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[Unreal Engine] File missing if packaged with command line
Hello! I am trying to automate iOS builds for my Unreal Engine game using Unreal Automation Tool, but I cannot produce a functionnal build with it, while packaging from XCode works perfectly. I have tracked down the issue to a missing file. I'm using the Firebase SDK that requires a GoogleService-Info.plist file. I have copied this file at the root of my project, as the Firebase documentation suggests. I have not taken any manual action to specify that this file needs to be included in the packaged app. The Firebase code checks the existence of this file using NSString* Path = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource: @“GoogleService-Info” ofType: @“plist”]; return Path != nil; If I package my app from XCode using Product -> Archive, this test returns true and the SDK is properly initialized. If I package my app using Unreal Engine's RunUAT.sh BuildCookRun, this test returns false and the SDK fails to initialize (and actually crashes upon trying). I have tried several Unreal Engine tricks to include my file, like setting it as a RuntimeDependecies in my projects Build.cs file. Which enables Unreal Engine code to find it, but not this direct call to NSBundle. I would like to know either how to tell Unreal Engine to include files at the root of the app bundle, or what XCode does to automatically include this file and is there a way to script it? I can provide both versions .xcarchive if needed. Thanks!
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150
Sep ’25
Promotional Offer keeps returning Contact Developer (Error code: 3903)
I am trying to add promotional offers in my iOS App. The signature is being verified through a google cloud function. My user id, signature, and product and offerIds return perfect. Promotional offer appears in the payment sheet as well. When applying for payment, the "ding" sound comes as well. But then I get the UIAlert with Unable to Purchase Contact developer. Error code in logs is 3903
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97
Dec ’25
Unexpected app version in logs — does MARKETING_VERSION change dynamically?
Hello, I've encountered unexpected behavior related to version information in our app logs, and I'd like to ask for some advice. We reviewed logs collected from a user running our app (currently available on the App Store). The logs are designed to include both the build number and the app version. Based on the build number in the logs, we believe the installed app version on the user's device is 1.0.3. However, the app version recorded in the logs is 1.1.5, which is the latest version currently available on the App Store. In our project, we set the app version using the MARKETING_VERSION environment variable. This value is configured via XcodeGen, and we define it in a YAML file. Under normal circumstances, the value defined in the YAML file (MARKETING_VERSION = 1.0.3) should be embedded in the app and reflected in the logs. But in this case, the version from the current App Store release (1.1.5) appears instead, which was unexpected. We'd like to know what might cause this behavior, and if there are any known factors that could lead to this. Also, is it possible that MARKETING_VERSION might somehow dynamically reflect the version currently available on the App Store? YAML: info.plist:
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90
Jun ’25
Testing and Debugging Code Running in the Background
I regularly bump into folks confused by this issue, so I thought I’d collect my thoughts on the topic into a single (hopefully) coherent post. If you have questions or comments, put them in a new thread here on the forums. Feel free to use whatever subtopic and tags that apply to your situation, but make sure to add the Debugging tag so that I see your thread go by. Share and Enjoy — Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com" Testing and Debugging Code Running in the Background I regularly see questions like this: My background code works just fine in Xcode but fails when I download the app from the App Store. or this: … or fails when I run my app from the Home screen. or this: How do I step through my background code? These suggest a fundamental misunderstanding of how the debugger interacts with iOS’s background execution model. The goal of this post is to explain that misunderstanding so that you can effectively test and debug background code. Note The focus of this post is iOS. The advice here generally applies to any of iOS’s ‘child’ platforms, so iPadOS, tvOS, and so on. However, there will be some platform specific differences, especially on watchOS. This advice here doesn’t apply to macOS. It’s background execution model is completely different than the one used by iOS. Understand the Fundamentals The key point to note here is that the debugger prevents your app from suspending. This has important consequences for iOS’s background execution model. Normally: iOS suspends your app when it’s in the background. Once your app is suspended, it becomes eligible for termination. The most common reason for this is that the system wants to recover memory, but it can happen for various other reasons. For example, the system might terminate a suspended app in order to update it. Under various circumstances your app can continue running after moving to the background. A great example of this is the continued processed task feature, introduced in iOS 26 beta. Alternatively, your app can be resumed or relaunched in the background to perform some task. For example, the region monitor feature of Core Location can resume or relaunch your app in the background when the user enters or leaves a region. If no app needs to be executing, the system can sleep the CPU. None of this happens in the normal way if the debugger is attached to your app, and it’s vital that you take that into account when debugging code that runs in the background. An Example of the Problem For an example of how this can cause problems, imagine an app that uses an URLSession background session. A background session will resume or relaunch your app in the background when specific events happen. This involves two separate code paths: If your app is suspended, the session resumes it in the background. If your app is terminated, it relaunches it in the background. Neither code path behaves normally if the debugger is attached. In the first case, the app never suspends, so the resume case isn’t properly exercised. Rather, your background session acts like it would if your app were in the foreground. Normally this doesn’t cause too many problems, so this isn’t a huge concern. On the other hand, the second case is much more problematic. The debugger prevents your app from suspending, and hence from terminating, and thus you can’t exercise this code path at all. Seek