Hi Team, We intend to create a custom serial dispatch queue targetting a global queue. let serialQueue = DispatchQueue(label: "corecomm.tallyworld.serial", target: DispatchQueue.global(qos: .default)) The documentation for DispatchQueue init does not show any minimum OS versions. BUT DispatchSerialQueue init does show iOS 17.0+ iPadOS 17.0+ Mac Catalyst macOS 14.0+ tvOS 17.0+ visionOS watchOS 10.0+. Does that mean - I will not be able to create a custom serial dispatch queue below iOS 17?

I’m trying to enable Background Modes (specifically for audio, background fetch, remote notifications) in my iOS SwiftUI app, but I’m getting this error: Provisioning profile “iOS Team Provisioning Profile: [my app]” doesn’t include the UIBackgroundModes entitlement. On the developer website when I make the provision profile It doesnt give me the option to allow background modes. I added it to the sign in capabilities seccion in X code and matched the bundle ID to the provision profile and certificate etc but it still runs this error because the provision profile doesnt have the entitlements..

We are experiencing a crash in our application that only occurs on devices running iOS beta 26. It looks like a Beta problem. The crash appears to be caused by an excessive number of open File Descriptors. We identified this after noticing a series of crashes in different parts of the code each time the app was launched. Sometimes it would crash right at the beginning, when trying to load the Firebase plist file. That’s when we noticed a log message saying “too many open files,” and upon further investigation, we found that an excessive number of File Descriptors were open in our app, right after the didFinishLaunching method of the AppDelegate. We used the native Darwin library to log information about the FDs and collected the following: func logFDs() { var rlim = rlimit() if getrlimit(RLIMIT_NOFILE, &rlim) == 0 { print("FD LIMIT: soft: \(rlim.rlim_cur), hard: \(rlim.rlim_max)") } // Count open FDs before Firebase let openFDsBefore = countOpenFileDescriptors() print("Open file descriptors BEFORE Firebase.configure(): \(openFDsBefore)") } private func countOpenFileDescriptors() -> Int { var count = 0 let maxFD = getdtablesize() for fd in 0..<maxFD { if fcntl(fd, F_GETFD) != -1 { count += 1 } } return count } With this code, we obtained the following data: On a device with iOS 26 Beta 1, 2, or 3: FD LIMIT: soft: 256, hard: 9223372036854775807 Open file descriptors BEFORE Firebase.configure(): 256 On a device with iOS 18: FD LIMIT: soft: 256, hard: 9223372036854775807 Open file descriptors BEFORE Firebase.configure(): 57 In the case of the device running iOS 26 beta, the app crashes when executing Firebase.configure() because it cannot open the plist file, even though it can be found at the correct path — meaning the OS locates it. To confirm this was indeed the issue, we used the following code to close FDs before proceeding with Firebase configuration. By placing a breakpoint just before Firebase.configure() and running the following LLDB command: expr -l c -- for (int fd = 180; fd < 256; fd++) { (int)close(fd); } This released the FDs, allowing Firebase to proceed with its configuration as expected. However, the app would later crash again after hitting the soft limit of file descriptors once more. Digging deeper, we used this code to try to identify which FDs were being opened and causing the soft limit to be exceeded: func checkFDPath() { var r = rlimit() if getrlimit(RLIMIT_NOFILE, &r) == 0 { print("FD LIMIT: soft: \(r.rlim_cur), hard: \(r.rlim_max)") for fd in 0..