We're encountering an issue with our Network Extension (utilizing NEPacketTunnelProvider and NETransparentProxy) on macOS 14.5 (23F79). On some systems, the VPN fails to automatically start after a reboot despite calling startVPNTunnel(). There are no error messages. Our code attempts to start the tunnel: ....... do { try manager.connection.startVPNTunnel() Logger.default("Started tunnel successfully") } catch { Logger.error("Failed to launch tunnel") } ...... System log analysis reveals the tunnel stopping due to userLogout (NEProviderStopReason(rawValue: 12)) during reboot. However, the Transparent Proxy stops due to userInitiated (NEProviderStopReason(rawValue: 1)) for the same reboot. We need to understand: Why the VPNTunnel isn't starting automatically. Why the userLogout reason is triggered during reboot. Additional Context: We have manually started the VPN from System Settings before reboot.

Hi, Our project is a MacOS SwiftUI GUI application that bundles a System Network Extension, signed with a Developer ID certificate for distribution outside of the app store. The system network extension is used to write a packet tunnel provider. The signing of the app & network extension is handled by XCode (v16.0.0), we do not run codesign ourselves. We have no issues with XPC or the system network extension during normal usage, nor when the application is installed on a user's device for the first time. The problem only arises when the user upgrades the application. I have experienced this issue myself, as have our users. It's been reported on Apple Silicon macbooks running at least macOS 15.3.2. Much like the SimpleFirewall example (which we used as a reference), we use XPC for basic communication of state between the app and NE. These XPC connections stop working when the user installs a new version of the app, with OS logs from the process indicating that the connection is immediately invalidated. Subsequent connection attempts are also immediately invalidated. Toggling the VPN in system settings (or via the app) does not resolve the problem, nor does restarting the app, nor does deleting and reinstalling the app, nor does restarting the device. The only reliable workaround is to delete the system extension in Login Items & Extensions, under Network Extensions. No device restart is necessary to garbage collect the old extension - once the extension is reapproved by the user, the XPC issue resolves itself. This would be an acceptable workaround were it possible to automate the deleting of the system extension, but that appears deliberately not possible, and requiring our users to do this each time they update is unreasonable. When the upgraded app is opened for the first time, the OSSystemExtensionRequest request is sent, and the outcome is that the previously installed system network extension is replaced, as both the CFBundleVersion and CFBundleShortVersionString differ. When this issue is encountered, the output of systemextensionsctl list shows the later version is installed and activated. I've been able to reproduce this bug on my personal laptop, with SIP on and systemextensionsctl developer off, but on my work laptop with SIP off and systemextensionsctl developer on (where the network extension is replaced on each activation request, instead of only when the version strings differ), I do not encounter this issue, which leads me to believe it has something to do with the notarization process. We notarize the pkg using xcrun notarytool, and then staple to the pkg. This is actually the same issue described in: https://aninterestingwebsite.com/forums/thread/711713 https://aninterestingwebsite.com/forums/thread/667597 https://aninterestingwebsite.com/forums/thread/742992 https://aninterestingwebsite.com/forums/thread/728063 but it's been a while since any of these threads were updated, and we've made attempts to address it off the suggestions in the threads to no avail. Those suggestions are: Switching to a .pkg installer from a .dmg As part of the .pkg preinstall, doing all of the following: Stopping the VPN (scutil --nc stop), shutting down the app (using osascript 'quit app id'), and deleting the app (which claims to delete the network extension, but not the approval in Login Items & Extensions remains??), by running rm -rf on the bundle in /Applications As part of the .pkg postinstall: Forcing macOS to ingest the App bundle's notarization ticket using spctl --assess. Ensuring NSXPCListener.resume() is called after autoreleasepool { NEProvider.startSystemExtensionMode() } (mentioned in a forum thread above as a fix, did not help.) One thing I'm particularly interested in is the outcome of this feedback assistant ticket, as I can't view it: FB11086599. It was shared on this forum in the first thread above, and supposedly describes the same issue. I almost find it hard to believe that this issue has been around for this many years without a workaround (there's system network extension apps out there that appear to work fine when updating, are they not using XPC?), so I wonder if there's a fix described in that FB ticket. Since I can't view that above feedback ticket, I've created my own: FB17032197

