Prioritize user privacy and data security in your app. Discuss best practices for data handling, user consent, and security measures to protect user information.

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Questions about Server-to-Server Notifications for “Sign in with Apple” (Starting Jan 1, 2026)
I received Apple’s recent notice about the new requirement to provide a server-to-server notification endpoint when registering or updating a Services ID that uses Sign in with Apple. (Official notice: https://developer.apple.com/news/?id=j9zukcr6 ) We already use Sign in with Apple on our website and app, but only as a login method for pre-registered users, not as a way to create new accounts. That means users already exist in our system, and Apple login is used only for authentication convenience (similar to linking a social account). I have some questions about how to properly implement the required server-to-server notifications in this case: 1. email-enabled / email-disabled: We don’t use or store the email address provided by Apple. Are we still required to handle these events, or can we safely ignore them if the email is not used in our system? 2. consent-revoked: We don’t store Apple access or refresh tokens, we use them only during login and discard them immediately. In this case, do we still need to handle token revocation, or can we simply unlink the Apple login from the user account when receiving this notification? 3. account-delete: If a user deletes their Apple account, we can unlink the Apple login and remove related Apple data, but we cannot delete the user’s primary account in our system (since the account exists independently). Is this acceptable under Apple’s requirements as well? We want to make sure our implementation aligns with Apple’s policy and privacy requirements, while maintaining consistency with our existing account management system. If anyone from Apple or other developers who implemented similar logic could provide guidance or share examples, it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
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146
Oct ’25
Empty userID for cross-platform attestation with Android
I've come across strange behavior with the userID property on the returned credential from a passkey attestation. When performing a cross-device passkey assertion between iOS and Android by scanning the generated QR code on my iPhone with an Android device the returned credential object contains an empty userID. This does not happen when performing an on device or cross-device assertion using two iPhones. Is this expected behavior, or is there something I'm missing here? I couldn't find any more information on this in the documentation. iOS Version: 26.0.1, Android Version: 13
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441
Oct ’25
Intermittent Failures Launching App from Universal Links using ASWebAuthenticationSession
I'm developing an iOS app that utilizes Universal Links and ASWebAuthenticationSession to deep-link from a website to the app itself. This implementation adheres to the recommendations outlined in RFC 8252, ensuring that the app opening the ASWebAuthenticationSession is the same app that is launched via the Universal Link. Problem:  While most users can successfully launch the app via Universal Links,a few percent of users experience instances where the app fails to launch, and the user is redirected to the browser. What I've Tried:  ASWebAuthenticationSession Configuration: I've double-checked the configuration of callbackURLScheme and presentationContextProvider.  Universal Links: Verified the apple-app-site-association file and associated domains entitlement.  Network Conditions: Tested on various network environments (Wi-Fi, cellular) and devices. Questions:  What are the potential causes for this behavior?  Has anyone else encountered a similar issue and found a solution?  Are there any debugging techniques or ways to generate more detailed logs? I haven't been able to determine which device or OS version is causing this problem. Thank you.
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1.1k
Apr ’25
App Sandbox Resources
General: Forums subtopic: Privacy & Security > General Forums tag: App Sandbox App Sandbox documentation App Sandbox Design Guide documentation — This is no longer available from Apple. There’s still some info in there that isn’t covered by the current docs but, with the latest updates, it’s pretty minimal (r. 110052019). Still, if you’re curious, you can consult an old copy [1]. App Sandbox Temporary Exception Entitlements archived documentation — To better understand the role of temporary exception entitlements, see this post. Embedding a command-line tool in a sandboxed app documentation Discovering and diagnosing App Sandbox violations (replaces the Viewing Sandbox Violation Reports forums post) Resolving App Sandbox Inheritance Problems forums post The Case for Sandboxing a Directly Distributed App forums post Implementing Script Attachment in a Sandboxed App forums post Share and Enjoy — Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com" [1] For example, this one archived by the Wayback Machine.
