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Privacy & Security Resources
General: Forums topic: Privacy & Security Privacy Resources Security Resources Share and Enjoy — Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"
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491
Jul ’25
Conditional create on iPhone + Safari + Passwords violates the WebAuthn spec
WebAuthn Level 3 § 5.1.3 Step 22 Item 4 states the steps a user agent MUST follow when "conditional" mediation is used in conjunction with required user verification: Let userVerification be the effective user verification requirement for credential creation, a Boolean value, as follows. If pkOptions.authenticatorSelection.userVerification is set to required If options.mediation is set to conditional and user verification cannot be collected during the ceremony, throw a ConstraintError DOMException. Let userVerification be true. On my iPhone 15 Pro Max running iOS 18.5, Safari + Passwords does not exhibit this behavior; instead an error is not reported and user verification is not performed (i.e., the UV bit is 0). Per the spec this results in a registration ceremony failure on the server which is made all the more "annoying" since the credential was created in Passwords forcing a user to then delete the credential. : If the Relying Party requires user verification for this registration, verify that the UV bit of the flags in authData is set. In contrast when I use Google Password Manager + Chrome on a Samsung Galaxy S24 running Android 15, user verification is enforced and the UV bit is 1. Either the UV bit should be 1 after enforcing user verification or an error should be thrown since user verification cannot be performed.
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516
Jul ’25
Errors with Attestation on App
We recently deployed Attestation on our application, and for a majority of the 40,000 users it works well. We have about six customers who are failing attestation. In digging through debug logs, we're seeing this error "iOS assertion verification failed. Unauthorized access attempted." We're assuming that the UUID is blocked somehow on Apple side but we're stumped as to why. We had a customer come in and we could look at the phone, and best we can tell it's just a generic phone with no jailbroken or any malicious apps. How can we determine if the UUID is blocked?
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215
May ’25
Outlook for Mac add-in - Passkeys
hello, My organization has an outlook add-in that requires auth into our platform. As Microsoft forces Auth on MacOS to use WKWebView https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/dev/add-ins/concepts/browsers-used-by-office-web-add-ins, we are running into a situation that we cannot use passkeys as an auth method as we are unable to trigger WebAuthN flows. We’ve raised this in Microsoft side but they have deferred to Apple given WKWebView is Safari based. This is a big blocker for us to achieve a full passwordless future. Has anyone come across this situation? Thank you.
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352
Aug ’25
Can I still use the private email address if I disable Sign in with Apple?
We currently have an app that uses Sign in with Apple (SIWA), and we are planning to discontinue the SIWA feature. Specifically, we intend to disable SIWA from the app's Capabilities in the Apple Developer Center. My question is, if we disable SIWA, can we continue to use the private email addresses of users who registered using SIWA? Or will disabling SIWA also invalidate the users' private email addresses? We are considering asking users to change to a different, valid email address in our app. However, if the private email addresses are invalidated, we will not be able to disable SIWA until all users have completed the email address change. If anyone has knowledge about these behaviors, please let us know.