Framework-Specific Advice The above is just an example, and there are likely other things to keep in mind when debugging background code for a specific framework. Consult the documentation for the framework you’re working with to see if it has specific advice. Note For URLSession background sessions, check out Testing Background Session Code. The rest of this post focuses on the general case, offering advice that applies to all frameworks that support background execution. Run Your App Outside of Xcode When debugging background execution, launch your app from the Home screen. For day-to-day development: Run the app from Xcode in the normal way (Product > Run). Stop it. Run it again from the Home screen. Alternatively, install a build from TestFlight. This accurately replicates the App Store install experience. Write Code with Debugging in Mind It’s obvious that, if you run the app without attaching the debugger, you won’t be able to use the debugger to debug it. Rather: Extract the core logic of your code into libraries, and then write extensive unit tests for those libraries. You’ll be able to debug these unit tests with the debugger. Add log points to help debug your integration with the system. Treat your logging as a feature of your product. Carefully consider where to add log points and at what level to log. Check this logging code into your source code repository and ship it — or at least the bulk of it — as part of your final product. This logging will be super helpful when it comes to debugging problems that only show up in the field. My general advice is that you use the system log for these log points. See Your Friend the System Log for lots of advice on that front. One of the great features of the system log is that disabled log points are very cheap. In most cases it’s fine to leave these in your final product. Attach and Detach In some cases it really is helpful to debug with the debugger. One option here is to attach to your running app, debug a specific thing, and then detach from it. Specifically: To attach to a running app, choose Debug > Attach to Process > YourAppName in Xcode. To detach, choose Debug > Detach. Understand Force Quit iOS allows users to remove an app from the multitasking UI. This is commonly known as force quit, but that’s not a particularly accurate term: The multitasking UI doesn’t show apps that are running, it shows apps that have been run by the user. The UI shows recently run apps regardless of whether they’re in the foreground, running in the background, suspended, or terminated. So, removing an app from the UI may not actually quit anything. Removing an app sets a flag that prevents the app from being launched in the background. That flag gets cleared when the user next launches the app manually. Note In some circumstances iOS will not honour this flag. The exact cases where this happens are not documented and have changed over time. Keep these behaviours in mind as you debug your background execution code. For example, imagine you’re trying to test the URLSession background relaunch code path discussed above. If you force quit your app, you’ll never hit this code path because iOS won’t relaunch your app in the background. Rather, add a debug-only button that causes your app to call exit. IMPORTANT This suggestion is for debugging only. Don’t include a Quit button in your final app! This is specifically proscribed by QA1561. Alternatively, if you’re attached to your app with Xcode, simply choose Product > Stop. This is like calling exit; it has no impact on your app’s ability to run in the background. Test With Various Background App Refresh Settings iOS puts users in control of background execution via the options in Settings > General > Background App Refresh. Test how your app performs with the following settings: Background app refresh turned off overall Background app refresh turned on in general but turned off for your app Background app refresh turned on in general and turned on for your app IMPORTANT While these settings are labelled Background App Refresh, they affect subsystems other than background app refresh. Test all of these cases regardless of what specific background execution feature you’re using. Test Realistic User Scenarios In many cases you won’t be able to fully test background execution code at your desk. Rather, install a TestFlight build of your app and then use the device as a normal user would. For example: To test Core Location background execution properly, actual leave your office and move around as a user might. To test background app refresh, use your app regularly during the day and then put your device on charge at night. Testing like this requires two things: Patience Good logging The system log may be sufficient here, but you might need to investigate other logging solutions that are more appropriate for your product. These testing challenges are why it’s critical that you have unit tests to exercise your core logic. It takes a lot of time to run integration tests like this, so you want to focus on integration issues. Before starting your integration tests, make sure that your unit tests have flushed out any bugs in your core logic. Revision History 2025-08-12 Made various editorial changes. 2025-08-11 First posted.
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Aug ’25
Trouble setting up watches to use TestFlight that are AWFK configured
I am developing a simple watch app and I use my personal watch for development with Xcode. Personal watch is series 10 gps only. I have two other watches that I want to use for testing the app, but not needing them to be connected to Xcode. The test watches have cellular option, and I need a cell plan per watch because the watches need to be standalone, not counting initial setup. To get the standalone cell plan the watches need to be configured using AWFK. Here is what I have tried/current issues. I switch between all three watches on my phone using the watch app. Originally tried to put test watches in developer mode, thinking I would connect to Xcode, developer mode is not available when watch is setup using AWFK. Pushed the watch app to apple connect, setup TestFlight group, added the test users and my phone user, accepted invites TestFlight is installed on my phone, I see the testflight setup for the watch app I set a test watch using watch app on the phone, run install for the test app from TestFlight on the phone, spinner moves for awhile then goes back to Install. I am not able to get the watch app installed on the test watches from the phone. Is what I am attempting to do supported? I haven't found much specific documentation on this. If I pair the test watches as regular watches, set them to developer mode, can I pair them again as AWFK and will developer mode survive the switch? Or is there something really simple that I'm overlooking? Appreciate any help that can be extended.