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2.9k
Jul ’25
App Attest Validation Nonce Not Matched
Greetings, We are struggling to implement device binding according to your documentation. We are generation a nonce value in backend like this: public static String generateNonce(int byteLength) { byte[] randomBytes = new byte[byteLength]; new SecureRandom().nextBytes(randomBytes); return Base64.getUrlEncoder().withoutPadding().encodeToString(randomBytes); } And our mobile client implement the attestation flow like this: @implementation AppAttestModule - (NSData *)sha256FromString:(NSString *)input { const char *str = [input UTF8String]; unsigned char result[CC_SHA256_DIGEST_LENGTH]; CC_SHA256(str, (CC_LONG)strlen(str), result); return [NSData dataWithBytes:result length:CC_SHA256_DIGEST_LENGTH]; } RCT_EXPORT_MODULE(); RCT_EXPORT_METHOD(generateAttestation:(NSString *)nonce resolver:(RCTPromiseResolveBlock)resolve rejecter:(RCTPromiseRejectBlock)reject) { if (@available(iOS 14.0, *)) { DCAppAttestService *service = [DCAppAttestService sharedService]; if (![service isSupported]) { reject(@"not_supported", @"App Attest is not supported on this device.", nil); return; } NSData *nonceData = [self sha256FromString:nonce]; NSUserDefaults *defaults = [NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults]; NSString *savedKeyId = [defaults stringForKey:@"AppAttestKeyId"]; NSString *savedAttestation = [defaults stringForKey:@"AppAttestAttestationData"]; void (^resolveWithValues)(NSString *keyId, NSData *assertion, NSString *attestationB64) = ^(NSString *keyId, NSData *assertion, NSString *attestationB64) { NSString *assertionB64 = [assertion base64EncodedStringWithOptions:0]; resolve(@{ @"nonce": nonce, @"signature": assertionB64, @"deviceType": @"IOS", @"attestationData": attestationB64 ?: @"", @"keyId": keyId }); }; void (^handleAssertion)(NSString *keyId, NSString *attestationB64) = ^(NSString *keyId, NSString *attestationB64) { [service generateAssertion:keyId clientDataHash:nonceData completionHandler:^(NSData *assertion, NSError *assertError) { if (!assertion) { reject(@"assertion_error", @"Failed to generate assertion", assertError); return; } resolveWithValues(keyId, assertion, attestationB64); }]; }; if (savedKeyId && savedAttestation) { handleAssertion(savedKeyId, savedAttestation); } else { [service generateKeyWithCompletionHandler:^(NSString *keyId, NSError *keyError) { if (!keyId) { reject(@"keygen_error", @"Failed to generate key", keyError); return; } [service attestKey:keyId clientDataHash:nonceData completionHandler:^(NSData *attestation, NSError *attestError) { if (!attestation) { reject(@"attestation_error", @"Failed to generate attestation", attestError); return; } NSString *attestationB64 = [attestation base64EncodedStringWithOptions:0]; [defaults setObject:keyId forKey:@"AppAttestKeyId"]; [defaults setObject:attestationB64 forKey:@"AppAttestAttestationData"]; [defaults synchronize]; handleAssertion(keyId, attestationB64); }]; }]; } } else { reject(@"ios_version", @"App Attest requires iOS 14+", nil); } } @end For validation we are extracting the nonce from the certificate like this: private static byte[] extractNonceFromAttestationCert(X509Certificate certificate) throws IOException { byte[] extensionValue = certificate.getExtensionValue("1.2.840.113635.100.8.2"); if (Objects.isNull(extensionValue)) { throw new IllegalArgumentException("Apple App Attest nonce extension not found in certificate."); } ASN1Primitive extensionPrimitive = ASN1Primitive.fromByteArray(extensionValue); ASN1OctetString outerOctet = ASN1OctetString.getInstance(extensionPrimitive); ASN1Sequence sequence = (ASN1Sequence) ASN1Primitive.fromByteArray(outerOctet.getOctets()); ASN1TaggedObject taggedObject = (ASN1TaggedObject) sequence.getObjectAt(0); ASN1OctetString nonceOctet = ASN1OctetString.getInstance(taggedObject.getObject()); return nonceOctet.getOctets(); } And for the verification we are using this method: private OptionalMethodResult<Void> verifyNonce(X509Certificate certificate, String expectedNonce, byte[] authData) { byte[] expectedNonceHash; try { byte[] nonceBytes = MessageDigest.getInstance("SHA-256").digest(expectedNonce.getBytes()); byte[] combined = ByteBuffer.allocate(authData.length + nonceBytes.length).put(authData).put(nonceBytes).array(); expectedNonceHash = MessageDigest.getInstance("SHA-256").digest(combined); } catch (NoSuchAlgorithmException e) { log.error("Error while validations iOS attestation: {}", e.getMessage(), e); return OptionalMethodResult.ofError(deviceBindError.getChallengeNotMatchedError()); } byte[] actualNonceFromCert; try { actualNonceFromCert = extractNonceFromAttestationCert(certificate); } catch (Exception e) { log.error("Error while extracting nonce from certificate: {}", e.getMessage(), e); return OptionalMethodResult.ofError(deviceBindError.getChallengeNotMatchedError()); } if (!Arrays.equals(expectedNonceHash, actualNonceFromCert)) { return OptionalMethodResult.ofError(deviceBindError.getChallengeNotMatchedError()); } return OptionalMethodResult.empty(); } But the values did not matched. What are we doing wrong here? Thanks.
