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Issue with SwiftData inheritance
Every time I insert a subclass (MYShapeLayer) into the model context, the app crashes with an error: DesignerPlayground crashed due to fatalError in BackingData.swift at line 908. Never access a full future backing data - PersistentIdentifier(id: SwiftData.PersistentIdentifier.ID(backing: SwiftData.PersistentIdentifier.PersistentIdentifierBacking.managedObjectID(0xb2dbc55f3f4c57f2 <x-coredata://B1E3206B-40DE-4185-BC65-4540B4705B40/MYShapeLayer/p1>))) with Optional(A6CA4F89-107F-4A66-BC49-DD7DAC689F77) struct ContentView: View { @Environment(\.modelContext) private var modelContext @Query private var designs: [MYDesign] var layers: [MYLayer] { designs.first?.layers ?? [] } var body: some View { NavigationStack { List { ForEach(layers) { layer in Text(layer.description) } } .onAppear { let design = MYDesign(title: "My Design") modelContext.insert(design) try? modelContext.save() } .toolbar { Menu("Add", systemImage: "plus") { Button(action: addTextLayer) { Text("Add Text Layer") } Button(action: addShapeLayer) { Text("Add Shape Layer") } } } } } private func addTextLayer() { if let design = designs.first { let newLayer = MYLayer(order: layers.count, kind: .text) newLayer.design = design modelContext.insert(newLayer) try? modelContext.save() } } private func addShapeLayer() { if let design = designs.first { let newLayer = MYShapeLayer(shapeName: "Ellipse", order: layers.count) newLayer.design = design modelContext.insert(newLayer) try? modelContext.save() } } } #Preview { ContentView() .modelContainer(for: [MYDesign.self, MYLayer.self, MYShapeLayer.self], inMemory: true) } @Model final class MYDesign { var title: String = "" @Relationship(deleteRule: .cascade, inverse: \MYLayer.design) var layers: [MYLayer] = [] init(title: String = "") { self.title = title } } @available(iOS 26.0, macOS 26.0, *) @Model class MYLayer { var design: MYDesign! var order: Int = 0 var title: String = "" init(order: Int = 0, title: String = "New Layer") { self.order = order self.title = title } } @available(iOS 26.0, macOS 26.0, *) @Model class MYShapeLayer: MYLayer { var shapeName: String = "" init(shapeName: String, order: Int = 0) { self.shapeName = shapeName super.init(order: order) } }
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164
Sep ’25
NSFileVersion.currentVersionOfItem not consistent across devices after simultaneous edit
I’m building an app that edits files in iCloud and uses an NSFilePresenter to monitor changes. When a conflict occurs, the system calls presentedItemDidGain(_:). In that method, I merge the versions by reading the current (canonical) version using NSFileVersion.currentVersionOfItem(at:) and the conflicting ones using NSFileVersion.unresolvedConflictVersionsOfItem(at:). This generally works, but sometimes, if two devices edit the same file at the same time, each device sees its own local version as the current one. For example: Device A writes fileVerA (slightly later in real time) Device B writes fileVerB On Device A all works fine, currentVersionOfItem returns fileVerA, as expected, and unresolvedConflictVersionsOfItem returns [fileVerB]. But on Device B, currentVersionOfItem returns fileVerB!? And unresolvedConflictVersionsOfItem returns the same, local file [fileVerB], without any hint of the other conflicting version, fileVerA. Later, the newer version from the Device A arrives on Device B as a normal, non-conflicting update via presentedItemDidChange(_:). This seems to contradict Apple’s documentation: “The currentVersionOfItemAtURL: method returns an NSFileVersion object representing what’s referred to as the current file; the current file is chosen by iCloud on some basis as the current “conflict winner” and is the same across all devices.” Is this expected behavior, or a bug in how iCloud reports file versions?