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275
Dec ’25
Built in ssh-add doesn't read ~/.ssh/config
I'm trying to authenticate to a git host using SSH keys stored in 1Password. I have ~/.ssh/config with mode 600 set with a symlink: Host * IdentityAgent "~/.1password/agent.sock" But ssh-add -l shows no identities. If I set $SSH_AUTH_SOCK, ssh-add -l works just fine. I'd love to not have to do this, though. Why doesn't ssh-add seem to read ~/.ssh/config? The built-in version is OpenSSH_10.0p2, LibreSSL 3.3.6. I've searched fruitlessly for an answer anywhere else.
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175
Feb ’26
Public radar reports
Hello Apple community ! Not here to report an issue but I just wanted to make a suggestion ^^ I feel like a common frustration amongst developers is the lack of transparency over bugs filed on developer tools, SDKs, iOS versions, the whole Apple ecosystem really. This leads to the creation of parallel bug tracking tools (https://github.com/feedback-assistant/reports?tab=readme-ov-file / https://openradar.appspot.com/page/1) or filing of duplicates for reports that may already exist and are being worked on. I feel like this would save time for both external developers that encounter bugs & Apple engineers that have to look for possible duplicates to share a common public database of issues. Other companies have this kind of system in place (Google for example : https://issuetracker.google.com/) so why not Apple ? Thank you
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158
May ’25
What is the unit used for the availableKilobytes property of the target object?
In the online documentation for InstallerJS, it is stated that the unit for the availableKilobytes property of the target field is kilobytes. Isn't it actually bytes because of a bug in the very first release of macOS that supported InstallerJS? [Q] Has there been a fix in the recent years regarding this property that would explain why the documentation says it's kilobytes? Even though at the time of this writing, the unit is still bytes when you call my.target.availableKilobytes I'm using this call to dump the value of this property in install.log: system.log(my.target.availableKilobytes + ''); Ref. https://developer.apple.com/documentation/installer_js/target/1811975-availablekilobytes (FB20448952)
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108
Sep ’25
Is there a way to limit the MusicKit JWT tokens to just the Apple Music API using scopes?
Hi, I'm generating MusicKit JWT tokens on my backend side and using it on the client side to query the Apple Music API. One concern I have is accidentally over issuing the scope of this JWT, resulting in accidental access more services than intended like DeviceCheck or APNS. Other than using separate keys for MusicKit and other services, is there a way to limit the generated JWT to only the Apple Music API (https://api.music.apple.com/v1/*) using the JWT payload scope?
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134
May ’25
Unable to Add Font to Asset Catalog as a Font Set (Appearing as "Data")
Hi Support Team, I am new here. I am unable to add my fonts to the asset catalog there is no option to add new font set when I click the plus sign. When I drag my files in they show up as data. I have a Contents.json in the font folder called BeVietnamProFont.font. Is there something I am doing wrong? Thanks SO much! { "info": { "version": 1, "author": "xcode" }, "properties": {}, "fonts": [ { "filename": "BeVietnamPro-Black.ttf", "weight": "black", "style": "normal" }, { "filename": "BeVietnamPro-BlackItalic.ttf", "weight": "black", "style": "italic" }, { "filename": "BeVietnamPro-Bold.ttf", "weight": "bold", "style": "normal" }, { "filename": "BeVietnamPro-BoldItalic.ttf", "weight": "bold", "style": "italic" }, { "filename": "BeVietnamPro-ExtraBold.ttf", "weight": "heavy", "style": "normal" }, { "filename": "BeVietnamPro-ExtraBoldItalic.ttf", "weight": "heavy", "style": "italic" }, { "filename": "BeVietnamPro-ExtraLight.ttf", "weight": "ultralight", "style": "normal" }, { "filename": "BeVietnamPro-ExtraLightItalic.ttf", "weight": "ultralight", "style": "italic" }, { "filename": "BeVietnamPro-Light.ttf", "weight": "light", "style": "normal" }, { "filename": "BeVietnamPro-LightItalic.ttf", "weight": "light", "style": "italic" }, { "filename": "BeVietnamPro-Regular.ttf", "weight": "regular", "style": "normal" }, { "filename": "BeVietnamPro-Italic.ttf", "weight": "regular", "style": "italic" }, { "filename": "BeVietnamPro-Medium.ttf", "weight": "medium", "style": "normal" }, { "filename": "BeVietnamPro-MediumItalic.ttf", "weight": "medium", "style": "italic" }, { "filename": "BeVietnamPro-SemiBold.ttf", "weight": "semibold", "style": "normal" }, { "filename": "BeVietnamPro-SemiBoldItalic.ttf", "weight": "semibold", "style": "italic" }, { "filename": "BeVietnamPro-Thin.ttf", "weight": "thin", "style": "normal" }, { "filename": "BeVietnamPro-ThinItalic.ttf", "weight": "thin", "style": "italic" } ] } ![]("https://developer.apple.com/forums/content/attachment/56835f04-d1c1-468f-808b-9a786562d367" "title=Screenshot 2025-07-13 at 1.05.05 PM.png ;width=539;height=630")
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250
Jul ’25
Run builds on old binary
I am encountering an issue where the application running on a physical device does not reflect the most recent source changes. Observed behavior On the device, the application behaves as if an older binary is running. Specifically: Newly added debug UI labels do not appear. The logs still show old debug prints instead of new ones. Steps taken to ensure a clean install: Changed the bundle identifier Set a new display name (the app still showed the old display name when I click run). Deleted the app manually from the device before every reinstall. Build and install steps Performed multiple clean builds with a fresh Derived Data path. Built from terminal using xcodebuild (Debug configuration, physical device target, automatic provisioning). Installed using: xcrun devicectl device install app Verified: The updated source files are listed under Compile Sources and compiled from the expected path. The bundled Info.plist includes the new bundle identifier and display name. Installation output confirms new bundle identifier. Question What could cause a newly built and installed application to run with behavior from an older binary? Are there recommended ways to verify that the device is actually launching the latest installed build, and to ensure stale binaries are not being executed? Any guidance on additional diagnostics or misconfigurations to check would be appreciated.