Hi there! We are working on our SkyElectric App which is being developed in Flutter framework, where we need user to connect with the Wifi of the the inverter. We are trying to direct user to WiFi Settings page of the iOS in general settings where all the available WiFi Networks are listed but unfortunately user is being directed to App's Settings page. We are using package of app_settings and launcher. I've read that Apple changed a policy in 2019 where it restricts Apps to navigate to OS pages. Question: Could you please verify if I APPLE allows us to access the General Settings or WiFi Settings through clicking a button in our App name "Open WiFi Settings", If not then Why?

While trying to use Bonjour, i am encountering an issue. I was following the setup of Bonjour as described here: (https://aninterestingwebsite.com/forums/thread/735862) the response is this : nw_browser_fail_on_dns_error_locked [B2] nw_browser_dns_service_browse_callback failed: PolicyDenied(-65570) browser did change state, new: waiting(-65570: PolicyDenied) i tried modifying the info.plist to include NSLocalNetworkUsageDescription and NSBonjourServices but still getting the same a workout or solution is much appreciated !

Hello! I have a quirky situation that I am looking for a solution to. The iOS app I am working on needs to be able to communicate with systems that do not have valid root certs. Furthermore, these systems addresses will be sent to the user at run time. The use case is that administrators will provide a self signed certificate (.pem) for the iPhones to download which will then be used to pass the authentication challenge. I am fairly new to customizing trust and my understanding is that it is very easy to do it incorrectly and expose the app unintentionally. Here is our users expected workflow: An administrator creates a public ip server. The ip server is then configured with dns. A .pem file that includes a self signed certificate is created for the new dns domain. The pem file is distributed to iOS devices to download and enable trust for. When they run the app and attempt to establish connection with the server, it will not error with an SSL error. When I run the app without modification to the URLSessionDelegate method(s) I do get an SSL error. Curiously, attempting to hit the same address in Safari will not show the insecure warning and proceed without incident. What is the best way to parity the Safari use case for our app? Do I need to modify the urlSession(_ session: URLSession, didReceive challenge: URLAuthenticationChallenge, completionHandler: @escaping (URLSession.AuthChallengeDisposition, URLCredential?) -> Void) method to examine the NSURLAuthenticationMethodServerTrust? Maybe there is a way to have the delegate look through all the certs in keychain or something to find a match? What would you advise here? Sincerely thank you for taking the time to help me, ~Puzzled iOS Dev

I am trying to make http3 client with Network.framework on Apple platforms. Codes that implement NWConnectionGroup.start with NWListener don't always work with warning below. I assume NWConnectionGroup.newConnectionHandler or NWListener.newConnectionHandler will be called to start connection from the server if it works. nw_protocol_instance_add_new_flow [C1.1.1:2] No listener registered, cannot accept new flow quic_stream_add_new_flow [C1.1.1:2] [-fde1594b83caa9b7] failed to create new stream for received stream id 3 so I tried: create the NWListener -> not work check whether NWConnectionGroup has a member to register or not NWListener -> not work (it doesn't have). use NWConnection instead of NWConnectionGroup -> not work Is my understanding correct? How should I do to set or associate listener with NWConnection/Group for newConnectionHandler is called and to delete wanings? What is the best practice in the case? Sample codes are below. Thanks in advance. // http3 needs unidirectional stream by the server and client. // listener private let _listener: NWListener let option: NWProtocolQUIC.Options = .init(alpn:["h3"]) let param: NWParameters = .init(quic: option) _listener = try! .init(using: param) _listener.stateUpdateHandler = { state in print("listener state: \(state)") } _listener.newConnectionHandler = { newConnection in print("new connection added") } _listener.serviceRegistrationUpdateHandler = { registrationState in print("connection registrationstate") } // create connection private let _group: NWConnectionGroup let options: NWProtocolQUIC.Options = .init(alpn: ["h3"]) options.direction = .unidirectional options.isDatagram = false options.maxDatagramFrameSize = 65535 sec_protocol_options_set_verify_block(options.securityProtocolOptions, {(_: sec_protocol_metadata_t, _: sec_trust_t, completion: @escaping sec_protocol_verify_complete_t) in print("cert completion.") completion(true) }, .global()) let params: NWParameters = .init(quic: options) let group: NWMultiplexGroup = .init( to: .hostPort(host: NWEndpoint.Host("google.com"), port: NWEndpoint.Port(String(443))!)) _group = .init(with: group, using: params) _group.setReceiveHandler {message,content,isComplete in print("receive: \(message)") } _group.newConnectionHandler = {newConnection in print("newConnectionHandler: \(newConnection.state)") } _group.stateUpdateHandler = { state in print("state: \(state)") } _group.start(queue: .global()) _listener.start(queue: .global()) if let conn = _group.extract() { let data: Data = .init() let _ = _group.reinsert(connection: conn) conn.send(content: data, completion: .idempotent) }

