Environment
- macOS 14+ (Sonoma), Apple Silicon
- Background LaunchAgent installed at /Applications/<my-app>.app, launched by a plist in /Library/LaunchAgents. LSUIElement = true (no Dock icon).
- Signed with a Developer ID Application certificate, hardened runtime, secure timestamp. Notarized. No provisioning profile embedded.
- Distributed outside the App Store (signed .pkg installer).
Info.plist keys present in the installed bundle:
- NSLocationUsageDescription
- NSLocationWhenInUseUsageDescription
- NSLocationAlwaysAndWhenInUseUsageDescription
Entitlements file: empty <dict/> (I removed com.apple.developer.* entitlements because they require a provisioning profile that Developer ID distribution cannot ship.)
What I need CoreWLAN's scanForNetworks(withSSID:) returns entries with nil ssid / nil bssid on macOS 14+ unless the process has Location authorization. I'm trying to obtain that authorization from the LaunchAgent so I can populate SSID/BSSID for a connectivity report.
What I'm doing
- Instantiating CLLocationManager on the main thread (verified via Thread.isMainThread) from an NSApplication.shared.run() runloop.
- Setting a CLLocationManagerDelegate.
- Calling requestWhenInUseAuthorization(), requestAlwaysAuthorization(), and startUpdatingLocation().
Observed behavior
- No authorization prompt is ever displayed.
- authorizationStatus stays at .notDetermined across launches.
- locationManager(_:didFailWithError:) fires with kCLErrorDomain error 1 (kCLErrorDenied).
- System Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services lists the app and its toggle can be flipped ON, yet the process still reads authorizationStatus == .notDetermined immediately after and on subsequent launches.
- locationd logs (Console) around the same time show: "#Warning #ClientResolution the passed keyPath is not registered. Resolving to #nullCKP"
Things I've already tried
- Verified Info.plist keys are embedded in the installed bundle
(
defaults read /Applications/<app>/Contents/Info.plist). - Verified codesign is valid and entitlements are preserved on install
(
codesign -d --entitlements - /Applications/<app>). tccutil reset All <bundle-id>and full reboot.- Uninstall + reinstall.
- Toggling Location Services OFF and back ON, both globally and per-app.
- Ensuring all CLLocationManager interaction runs on the main thread.
- Verified CLLocationManager.locationServicesEnabled() returns true.
Questions
- Is a Developer-ID-signed LaunchAgent (LSUIElement=true, no Dock icon) supposed to be able to trigger the standard Location prompt on macOS 14+, or is a foreground/UI process required to establish initial authorization?
- What does the locationd "keyPath is not registered / Resolving to #nullCKP" message indicate, and how do I diagnose which registration is missing?
- Is there an entitlement or Info.plist key I'm still missing for Developer-ID-distributed background agents to be recognized by locationd?
- Given that the Settings toggle appears to be ON but authorizationStatus still reports .notDetermined to the running process, is there a bundle identity / code-signing check I can run to confirm locationd is looking at the same identity Settings is showing?
Any pointers appreciated - happy to share codesign output, sample entitlements plist, or the full locationd log excerpt on request.