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1.1k
Sep ’25
Invalid_client error on Service ID despite successful manual token exchange test
Hi I am experiencing a persistent 'invalid_client' error when attempting to exchange the authorization code for an access token using Sign in with Apple for my website (https://www.vitamarinaweb.com). Current Setup & Steps Taken: Identifier: I am using the Service ID com.vitamarinaweb.web1, which is correctly linked to the Primary App ID com.vitamarinaweb.web. Client Secret: I have generated a fresh Client Secret (JWT) using a valid Key (.p8) and confirmed the Team ID (29J763Q88J) and Key ID (RRW6536D27) are correct. Redirect URIs: My Return URL is set to https://www.vitamarinaweb.com/login.php and I have verified there are no trailing spaces or mismatches. Manual Test (CURL): When I perform a manual POST request via CURL using the generated Client Secret, I receive an 'invalid_grant' response (meaning the Client Secret and Client ID are accepted, and only the temporary code is rejected as expected). The Issue: Despite the CURL success, every request initiated through the web browser/PHP application returns {"error":"invalid_client"}. Verification Requested: Could you please verify if there is a synchronization delay or a specific block on Service ID com.vitamarinaweb.web1? Is there any internal mismatch between the Key ID RRW6536D27 and its association with the newly created Service ID? I have already cleared browser caches and tried multiple devices (different IP addresses) with the same result. Thank you for your assistance."
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368
Jan ’26
Handling ITMS-91061: Missing privacy manifest
An ITMS-91061: Missing privacy manifest rejection email looks as follows: ITMS-91061: Missing privacy manifest- Your app includes "<path/to/SDK>", which includes , an SDK that was identified in the documentation as a privacy-impacting third-party SDK. Starting February 12, 2025, if a new app includes a privacy-impacting SDK, or an app update adds a new privacy-impacting SDK, the SDK must include a privacy manifest file. Please contact the provider of the SDK that includes this file to get an updated SDK version with a privacy manifest. For more details about this policy, including a list of SDKs that are required to include signatures and manifests, visit: https://developer.apple.com/support/third-party-SDK-requirements. Glossary ITMS-91061: Missing privacy manifest: An email that includes the name and path of privacy-impacting SDK(s) with no privacy manifest files in your app bundle. For more information, see https://developer.apple.com/support/third-party-SDK-requirements. : The specified privacy-impacting SDK that doesn't include a privacy manifest file. If you are the developer of the rejected app, gather the name of the SDK from the email you received from Apple, then contact the SDK's provider for an updated version that includes a valid privacy manifest. After receiving an updated version of the SDK, verify the SDK includes a valid privacy manifest file at the expected location. For more information, see Adding a privacy manifest to your app or third-party SDK. If your app includes a privacy manifest file, make sure the file only describes the privacy practices of your app. Do not add the privacy practices of the SDK to your app's privacy manifest. If the email lists multiple SDKs, repeat the above process for all of them. If you are the developer of an SDK listed in the email, publish an updated version of your SDK that includes a privacy manifest file with valid keys and values. Every privacy-impacting SDK must contain a privacy manifest file that only describes its privacy practices. To learn how to add a valid privacy manifest to your SDK, see the Additional resources section below. Additional resources Privacy manifest files Describing data use in privacy manifests Describing use of required reason API Adding a privacy manifest to your app or third-party SDK TN3182: Adding privacy tracking keys to your privacy manifest TN3183: Adding required reason API entries to your privacy manifest TN3184: Adding data collection details to your privacy manifest TN3181: Debugging an invalid privacy manifest
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6.3k
Mar ’25
I'm trying to use a keychain-access-group and failing
This is on macOS, not iOS. Not sure if that should make a difference? I have a GUI app and a command line tool (that will run a daemon) that I need to share credentials between. The keys/certs will be stored using the GUI app. But, both tools need to utilize them. guard let accessControl = SecAccessControlCreateWithFlags( nil, kSecAttrAccessibleWhenPasscodeSetThisDeviceOnly, [.privateKeyUsage], nil ) else { throw KeychainCertError.keychainError(errSecAuthFailed, "Failed to create access control for private key") } // Define Key Pair Attributes let privateKeyAttributes: [String: Any] = [ kSecAttrIsPermanent as String: true, kSecAttrApplicationTag as String: privateLabel.data(using: .utf8)!, kSecAttrLabel as String: privateLabel, // kSecAttrAccessControl as String: accessControl, kSecAttrAccessGroup as String: keychainAccessGroup ] With the kSecAttrAccessControl commented out, I am able to generate a private key and generate a self signed certificate that is stored on the user login keychain. If I uncomment that line, I get an error to the affect of "Keychain error (-26275): Failed to generate key pair: A required entitlement isn't present" Also, to share the credentials, don't they need to be NOT on the user keychain for the daemon to access them? Any ideas what I am doing wrong? I think I'm a bit over my head here with the the security, crypto kit and openssl. 😁