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262
Oct ’25
Production Mac app becomes progressively unusable in Issues workspace; Mac_Dev remains fast
The production macOS build is showing severe performance problems, while Mac_Dev performs normally. Observed behavior in production Mac build: Issue board scrolling becomes inconsistent or nearly unusable Changing an issue status in detail view is very slow Scrolling the status menu/options can be slow Typing in issue description/notes fields becomes sluggish Dragging issues between milestones/statuses on the board can lag badly Observed behavior in Mac_Dev: Board scrolling is smooth Status changes are immediate Typing in description fields is responsive Drag/drop between milestones works well Important comparison: Mac_Dev appears to run against an isolated local SwiftData store Production Mac app uses the normal CloudKit-backed store Because the same UI is fast in Mac_Dev, this does not look like a pure rendering problem Most likely cause is production store / CloudKit sync churn amplifying existing SwiftUI invalidation and save behavior Current hypothesis: The production app is saving or observing live Issue mutations too aggressively Detail view edits and some quick actions may be causing repeated saves / broad view invalidation Cloud-backed persistence likely makes the problem much worse than the isolated dev store The UI architecture may still need cleanup, but the production data lane is likely a major factor Any help in understanding how best to address this would be helpful.
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Does 'perform(schedule: .immediate)' guarantee serial execution?
If I have two consecutive calls like to perform(schedule: .immediate) like so: func doSomething() async { await self.perform(schedule: .immediate) { // add log event 1 to data store } await self.perform(schedule: .immediate) { // add log event 2 to data store } } Can I be guaranteed that the block for log event 1 will happen after log event 2? "log event" here is just an example, so please ignore things like storing date, etc. Looking at the documentation here: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/coredata/nsmanagedobjectcontext/perform(schedule:_:) It's a little unclear whether any such guarantee is in place. However, given that the function returns the value from the block, it seems like I should be able to expect event 1 will always be executed before event 2 regardless of the schedule parameter?
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171
Feb ’26
Missing demo project
Hi forum! I’m currently following a series of videos about SwiftData. In the WWDC23 Build an app with SwiftData video, it mentions that you can follow up with a demo project. However, I’m encountering an issue (at least in my case) where there’s no link on the entire page to download the project. I can download the video and other resources (even using the Developer’s App), but there’s no link for the project. Does anyone else face this issue? Is it possible that the project has been removed? I’m using my developer (single user) account, by the way. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated!
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361
Mar ’26
CKSyncEngine: Duplicate FetchedRecordZoneChanges & Sync Handling Questions
Hi everyone, I've recently implemented CKSyncEngine in my app, and I have two questions regarding its behavior: Duplicate FetchedRecordZoneChanges After Sending Changes: I’ve noticed that the engine sometimes receives a FetchedRecordZoneChanges event containing modifications and deletions that were just sent by the same device a few moments earlier. This event arrives after the SentRecordZoneChanges event, and both events share the same recordChangeTag, which results in double-handling the record. Is this expected behavior? I’d like to confirm if this is how CKSyncEngine works or if I might be overlooking something. Handling Initial Sync with a "Sync Screen": When a user opens the app for the first time and already has data stored in iCloud, I need to display a "Sync Screen" temporarily to prevent showing partial data or triggering abrupt, rapid UI changes. I’ve found that canceling current operations, then awaiting sendChanges() and fetchChanges() works well to ensure data is fully synced before dismissing the sync screen: displaySyncScreen = true await syncEngine.cancelOperations() try await syncEngine.sendChanges() try await syncEngine.fetchChanges() displaySyncScreen = false However, I’m unsure if canceling operations like this could lead to data loss or other issues. Is this a safe approach, or would you recommend a better strategy for handling this initial sync state?
