Hello, I have a few questions regarding URL Filter (iOS 26) and Content Filter Providers. URL Filter According to the WWDC26 video, URL Filter appears to be available for both consumer and enterprise deployments. This seems consistent with the classic Network Extension Provider Deployment documentation (TN3134 – August 2025), where no specific deployment restriction is mentioned. However, a more recent document (Apple Platform Deployment, September 2025) indicates the following for URL Filter: “Requires supervision on iPhone, iPad and Mac” (with a green checkmark). 👉 My question: Is URL Filter actually available for consumer use on non-supervised iPhones (deployed on Testflight and AppStore), or is supervision now required? Content Filter Providers From past experience, I remember that Content Filter Providers were only available on supervised devices. Based on the current documentation, I am questioning their usability in a consumer context, i.e. on non-supervised iPhones. In the Network Extension Provider Deployment documentation, it is stated that this is a Network Extension and that, since iOS 16, it is a “per-app on managed device” restriction. In the more recent Apple Platform Deployment document, it states for iPhone and iPad: “App needs to be installed on the user’s iOS and iPadOS device and deletion can be prevented if the device is supervised.” 👉 My understanding: Supervised device: The Content Filter Provider is installed via a host application that controls enabling/disabling the filter, and the host app can be prevented from being removed thanks to supervision. Non-supervised device: The Content Filter Provider is also installed via a host application that controls enabling/disabling the filter, but the app can be removed by the user, which would remove the filter. 👉 My question: Can Content Filter Providers be used in a consumer context on non-supervised iPhones (deployed on Testflight and AppStore), accepting that the user can uninstall the host app (and therefore remove the filter)? Thank you in advance for your feedback. Sources: TN3134 => TN3134: Network Extension provider deployment | Apple Developer Documentation Apple Platform Deployment / Filter content for Apple devices => https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/deployment/dep1129ff8d2/1/web/1.0

We've received several reports of a new bug while setting up our products with WAC. The Accessory Setup UI appears with a blank network selected and the message 'This accessory will be set up to join "(null)".' at top. The user can tap "Show Other Networks..." to select another network, but this experience is very confusing. Why does this UI present a choice that is known to be invalid when other valid choices exist? I've captured a screenshot and sysdiagnose from this case. In most cases this problem happens only intermittently, but I can reproduce it consistently by disconnecting my iPhone from any WiFi network (WiFi remains enabled). My suggestion for a better user experience is that this UI should select the default network according to these rules: The network to which iPhone is currently connected. Any network which is in the known/my list for this iPhone Any valid network I believe rule #1 is the existing behavior, but applying rules #2 and #3 as fallbacks would be an improvement. Is there anything I can change in my iOS code or in my accessory's WAC server to improve this experience?

Hello all, WWDC 2025 introduced Wi‑Fi Aware (NAN) support on iOS 26 for peer-to-peer discovery and direct connections, but I noticed macOS Tahoe doesn’t include it. I couldn’t find any references to Wi‑Fi Aware APIs or framework support in the macOS SDK. Is Apple planning to bring Wi‑Fi Aware to macOS? If so, will this come in a future update to macOS 26 (e.g., 26.x), or is it deferred to macOS 27 or beyond? Thanks for any insights!

Greetings, I would like to understand this URLCache behavior for two different requests to the same end point but with a different header value. Here is a code with comment explaining the behavior. // Create a request to for a url. let url = URL(string: "https://<my url>?f=json")! var request = URLRequest(url: url) // Set custom header with a value. request.setValue("myvalue", forHTTPHeaderField: "CustomField") // Send request to get the response. let (data, response) = try await URLSession.shared.data(for: request) print("data: \(String(describing: String(data: data, encoding: .utf8)))") print("response: \(response)") // Create second request to the same url but with different value of custom header field. var request2 = URLRequest(url: url) request2.setValue("newvalue", forHTTPHeaderField: "CustomField") // Check the URL cache for second request and it returns the response // of the first request even though the second request has different header value. let cachedResponse = URLCache.shared.cachedResponse(for: request2) print("cachedResponse: \(cachedResponse?.response)") Is this a bug in URLCache that request headers are not matched while returning the response? Is this an expected behavior? If yes, why?

I have a custom VPN app that uses NETunnelProviderManager to install a VPN Profile if one is not already installed. On previous iOS versions this would open the VPN Settings and ask for either the PIN, FaceID or TouchID and install the profile. With iOS 26 beta5 it opens the VPN Settings and stops. Is this a bug in iOS 26? Have there been changes to NETunnelProviderManager for iOS 26 that I'm not aware of? FYI we do the samething on macOS 26 beta5 and that works as expected.