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519
Mar ’25
Passkey issue- Unable to verify webcredentials
Recently, we have adapted the passkey function on the Mac, but we always encounter the error message "Unable to verify the web credentials association of xxx with domain aaa. Please try again in a few seconds." We can confirm that https://aaa/.well-known/apple-app-site-association has been configured and is accessible over the public network. Additionally, the entitlements in the app have also been set with webcredentials:aaa. This feature has been experiencing inconsistent performance. When I restart my computer or reinstall the pkg, this feature may work or it may still not work. I believe this is a system issue. Here is feed back ID: FB20876945 In the feedback, I provided the relevant logs. If you have any suggestions or assistance, please contact me. I would be extremely grateful!
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492
Nov ’25
App transfer- get transfer {"error":"invalid_request"}
Migrating APP and users, obtaining the user's transfer_sub, an exception occurred: {"error":"invalid_request"} `POST /auth/usermigrationinfo HTTP/1.1 Host: appleid.apple.com Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded Authorization: Bearer {access_token} sub={sub}&target={recipient_team_id}&client_id={client_id}&client_secret={client_secret} The specific request is as follows: 15:56:20.858 AppleService - --> POST https://appleid.apple.com/auth/usermigrationinfo 15:56:20.858 AppleService - Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded 15:56:20.858 AppleService - Content-Length: 395 15:56:20.858 AppleService - Authorization: Bearer a56a8828048af48c0871e73b55d8910aa.0.rzvs.96uUcy1KBqo34Kj8qrPb4w 15:56:20.858 AppleService - 15:56:20.858 AppleService - sub=001315.1535dbadc15b472987acdf634719a06a.0600&target=WLN67KBBV8&client_id=com.hawatalk.live&client_secret=eyJraWQiOiIzODg5U1ZXNDM5IiwiYWxnIjoiRVMyNTYifQ.eyJpc3MiOiJRMzlUU1BHMjk3IiwiaWF0IjoxNzU1MDcxNzc5LCJleHAiOjE3NTUwNzUzNzksImF1ZCI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXBwbGVpZC5hcHBsZS5jb20iLCJzdWIiOiJjb20uaGF3YXRhbGsubGl2ZSJ9.8i9RYIcepuIiEqOMu1OOAlmmjnB84AJueel21gNapiNa9pr3498Zkj8J5MUIzvvnvsvUJkKQjp_VvnsG_IIrTA 15:56:20.859 AppleService - --> END POST (395-byte body) 15:56:21.675 AppleService - <-- 400 Bad Request https://appleid.apple.com/auth/usermigrationinfo(816ms) 15:56:21.675 AppleService - Server: Apple 15:56:21.675 AppleService - Date: Wed, 13 Aug 2025 07:56:22 GMT 15:56:21.675 AppleService - Content-Type: application/json;charset=UTF-8 15:56:21.675 AppleService - Content-Length: 27 15:56:21.675 AppleService - Connection: keep-alive 15:56:21.675 AppleService - Pragma: no-cache 15:56:21.675 AppleService - Cache-Control: no-store 15:56:21.676 AppleService - 15:56:21.676 AppleService - {"error":"invalid_request"} 15:56:21.676 AppleService - <-- END HTTP (27-byte body) ` Current Team ID: Q39TSPG297 Recipient Team ID: WLN67KBBV8 CLIENT_ID: com.hawatalk.live
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187
Aug ’25
Mac App Store app triggers "cannot verify free of malware" alert when opening as default app
My app Mocawave is a music player distributed through the Mac App Store. It declares specific audio document types (public.mp3, com.microsoft.waveform-audio, public.mpeg-4-audio, public.aac-audio) in its CFBundleDocumentTypes with a Viewer role. When a user sets Mocawave as the default app for audio files and double-clicks an MP3 downloaded from the internet (which has the com.apple.quarantine extended attribute), macOS displays the alert: "Apple could not verify [filename] is free of malware that may harm your Mac or compromise your privacy." This does not happen when: Opening the same file via NSOpenPanel from within the app Opening the same file with Apple's Music.app or QuickTime Player The app is: Distributed through the Mac App Store Sandboxed (com.apple.security.app-sandbox) Uses com.apple.security.files.user-selected.read-write entitlement The file being opened is a regular audio file (MP3), not an executable. Since the app is sandboxed and distributed through the App Store, I expected it to have sufficient trust to open quarantined data files without triggering Gatekeeper warnings — similar to how Music.app and QuickTime handle them. Questions: Is there a specific entitlement or Info.plist configuration that allows a sandboxed Mac App Store app to open quarantined audio files without this alert? Is this expected behavior for third-party App Store apps, or could this indicate a misconfiguration on my end? Environment: macOS 15 (Sequoia), app built with Swift/SwiftUI, targeting macOS 13+.