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Best Practices for Using CKAssets in Public CloudKit Database for Social Features
Hello Apple Team, We are looking at developing an iOS feature on our current development that stores user-generated images as CKAssets in the public CloudKit database, with access control enforced by our app’s own logic (not CloudKit Sharing as that has a limit of 100 shares per device). Each story or post is a public record, and users only see content based on buddy relationships handled within the app. We’d like to confirm that this pattern is consistent with Apple’s best practices for social features. Specifically: Is it acceptable to store user-uploaded CKAssets in the public CloudKit database, as long as access visibility is enforced by the app? Are there any performance or quota limitations (e.g., storage, bandwidth, or user sync limits) that apply to CKAssets in the public database when used at scale? Would CloudKit Sharing be recommended instead, even if we don’t require user-to-user sharing invitations? For App Review, is this model (public CKAssets + app-enforced access control) compliant with Apple’s data and security expectations? Are there any caching or bandwidth optimization guidelines for handling image-heavy public CKAsset data in CloudKit? Thanks again for your time
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216
Oct ’25
Performance in Large Datasets (SwiftUI+SwiftData app)
Hi everyone, In the simple app below, I have a QueryView that has LazyVStack containing 100k TextField's that edit the item's content. The items are fetched with a @Query. On launch, the app will generate 100k items. Once created, when I press any of the TextField's , a severe hang happens, and every time I type a single character, it will cause another hang over and over again. I looked at it in Instruments and it shows that the main thread is busy during the duration of the hang (2.31 seconds) updating QueryView. From the cause and effect graph, the update is caused by @Observable QueryController <Item>.(Bool). Why does it take too long to recalculate the view, given that it's in a LazyVStack? (In other words, why is the hang duration directly proportional to the number of items?) How to fix the performance of this app? I thought adding LazyVStack was all I need to handle the large dataset, but maybe I need to add a custom pagination with .fetchLimit on top of that? (I understand that ModelActor would be an alternative to @Query because it will make the database operations happen outside of the main thread which will fix this problem, but with that I will lose the automatic fetching of @Query.) Thank you for the help! import SwiftData import SwiftUI @main struct QueryPerformanceApp: App { var body: some Scene { WindowGroup { ContentView() .modelContainer(for: [Item.self], inMemory: true) } } } @Model final class Item { var name: String init(name: String) { self.name = name } } struct ItemDetail: View { @Bindable var item: Item var body: some View { TextField("Name", text: $item.name) } } struct QueryView: View { @Query private var items: [Item] var body: some View { ScrollView { LazyVStack { ForEach(items) { item in VStack { ItemDetail(item: item) } } } } } } struct ContentView: View { let itemCount = 100_000 @Environment(\.modelContext) private var context @State private var isLoading = true var body: some View { Group { if isLoading { VStack(spacing: 16) { ProgressView() Text("Generating \(itemCount) items...") } } else { QueryView() } } .task { for i in 1...itemCount { context.insert(Item(name: "Item \(i)")) } try? context.save() isLoading = false } } }
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222
Jan ’26
macOS SwiftData app never syncs with CloudKit
I'm using SwiftData with CloutKit with a very simple app. Data syncs between iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS, but not macOS. From what I can tell, macOS is never getting CK messages unless I'm running the app from Xcode. I can listen for the CK messages and show a line in a debug overlay. This works perfectly when I run from Xcode. I can see the notifications and see updates in my app. However, if I just launch the app outside of Xcode I will never see any changes or notifications. It is as if the Mac app never even tries to contact CloudKit. Schema has been deployed in the CloudKit console. The app is based on the multi-platform Xcode template. Again, only the macOS version has this issue. Is there some extra permission or setting I need to set up in order to use CloudKit on macOS? @State private var publisher = NotificationCenter.default.publisher(for: NSPersistentCloudKitContainer.eventChangedNotification).receive(on: DispatchQueue.main) .onReceive(publisher) { notification in // Listen for changes in CK events if let userInfo = notification.userInfo, let event = userInfo[NSPersistentCloudKitContainer.eventNotificationUserInfoKey] as? NSPersistentCloudKitContainer.Event { let message = "CloudKit Sync: \(event.type.rawValue) - \(event.succeeded ? "Success" : "Failed") - \(event.description)" // Store for UI display syncNotifications.append(message) if syncNotifications.count > 10 { syncNotifications.removeFirst() } } } .overlay(alignment: .topTrailing) { if !syncNotifications.isEmpty { VStack(alignment: .leading) { ForEach(syncNotifications, id: \.self) { notification in Text(notification) .padding(8) } } .frame(width: 800, height: 500) .cornerRadius(8) .background(Color.secondary.opacity(0.2)) .padding() .transition(.move(edge: .top)) } }
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210
May ’25
SwiftData crashes on fetchHistory
Hi, would it be possible that instead of crashing when calling fetchHistory that function simply throws an error instead? fetchHistory seems to crash when it cannot understand the models if they are not compatible etc… which is understandable, but it makes it really difficult to handle and debug, there's not a lot of details, and honestly I would just rather that it throws an error and let me ignore a history entry that might be useless rather than crashing the entire app. Thank you!