<Int32(r.rlim_cur) { var path = [CChar](repeating: 0, count: Int(PATH_MAX)) if fcntl(fd, F_GETPATH, &path) != -1 { print(String(cString: path)) } } } } We ran this command at the very beginning of the didFinishLaunching method in the AppDelegate. On iOS 26, the log repeatedly showed Cryptexes creating a massive number of FDs, such as: /dev/null /dev/ttys000 /dev/ttys000 /private/var/mobile/Containers/Data/Application/AEE414F2-7D6F-44DF-A6D9-92EDD1D2B014/Library/Application Support/DTX_8.191.1.1003.sqlite /private/var/mobile/Containers/Data/Application/AEE414F2-7D6F-44DF-A6D9-92EDD1D2B014/Library/Caches/KSCrash/MyAppScheme/Data/ConsoleLog.txt /private/var/mobile/Containers/Data/Application/AEE414F2-7D6F-44DF-A6D9-92EDD1D2B014/Library/HTTPStorages/mybundleId/httpstorages.sqlite /private/var/mobile/Containers/Data/Application/AEE414F2-7D6F-44DF-A6D9-92EDD1D2B014/Library/HTTPStorages/mybundleId/httpstorages.sqlite-wal /private/var/mobile/Containers/Data/Application/AEE414F2-7D6F-44DF-A6D9-92EDD1D2B014/Library/HTTPStorages/mybundleId/httpstorages.sqlite-shm /private/preboot/Cryptexes/OS/System/Library/Caches/com.apple.dyld/dyld_shared_cache_arm64e /private/preboot/Cryptexes/OS/System/Library/Caches/com.apple.dyld/dyld_shared_cache_arm64e.01 /private/preboot/Cryptexes/OS/System/Library/Caches/com.apple.dyld/dyld_shared_cache_arm64e.11 /private/preboot/Cryptexes/OS/System/Library/Caches/com.apple.dyld/dyld_shared_cache_arm64e.12 /private/preboot/Cryptexes/OS/System/Library/Caches/com.apple.dyld/dyld_shared_cache_arm64e.13 /private/preboot/Cryptexes/OS/System/Library/Caches/com.apple.dyld/dyld_shared_cache_arm64e.14 /private/preboot/Cryptexes/OS/System/Library/Caches/com.apple.dyld/dyld_shared_cache_arm64e.15 /private/preboot/Cryptexes/OS/System/Library/Caches/com.apple.dyld/dyld_shared_cache_arm64e.16 /private/preboot/Cryptexes/OS/System/Library/Caches/com.apple.dyld/dyld_shared_cache_arm64e.17 /private/preboot/Cryptexes/OS/System/Library/Caches/com.apple.dyld/dyld_shared_cache_arm64e.18 /private/preboot/Cryptexes/OS/System/Library/Caches/com.apple.dyld/dyld_shared_cache_arm64e.19 /private/preboot/Cryptexes/OS/System/Library/Caches/com.apple.dyld/dyld_shared_cache_arm64e.20 /private/preboot/Cryptexes/OS/System/Library/Caches/com.apple.dyld/dyld_shared_cache_arm64e.21 /private/preboot/Cryptexes/OS/System/Library/Caches/com.apple.dyld/dyld_shared_cache_arm64e.22 /private/preboot/Cryptexes/OS/System/Library/Caches/com.apple.dyld/dyld_shared_cache_arm64e.23 /private/preboot/Cryptexes/OS/System/Library/Caches/com.apple.dyld/dyld_shared_cache_arm64e.24 /private/preboot/Cryptexes/OS/System/Library/Caches/com.apple.dyld/dyld_shared_cache_arm64e.25 /private/preboot/Cryptexes/OS/System/Library/Caches/com.apple.dyld/dyld_shared_cache_arm64e.26 /private/preboot/Cryptexes/OS/System/Library/Caches/com.apple.dyld/dyld_shared_cache_arm64e.29 /private/preboot/Cryptexes/OS/System/Library/Caches/com.apple.dyld/dyld_shared_cache_arm64e.30 /private/preboot/Cryptexes/OS/System/Library/Caches/com.apple.dyld/dyld_shared_cache_arm64e.31 /private/preboot/Cryptexes/OS/System/Library/Caches/com.apple.dyld/dyld_shared_cache_arm64e.32 /private/preboot/Cryptexes/OS/System/Library/Caches/com.apple.dyld/dyld_shared_cache_arm64e.36 /private/preboot/Cryptexes/OS/System/Library/Caches/com.apple.dyld/dyld_shared_cache_arm64e.37 /private/preboot/Cryptexes/OS/System/Library/Caches/com.apple.dyld/dyld_shared_cache_arm64e.38 /private/preboot/Cryptexes/OS/System/Library/Caches/com.apple.dyld/dyld_shared_cache_arm64e.39 /private/preboot/Cryptexes/OS/System/Library/Caches/com.apple.dyld/dyld_shared_cache_arm64e.40 /private/preboot/Cryptexes/OS/System/Library/Caches/com.apple.dyld/dyld_shared_cache_arm64e … This repeats itself a lot of times. … /private/preboot/Cryptexes/OS/System/Library/Caches/com.apple.dyld/dyld_shared_cache_arm64e.36 /private/preboot/Cryptexes/OS/System/Library/Caches/com.apple.dyld/dyld_shared_cache_arm64e.37 /private/preboot/Cryptexes/OS/System/Library/Caches/com.apple.dyld/dyld_shared_cache_arm64e.38 /private/preboot/Cryptexes/OS/System/Library/Caches/com.apple.dyld/dyld_shared_cache_arm64e.39 /private/preboot/Cryptexes/OS/System/Library/Caches/com.apple.dyld/dyld_shared_cache_arm64e.40