Title: Loss of Internet Connectivity on iOS Device When Packet Tunnel Crashes Feedback ticket: https://feedbackassistant.apple.com/feedback/14162605 Product: iPhone 12 Version: iOS - 17.5.1 Configuration: NETunnelProviderManager Configuration Description: We are developing an iOS VPN client and have configured our packet tunnel provider according to Apple's guidelines. The configuration is as follows: includeAllNetworks = YES excludeLocalNetworks = NO enforceRoutes = NO This setup works as expected when the VPN successfully connects. However, we encounter a blocker issue where the device loses internet connectivity if the packet tunnel crashes. Steps to Reproduce: Configure the NETunnelProviderManager with the above settings. Connect the VPN, which successfully establishes a connection. Verify that resources are accessible and internet connectivity is functional. Packet tunnel to crash unexpectedly.Observe that the NE process (Packet Tunnel) restarts automatically, as expected and attempts to reconnect the VPN; however, the device now lacks internet connectivity, preventing VPN reconnection. Try accessing resources using Safari or any other internet-dependent app, resulting in an error indicating the device is not connected to the internet. Actual Results: The device loses internet connectivity after the packet tunnel crashes and fails to regain it automatically, preventing the VPN from reconnecting. Expected Results: The device should maintain internet connectivity or recover connectivity to allow the VPN to reconnect successfully after the packet tunnel process restarts. Workaround - iPhone device needs a restart to regain internet connectivity .

Hello, We have a SwiftUI-based application that runs as a LaunchAgent and communicates with other internal components using Unix domain sockets (UDS). On Sequoia (macOS virtualized environment), when installing the app, we encounter the Local Network Privacy Alert, asking: "Allow [AppName] to find and connect to devices on the local network?" We are not using any actual network communication — only interprocess communication via UDS. Is there a way to prevent this system prompt, either through MDM configuration or by adjusting our socket-related implementation? Here's a brief look at our Swift/NIO usage: class ClientHandler: ChannelInboundHandler { ... public func channelRead(context: ChannelHandlerContext, data: NIOAny) { ... } ... } // init bootstrap. var bootstrap: ClientBootstrap { return ClientBootstrap(group: group) // Also tried to remove the .so_reuseaddr, the prompt was still there. .channelOption(ChannelOptions.socketOption(.so_reuseaddr), value: 1) .channelInitializer { channel in // Add ChannelInboundHandler reader. channel.pipeline.addHandler(ClientHandler()) } } // connect to the UDS. self.bootstrap.connect(unixDomainSocketPath: self.path).whenSuccess { (channel) in .. self.channel = channel } ... ... // Send some data. self.channel?.writeAndFlush(buffer).wait() Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Hello! 👋 I am noticing new failures in the iOS 18.5 Developer Beta build (22EF5042g) when calling the system call connect() (from C++ source, in network extension). When using cell/mobile data (Mint & T-Mobile) this returns with EINTR (interrupted system call) right away. When I switch over to wifi, everything works fine. Note: I have not tested on other mobile carriers; which could make a difference since T-Mobile/Mint are IPv6 networks. FWIW, this is working in the previous developer beta (18.4). Anyone have any ideas?

