error); } else { NSLog(@"Successfully saved"); } }]; main.cpp #include <QCoreApplication> #include <iostream> int main(int argc, char **argv) { QCoreApplication app(argc, argv); std::cout << "Hello world" << std::endl; return app.exec(); } startTunnelWithOptions is not triggered when I enable vpn from settings on IOS. Could anyone. help to identify the issue?

I have a requirement to create a VPN app which only works on Cellular. But I'm facing an issue like when wifi is ON, OS is using wifi interface to route the traffic instead of cellular. I tried some ways like let cellularParams = NWParameters.udp cellularParams.requiredInterfaceType = .cellular But this is not working properly as expected. How can I manually bind to cellular interface in iOS?

Hi, I’m trying to download a remote file in the background, but I keep getting a strange behaviour where URLSession download my file indefinitely during a few minutes, without calling urlSession(_:downloadTask:didFinishDownloadingTo:) until the download eventually times out. To find out that it’s looping, I’ve observed the total bytes written on disk by implementing urlSession(_:downloadTask:didWriteData:totalBytesWritten:totalBytesExpectedToWrite:). Note that I can't know the size of the file. The server is not able to calculate the size. Below is my implementation. I create an instance of URLSession like this: private lazy var session: URLSession = { let configuration = URLSessionConfiguration.background(withIdentifier: backgroundIdentifier) configuration.isDiscretionary = false configuration.sessionSendsLaunchEvents = true return URLSession(configuration: configuration, delegate: self, delegateQueue: nil) }() My service is using async/await so I have implemented an AsyncThrowingStream : private var downloadTask: URLSessionDownloadTask? private var continuation: AsyncThrowingStream&lt;(URL, URLResponse), Error&gt;.Continuation? private var stream: AsyncThrowingStream&lt;(URL, URLResponse), Error&gt; { AsyncThrowingStream&lt;(URL, URLResponse), Error&gt; { continuation in self.continuation = continuation self.continuation?.onTermination = { @Sendable [weak self] data in self?.downloadTask?.cancel() } downloadTask?.resume() } } Then to start the download, I do : private func download(with request: URLRequest) async throws -&gt; (URL, URLResponse) { do { downloadTask = session.downloadTask(with: request) for try await (url, response) in stream { return (url, response) } throw NetworkingError.couldNotBuildRequest } catch { throw error } } Then in the delegate : public func urlSession(_ session: URLSession, downloadTask: URLSessionDownloadTask, didFinishDownloadingTo location: URL) { guard let response = downloadTask.response, downloadTask.error == nil, (response as? HTTPURLResponse)?.statusCode == 200 else { continuation?.finish(throwing: downloadTask.error) return } do { let documentsURL = try FileManager.default.url(for: .documentDirectory, in: .userDomainMask, appropriateFor: nil, create: false) let savedURL = documentsURL.appendingPathComponent(location.lastPathComponent) try FileManager.default.moveItem(at: location, to: savedURL) continuation?.yield((savedURL, response)) continuation?.finish() } catch { continuation?.finish(throwing: error) } } I also tried to replace let configuration = URLSessionConfiguration.background(withIdentifier: backgroundIdentifier) by let configuration = URLSessionConfiguration.default and this time I get a different error at the end of the download: Task &lt;0457F755-9C52-4CFB-BDB2-F378D0C94912&gt;.&lt;1&gt; failed strict content length check - expected: 0, received: 530692, received (uncompressed): 0 Task &lt;0457F755-9C52-4CFB-BDB2-F378D0C94912&gt;.&lt;1&gt; finished with error [-1005] Error Domain=NSURLErrorDomain Code=-1005 "The network connection was lost." UserInfo={NSLocalizedDescription=The network connection was lost., NSErrorFailingURLStringKey=https:/&lt;host&gt;:8190/proxy?Func=downloadVideoByUrl&amp;SessionId=slufzwrMadvyJad8Lkmi9RUNAeqeq, NSErrorFailingURLKey=https://&lt;host&gt;:8190/proxy?Func=downloadVideoByUrl&amp;SessionId=slufzwrMadvyJad8Lkmi9RUNAeqeq, _NSURLErrorRelatedURLSessionTaskErrorKey=( "LocalDownloadTask &lt;0457F755-9C52-4CFB-BDB2-F378D0C94912&gt;.&lt;1&gt;" ), _NSURLErrorFailingURLSessionTaskErrorKey=LocalDownloadTask &lt;0457F755-9C52-4CFB-BDB2-F378D0C94912&gt;.&lt;1&gt;, NSUnderlyingError=0x300d9a7c0 {Error Domain=kCFErrorDomainCFNetwork Code=-1005 "(null)" UserInfo={NSErrorPeerAddressKey=&lt;CFData 0x302139db0 [0x1fcb1f598]&gt;{length = 16, capacity = 16, bytes = 0x10021ffe91e227500000000000000000}}}} The log "failed strict content length check” made me look into the response header, which has the following: content-length: 0 Content-Type: application/force-download Transfer-encoding: chunked Connection: KEEP-ALIVE Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary So it should be fine the way I setup my URLSession. The download works fine in Chrome/Safari/Chrome or Postman. My code used to work a couple of weeks before, so I expect something has changed on the server side, but I can’t find what, and I don’t get much help from the guys on the server side. Has anyone an idea of what’s going on?