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317
Jan ’26
Can’t Enable Developer Mode on Apple Watch – No Prompt Appears
Hi, I’m currently developing a watchOS app and ran into an issue where I can’t enable Developer Mode on my Apple Watch. Device info: Apple Watch Series 9 (watchOS 10.4) Paired with iPhone 14 Pro (iOS 17.4.1) Xcode 15.3 (macOS 15.5, Apple Silicon) Issue: When I try to run the app on my physical watch device, Xcode prompts that Developer Mode needs to be enabled. However, there is no approval request on the Apple Watch, and no Developer Mode option appears under Settings → Privacy & Security. I’ve already tried the following: Rebooting both devices Unpairing and re-pairing the watch Erasing and setting up the watch again Signing out and back into my Apple ID Using the latest Xcode version (15.3 and 16.3 both tested) Running clean builds and checking provisioning profiles Attempting install via both simulator and physical device Still no luck — the app will not launch on the Apple Watch due to Developer Mode being disabled, and the option is missing entirely from Settings. I visited an Apple Store Genius Bar, but they couldn’t help and told me to contact Developer Support. I’ve already submitted a support request, but in the meantime I wanted to ask here in case anyone else has experienced this and found a workaround. Thanks in advance.
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174
May ’25
Xcode Code coverage shows zero; even after 245 successful tests
I have a project inside the project structure. I have around 300 unit tests in the project. I see that for some of the subprojects, the coverage numbers show up correctly, but for other subprojects and the main project, the coverage number shows zero, even though the tests are running successfully. The log I get is: Aggregation tool emitted warnings: warning: /Users/ABC/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/projectABC-hfzmkbdgpiswoxfvvnvhrafaiqyb/Build/ProfileData/A8EEC1FB-1699-4C29-A88C-D3DDA226DBC0/0A416494-A393-4319-AA47-502D72084C9C-43351.profraw: raw profile version mismatch: Profile uses raw profile format version = 8; expected version = 10 PLEASE update this tool to the version in the raw profile, or regenerate the raw profile with the expected version. I only have one Xcode (26.0.1) on my machine. I tried cleaning the derived data, the cleaning project, and rerunning the tests, but it hasn't helped. Please help me get the coverage number back. Thank you.
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123
Oct ’25
UI tests blocked by “bash requesting screen access” popup in Mac OS 15
On macOS, I get a system popup when running UI tests in GitHub saying: “bash” is requesting to bypass the system private window picker and directly access your screen and audio. How can I prevent these login and screen access popups from appearing during automated UI tests? Is there an official setup or configuration for running IntelliJ UI tests in CI environments (macOS, Linux, Windows) to avoid such dialogs? My builds run in GitHub Actions VMs, so I can’t manually grant these permissions, and they block the tests.
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142
Nov ’25
[Unreal Engine] File missing if packaged with command line
Hello! I am trying to automate iOS builds for my Unreal Engine game using Unreal Automation Tool, but I cannot produce a functionnal build with it, while packaging from XCode works perfectly. I have tracked down the issue to a missing file. I'm using the Firebase SDK that requires a GoogleService-Info.plist file. I have copied this file at the root of my project, as the Firebase documentation suggests. I have not taken any manual action to specify that this file needs to be included in the packaged app. The Firebase code checks the existence of this file using NSString* Path = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource: @“GoogleService-Info” ofType: @“plist”]; return Path != nil; If I package my app from XCode using Product -> Archive, this test returns true and the SDK is properly initialized. If I package my app using Unreal Engine's RunUAT.sh BuildCookRun, this test returns false and the SDK fails to initialize (and actually crashes upon trying). I have tried several Unreal Engine tricks to include my file, like setting it as a RuntimeDependecies in my projects Build.cs file. Which enables Unreal Engine code to find it, but not this direct call to NSBundle. I would like to know either how to tell Unreal Engine to include files at the root of the app bundle, or what XCode does to automatically include this file and is there a way to script it? I can provide both versions .xcarchive if needed. Thanks!