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236
Mar ’25
ASWebAuthenticationSession crash after window closes on macOS
I'm trying to use ASWebAuthenticationSession on macOS but there is a weird crash and I have no idea what to do. It looks like there is a main thread check in a framework code that I have no control over. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you in advance. The stack of crashed thread has no symbols, even for supposedly my code in OAuthClient.authenticate. macOS 15.4.1 (24E263) Xcode Version 16.3 (16E140) Thread 11: EXC_BREAKPOINT (code=1, subcode=0x10039bb04) Thread 12 Queue : com.apple.NSXPCConnection.m-user.com.apple.SafariLaunchAgent (serial) #0 0x0000000100b17b04 in _dispatch_assert_queue_fail () #1 0x0000000100b52834 in dispatch_assert_queue$V2.cold.1 () #2 0x0000000100b17a88 in dispatch_assert_queue () #3 0x000000027db5f3e8 in swift_task_isCurrentExecutorWithFlagsImpl () #4 0x00000001022c7754 in closure #1 in closure #1 in OAuthClient.authenticate() () #5 0x00000001022d0c98 in thunk for @escaping @callee_guaranteed (@in_guaranteed URL?, @guaranteed Error?) -> () () #6 0x00000001c7215a34 in __102-[ASWebAuthenticationSession initWithURL:callback:usingEphemeralSession:jitEnabled:completionHandler:]_block_invoke () #7 0x00000001c72163d0 in -[ASWebAuthenticationSession _endSessionWithCallbackURL:error:] () #8 0x00000001c7215fc0 in __43-[ASWebAuthenticationSession _startDryRun:]_block_invoke_2 () #9 0x0000000194e315f4 in __invoking___ () #10 0x0000000194e31484 in -[NSInvocation invoke] () #11 0x00000001960fd644 in __NSXPCCONNECTION_IS_CALLING_OUT_TO_REPLY_BLOCK__ () #12 0x00000001960fbe40 in -[NSXPCConnection _decodeAndInvokeReplyBlockWithEvent:sequence:replyInfo:] () #13 0x00000001960fb798 in __88-[NSXPCConnection _sendInvocation:orArguments:count:methodSignature:selector:withProxy:]_block_invoke_3 () #14 0x0000000194a6ef18 in _xpc_connection_reply_callout () #15 0x0000000194a6ee08 in _xpc_connection_call_reply_async () #16 0x0000000100b3130c in _dispatch_client_callout3_a () #17 0x0000000100b362f8 in _dispatch_mach_msg_async_reply_invoke () #18 0x0000000100b1d3a8 in _dispatch_lane_serial_drain () #19 0x0000000100b1e46c in _dispatch_lane_invoke () #20 0x0000000100b2bfbc in _dispatch_root_queue_drain_deferred_wlh () #21 0x0000000100b2b414 in _dispatch_workloop_worker_thread () #22 0x0000000100c0379c in _pthread_wqthread () My code: @MainActor func authenticate() async throws { let authURL = api.authorizationURL( scopes: scopes, state: state, redirectURI: redirectURI ) let authorizationCodeURL: URL = try await withUnsafeThrowingContinuation { c in let session = ASWebAuthenticationSession(url: authURL, callback: .customScheme(redirectScheme)) { url, error in guard let url = url else { c.resume(throwing: error ?? Error.unknownError("Failed to get authorization code")) return } c.resume(returning: url) } session.presentationContextProvider = presentationContextProvider session.start() } let authorizationCode = try codeFromAuthorizationURL(authorizationCodeURL) (storedAccessToken, storedRefreshToken) = try await getTokens(authorizationCode: authorizationCode) } Here is disassembly of the crashed function. libdispatch.dylib`_dispatch_assert_queue_fail: 0x10067fa8c <+0>: pacibsp 0x10067fa90 <+4>: sub sp, sp, #0x50 0x10067fa94 <+8>: stp x20, x19, [sp, #0x30] 0x10067fa98 <+12>: stp x29, x30, [sp, #0x40] 0x10067fa9c <+16>: add x29, sp, #0x40 0x10067faa0 <+20>: adrp x8, 71 0x10067faa4 <+24>: add x8, x8, #0x951 ; "not " 0x10067faa8 <+28>: adrp x9, 70 0x10067faac <+32>: add x9, x9, #0x16b ; "" 0x10067fab0 <+36>: stur xzr, [x29, #-0x18] 0x10067fab4 <+40>: cmp w1, #0x0 0x10067fab8 <+44>: csel x8, x9, x8, ne 0x10067fabc <+48>: ldr x10, [x0, #0x48] 0x10067fac0 <+52>: cmp x10, #0x0 0x10067fac4 <+56>: csel x9, x9, x10, eq 0x10067fac8 <+60>: stp x9, x0, [sp, #0x10] 0x10067facc <+64>: adrp x9, 71 0x10067fad0 <+68>: add x9, x9, #0x920 ; "BUG IN CLIENT OF LIBDISPATCH: Assertion failed: " 0x10067fad4 <+72>: stp x9, x8, [sp] 0x10067fad8 <+76>: adrp x1, 71 0x10067fadc <+80>: add x1, x1, #0x8eb ; "%sBlock was %sexpected to execute on queue [%s (%p)]" 0x10067fae0 <+84>: sub x0, x29, #0x18 0x10067fae4 <+88>: bl 0x1006c258c ; symbol stub for: asprintf 0x10067fae8 <+92>: ldur x19, [x29, #-0x18] 0x10067faec <+96>: str x19, [sp] 0x10067faf0 <+100>: adrp x0, 71 0x10067faf4 <+104>: add x0, x0, #0x956 ; "%s" 0x10067faf8 <+108>: bl 0x1006b7b64 ; _dispatch_log 0x10067fafc <+112>: adrp x8, 108 0x10067fb00 <+116>: str x19, [x8, #0x2a8] -> 0x10067fb04 <+120>: brk #0x1