Hello, I am in a very similar situation as described in the thread: https://aninterestingwebsite.com/forums/thread/655183 Context: I am working on an app that receives data from a hardware device through its Wifi network, and the hardware is not connected to the internet. Now, I would need to call some API while still connected to hardware so I would need to use the cellular data. As mentioned on the thread, I can achieve this via Network framework, using the requiredInterfaceType property. But Is there any other way I can achieve this? I can also do some suggestion on the hardware if that's helpful. Thank you!

Is it possible to capture or inspect UDP traffic using iOS content filter APIs (e.g., NEFilterDataProvider)? If not, what are the current technical or policy limitations that prevent UDP inspection via these frameworks? Any insights or suggestions on these topics would be highly appreciated.

We are currently working on a zero-configuration networking compliant device thru avahi-daemon. Our Device want to have multiple Instance name for different services. Example InstanceA._ipps._tcp.local. InstanceA._ipp._tcp.local. InstanceB._ipps._tcp.local. InstanceB._ipp._tcp.local. Will BCT confuse this as multiple device connected in the network and cause it to fail? Does Bonjour only allows only a Single Instance name with multiple services?

Greetings I'm trying to get on iPad the SSID from the wifi I'm connected to. For that, I added the wifi entitlement and I'm requesting permission to the user for Location. Once I have it, I'm using the function CNCopySupportedInterfaces to get the interfaces, but I can only receive the en0, which using the method CNCopyCurrentNetworkInfo returns nil. I also tried using the NEHotspotNetwork.fetchCurrent and the SSID keeps being nil. So right now I'm drawing a blank. Is there any way to make it work? Thanks.

Question: What is the standard, most reliable way to manage temporary files associated with a URLSessionDownloadTask that has been terminated abnormally due to a network error or other issues? Details Hello, I'm currently developing a feature to download multiple files concurrently on iOS using URLSessionDownloadTask, and I have a question regarding the lifecycle of the temporary files created during this process. As I understand it, URLSessionDownloadTask stores incoming data in a temporary file within the tmp directory, typically with a name like CFNetworkDownload_*.tmp. In my testing, temporary files are managed correctly in the normal scenario. For instance, when I call the cancel() method on an active downloadTask and then release all references to it, the corresponding temporary file is automatically cleaned up from the tmp directory shortly after. However, the problem occurs when a download is interrupted abnormally due to external factors, such as a lost network connection. In this situation, the urlSession(_:task:didCompleteWithError:) delegate method is called, but the associated temporary file is not deleted and remains in the tmp directory. I've observed a particularly interesting behavior related to this. Immediately after the error occurs, if I check my app's storage usage in the iOS Settings app, the data size appears to have decreased momentarily. However, the tmp file has not actually been deleted, and after a short while, the storage usage is recalculated to include the size of this orphaned temporary file. Since my app does not support resuming interrupted downloads, these leftover files become orphaned and unnecessarily consume storage. Therefore, I want to ensure they are all reliably deleted. With this context, I'd like to ask the community: What is the standard, most reliable way to manage temporary files associated with a URLSessionDownloadTask that has been terminated abnormally due to a network error or other issues? I am wondering if there is an official guide or a framework-level API to handle these orphaned files. I would appreciate any advice from those with experience in this area. Thank you.