I have written the Transparent App Proxy and can capture the network flow and send it to my local server. I want to avoid any processing on the traffic outgoing from my server and establish a connection with a remote server, but instead of connecting to the remote server, it again gets captured and sent back to my local server. I am not getting any clue on how to ignore these flows originating from my server. Any pointers, API, or mechanisms that will help me?

Eager to see the Wi-Fi Aware communication between iPhone (iOS 26) and an Android device, I tried iOS 26 beta on my iPhone16. and tried below code snippet from provided example at https://developer.apple.com/documentation/wifiaware/building-peer-to-peer-apps. Idea is to first verify discovery of Android WiFiAware service on iOS. extension WAPublishableService { public static var simulationService: WAPublishableService { allServices[simulationServiceName]! } } extension WASubscribableService { public static var simulationService: WASubscribableService { allServices[simulationServiceName]! } } struct ContentView: View { @State private var showingDevicePicker = false @State private var pairedDevices: [WAPairedDevice] = [] // To hold discovered/paired devices var body: some View { VStack { Button("Discover Devices") { showingDevicePicker = true // Trigger the device picker presentation } .sheet(isPresented: $showingDevicePicker) { DevicePicker(.wifiAware(.connecting(to: .selected([]), from: .simulationService))) { endpoint in print("Paired Endpoint: \(endpoint)") } label: { Image(systemName: "plus") Text("Add Device") } fallback: { Image(systemName: "xmark.circle") Text("Unavailable") } } List(pairedDevices) { device in Text(device.name ?? "Unknown Device") } } } } With suggested entitlement of WiFiAware and info.plist of service info. Then I had Android device with WIFiAware service publishing service (service name set '_sat-simulation._udp') from this app https://github.com/anagramrice/NAN. But above iOS app is unable to find the service published from android device. Am I missing something? Note: the above Android-NAN app seems to be working fine between Android to Another Android.

I've had a Unreal Engine project that uses libwebsocket to make a websocket connection with SSL to a server. Recently I made a build using Unreal Engine 5.4.4 on MacOS Sequoia 15.5 and XCode 16.4 and for some reason the websocket connection now fails because it can't get the local issuer certificate. It fails to access the root certificate store on my device (Even though, running the project in the Unreal Editor works fine, it's only when making a packaged build with XCode that it breaks) I am not sure why this is suddenly happening now. If I run it in the Unreal editor on my macOS it works fine and connects. But when I make a packaged build which uses XCode to build, it can't get the local issuer certificate. I tried different code signing options, such as sign to run locally or just using sign automatically with a valid team, but I'm not sure if code signing is the cause of this issue or not. This app is only for development and not meant to be published, so that's why I had been using sign to run locally, and that used to work fine but not anymore. Any guidance would be appreciated, also any information on what may have changed that now causes this certificate issue to happen. I know Apple made changes and has made notarizing MacOS apps mandatory, but I'm not sure if that also means a non-notarized app will now no longer have access to the root certificate store of a device, in my research I haven't found anything about that specifically, but I'm wondering if any Apple engineers might know something about this that hasn't been put out publicly.

Howdy, I've been developing a packet tunnel extension meant to run on iOS and MacOS. For development I'm using xcodegen + xcodebuild to assemble a bunch of swift and rust code together. I'm moving from direct TUN device management on Mac to shipping a Network Extension (appex). With that move I noticed that on some mac laptops NE fails to start completely, whilst on others everything works fine. I'm using CODE_SIGN_STYLE: Automatic, Apple IDs are within the same team, all devices are registered as dev devices. Signing dev certificates, managed by xcode. Some suspicious logs: (NetworkExtension) [com.apple.networkextension:] Signature check failed: code failed to satisfy specified code requirement(s) ... (NetworkExtension) [com.apple.networkextension:] Provider is not signed with a Developer ID certificate What could be the issue? Where those inconsistencies across devices might come from?

My application needs local network access. When it is started for the first time, the user gets a prompt to enable local network access (as expected). The application is then shown as enabled in Privacy & Security / Local Network and local network access is working. If macOS is then shutdown and restarted, local network access is blocked for the application even though it is still shown as enabled in Privacy & Security / Local Network. Local network access can be restored either by toggling permission off and on in Privacy & Security / Local Network or by disabling and enabling Wi-Fi. This behaviour is consistent on Sequoia 15.1. It happens sometimes on 15.0 and 15.0.1 but not every time. Is my application doing something wrong or is this a Sequoia issue? If it is a Sequoia issue, is there some change I can make to my application to work around it?