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150
Activity
Sep ’25
Promotional Offer keeps returning Contact Developer (Error code: 3903)
I am trying to add promotional offers in my iOS App. The signature is being verified through a google cloud function. My user id, signature, and product and offerIds return perfect. Promotional offer appears in the payment sheet as well. When applying for payment, the "ding" sound comes as well. But then I get the UIAlert with Unable to Purchase Contact developer. Error code in logs is 3903
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97
Activity
Dec ’25
Unexpected app version in logs — does MARKETING_VERSION change dynamically?
Hello, I've encountered unexpected behavior related to version information in our app logs, and I'd like to ask for some advice. We reviewed logs collected from a user running our app (currently available on the App Store). The logs are designed to include both the build number and the app version. Based on the build number in the logs, we believe the installed app version on the user's device is 1.0.3. However, the app version recorded in the logs is 1.1.5, which is the latest version currently available on the App Store. In our project, we set the app version using the MARKETING_VERSION environment variable. This value is configured via XcodeGen, and we define it in a YAML file. Under normal circumstances, the value defined in the YAML file (MARKETING_VERSION = 1.0.3) should be embedded in the app and reflected in the logs. But in this case, the version from the current App Store release (1.1.5) appears instead, which was unexpected. We'd like to know what might cause this behavior, and if there are any known factors that could lead to this. Also, is it possible that MARKETING_VERSION might somehow dynamically reflect the version currently available on the App Store? YAML: info.plist:
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90
Activity
Jun ’25
Testing and Debugging Code Running in the Background
I regularly bump into folks confused by this issue, so I thought I’d collect my thoughts on the topic into a single (hopefully) coherent post. If you have questions or comments, put them in a new thread here on the forums. Feel free to use whatever subtopic and tags that apply to your situation, but make sure to add the Debugging tag so that I see your thread go by. Share and Enjoy — Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com" Testing and Debugging Code Running in the Background I regularly see questions like this: My background code works just fine in Xcode but fails when I download the app from the App Store. or this: … or fails when I run my app from the Home screen. or this: How do I step through my background code? These suggest a fundamental misunderstanding of how the debugger interacts with iOS’s background execution model. The goal of this post is to explain that misunderstanding so that you can effectively test and debug background code. Note The focus of this post is iOS. The advice here generally applies to any of iOS’s ‘child’ platforms, so iPadOS, tvOS, and so on. However, there will be some platform specific differences, especially on watchOS. This advice here doesn’t apply to macOS. It’s background execution model is completely different than the one used by iOS. Understand the Fundamentals The key point to note here is that the debugger prevents your app from suspending. This has important consequences for iOS’s background execution model. Normally: iOS suspends your app when it’s in the background. Once your app is suspended, it becomes eligible for termination. The most common reason for this is that the system wants to recover memory, but it can happen for various other reasons. For example, the system might terminate a suspended app in order to update it. Under various circumstances your app can continue running after moving to the background. A great example of this is the continued processed task feature, introduced in iOS 26 beta. Alternatively, your app can be resumed or relaunched in the background to perform some task. For example, the region monitor feature of Core Location can resume or relaunch your app in the background when the user enters or leaves a region. If no app needs to be executing, the system can sleep the CPU. None of this happens in the normal way if the debugger is attached to your app, and it’s vital that you take that into account when debugging code that runs in the background. An Example of the Problem For an example of how this can cause problems, imagine an app that uses an URLSession background session. A background session will resume or relaunch your app in the background when specific events happen. This involves two separate code paths: If your app is suspended, the session resumes it in the background. If your app is terminated, it relaunches it in the background. Neither code path behaves normally if the debugger is attached. In the first case, the app never suspends, so the resume case isn’t properly exercised. Rather, your background session acts like it would if your app were in the foreground. Normally this doesn’t cause too many problems, so this isn’t a huge concern. On the other hand, the second case is much more problematic. The debugger prevents your app from suspending, and hence from terminating, and thus you can’t exercise this code path at all. Seek Framework-Specific Advice The above is just an example, and there are likely other things to keep in mind when debugging background code for a specific framework. Consult the documentation for the framework you’re working with to see if it has specific advice. Note For URLSession background sessions, check out Testing Background Session Code. The rest of this post focuses on the general case, offering advice that applies to all frameworks that support background execution. Run Your App Outside of Xcode When debugging background execution, launch your app from the Home screen. For day-to-day development: Run the app from Xcode in the normal way (Product > Run). Stop it. Run it again from the Home screen. Alternatively, install a build from TestFlight. This accurately replicates the App Store install experience. Write Code with Debugging in Mind It’s obvious that, if you run the app without attaching the debugger, you won’t be able to use the debugger to debug it. Rather: Extract the core logic of your code into libraries, and then write extensive