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101
Apr ’25
Cannot Accept CloudKit Share After First App Install
I have an iOS app (1Address) which allows users to share their address with family and friends using CloudKit Sharing. Users share their address record (CKRecord) via a share link/url which when tapped allows the receiving user to accept the share and have a persistent view into the sharing user's address record (CKShare). However, most users when they recieve a sharing link do not have the app installed yet, and so when a new receiving user taps the share link, it prompts them to download the app from the app store. After the new user downloads the app from the app store and opens the app, my understanding is that the system (iOS) will/should then vend to my app the previously tapped cloudKitShareMetadata (or share url), however, this metadata is not being vended by the system. This forces the user to re-tap the share link and leads to some users thinking the app doesn't work or not completing the sharing / onboarding flow. Is there a workaround or solve for this that doesn't require the user to tap the share link a second time? In my scene delegate I am implementing: func scene(_ scene: UIScene, willConnectTo session: UISceneSession, options connectionOptions: UIScene.ConnectionOptions) {...} And also func scene(_ scene: UIScene, continue userActivity: NSUserActivity) {...} And also: func windowScene(_ windowScene: UIWindowScene, userDidAcceptCloudKitShareWith cloudKitShareMetadata: CKShare.Metadata) {...} And: func scene(_ scene: UIScene, openURLContexts URLContexts: Set<UIOpenURLContext>) {...} Unfortunately, none of these are called or passed metadata on the initial app run after install. Only after the user goes back and taps a link again can they accept the share. This documentation: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/cloudkit/ckshare says that adding the CKSharingSupported key to your app's Info.plist file allows the system to launch your app when a user taps or clicks a share URL, but it does not clarify what should happen if your app is being installed for the first time. This seems to imply that the system is holding onto the share metadata and/or url, but for some reason it is not being vended to the app on first run. Open to any ideas here for how to fix and I also filed feedback: FB20934189.
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Jan ’26
CKSyncEngine on macOS: Automatic Fetch Extremely Slow Compared to iOS
Hi everyone, We’re currently using CKSyncEngine to sync all our locally persisted data across user devices (iOS and macOS) via iCloud. We’ve noticed something strange and reproducible: On iOS, when the CKSyncEngine is initialized with manual sync behavior, both manual calls to fetchChanges() and sendChanges() happen nearly instantly (usually within seconds). Automatic syncing is also very fast. On macOS, when the CKSyncEngine is initialized with manual sync behavior, fetchChanges() and sendChanges() are also fast and responsive. However, once CKSyncEngine is initialized with automatic syncing enabled on macOS: sendChanges() still appears to transmit changes immediately. But automatic fetching becomes significantly slower — often taking minutes to pick up changes from the cloud, even when new data is already available. Even manual calls to fetchChanges() behave as if they’re throttled or delayed, rather than performing an immediate fetch. Our questions: Is this delay in automatic (and post-automatic manual) fetch behavior on macOS expected, or possibly a bug? Are there specific macOS constraints that impact CKSyncEngine differently than on iOS? Once CKSyncEngine has been initialized in automatic mode, is fetchChanges() no longer treated as a truly manual trigger? Is there a recommended workaround to enable fast sync behavior on macOS — for example, by sticking to manual sync configuration and triggering sync using a CKSubscription-based mechanism when remote changes occur? Any guidance, clarification, or experiences from other developers (or Apple engineers) would be greatly appreciated — especially regarding maintaining parity between iOS and macOS sync performance. Thanks in advance!
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169
Oct ’25
Persistent CloudKit Server-to-Server INTERNAL_ERROR (500) Despite Correct Key Parsing & Request Formatting for /users/current
Hello Devs, I'm encountering a persistent INTERNAL_ERROR (HTTP 500) when making Server-to-Server API calls to CloudKit, specifically when trying to hit the /users/current endpoint, even after meticulously verifying all client-side components. I'm hoping someone might have insight into what could cause this. Context: Goal: Authenticate to CloudKit from a Vercel Serverless Function (Node.js) to perform operations like record queries. Problem Endpoint: POST https://api.apple-cloudkit.com/database/1/iCloud.com.dannybaseball.Danny-Baseball/production/public/users/current Key Generation Method: Using the CloudKit Dashboard's "Tokens &amp; Keys" -&gt; "New Server-to-Server Key" flow, where I generate the private key using openssl ecparam -name prime256v1 -genkey -noout -out mykey.pem, then extract the public key using openssl ec -in mykey.pem -pubout, and paste the public key material (between BEGIN/END markers) into the dashboard. The private key was then converted to PKCS#8 format using openssl pkcs8 -topk8 -nocrypt -in mykey.pem -out mykey_pkcs8.pem. Current Setup Being Tested (in a Vercel Node.js function): CLOUDKIT_CONTAINER: iCloud.com.dannybaseball.Danny-Baseball CLOUDKIT_KEY_ID: 9368dddf141ce9bc0da743b9f69bc3eda132b9bb3e62a4167e428d4f320b656e (This is the Key ID generated from the CloudKit Dashboard for the public key I provided). CLOUDKIT_P8_KEY (Environment Variable): Contains the base64 encoded string of the entire content of my PKCS#8 formatted private key file. Key Processing in Code: const p8Base64 = process.env.CLOUDKIT_P8_KEY; const privateKeyPEM = Buffer.from(p8Base64, 'base64').toString('utf8'); // This privateKeyPEM string starts with "-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----" and ends with "-----END PRIVATE KEY-----" const privateKey = crypto.createPrivateKey({ key: privateKeyPEM, format: 'pem' }); // This line SUCCEEDS without DECODER errors in my Vercel function logs. Use code with caution. JavaScript Request Body for /users/current: "{}" Signing String (message = Date:BodyHash:Path): Date: Correct ISO8601 format (e.g., "2025-05-21T19:38:11.886Z") BodyHash: Correct SHA256 hash of "{}", then Base64 encoded (e.g., "RBNvo1WzZ4oRRq0W9+hknpT7T8If536DEMBg9hyq/4o=") Path: Exactly /database/1/iCloud.com.dannybaseball.Danny-Baseball/production/public/users/current Headers: X-Apple-CloudKit-Request-KeyID: Set to the correct Key ID. X-Apple-CloudKit-Request-ISO8601Date: Set to the date used in the signature. X-Apple-CloudKit-Request-SignatureV1: Set to the generated signature. X-Apple-CloudKit-Environment: "production" Content-Type: "application/json" Observed Behavior &amp; Logs: The Node.js crypto.createPrivateKey call successfully parses the decoded PEM key in my Vercel function. The request is sent to CloudKit. CloudKit responds with HTTP 500 and the following JSON body (UUID varies per request): { "uuid": "xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx", "serverErrorCode": "INTERNAL_ERROR" } Use code with caution. Json This happens consistently. Previously, with other key pairs or different P8 processing attempts, I was getting AUTHENTICATION_FAILED (401) or local DECODER errors. Now that the key parsing is successful on my end with this current key pair and setup, I'm hitting this INTERNAL_ERROR. Troubleshooting Done: Verified Key ID (9368dddf...) is correct and corresponds to the key generated via CloudKit Dashboard. Verified Container ID (iCloud.com.dannybaseball.Danny-Baseball) is correct. Successfully parsed the private key from the environment variable (after base64 decoding) within the Vercel function. Meticulously checked the signing string components (Date, BodyHash, Path) against Apple's documentation. Path format is /database/1////. Ensured all required headers are present with correct values. Local Node.js tests (bypassing Vercel but using the same key data and signing logic) also result in this INTERNAL_ERROR. Question: What could cause CloudKit to return an INTERNAL_ERROR (500) for a /users/current request when the client-side key parsing is successful and all request components (path, body hash for signature, date, headers) appear to conform exactly to the Server-to-Server Web Services Reference? Are there any known subtle issues with EC keys generated via openssl ecparam (and then converted to PKCS#8) that might lead to this, even if crypto.createPrivateKey parses them in Node.js? Could there be an issue with my specific Key ID or container that would manifest this way, requiring Apple intervention? Any insights or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I can provide more detailed logs of the request components if needed. Thank you!
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May ’25
Provisioning profile missing entitlement
My iOS app uses CloudKit key-value storage. I have not updated the app in a few years but it works fine. Since it was last updated, I transferred the app from an old organization to my personal developer account. Now that I'm working on the app again I get an error: Provisioning profile "iOS Team Provisioning Profile: com.company.app" doesn't match the entitlements file's value for the com.apple.developer.ubiquity-kvstore-identifier entitlement. In the entitlement file, it has $(TeamIdentifierPrefix)$(CFBundleIdentifier) as the value for iCloud Key-Value Store. I've verified the variables resolve as expected. When I parse the provisioning profile there is no entitlement value for key-value storage. What am I getting wrong?
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1.3k
Jan ’26
NSPersistentCloudKitContainer in duplicate processes
I have a single multiplatform application that I use NSPersistentCloudKitContainer on. This works great, except I noticed when I open two instances of the same process (not windows) on the same computer, which share the same store, data duplication and "Metadata Inconsistency" errors start appearing. This answer (https://stackoverflow.com/a/67243833) says this is not supported with NSPersistentCloudKitContainer. Is this indeed true? If it isn't allowed, is the only solution to disable multiple instances of the process via a lock file? I was thinking one could somehow coordinate a single "leader" process that syncs to the cloud, with the others using NSPersistentContainer, but this would be complicated when the "leader" process terminates. Currently, it seems iPad split views are new windows, not processes -- but overall I'm still curious :0 Thank you!