I am trying to create an app bundle with an xpc service. The main app creates a keychain item, and attempts to share (keychain access groups) with the xpc service it includes in its bundle. However, the xpc service always encounters a 'user interaction not allowed' error regardless of how I create the keychain item. kSecAttrAccessiblei is set to kSecAttrAccessibleWhenUnlockedThisDeviceOnly, the keychain access group is set for both the main app and the xpc service and in the provisioning profile. I've tried signing and notarizing. Is it ever possible for an xpc service to access the keychain? This all on macos 15.5.

Hi, I'm working on an application on MacOS. It contains a port-forward feature on TCP protocol. This application has no UI, but a local HTTP server where user can access to configure this application. I found that my application always exit for unknown purpose after running in backgruond for minutes. I think this is about MacOS's background process controlling. Source codes and PKG installers are here: https://github.com/burningtnt/Terracotta/actions/runs/16494390417

To establish a privileged helper daemon from a command line app to handle actions requiring root privileges I still use the old way of SMJobBless. But this is deprecated since OSX 10.13 and I want to finally update it to the new way using SMAppService. As I'm concerned with securing it against malicious exploits, do you have a recommended up-to-date implementation in Objective-C establishing a privileged helper and verifying it is only used by my signed app? I've seen the suggestion in the documentation to use SMAppService, but couldn't find a good implementation covering security aspects. My old implementation in brief is as follows: bool runJobBless () { // check if already installed NSFileManager* filemgr = [NSFileManager defaultManager]; if ([filemgr fileExistsAtPath:@"/Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/com.company.Helper"] && [filemgr fileExistsAtPath:@"/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.company.Helper.plist"]) { // check helper version to match the client // ... return true; } // create authorization reference AuthorizationRef authRef; OSStatus status = AuthorizationCreate (NULL, kAuthorizationEmptyEnvironment, kAuthorizationFlagDefaults, &authRef); if (status != errAuthorizationSuccess) return false; // obtain rights to install privileged helper AuthorizationItem authItem = { kSMRightBlessPrivilegedHelper, 0, NULL, 0 }; AuthorizationRights authRights = { 1, &authItem }; AuthorizationFlags flags = kAuthorizationFlagDefaults | kAuthorizationFlagInteractionAllowed | kAuthorizationFlagPreAuthorize | kAuthorizationFlagExtendRights; status = AuthorizationCopyRights (authRef, &authRights, kAuthorizationEmptyEnvironment, flags, NULL); if (status != errAuthorizationSuccess) return false; // SMJobBless does it all: verify helper against app and vice-versa, place and load embedded launchd.plist in /Library/LaunchDaemons, place executable in /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools CFErrorRef cfError; if (!SMJobBless (kSMDomainSystemLaunchd, (CFStringRef)@"com.company.Helper", authRef, &cfError)) { // check helper version to match the client // ... return true; } else { CFBridgingRelease (cfError); return false; } } void connectToHelper () { // connect to helper via XPC NSXPCConnection* c = [[NSXPCConnection alloc] initWithMachServiceName:@"com.company.Helper.mach" options:NSXPCConnectionPrivileged]; c.remoteObjectInterface = [NSXPCInterface interfaceWithProtocol:@protocol (SilentInstallHelperProtocol)]; [c resume]; // call function on helper and wait for completion dispatch_semaphore_t semaphore = dispatch_semaphore_create (0); [[c remoteObjectProxy] callFunction:^() { dispatch_semaphore_signal (semaphore); }]; dispatch_semaphore_wait (semaphore, dispatch_time (DISPATCH_TIME_NOW, 10 * NSEC_PER_SEC)); dispatch_release (semaphore); [c invalidate]; [c release]; }

I have several combine pipelines in my watch and iPhone app. While background tasks on the iPhone work correctly (the combine pipelines all activate), on the watch the pipelines do not get activated. I have an internal log reporting that data is being fed to the sources but is not propagating to the sinks. Thoughts?