unit tests for those libraries. You’ll be able to debug these unit tests with the debugger. Add log points to help debug your integration with the system. Treat your logging as a feature of your product. Carefully consider where to add log points and at what level to log. Check this logging code into your source code repository and ship it — or at least the bulk of it — as part of your final product. This logging will be super helpful when it comes to debugging problems that only show up in the field. My general advice is that you use the system log for these log points. See Your Friend the System Log for lots of advice on that front. One of the great features of the system log is that disabled log points are very cheap. In most cases it’s fine to leave these in your final product. Attach and Detach In some cases it really is helpful to debug with the debugger. One option here is to attach to your running app, debug a specific thing, and then detach from it. Specifically: To attach to a running app, choose Debug > Attach to Process > YourAppName in Xcode. To detach, choose Debug > Detach. Understand Force Quit iOS allows users to remove an app from the multitasking UI. This is commonly known as force quit, but that’s not a particularly accurate term: The multitasking UI doesn’t show apps that are running, it shows apps that have been run by the user. The UI shows recently run apps regardless of whether they’re in the foreground, running in the background, suspended, or terminated. So, removing an app from the UI may not actually quit anything. Removing an app sets a flag that prevents the app from being launched in the background. That flag gets cleared when the user next launches the app manually. Note In some circumstances iOS will not honour this flag. The exact cases where this happens are not documented and have changed over time. Keep these behaviours in mind as you debug your background execution code. For example, imagine you’re trying to test the URLSession background relaunch code path discussed above. If you force quit your app, you’ll never hit this code path because iOS won’t relaunch your app in the background. Rather, add a debug-only button that causes your app to call exit. IMPORTANT This suggestion is for debugging only. Don’t include a Quit button in your final app! This is specifically proscribed by QA1561. Alternatively, if you’re attached to your app with Xcode, simply choose Product > Stop. This is like calling exit; it has no impact on your app’s ability to run in the background. Test With Various Background App Refresh Settings iOS puts users in control of background execution via the options in Settings > General > Background App Refresh. Test how your app performs with the following settings: Background app refresh turned off overall Background app refresh turned on in general but turned off for your app Background app refresh turned on in general and turned on for your app IMPORTANT While these settings are labelled Background App Refresh, they affect subsystems other than background app refresh. Test all of these cases regardless of what specific background execution feature you’re using. Test Realistic User Scenarios In many cases you won’t be able to fully test background execution code at your desk. Rather, install a TestFlight build of your app and then use the device as a normal user would. For example: To test Core Location background execution properly, actual leave your office and move around as a user might. To test background app refresh, use your app regularly during the day and then put your device on charge at night. Testing like this requires two things: Patience Good logging The system log may be sufficient here, but you might need to investigate other logging solutions that are more appropriate for your product. These testing challenges are why it’s critical that you have unit tests to exercise your core logic. It takes a lot of time to run integration tests like this, so you want to focus on integration issues. Before starting your integration tests, make sure that your unit tests have flushed out any bugs in your core logic. Revision History 2025-08-12 Made various editorial changes. 2025-08-11 First posted.
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Activity
Aug ’25
Trouble setting up watches to use TestFlight that are AWFK configured
I am developing a simple watch app and I use my personal watch for development with Xcode. Personal watch is series 10 gps only. I have two other watches that I want to use for testing the app, but not needing them to be connected to Xcode. The test watches have cellular option, and I need a cell plan per watch because the watches need to be standalone, not counting initial setup. To get the standalone cell plan the watches need to be configured using AWFK. Here is what I have tried/current issues. I switch between all three watches on my phone using the watch app. Originally tried to put test watches in developer mode, thinking I would connect to Xcode, developer mode is not available when watch is setup using AWFK. Pushed the watch app to apple connect, setup TestFlight group, added the test users and my phone user, accepted invites TestFlight is installed on my phone, I see the testflight setup for the watch app I set a test watch using watch app on the phone, run install for the test app from TestFlight on the phone, spinner moves for awhile then goes back to Install. I am not able to get the watch app installed on the test watches from the phone. Is what I am attempting to do supported? I haven't found much specific documentation on this. If I pair the test watches as regular watches, set them to developer mode, can I pair them again as AWFK and will developer mode survive the switch? Or is there something really simple that I'm overlooking? Appreciate any help that can be extended.
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275
Activity
Dec ’25
Built in ssh-add doesn't read ~/.ssh/config
I'm trying to authenticate to a git host using SSH keys stored in 1Password. I have ~/.ssh/config with mode 600 set with a symlink: Host * IdentityAgent "~/.1password/agent.sock" But ssh-add -l shows no identities. If I set $SSH_AUTH_SOCK, ssh-add -l works just fine. I'd love to not have to do this, though. Why doesn't ssh-add seem to read ~/.ssh/config? The built-in version is OpenSSH_10.0p2, LibreSSL 3.3.6. I've searched fruitlessly for an answer anywhere else.