Starting with macOS 15 (Sequoia), applications that perform network discovery operations now trigger a permission prompt: "Allow [AppName] to find devices on local networks". I am using sysctl() with NET_RT_FLAGS and RTF_LLINFO to access the ARP table and retrieve gateway MAC addresses: int mib[6]; mib[0] = CTL_NET; mib[1] = PF_ROUTE; mib[2] = 0; mib[3] = AF_INET; mib[4] = NET_RT_FLAGS; mib[5] = RTF_LLINFO; // This flag accesses ARP table entries if (sysctl(mib, 6, buf, &amp;needed, NULL, 0) &lt; 0) return nil; From my testing, the Local Network Access prompt does not always appear. It looks like if the MAC address is already cached in the ARP table, no prompt is shown, and the prompt only appears when the system needs to resolve a new MAC address. Is this correct behavior? Does ARP resolution by itself triggering the prompt?

I am developing an iOS application using NWPathMonitor for network connectivity monitoring. We discovered a reproducible issue where disabling and re-enabling WiFi triggers an unexpected network status sequence. ENVIRONMENT: iOS Version: 17.x Device: iPhone (various models tested) Network Framework: NWPathMonitor from iOS Network framework STEPS TO REPRODUCE: Device connected to WiFi normally Disable WiFi via Settings or Control Center Re-enable WiFi via Settings or Control Center EXPECTED BEHAVIOR: WiFi reconnects and NWPathMonitor reports stable satisfied status ACTUAL BEHAVIOR: T+0s: WiFi re-enables, NWPathMonitor reports path.status = .satisfied T+8s: NWPathMonitor unexpectedly reports path.status = .unsatisfied with unsatisfiedReason = .notAvailable T+9-10s: NWPathMonitor reports path.status = .satisfied again Connection becomes stable afterward NETWORK PATH TIMELINE: T+0s: satisfied (IPv4: true, DNS: false) T+140ms: satisfied (IPv4: true, DNS: true) T+8.0s: unsatisfied (reason: notAvailable, no interfaces available) T+10.0s: satisfied (IPv4: true, DNS: true) KEY OBSERVATIONS: Timing consistency: unsatisfied event always occurs ~8 seconds after reconnection resolution: "Reset Network Settings" eliminates this behavior TECHNICAL QUESTIONS: What causes the 8-second delayed unsatisfied status after WiFi re-enablement? Is this expected behavior that applications should handle? Why does reset network setting in iPhone fix this issue?

Is There a Reliable Way to Check Local Network Permission Status in 2025? I've read many similar requests, but I'm posting this in 2025 to ask: Is there any official or reliable method to check the current Local Network permission status on iOS 18.x? We need this to guide or navigate users to the appropriate Settings page when permission is denied. Background Our app is an IoT companion app, and Local Network access is core to our product's functionality. Without this permission, our app cannot communicate with the IoT hardware. Sadly, Apple doesn't provide any official API to check the current status of this permission. This limitation has caused confusion for many users, and we frequently receive bug reports simply because users have accidentally denied the permission and the app can no longer function as expected. Our App High Level Flow: 1. Trigger Permission We attempt to trigger the Local Network permission using Bonjour discovery and browsing methods. (see the implementation) Since there's no direct API to request this permission, we understand that iOS will automatically prompt the user when the app makes its first actual attempt to communicate with a local network device. However, in our case, this creates a problem: The permission prompt appears only at the time of the first real connection attempt (e.g., when sending an HTTP request to the IoT device). This results in a poor user experience, as the request begins before the permission is granted. The first request fails silently in the background while the permission popup appears unexpectedly. We cannot wait for the user's response to proceed, which leads to unreliable behavior and confusing flows. To avoid this issue, we trigger the Local Network permission proactively using Bonjour-based discovery methods. This ensures that the system permission prompt appears before any critical communication with the IoT device occurs. We’ve tried alternative approaches like sending dummy requests, but they were not reliable or consistent across devices or iOS versions. (see the support ticket) 2. Wi-Fi Connection: Once permission is granted, we allow the user to connect to the IoT device’s local Wi-Fi. 3. IoT Device Configuration: After connecting, we send an HTTP request to a known static IP (e.g., 192.168.4.1) on the IoT network to configure the hardware. I assume this pattern is common among all Wi-Fi-based IoT devices and apps. Problem: Even though we present clear app-level instructions when the system prompt appears, some users accidentally deny the Local Network permission. In those cases, there’s no API to check if the permission was denied, so: We can’t display a helpful message. We can’t guide the user to Settings → Privacy &amp; Security → Local Network to re-enable it. The app fails silently or behaves unpredictably. Developer Needs: As app developers, we want to handle negative cases gracefully by: Detecting if the Local Network permission was denied Showing a relevant message or a prompt to go to Settings Preventing silent failures and improving UX So the question is: What is the current, official, or recommended way to determine whether Local Network permission is granted or denied in iOS 18.x (as of 2025)? This permission is critical for a huge category of apps especially IoT and local communication-based products. We hope Apple will offer a better developer experience around this soon. Thanks in advance to anyone who can share updated guidance.