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155
May ’25
The Case for Sandboxing a Directly Distributed App
I’ve explained this point many times on the forums, so I figured I’d write it up properly once and for all. If you have questions or comments, start a new thread in Privacy & Security > General and add the App Sandbox tag. That way I’ll be sure to see it. Share and Enjoy — Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com" The Case for Sandboxing a Directly Distributed App Many folks consider the App Sandbox to be a binary choice: “My app ships in the Mac App Store, so I must sandbox it.” “I directly distribute my app, so I’ll ignore the App Sandbox.” However, those are not your only options. In many cases it makes sense to sandbox a directly distributed app. Sandboxing your app has at least three benefits: It enables app container protection. See Trusted Execution Resources for a link to more info on that. If your app includes any app extensions, it simplifies your development experience because your app and its extensions run in a similar environment. It improves your app’s security (although the actual benefits vary based on the specifics of your app). Sandboxing some apps can be tricky because of the additional security limits applied by the sandbox. However, in a directly distributed app you have access to two techniques that are not available to Mac App Store apps: Temporary exception entitlements Non-sandboxed XPC services Temporary exception entitlements Use temporary exception entitlements to selectively disable specific sandbox security limits. Imagine, for example, that you’re creating a simple document-based app that’s generally compatible with the sandbox. However, that app needs to send an Apple event to Music to create a playlist. That Apple event is blocked by the sandbox. You don’t need to disable the entire App Sandbox just to get around this security limit. Instead, use the com.apple.security.temporary-exception.apple-events entitlement to open a small hole in the sandbox. There are temporary exception entitlements to disable most sandbox security limits. For more information about them, follow the link in App Sandbox Resources. IMPORTANT Don’t be alarmed by the temporary in temporary exception entitlements. That word makes sense when you view this from the Mac App Store perspective. Back in the early days of the Mac App Store, some apps were allowed to use temporary exception entitlements because of limitations in the App Sandbox. Once App Sandbox was sufficiently enhanced, these temporary exception entitlements were no longer allowed in the Mac App Store. However, there’s nothing temporary about the implementation of these entitlements. They work today and are expected to continue working in the future. Using them in a directly distributed app is not a problem. Non-sandboxed XPC services Not all sandbox security limits have a corresponding temporary exception entitlement. For example, the sandbox prevents you from sending a Unix signal to other processes, and there’s no temporary exception entitlement to allow that. If you run into such a limit, move that code to a non-sandboxed XPC service, then have the main app request that the XPC service perform the operation on its behalf. An XPC service can be useful even when there is a temporary exception entitlement to disable a specific sandbox security limit. Continuing the Apple event example from above, if you put the code that sends the Apple event into an XPC service, you only need to apply the temporary exception entitlement to that service, not to your app as a whole. Conclusion If you directly distribute your app, consider enabling the App Sandbox. It has some important benefits, and it might be more feasible than you think.