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175
Activity
Feb ’26
Public radar reports
Hello Apple community ! Not here to report an issue but I just wanted to make a suggestion ^^ I feel like a common frustration amongst developers is the lack of transparency over bugs filed on developer tools, SDKs, iOS versions, the whole Apple ecosystem really. This leads to the creation of parallel bug tracking tools (https://github.com/feedback-assistant/reports?tab=readme-ov-file / https://openradar.appspot.com/page/1) or filing of duplicates for reports that may already exist and are being worked on. I feel like this would save time for both external developers that encounter bugs & Apple engineers that have to look for possible duplicates to share a common public database of issues. Other companies have this kind of system in place (Google for example : https://issuetracker.google.com/) so why not Apple ? Thank you
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158
Activity
May ’25
What is the unit used for the availableKilobytes property of the target object?
In the online documentation for InstallerJS, it is stated that the unit for the availableKilobytes property of the target field is kilobytes. Isn't it actually bytes because of a bug in the very first release of macOS that supported InstallerJS? [Q] Has there been a fix in the recent years regarding this property that would explain why the documentation says it's kilobytes? Even though at the time of this writing, the unit is still bytes when you call my.target.availableKilobytes I'm using this call to dump the value of this property in install.log: system.log(my.target.availableKilobytes + ''); Ref. https://developer.apple.com/documentation/installer_js/target/1811975-availablekilobytes (FB20448952)
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108
Activity
Sep ’25
There is an issue with Korean consonants and vowels being separated in the simulator.
In Simulator Korean character system has not working well. I want to type "", however, if I type the same thing on the simulator's virtual keyboard (Korean), it comes out as ''. I think this is caused by IME system in ios simulator bug. I think this has been happening since IOS 17.
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157
Activity
Jun ’25
Age Ratings Responses - Required for TestFlight also?
I have a Apple Developer accounts for development purposes only and that is also used for testing builds via TestFlight. Is the Age Ratings Responses updates due by the end of January 2026 still required even to send builds to TestFlight?
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118
Activity
Dec ’25
Is there a way to limit the MusicKit JWT tokens to just the Apple Music API using scopes?
Hi, I'm generating MusicKit JWT tokens on my backend side and using it on the client side to query the Apple Music API. One concern I have is accidentally over issuing the scope of this JWT, resulting in accidental access more services than intended like DeviceCheck or APNS. Other than using separate keys for MusicKit and other services, is there a way to limit the generated JWT to only the Apple Music API (https://api.music.apple.com/v1/*) using the JWT payload scope?
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134
Activity
May ’25
Unable to Add Font to Asset Catalog as a Font Set (Appearing as "Data")
Hi Support Team, I am new here. I am unable to add my fonts to the asset catalog there is no option to add new font set when I click the plus sign. When I drag my files in they show up as data. I have a Contents.json in the font folder called BeVietnamProFont.font. Is there something I am doing wrong? Thanks SO much! { "info": { "version": 1, "author": "xcode" }, "properties": {}, "fonts": [ { "filename": "BeVietnamPro-Black.ttf", "weight": "black", "style": "normal" }, { "filename": "BeVietnamPro-BlackItalic.ttf", "weight": "black", "style": "italic" }, { "filename": "BeVietnamPro-Bold.ttf", "weight": "bold", "style": "normal" }, { "filename": "BeVietnamPro-BoldItalic.ttf", "weight": "bold", "style": "italic" }, { "filename": "BeVietnamPro-ExtraBold.ttf", "weight": "heavy", "style": "normal" }, { "filename": "BeVietnamPro-ExtraBoldItalic.ttf", "weight": "heavy", "style": "italic" }, { "filename": "BeVietnamPro-ExtraLight.ttf", "weight": "ultralight", "style": "normal" }, { "filename": "BeVietnamPro-ExtraLightItalic.ttf", "weight": "ultralight", "style": "italic" }, { "filename": "BeVietnamPro-Light.ttf", "weight": "light", "style": "normal" }, { "filename": "BeVietnamPro-LightItalic.ttf", "weight": "light", "style": "italic" }, { "filename": "BeVietnamPro-Regular.ttf", "weight": "regular", "style": "normal" }, { "filename": "BeVietnamPro-Italic.ttf", "weight": "regular", "style": "italic" }, { "filename": "BeVietnamPro-Medium.ttf", "weight": "medium", "style": "normal" }, { "filename": "BeVietnamPro-MediumItalic.ttf", "weight": "medium", "style": "italic" }, { "filename": "BeVietnamPro-SemiBold.ttf", "weight": "semibold", "style": "normal" }, { "filename": "BeVietnamPro-SemiBoldItalic.ttf", "weight": "semibold", "style": "italic" }, { "filename": "BeVietnamPro-Thin.ttf", "weight": "thin", "style": "normal" }, { "filename": "BeVietnamPro-ThinItalic.ttf", "weight": "thin", "style": "italic" } ] } ![]("https://developer.apple.com/forums/content/attachment/56835f04-d1c1-468f-808b-9a786562d367" "title=Screenshot 2025-07-13 at 1.05.05 PM.png ;width=539;height=630")
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250
Activity
Jul ’25
Marking video as watched doesn’t work in Apple’s Developer iOS app
I’m using Developer iOS app to watch WWDC session videos. i notice it doesn’t record a video as watched after I watched it and even manual marking it using Mark as Watch has no effect. I remember the issue started several years ago because some old WWDC videos were marked watches.