I am creating an application that needs to connect to an Iot device, so i want to make a wifi hotspot with a custom SSID and password and WPA3. Could you please provide an example code in Objective-C to get started?

Hi there. How can I do for the title? URLRequest seems not to have property for protocols. NSURLSessionWebSocketTask seems to have either URLRequest or protocols, but have neither of them. What I want to do is setting both protocols and headers when using WebSocket. Should I use Network.framework instead?

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 & 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.

Network is not working when over 50MB size file upload smb using NEFilterDataProvider in macOS The event received through NEFilterDataProvider is returned immediately without doing any other work. override func handleNewFlow(_ flow: NEFilterFlow) -> NEFilterNewFlowVerdict { guard let socketFlow = flow as? NEFilterSocketFlow, let auditToken = socketFlow.sourceAppAuditToken, let remoteEndpoint = socketFlow.remoteEndpoint as? NWHostEndpoint, let localEndpoint = socketFlow.localEndpoint as? NWHostEndpoint else { return .allow() } return .filterDataVerdict(withFilterInbound: true, peekInboundBytes: Int.max, filterOutbound: true, peekOutboundBytes: Int.max) } override func handleInboundData(from flow: NEFilterFlow, readBytesStartOffset offset: Int, readBytes: Data) -> NEFilterDataVerdict { guard let socketFlow = flow as? NEFilterSocketFlow, let auditToken = socketFlow.sourceAppAuditToken, let remoteEndpoint = socketFlow.remoteEndpoint as? NWHostEndpoint, let localEndpoint = socketFlow.localEndpoint as? NWHostEndpoint else { return .allow() } return NEFilterDataVerdict(passBytes: readBytes.count, peekBytes: Int.max) } override func handleOutboundData(from flow: NEFilterFlow, readBytesStartOffset offset: Int, readBytes: Data) -> NEFilterDataVerdict { guard let socketFlow = flow as? NEFilterSocketFlow, let auditToken = socketFlow.sourceAppAuditToken, let remoteEndpoint = socketFlow.remoteEndpoint as? NWHostEndpoint, let localEndpoint = socketFlow.localEndpoint as? NWHostEndpoint else { return .allow() } return NEFilterDataVerdict(passBytes: readBytes.count, peekBytes: Int.max) } override func handleInboundDataComplete(for flow: NEFilterFlow) -> NEFilterDataVerdict { guard let socketFlow = flow as? NEFilterSocketFlow, let auditToken = socketFlow.sourceAppAuditToken, let remoteEndpoint = socketFlow.remoteEndpoint as? NWHostEndpoint, let localEndpoint = socketFlow.localEndpoint as? NWHostEndpoint else { return .allow() } return .allow() } override func handleOutboundDataComplete(for flow: NEFilterFlow) -> NEFilterDataVerdict { guard let socketFlow = flow as? NEFilterSocketFlow, let auditToken = socketFlow.sourceAppAuditToken, let remoteEndpoint = socketFlow.remoteEndpoint as? NWHostEndpoint, let localEndpoint = socketFlow.localEndpoint as? NWHostEndpoint else { return .allow() } return .allow() } how can i fix it?

On an iOS 18 device, after installing the application and initially denying local network permission when prompted, manually enabling this permission in the system settings does not resolve the issue. After uninstalling and reinstalling the app, although local network access is granted, the app cannot discover smart hardware devices over the local area network (LAN) or proceed with configuration. The smart hardware sends configuration data packets over the LAN, but the app fails to receive these packets. This issue persists even after another uninstall and reinstall of the app. However, rebooting the device restores normal functionality. Steps to Reproduce: Install the application on an iOS 18 device. Upon first launch, deny the request for local network permissions. Manually enable local network permissions via "Settings" > [App Name]. Uninstall and then reinstall the application. Attempt to discover and configure smart hardware devices using the app. Notice that the app fails to receive configuration data packets sent by the smart hardware over the LAN. Expected Result: The application should be able to normally receive configuration data packets from smart hardware devices over the LAN and successfully complete the configuration process after obtaining local network permissions. Actual Result: Even after being granted local network permissions, the application cannot discover devices or receive configuration data packets over the LAN unless the iPhone device is rebooted. (reinstall app and obtaining local network permissions is not work too.)