I'm trying to distribute a sandboxed macOS app with a PacketTunnelProvider (system extension) via direct distribution (outside of AppStore). The app and the extension both use the same app group, using the new group.com.XXXX.YYYY format detailed here for 10.15+ https://aninterestingwebsite.com/forums/thread/721701 I've also followed the instructions below to get around the quirk of not being able to directly process it via XCode: https://aninterestingwebsite.com/forums/thread/737894 I've re-signed with Developer ID certificate, all that is smooth and successfully notarized. However upon running the app I get: "My.app" would like to access data from other apps. Checking ~/Library/Containers ~/Library/Group Containers I see the correct files folders have been created before I select Don't Allow and Allow. My app does not access any files or folders outside of the sandboxed directories. How can I prevent this from happening? In order to diagnose further, how to diagnose exactly which files/folder the app is trying to access that is causing this problem?

Apple's Wi-Fi Aware demo shows that pairing is required before establishing a connection. Is this pairing mandatory? Can Android devices pair with Apple devices? My Android device strictly supports Wi-Fi Aware 4.0 and I want to achieve interoperability with Apple devices.

I want to know the reason for last Wi-Fi disconnection. It would be helpful to that I can get the reason-code received from the access point.

Following previous question here :https://aninterestingwebsite.com/forums/thread/801397, I've decided to move my VPN implementation using NEPacketTunnelProvider on a dedicated networkExtension. My extension receives packets using readPacketsWithCompletionHandler and forwards them immediately to a daemon through a shared memory ring buffer with Mach port signaling. The daemon then encapsulates the packets with our VPN protocol and sends them over a UDP socket. I'm seeing significant throughput degradation, much higher than the tunnel overhead itself. On our side, the IPC path supports parallel handling, but I'm not not sure whether the provider has any internal limitation that prevents packets from being processed in parallel. The tunnel protocol requires packet ordering, but preparation can be done in parallel if the provider allows it. Is there any inherent constraint in NEPacketTunnelProvider that prevents concurrent packet handling, or any recommended approach to improve throughput in this model? For comparison, when I create a utun interface manually with ifconfig and route traffic through it, I observe performance that is about four times faster.

I am making a USB attached IoT device that follows the Matter approach to connectivity (IP/mDNS/DHCP). I am having conflicts with it as it appears to MacOS as an Ethernet adapter and this is causing it to be assigned as a "default" route, interfering with routing when my Mac is connected to NAT based WiFi. I'd like to be able to hint to MacOS & iPadOS that this is not a routable private network, the subnet should be respected and a default route should not be assigned to it, otherwise the order of the device connection is used by the IP routing tables and I am concerned my non-routable private network will initialize before Wifi and block NAT based internet connectivity. How can I hint to MacOS/iPadOS "this is not a routable private network, this is not a NAT, do not assign me a default route beyond the subnet I have provided you."

Our app supports live streaming (RTSP, RTMP, WebRTC) functionality. After updating to the 18.5 Developer Beta version, we’ve encountered an issue where streaming over LTE is not working for customers using SKT (SK Telecom) as their carrier. Upon investigation, it seems that a similar issue might be occurring with a streaming service app called "SOOP." I would appreciate it if you could share any information regarding this bug. Thank you.