Hello! We are in the progress of migrating a large Swift 5.10 legacy code base over to use Swift 6.0 with Strict Concurrency checking. We have already stumbled across a few weird edge cases where the "guaranteed" @MainActor isolation is violated (such as with @objc #selector methods used with NotificationCenter). However, we recently found a new scenario where our app crashes accessing main actor isolated state on a background thread, and it was surprising that the compiler couldn't warn us. Minimal reproducible example: class ViewController: UIViewController { var isolatedStateString = "Some main actor isolated state" override func viewDidLoad() { exampleMethod() } /// Note: A `@MainActor` isolated method in a `@MainActor` isolated class. func exampleMethod() { testAsyncMethod() { [weak self] in // !!! Crash !!! MainActor.assertIsolated() // This callback inherits @MainActor from the class definition, but it is called on a background thread. // It is an error to mutate main actor isolated state off the main thread... self?.isolatedStateString = "Let me mutate my isolated state" } } func testAsyncMethod(completionHandler: (@escaping () -> Void)) { let group = DispatchGroup() let queue = DispatchQueue.global() // The compiler is totally fine with calling this on a background thread. group.notify(queue: queue) { completionHandler() } // The below code at least gives us a compiler warning to add `@Sendable` to our closure argument, which is helpful. // DispatchQueue.global().async { // completionHandler() // } } } The problem: In the above code, the completionHandler implementation inherits main actor isolation from the UIViewController class. However, when we call exampleMethod(), we crash because the completionHandler is called on a background thread via the DispatchGroup.notify(queue:). If were to instead use DispatchQueue.global().async (snippet at the bottom of the sample), the compiler helpfully warns us that completionHandler must be Sendable. Unfortunately, DispatchGroup's notify gives us no such compiler warnings. Thus, we crash at runtime. So my questions are: Why can't the compiler warn us about a potential problem with DispatchGroup().notify(queue:) like it can with DispatchQueue.global().async? How can we address this problem in a holistic way in our app, as it's a very simple mistake to make (with very bad consequences) while we migrate off GCD? I'm sure the broader answer here is "don't mix GCD and Concurrency", but unfortunately that's a little unavoidable as we migrate our large legacy code base! 🙂

TCC Permission Inheritance for Python Process Launched by Swift App in Enterprise Deployment We are developing an enterprise monitoring application that requires a hybrid Swift + Python architecture due to strict JAMF deployment restrictions. We must deploy a macOS application via ABM/App Store Connect, but our core monitoring logic is in a Python daemon. We need to understand the feasibility and best practices for TCC permission inheritance in this specific setup. Architecture Component Bundle ID Role Deployment Swift Launcher com.athena.AthenaSentry Requests TCC permissions, launches Python child process. Deployed via ABM/ASC. Python Daemon com.athena.AthenaSentry.Helper Core monitoring logic using sensitive APIs. Nested in Contents/Helpers/. Both bundles are signed with the same Developer ID and share the same Team ID. Required Permissions The Python daemon needs to access the following sensitive TCC-controlled services: Screen Recording (kTCCServiceScreenCapture) - for capturing screenshots. Input Monitoring (kTCCServiceListenEvent) - for keystroke/mouse monitoring. Accessibility (kTCCServiceAccessibility) - a prerequisite for Input Monitoring. Attempts & Workarounds We have attempted to resolve this using: Entitlement Inheritance: Added com.apple.security.inherit to the Helper's entitlements. Permission Proxy: Swift app maintains active event taps to try and "hold" the permissions for the child. Foreground Flow: Keeping the Swift app in the foreground during permission requests. Questions Is this architecture supported? Can a Swift parent app successfully request TCC permissions that a child process can then use? TCC Inheritance: What are the specific rules for TCC permission inheritance between parent/child processes in enterprise environment? What's the correct approach for this enterprise use case? Should we: Switch to a Single Swift App? (i.e., abandon the Python daemon and rewrite the core logic natively in Swift). Use XPC Services? (instead of launching the child process directly).