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106
Activity
Jul ’25
Run builds on old binary
I am encountering an issue where the application running on a physical device does not reflect the most recent source changes. Observed behavior On the device, the application behaves as if an older binary is running. Specifically: Newly added debug UI labels do not appear. The logs still show old debug prints instead of new ones. Steps taken to ensure a clean install: Changed the bundle identifier Set a new display name (the app still showed the old display name when I click run). Deleted the app manually from the device before every reinstall. Build and install steps Performed multiple clean builds with a fresh Derived Data path. Built from terminal using xcodebuild (Debug configuration, physical device target, automatic provisioning). Installed using: xcrun devicectl device install app Verified: The updated source files are listed under Compile Sources and compiled from the expected path. The bundled Info.plist includes the new bundle identifier and display name. Installation output confirms new bundle identifier. Question What could cause a newly built and installed application to run with behavior from an older binary? Are there recommended ways to verify that the device is actually launching the latest installed build, and to ensure stale binaries are not being executed? Any guidance on additional diagnostics or misconfigurations to check would be appreciated.
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317
Activity
Jan ’26
Stuck at the developer mode startup interface and unable to enter.
iphone 15 pro max ios 26 Stuck at the developer mode startup interface and unable to swipe up.
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79
Activity
Oct ’25
Can’t Enable Developer Mode on Apple Watch – No Prompt Appears
Hi, I’m currently developing a watchOS app and ran into an issue where I can’t enable Developer Mode on my Apple Watch. Device info: Apple Watch Series 9 (watchOS 10.4) Paired with iPhone 14 Pro (iOS 17.4.1) Xcode 15.3 (macOS 15.5, Apple Silicon) Issue: When I try to run the app on my physical watch device, Xcode prompts that Developer Mode needs to be enabled. However, there is no approval request on the Apple Watch, and no Developer Mode option appears under Settings → Privacy & Security. I’ve already tried the following: Rebooting both devices Unpairing and re-pairing the watch Erasing and setting up the watch again Signing out and back into my Apple ID Using the latest Xcode version (15.3 and 16.3 both tested) Running clean builds and checking provisioning profiles Attempting install via both simulator and physical device Still no luck — the app will not launch on the Apple Watch due to Developer Mode being disabled, and the option is missing entirely from Settings. I visited an Apple Store Genius Bar, but they couldn’t help and told me to contact Developer Support. I’ve already submitted a support request, but in the meantime I wanted to ask here in case anyone else has experienced this and found a workaround. Thanks in advance.
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174
Activity
May ’25
Icon Composer does not create icon that appears in App
I am running into an issue where when layers are grouped, the icon is not shown as it does within the preview in the Icon Composer app Is this a bug or is it some setting within the group/app?
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148
Activity
Jul ’25
Xcode Code coverage shows zero; even after 245 successful tests
I have a project inside the project structure. I have around 300 unit tests in the project. I see that for some of the subprojects, the coverage numbers show up correctly, but for other subprojects and the main project, the coverage number shows zero, even though the tests are running successfully. The log I get is: Aggregation tool emitted warnings: warning: /Users/ABC/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/projectABC-hfzmkbdgpiswoxfvvnvhrafaiqyb/Build/ProfileData/A8EEC1FB-1699-4C29-A88C-D3DDA226DBC0/0A416494-A393-4319-AA47-502D72084C9C-43351.profraw: raw profile version mismatch: Profile uses raw profile format version = 8; expected version = 10 PLEASE update this tool to the version in the raw profile, or regenerate the raw profile with the expected version. I only have one Xcode (26.0.1) on my machine. I tried cleaning the derived data, the cleaning project, and rerunning the tests, but it hasn't helped. Please help me get the coverage number back. Thank you.
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123
Activity
Oct ’25
No screenshots in iTunes search API response
Hi, I requested the https://itunes.apple.com/lookup?id=6482849843&country=us for getting the information of Goods puzzle sort challange , but the screenshotUrls in the response was empty. Is iTunes search API has issue with getting the screenshot urls ? Is there any plan to update it ?
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85
Activity
Apr ’25
UI tests blocked by “bash requesting screen access” popup in Mac OS 15
On macOS, I get a system popup when running UI tests in GitHub saying: “bash” is requesting to bypass the system private window picker and directly access your screen and audio. How can I prevent these login and screen access popups from appearing during automated UI tests? Is there an official setup or configuration for running IntelliJ UI tests in CI environments (macOS, Linux, Windows) to avoid such dialogs? My builds run in GitHub Actions VMs, so I can’t manually grant these permissions, and they block the tests.
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142
Activity
Nov ’25