I’m developing an iOS idle game (guild management). To detect manual device time changes that would break progression, I need a trusted “current real-world time” reference. I’m considering querying Apple’s NTP host time.apple.com, but I couldn’t find any official guidance about whether third-party apps may use time.apple.com directly (acceptable use, rate limits, whether it’s discouraged, etc.). Apple Developer Support couldn’t provide info and suggested asking on the forums. Questions: 1. Is it permitted for a third-party iOS app to query time.apple.com via NTP/SNTP (Yes/No or conditional)? 2. If permitted, are there any published or recommended constraints (rate limits, caching, prohibited patterns, commercial app considerations)? 3. If not permitted / not recommended, what is the recommended alternative approach (run our own time service, use public NTP pool, or any Apple-recommended mechanism)? 4. If there is any official document / policy covering this, could you point me to it? For context: I do not need sub-second accuracy and I do not intend high-frequency polling. If implemented at all, it would be very low frequency (e.g., first launch + once per 24h) with caching and graceful fallback on failure. My main goal is policy clarity rather than implementation details.

In our iOS application, we need to list available WiFi networks so that users can select one for device configuration. Here's the workflow: Initially, the hardware device acts as a WiFi Access Point (AP). The app should scan for nearby WiFi networks to detect the device's AP. The app connects temporarily to this AP and sends the selected WiFi credentials to the device. The device then connects to the selected WiFi network and stops broadcasting its AP. Is this flow achievable on iOS? We understand that Apple restricts access to WiFi scanning APIs — are there any supported methods (e.g., using NEHotspotHelper) or entitlements (such as MFi) that could enable this?

Greetings.I have an app today that uses multipeer connectivity extensively. Currently, when the user switches away from the app, MPC disconnects the session(s) - this is by design apparently (per other feedback). I'd like to hear if anyone has experimented with iOS9 multitasking / multipeer and whether MPC sessions can stay alive?Thanks

Hello eveybody,Currently I'm working on an app which connects to a device. During testing I encounter an internal error of NEHotspotConfigurationErrorDomain. See the log snippet:Domain=NEHotspotConfigurationErrorDomain Code=8 "internal error." UserInfo={NSLocalizedDescription=internal error.}This error appears randomly. In one day I encountered it three times. The only solution I can think of is catching this error somehow and then telling the user to restart the device.After this error appears, the wifi functionality of iOS in all third party apps seems to be broken. Only restarting helps as far as I know. Also there seems to be nothing we as app developers can do about it. Therefor I wonder if there is some way to prevent this error somehow? The only solution I can think of is catching this error somehow and then telling the user to restart the device.Also since there is not much information about this error on the web, it would be really nice if someone can clarify whats going on with this error.Regards.

I've created an application, applied for the multicast permissioning, it was granted to my bundleID and therefore my application. I've since come out with new versions of the same app, but now multicast entitlement is no longer provisioned. What must I check to identify where the problem exists? I can provide any details needed to troubleshoot.

Why is the WiFiAware framework not importable in Mac Catalyst? Are there any plans to support Wi-Fi Aware technology on Mac Catalyst in the future?

I've implemented a custom system extension VPN for macOS using Packet Tunnel Provider. The VPN is configured with on-demand, and a rule to always connect whenever there's traffic: onDemandRules = [NEOnDemandRuleConnect()] As expected, if the VPN isn't active, all traffic gets blocked until it is ready. Not expected: In the following scenario, there is some 'traffic leak': Use only WiFi (not wired cable) Connect the VPN Disable the WiFi and wait for the VPN to disconnect Enable the WiFi Some packets are routed outside the VPN, and aren't being blocked Some moments after, all traffic will be blocked, and the VPN will start the 'connecting' process. Is the above scenario a 'known' issue? Can it be a race condition in the OS, where some packets can be sent after the network is brought back before the VPN process starts? Is there any way to fix this problem? P.S: I'm not using flags such as 'capture all network'

Our app has a network extension (as I've mentioned lots 😄). We do an upgrade by downloading the new package, stopping & removing all of our components except for the network extension, and then installing the new package, which then loads a LaunchAgent causing the containing app to run. (The only difference between a new install and upgrade is the old extension is left running, but not having anything to tell it what to do, just logs and continues.) On some (but not all) upgrades... nothing ends up able to communicate via XPC with the Network Extension. My simplest cli program to talk to it gets Could not create proxy: Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=4099 "The connection to service named blah was invalidated: failed at lookup with error 3 - No such process." UserInfo={NSDebugDescription=The connection to service named bla was invalidated: failed at lookup with error 3 - No such process.} Could not communicate with blah Restarting the extension by doing a kill -9 doesn't fix it; neither does restarting the control daemon. The only solution we've come across so far is rebooting. I filed FB11086599 about this, but has anyone thoughts about this?