On macOS 15.7.1 I'm trying to install an XPC service outside the app (Developer ID). It mostly seems to go ok, but when I set Launch Constraints on Responsible, AMFI complains of a violation, saying the service is responsible for itself, and fails to launch. Removing that constraint (or adding the service itself to the constraint) works fine. The service is an optional download, and installed to /Users/Shared with a LaunchAgent specifying the MachService. The service is correctly launched and seems to pass all codesigning, notarization, and other checks, but the Responsible isn't set to the "calling" app. Is this broken, or working as intended?

I would like to know whether BGContinuedProcessingTaskRequest supports executing asynchronous tasks internally, or if it can only execute synchronous tasks within BGContinuedProcessingTaskRequest? Our project is very complex, and we now need to use BGContinuedProcessingTaskRequest to perform some long-running operations when the app enters the background (such as video encoding/decoding & export). However, our export interface is an asynchronous function, for example video.export(callback: FinishCallback). This export call returns immediately, and when the export completes internally, it calls back through the passed-in callback. So when I call BGTaskScheduler.shared.register to register a BGContinuedProcessingTask, what should be the correct approach? Should I directly call video.export(nil) without any waiting, or should I wait for the export function to complete in the callback? For example: BGTaskScheduler.shared.register(forTaskWithIdentifier: "com.xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx", using: nil) { task in guard let continuedTask = task as? BGContinuedProcessingTask else { task.setTaskCompleted(success: false) return } let scanner = SmartAssetsManager.shared let semaphore = DispatchSemaphore(value: 0) continuedTask.expirationHandler = { logError(items: "xwxdebug finished.") semaphore.signal() } logInfo(items: "xwxdebug start！") video.export { _ in semaphore.signal() } semaphore.wait() logError(items: "xwxdebug finished！") }

Hi, I'll explain my question through how whatsapp does it. When the phone is locked then whatsapp routes call through apple's native callkit When unlocked, pressing accept essentially redirects to whatsapp and then whatsapp handles the call from there. However, this component of unlock detection is what I'm not able to find any info about. Essentially, how i do it is: let isPhoneLocked = !UIApplication.shared.isProtectedDataAvailable isProtectedDataAvailable == true → device is unlocked isProtectedDataAvailable == false → device is locked The problem is that if the phone has been recently unlocked, then protected data is still available on the phone even after the lock for the next 10-40 seconds. So theres a false positive. I want there to be a foolproof and robust way to do this. And I'm not entirely sure how

Hi everyone, I’m trying to register fonts system-wide using CTFontManagerRegisterFontURLs with the .persistent scope. The fonts are delivered through Apple-Hosted Background Assets (since On-Demand Resources are deprecated). Process-level registration works perfectly, but persistent registration triggers a system “Install Fonts” prompt, and tapping Install causes the app to crash immediately. I’m wondering if anyone has successfully used Apple-Hosted Background Assets to provide persistent, system-wide installable fonts, or if this is a current OS limitation/bug. What I Expect Fonts delivered through Apple-Hosted Background Assets should be eligible for system-wide installation Tap “Install” should install fonts into Settings → Fonts just like app-bundled or ODR fonts App should not crash Why This Matters According to: WWDC 2019: Font Management and Text Scaling Developers can build font provider apps that install fonts system-wide, using bundled or On-Demand Resources. WWDC 2025: Discover Apple-Hosted Background Assets On-Demand Resources are deprecated, and AHBAs are the modern replacement. Therefore, persistent font installation via Apple-Hosted Background Assets appears to be the intended path moving forward. Question Is this a known limitation or bug in iOS? Should .persistent font installation work with Apple-Hosted Background Assets? Do we need additional entitlement, manifest configuration, or packaging rules? Any guidance or confirmation from Apple engineers would be greatly appreciated. Additional Info I submitted a Feedback including a minimal reproducible sample project: FB21109320