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493
Mar ’25
Fraudsters gained access to my wife's phone through their APPLE ID
Hello everyone! We are from Russia, and we no longer have an official Apple store. All phones are imported through parallel imports. Yesterday, my wife logged out of her Apple ID and logged in to someone else's account, and as a result, her phone was in lost and locked mode. We have a sales receipt confirming the purchase, but it is from a Russian store. Can you please tell me if there is a way to unlock the phone or if it is already a brick? Scammers are asking for money to unlock the phone. Thank you in advance for your reply!
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323
Nov ’25
requestTrackingAuthorization stuck in .notDetermined
When developing and testing using my phone I got prompted for allowing app tracking. I later uploaded a build to TestFlight, deleted the old testing app and installed the TestFlight build. I am now stuck in an infinite loop of not getting prompted for allowing app tracking for the app. When entering the app settings the toggle for tracking never appears which leaves me not able to enter the app's content. My guess is that the prompt can only be shown once for the app bundle, but there has to be a way for me to get prompted again without changing the app bundle id. Help is appreciated since this app is scheduled to be published in a week.
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161
May ’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
Received email that my Sign in with Apple account was rejected
I set up "Sign in with Apple" via REST API according to the documentation. I can log in on my website and everything looks fine for the user. But I receive an email, that my "Sign in with Apple" account has been rejected by my own website. It states, I will have to re-submit my name and email address the next time I log in to this website. I don't see any error messages, no log entries, no HTTP errors anywhere. I also can't find anything in the docs, the emails seem to not be mentioned there, searching for anything with "rejected" in the forum did not yield any helpful result, because they are always about App entries being rejected etc. Did someone experience something similar yet? What's the reason, I'm getting these emails? I get them every time I go through the "Sign in with Apple" flow on my website again.
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281
Aug ’25
Sudden Increase of Hard Bounce with privaterelay emails
We have been sending emails through Sparkpost via Braze inc. to the Apple Private Relay users with "@privaterelay.appleid.com" starting from around June 20th or so. Upon August 9th 06:00 UTC, we have noticed a sudden increase of "Hard Bounce" for nearly 20,000 users using the Apple's private relay email address, rendering the email sending useless for these customers. We have been constantly been able to send them emails, including just before this timeframe (e.g. August 9th 03:00 UTC), so it was a very sudden purge of the user data that has been done without our consent. From a business perspective, this hurts a lot for the un-sendable users since we have no way of contacting them if not for the private address. We are desperate to know what has happened for these customers that has been "hard bounced". We are suspecting that it should be tied to the private email and the users primary email (or user data's) tie in the Apple server being gone, but not sure enough since there is no such documentation nor any way to acknowledge what has happened anywhere. We will provide any information possible for resolving. Thank you.
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321
Aug ’25
400 Invalid request when use usermigrationinfo at the second time transferring
I'm testing app transferring, before, I have migrate user from teamA to teamB, including subA->transferSub->subB process, now I'm transfer the app from teamB to teamC, after the transfer requested, I can't get transfer_id by /usermigrationinfo api, which response 400 invalid request. the question is I can still get transfer sub by the auth/token api(grant_type: authorization_code) with teamB parameters(teamIdB/clientIdB/appSecretB/redirectUrlB/subB),but the value is same as first time transfer_id which get during teamA to teamB. when use parameters above with target(teamIdC) to request /usermigrationinfo, invalid request was responsed. im sure that all parameters is correct, dose it cause by teamB still in 60-days first transferring(sure already accepted)?