Hello Apple Support Team, We are seeing a production crash on iOS 26 devices that appears to originate from Apple system frameworks rather than application code. 1. Crash Details OS Version: iOS 26.x App built with: Xcode 16 Devices: Multiple models (not device-specific) Exception Type: SIGSEGV SEGV_ACCERR Fault Address: 0x0000000000000100 Crashed Thread: 4 (network background queue) Crash trace summary: Last Exception : 0 libobjc.A.dylib _objc_release_x8 + 8 1 libboringssl.dylib _nw_protocol_boringssl_deallocate_options + 92 2 Network 0x000000019695207c 0x00000001968dc000 + 483452 3 libswiftCore.dylib __swift_release_dealloc + 56 4 libswiftCore.dylib bool swift::RefCounts<swift::RefCountBitsT<(swift::RefCountInlinedness)1> >::doDecrementSlow<(swift::PerformDeinit)1>(swift::RefCountBitsT<(swift::RefCountInlinedness)1>, unsigned int) + 152 5 Network 0x0000000196951f6c 0x00000001968dc000 + 483180 6 Network 0x0000000196952000 0x00000001968dc000 + 483328 7 libswiftCore.dylib __swift_release_dealloc + 56 8 libswiftCore.dylib bool swift::RefCounts<swift::RefCountBitsT<(swift::RefCountInlinedness)1> >::doDecrementSlow<(swift::PerformDeinit)1>(swift::RefCountBitsT<(swift::RefCountInlinedness)1>, unsigned int) + 152 9 libswiftCore.dylib void multiPayloadEnumFN<&handleRefCountsDestroy>(swift::TargetMetadata<swift::InProcess> const*, swift::LayoutStringReader1&, unsigned long&, unsigned char*) + 248 10 libswiftCore.dylib swift::swift_cvw_arrayDestroy(swift::OpaqueValue*, unsigned long, unsigned long, swift::TargetMetadata<swift::InProcess> const*) + 1172 11 libswiftCore.dylib _$sSp12deinitialize5countSvSi_tF + 40 12 CollectionsInternal ___swift_instantiateGenericMetadata + 1236 13 CollectionsInternal ___swift_instantiateGenericMetadata + 388 14 CollectionsInternal ___swift_instantiateGenericMetadata + 1044 15 libswiftCore.dylib __swift_release_dealloc + 56 16 libswiftCore.dylib bool swift::RefCounts<swift::RefCountBitsT<(swift::RefCountInlinedness)1> >::doDecrementSlow<(swift::PerformDeinit)1>(swift::RefCountBitsT<(swift::RefCountInlinedness)1>, unsigned int) + 152 17 Network 0x000000019695f9fc 0x00000001968dc000 + 539132 18 Network 0x000000019695f9bc 0x00000001968dc000 + 539068 19 libswiftCore.dylib __swift_release_dealloc + 56 20 libswiftCore.dylib bool swift::RefCounts<swift::RefCountBitsT<(swift::RefCountInlinedness)1> >::doDecrementSlow<(swift::PerformDeinit)1>(swift::RefCountBitsT<(swift::RefCountInlinedness)1>, unsigned int) + 152 21 libswiftCore.dylib swift_cvw_destroyImpl(swift::OpaqueValue*, swift::TargetMetadata<swift::InProcess> const*) + 212 22 Network 0x0000000196def5d8 0x00000001968dc000 + 5322200 23 Network 0x0000000196ded130 0x00000001968dc000 + 5312816 24 libswiftCore.dylib __swift_release_dealloc + 56 25 libswiftCore.dylib bool swift::RefCounts<swift::RefCountBitsT<(swift::RefCountInlinedness)1> >::doDecrementSlow<(swift::PerformDeinit)1>(swift::RefCountBitsT<(swift::RefCountInlinedness)1>, unsigned int) + 152 26 Network 0x000000019695fde0 0x00000001968dc000 + 540128 27 libobjc.A.dylib object_cxxDestructFromClass(objc_object*, objc_class*) + 116 28 libobjc.A.dylib objc_destructInstance_nonnull_realized(objc_object*) + 76 29 libobjc.A.dylib __objc_rootDealloc + 72 30 Network 0x000000019695f99c 0x00000001968dc000 + 539036 31 Network 0x000000019695fae4 0x00000001968dc000 + 539364 32 Network 0x0000000196b078b8 0x00000001968dc000 + 2275512 33 libobjc.A.dylib object_cxxDestructFromClass(objc_object*, objc_class*) + 116 34 libobjc.A.dylib