I posted here https://aninterestingwebsite.com/forums/thread/805554?page=1#867766022 but posting again for visibility (and let me know how I can file a bug) There was a response in that thread that said you could use the childProgress system to help updating progresses to keep the backgroundTask alive. What I've found is that using childProgresses results in more terminations than if you just updated the progress directly. Here is my setups to test this A BGContinuedProcessingTask that uses URLSessions to upload, and registers the task.progress with the Urlsession Progress Same, but the task.progress gets updated via a UrlSession Callback The second is MUCH more stable out in the field in cellular settings, the first fails extremely frequently. My suspicion is that in the documentation here https://aninterestingwebsite.com/documentation/foundation/progress#Reporting-Progress-for-Multiple-Operations it explicitly states The completedUnitCount property for a containing progress object only updates when the suboperation is 100% complete. The fractionCompleted property for a containing progress object updates continuously as work progresses for all suboperations. I wonder if BGContinuedProcessingTask is only looking at completedUnitCount for progress, and not fractionCompleted? In either case, I would love to use the childProgresses because there are bugs with retries by updating the progress manually, so would love some help resolving this, Thanks!

Hi there, I'm trying to work on an architecture where one app exposes an API (Extension Host) that other apps can plugin to. I've been reading all I can from the docs and whatever I can find online. It seemed like iOS26 added the ability to do such a thing (at least in early builds). Is that the case? Has the functionality been walked back such that extensions can only be loaded in iOS from within the single app bundle? My use case is the following: I'm working on an agent app that desires to have 3rd party developers add functionality (think how MCP servers add functionality to LLMs). The 3rd party plugins would be provided in their own app bundles vetted by the AppStore review team, of course, and would only provide hooks, basically, the main app can use to execute functions or get state. This is the best thread I found on the topic, and the subtext is that it needs to be in the same bundle. https://aninterestingwebsite.com/forums/thread/803896?answerId=865314022#865314022 Let's say for the moment that this isn't possible using ExtensionKit. What's the best way to achieve this? Our current best alternative idea is a hidded WebKit window that runs JS/WASM but that's so hackish. Please let me know, thanks!

I have an older project that was created before Xcode 26.2. In Xcode versions prior to 26.2, there was no Swift Compiler – Concurrency build setting. With those older versions, the following behavior occurs: a nonisolated function executes off the main thread. class ViewController: UIViewController { override func viewDidLoad() { super.viewDidLoad() run() } private func run() { Task { await runInMainThread() } } func runInMainThread() async { print(">>>> IN runInMainThread(), Thread.isMainThread \(Thread.isMainThread)") await runInBackgroundThread() } private nonisolated func runInBackgroundThread() async { print(">>>> IN runInBackgroundThread(), Thread.isMainThread \(Thread.isMainThread)") } } Output: >>>> IN runInMainThread(), Thread.isMainThread true >>>> IN runInBackgroundThread(), Thread.isMainThread false However, starting with Xcode 26.2, Apple introduced the Swift Compiler – Concurrency settings. When running the same code with the default configuration: Approachable Concurrency = Yes Default Actor Isolation = MainActor This is the output Output: >>>> IN runInMainThread(), Thread.isMainThread true >>>> IN runInBackgroundThread(), Thread.isMainThread true the nonisolated function now executes on the main thread. This raises the following questions: What is the correct Swift Compiler – Concurrency configuration if I want a nonisolated function to run off the main thread? Is nonisolated still an appropriate way to ensure code runs on a background thread?

Knows anyone a point in systemlog etc. To find out when and why my or other apps are terminated by os. At the moment a lot of apps inclusive my apps seems to be terminated instead set to sleep by OS if no power coord is connected There are no crashlogs recorded, Sentry or firebase don‘t report issues.

I’ve built an app that connects via Bluetooth to a device. The device sends up, down, left and right commands. I want to build an SDK for other third party developers to use so that whenever a third party app with the SDK opens, if we press a button on the device, my app which captures the button press should be able to forward the event to the third party app. I want to achieve this with the lowest latency possible so that I can enable a variety of use cases like simple games and interactions within other apps. What would be the best way for me to achieve this as part of my SDK and my app?

Our app will launch automatically in the background，Doubt is the result of background fetch ，so we cancel the background modes setting of the background fetch,but we still can see the performFetchWithCompletionHandler method called when app launch in the background。Background launch will cause some bugs in our app. We don't want the app to start in the background. We hope to get help

I have an app that uses background audio recording. From what others say, I have enabled the audio background mode to keep the audio session active, and this worked. But when submitting the app to the app store, the app was rejected because the audio background mode is only supposed to be used for audio playback. How do I create this background mode while following Apple's guidelines?