2
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165
1w
Should ATT come before a 3rd party CMP? Does the order matter?
When presenting a cookie banner for GDPR purposes, should ATT precede the cookie banner? It seems that showing a Cookie Banner and then showing the ATT permission prompt afterwards (if a user elects to allow cookies/tracking) would be more appropriate. Related question: Should the “Allow Tracking” toggle for an app in system settings serve as a master switch for any granular tracking that might be managed by a 3rd party Consent Management Platform? If ATT is intended to serve as a master switch for tracking consent, if the ATT prompt is presented before a cookie banner, should the banner even appear if a user declines tracking consent? I’m not finding any good resources that describe this flow in detail and I’m seeing implementations all over the place on this. Help! Thanks!!!
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213
Jul ’25
Unexpectedly invalidated Biometrics in iOS 18.3.2 or later
There is a sudden surge of users in our apps with invalidated biometrics. Even though the issue is being handled correctly and the user has another way to login, some of the users forgot their passwords and they can not login. Is there any known issue with Biometrics in iOS 18.3.2 or later? There is a (possible) related discussion here: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/256011565
1
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110
Apr ’25
Group with an existing primary App ID Change
Is it possible to change the Primary App ID set in the Group with an existing primary App ID to another Primary App ID within the same group If there is a change, whether the sub values of the token will be changed upon successful login If an app corresponding to the existing Group Primary App ID is deleted from the app store, ask whether or not other apps in the same group are affected and what effect it will have If anyone knows about the above, please let me know please
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118
Apr ’25
Cannot create new developer account
Trying to make a new developer account but says I cannot. Here are the variables. I have a personal icloud account, it was tied to a developer organization account for an app and company I shut down. I let that developer account expire. Both tied to my mobile number. I can access it but cannot do anything. Trying to setup a new organization developer account using that mobile phone number, but it will not let me create the account. (have a new app/company) Used a different phone number and still got the message that I could not create a new account at this time.
2
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197
Jan ’26
Passkey authentication problem in some areas in mainland China
Hi team, We are experiencing an issue where some users in China are unable to create passkeys due to authentication errors. This is the UI flows The method we use to prompt users is passkey creation. Technically, this is implemented using Apple’s AuthenticationServices framework. We create an instance of ASAuthorizationController and conform to ASAuthorizationControllerDelegate to handle the results of the authentication attempt. In failure cases, we receive ASAuthorizationError.failed (code 1004), along with some additional details describing the nature of the failure. However, we are currently unable to determine the exact root cause of this issue or how to resolve it. At this point, we can only make assumptions based on the limited error information provided. Our current hypothesis is that due to network restrictions, Apple may be unable to reach the .well-known endpoint where we host the associated domain file. Alternatively, even if the file is successfully loaded and cached to Apple’s CDN, the system in China may not be able to reach the CDN itself. We would greatly appreciate it if you could help us understand what might be causing this problem and guide us on how we can resolve it effectively. Thanks, Hung
2
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137
May ’25
Control over "\(your_app) wants to open \(another_app)" Dialog
I can't find any information about why this is happening, nor can I reproduce the 'successful' state on this device. My team needs to understand this behavior, so any insight would be greatly appreciated! The expected behavior: If I delete both apps and reinstall them, attempting to open the second app from my app should trigger the system confirmation dialog. The specifics: I'm using the MSAL library. It navigates the user to the Microsoft Authenticator app and then returns to my app. However, even after resetting the phone and reinstalling both apps, the dialog never shows up (it just opens the app directly). Does anyone know the logic behind how iOS handles these prompts or why it might be persistent even after a reset? Thanks in advance!
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159
Jan ’26