IKPictureTaker shows blank panel on macOS 26 — popUpRecentsMenu silently fails with no callback

Hi @Quang-Damian,

You wrote:

[...] Is this a known regression in macOS 26? Is IKPictureTaker expected to stop working, or is there a required entitlement / initialization step that changed? [...]

This isn't surprising since IKPictureTaker is part of the legacy ImageKit framework—which has no Swift-native replacement, and still relied on legacy NSCell-based drawing paths that are no longer fully supported in the latest AppKit versions.

I'd suggest for you to submit a bug report via Feedback Assistant and explain your use case and reproduction steps. Once submitted, please reply here so I may escalate with the AppKit and CoreGraphics engineering teams directly.

Then, you wrote:

[...] If the API is effectively unsupported, is NSOpenPanel with allowedContentTypes: [.image] the recommended migration path?

Yes, NSOpenPanel (or PHPickerViewController if you ever need iOS parity) is the correct replacement. Please see the following example for guidance:

import AppKit
import UniformTypeIdentifiers

func pickAvatarImage(for window: NSWindow, completion: @escaping (NSImage?) -> Void) {
    let panel = NSOpenPanel()
    panel.allowedContentTypes = [.image]
    panel.allowsMultipleSelection = false
    panel.canChooseDirectories = false
    panel.prompt = "Choose Avatar"
    
    panel.beginSheetModal(for: window) { response in
        guard response == .OK, let url = panel.url else {
            completion(nil)
            return
        }
        let image = NSImage(contentsOf: url)
        completion(image)
    }
}

If you also need the camera capture and crop/resize functionality that IKPictureTaker bundled together, you'll need to layer in additional components.

For camera capture (replacement for allowsVideoCapture):

1. Import AVFoundation.
2. Check authorization (you're already doing this(.
3. Use AVCaptureSession and AVCapturePhotoOutput to grab a still.
4. Present in your own sheet or popover.

For crop & resize (replacement for IKPictureTaker's built-in editor):

import CoreImage

func cropToSquare(_ image: NSImage, outputSize: CGSize) -> NSImage? {
    guard let cgImage = image.cgImage(forProposedRect: nil, context: nil, hints: nil) else {
        return nil
    }
    
    let side = min(cgImage.width, cgImage.height)
    let originX = (cgImage.width - side) / 2
    let originY = (cgImage.height - side) / 2
    let cropRect = CGRect(x: originX, y: originY, width: side, height: side)
    
    guard let cropped = cgImage.cropping(to: cropRect) else { return nil }
    
    let result = NSImage(size: outputSize)
    result.lockFocus()
    NSGraphicsContext.current?.imageInterpolation = .high
    let drawRect = NSRect(origin: .zero, size: outputSize)
    NSImage(cgImage: cropped, size: outputSize).draw(in: drawRect)
    result.unlockFocus()
    return result
}

Cheers,

Paris X Pinkney |  WWDR | DTS Engineer

Thank you for the detailed explanation. I've filed a Feedback Assistant report:

FB23313540 — IKPictureTaker broken on macOS 26 (Tahoe): popUpRecentsMenu() silent fail, runModal() shows blank window

I did try NSOpenPanel as a workaround, but it doesn't fully match the behavior and feature parity of IKPictureTaker on earlier macOS versions, the built-in camera capture and crop UI are missing, requiring significant custom implementation to compensate.

I am hoping Apple can fix IKPictureTaker so it continues to work on macOS 26, rather than forcing developers to rewrite a feature that has been part of the framework for years.

Hi @Quang-Damian,

Thank you for your Feedback ID. I've forwarded this to the ImageKit and CoreAnimation team to investigate directly.

Cheers,

Paris X Pinkney |  WWDR | DTS Engineer