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98
Feb ’26
apple sign in error
I am asking about the apple Sign in implementation. ▫️ problems eas local build or test flight, I get a “Could not complete registration” message. When I check the console, I see the following error message. akd SRP authentication with server failed! Error: Error Domain=com.apple.AppleIDAuthSupport Code=2 UserInfo={NSDescription=<private>, Status=<private>} ▫️ Assumption ・Developed with Expo ・"expo-apple-authentication":"^7.2.4" ・Two apps are developed at the same time, using supabase, firebase, but both have the same error ・On Xcode, on app ids, apple sign in capability is turned on ・Service ids is set to domain, return url ・keys is created ・Internal test of testfligt is set to deliver
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73
Jun ’25
Submission Rejected: Guideline 5.1.1 - Legal - Privacy - Data Collection and Storage
Hi, I am in need of your help with publishing my game. I got the following explanation for the negative review of my app/game. Issue Description One or more purpose strings in the app do not sufficiently explain the use of protected resources. Purpose strings must clearly and completely describe the app's use of data and, in most cases, provide an example of how the data will be used. Next Steps Update the local network information purpose string to explain how the app will use the requested information and provide a specific example of how the data will be used. See the attached screenshot. Resources Purpose strings must clearly describe how an app uses the ability, data, or resource. The following are hypothetical examples of unclear purpose strings that would not pass review: "App would like to access your Contacts" "App needs microphone access" See examples of helpful, informative purpose strings. The problem is that they say my app asks to allow my app to find devices on local networks. And that this needs more explanation in the purpose strings. Totally valid to ask, but the problem is my app doesn't need local access to devices, and there shouldn't be code that asks this?? FYI the game is build with Unity. Would love some help on how to turn this off so that my app can get published.
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355
Jan ’26
[Resolved] Sign in with Apple Service Outage: Wednesday, June 18, 2025 - Monday, June 23, 2025
On Wednesday, June 18, 2025, Sign in with Apple was impacted by a configuration issue which affected some developer accounts that created new app or Services ID configurations, or edited existing configurations, resulting in the following errors: invalid_client response error returned by the authentication, token validation/revocation, and user migration requests "Sign Up Not Completed" (or equivalent) error presented from the Authentication Services framework. On Monday, June 23, 2025, this issue was resolved. Please retry the Sign in with Apple flows in your Sign in with Apple enabled apps and websites to confirm your developer account configuration has been fixed. Please let us know if you can still reproduce this issue with your developer account. If so, follow the steps outlined in the post below: Gathering required information for troubleshooting Sign in with Apple authorization and token requests https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/762831 Finally, reply (not comment) with your Feedback ID on either of the posts below: https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/789011 https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/789132 Cheers, Paris X Pinkney |  WWDR | DTS Engineer
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369
Jun ’25
Apple Attestation unknownSystemFailure error
Hi, I’ve added attestation to my app, and everything worked as expected during setup. However, after deployment, I noticed some unknownSystemFailure entries in the production logs on New Relic. Could you help me understand what typically causes this error? The documentation suggests issues such as failing to generate a token. What scenarios could lead to that?
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133
Nov ’25
Mobile apps and consent dialogue when logging in
We are using ASWebAuthenticationSession with apps on IoS to achieve SSO between apps. The IdP for authentication (OIDC) is an on-premise and trusted enterprise IdP based on one of the leading products in the market. Our problem is that the user is prompted for every login (and logouts) with a consent dialogue box: “AppName” wants to use “internal domain-name” to Sign In This allows the app and website to share information about you. Cancel Continue” I have read in various places that Apple has a concept of “Trusted domains” where you can put an “Apple certified” static web-page on the IdP. This page needs to contain specific metadata that iOS can verify. Once a user logs in successfully a few times, and if the IdP is verified as trusted, subsequent logins would not prompt the consent screen. Question: I struggle to find Apple documentation on how to go about a process that ends with this “Apple certified web-page” on our IdP”. Anyone who has experience with this process, or who can point me in some direction to find related documentation?
2
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531
May ’25