objc_destructInstance_nonnull_realized(objc_object*) + 76 35 libobjc.A.dylib __objc_rootDealloc + 72 36 Network 0x0000000196b07658 0x00000001968dc000 + 2274904 37 Network 0x00000001968e51d4 nw_queue_context_async_if_needed + 92 38 Network 0x0000000197686ea0 0x00000001968dc000 + 14331552 39 libswiftCore.dylib swift::swift_cvw_arrayDestroy(swift::OpaqueValue*, unsigned long, unsigned long, swift::TargetMetadata<swift::InProcess> const*) + 436 40 libswiftCore.dylib _$sSp12deinitialize5countSvSi_tF + 40 41 CollectionsInternal ___swift_instantiateGenericMetadata + 1236 42 CollectionsInternal ___swift_instantiateGenericMetadata + 388 43 CollectionsInternal ___swift_instantiateGenericMetadata + 1044 44 libswiftCore.dylib __swift_release_dealloc + 56 45 libswiftCore.dylib bool swift::RefCounts<swift::RefCountBitsT<(swift::RefCountInlinedness)1> >::doDecrementSlow<(swift::PerformDeinit)1>(swift::RefCountBitsT<(swift::RefCountInlinedness)1>, unsigned int) + 152 46 Network 0x000000019694a010 0x00000001968dc000 + 450576 47 libobjc.A.dylib object_cxxDestructFromClass(objc_object*, objc_class*) + 116 48 libobjc.A.dylib objc_destructInstance_nonnull_realized(objc_object*) + 76 49 libobjc.A.dylib __objc_rootDealloc + 72 50 Network 0x0000000196a330e0 0x00000001968dc000 + 1405152 51 Network 0x00000001974378e0 0x00000001968dc000 + 11909344 52 Network 0x0000000196a17178 0x00000001968dc000 + 1290616 53 libdispatch.dylib __dispatch_call_block_and_release + 32 54 libdispatch.dylib __dispatch_client_callout + 16 55 libdispatch.dylib _dispatch_workloop_invoke.cold.4 + 32 56 libdispatch.dylib __dispatch_workloop_invoke + 1980 57 libdispatch.dylib __dispatch_root_queue_drain_deferred_wlh + 292 58 libdispatch.dylib __dispatch_workloop_worker_thread + 692 59 libsystem_pthread.dylib __pthread_wqthread + 292 ------ Exception Type: SIGSEGV SEGV_ACCERR Exception Codes: fault addr: 0x0000000000000100 Crashed Thread: 4 2. Behavior & Context The crash occurs during normal HTTPS networking using standard URLSession (no direct usage of Network.framework nor boringssl APIs). It appears to be triggered during QUIC connection establishment or TLS fallback. The stack trace contains no application code frames — all symbols are from system libraries. The crash strongly indicates double-free, over-release, or dangling pointer inside nw_protocol_boringssl_options deallocation. 3. Questions for Apple Is this a known issue in iOS 26 within Network.framework / boringssl related to nw_protocol_boringssl_deallocate_options? What is the root cause of the over‑release / invalid objc_release in this path? Is there a workaround we can implement from the app side (e.g., disabling QUIC, adjusting TLS settings, or queue configuration)? Do you have a target iOS version or patch where this issue will be fixed? We can provide full crash logs and additional metrics upon request. 4. Additional Information Developed using Swift 5, with a deployment target of iOS 12+. Thank you for your support.

Hello team, I am developing a security app where I am denying certain flows/packets if the are communicating with known malicious endpoints. Therefore I want to make use of NetworkExtensions such as the new URLFilter or ContentFilter (NEURLFilterManager, NEFilterDataProvider, NEFilterControlProvider). Does NEURLFilterManager require the user's device to be at a minimun of ios 26? Does any of these APIs/Extensions require the device to be managed/supervised or can it be released to all consumers? Thanks,