Hello, Recently I am trying to add stub dns server to my Network Extension (a VPN app), after some research on this forum, and since my language is C, I have the following plan: create a udp socket which use setsockopt(IP_BOUND_IF) to bound the socket to the utun if index obtained, and also bind to the address of the utun address I set(let's say 192.168.99.2), then listen on the udp port 53 which is ready to handle dns request. configure the dns server to 192.168.99.2 in the provider's Network Settings, thus iOS system will send udp query to the udp socket created in step 1, and it can then do some split dns function such as resolve using local interface (cellular or wifi), or some nameserve which will be routed to the VPN tunnel (will create new UDP socket and do IP_BOUND_IF to ensure the traffic will enter the VPN tunnel), and the result should be return to the system and then the non VPP apps. But I observer weird issue, indeed I can get the system send the dns request to the listening udp socket and I can get the result write to the system(address like 192.168.99.2:56144, the port should be allocated by the iOS system's DNS component) without any failure(I did get some error before due to I using the wrong utun if index, but fixed it later), but it seems non VPN app like browser can't get the resolved ip for domains. I want to ask is this limited by the sandbox? or any special sock opt I need to do. Thanks. PS: in the provider's network settings, all the system's traffic will be point to the utun, which means the VPN process will process all the traffic. the reason I do not set the dns server to utun peers side which is my userspace networking stack's ip (192.168.99.1) is the stack is not be able to leverage some dns libraries due to architecture issue. (it's fd.io vpp which we ported to apple platform).

Hello, I encountered a memory management issue while developing VPN functionality and would like to seek your advice. The specific phenomenon is as follows: Problem description: After multiple calls to the 'createTCPConnectToEndpoint' and 'create UDPSessionToEndpoint' interfaces to create connection objects, the application memory continues to grow. Even if the cancel interface is immediately called to actively release the object, the memory does not fall back. 3. Confirm that there is no other code referencing these objects, but the system does not seem to automatically reclaim memory. Attempted measures: Immediately call the cancel method after creating the object, and the memory is not reduced Use tools such as Profiler to monitor memory and confirm that objects have not been released. doubt: Is this phenomenon normal? Is there a known memory management mechanism (such as cache pooling) that causes delayed release? 2. Are there any other interfaces or methods (such as release, dispose) that need to be explicitly called? Supplementary Information: Development environment: [iOS 16, 14pm] Reproduction steps: After continuously creating connection objects, the memory grows without falling back. Could you please help confirm if there are any abnormalities and the correct memory release posture. Thank you for your support!

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 am developing a VoIP application that uses NetworkExtension (Local PUSH function) And VoIP(APNs) PUSH. Since iPhone X, iPhones have supported eSIM, allowing for the simultaneous use of a physical SIM and an eSIM. Consequently, users of our VoIP app have requested the ability to lock the network used by the VoIP app to either the eSIM or the physical SIM. Our VoIP app utilizes the network through the socket API. Is there an API in the iOS SDK to lock the network used via sockets to either the eSIM or the physical SIM? In other words, we would like to be able to retrieve the IP address assigned to the eSIM or the physical SIM in advance, and know which IP address is assigned to which SIM. Are there any such APIs available (that are not "Deprecated")

Hi! We are planning to build an app for a research project that collects sensitive information (such as symptoms, photos and audio). We don't want to store this data locally on the phone or within the app but rather have it securely transferred to a safe SFTP server. Is it possible to implement this i iOS, and if so, does anyone have any recommendations on how to do this?

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.