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304
Jan ’26
Avoid Duplicate Records with CloudKit & CoreData
When my app starts it loads data (of vehicle models, manufacturers, ...) from JSON files into CoreData.  This content is static. Some CoreData entities have fields that can be set by the user, for example an isFavorite boolean field. How do I tell CloudKit that my CoreData objects are 'static' and must not be duplicated on other devices (that will also load it from JSON files). In other words, how can I make sure that the CloudKit knows that the record created from JSON for vehicle model XYZ on one device is the same record that was created from JSON on any other device? I'm using NSPersistentCloudKitContainer.
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Jun ’25
NSPersistentCloudKitContainer data loss edge case
Hi, I was testing the new iOS 18 behavior where NSPersistentCloudKitContainer wipes the local Core Data store if the user logs out of iCloud, for privacy purposes. I ran the tests both with a Core Data + CloudKit app, and a simple one using SwiftData with CloudKit enabled. Results were identical in either case. In my testing, most of the time, the feature worked as expected. When I disabled iCloud for my app, the data was wiped (consistent with say the Notes app, except if you disable iCloud it warns you that it'll remove those notes). When I re-enabled iCloud, the data appeared. (all done through the Settings app) However, in scenarios when NSPersistentCloudKitContainer cannot immediately sync -- say due to rate throttling -- and one disables iCloud in Settings, this wipes the local data store and ultimately results in data loss. This occurs even if the changes to the managed objects are saved (to the local store) -- it's simply they aren't synced in time. It can be a little hard to reproduce the issue, especially since when you exit to the home screen from the app, it generally triggers a sync. To avoid this, I swiped up to the screen where you can choose which apps to close, and immediately closed mine. Then, you can disable iCloud, and run the app again (with a debugger is helpful). I once saw a message with something along the lines of export failed (for my record that wasn't synced), and unfortunately it was deleted (and never synced). Perhaps before NSPersistentCloudKitContainer wipes the local store it ought to force sync with the cloud first?
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378
Jan ’26
Strange behavior with 100k+ records in NSPersistentCloudKitContainer
I have been using the basic NSPersistentContainer with 100k+ records for a while now with no issues. The database size can fluctuate a bit but on average it takes up about 22mb on device. When I switch the container to NSPersistentCloudKitContainer, I see a massive increase in size to ~150mb initially. As the sync engine uploads records to iCloud it has ballooned to over 600mb on device. On top of that, the user's iCloud usage in settings reports that it takes up 1.7gb in the cloud. I understand new tables are added and history tracking is enabled but the size increase seems a bit drastic. I'm not sure how we got from 22mb to 1.7gb with the exact same data. A few other things that are important to note: I import all the 100k+ records at once when testing the different containers. At the time of the initial import there is only 1 relation (an import group record) that all the records are attached to. I save the background context only once after all the records and the import group have been made and added to the context. After the initial import, some of these records may have a few new relations added to them over time. I suppose this could be causing some of the size increase, but its only about 20,000 records that are updated. None of the records include files/ large binary data. Most of the attributes are encrypted. I'm syncing to the dev iCloud environment. When I do make a change to a single attribute in a record, CloudKit reports that every attribute has been modified (not sure if this is normal or not ) Also, When syncing to a new device, the sync can take hours - days. I'm guessing it's having to sync both the new records and the changes, but it exponentially gets slower as more records are downloaded. The console will show syncing activity, but new records are being added at a slower rate as more records are added. After about 50k records, it grinds to a halt and while the console still shows sync activity, only about 100 records are added every hour. All this to say i'm very confused where these issues are coming from. I'm sure its a combination of how i've setup my code and the vast record count, record history, etc. If anyone has any ideas it would be much appreciated.
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854
Nov ’25
Issue with SwiftData inheritance
Every time I insert a subclass (MYShapeLayer) into the model context, the app crashes with an error: DesignerPlayground crashed due to fatalError in BackingData.swift at line 908. Never access a full future backing data - PersistentIdentifier(id: SwiftData.PersistentIdentifier.ID(backing: SwiftData.PersistentIdentifier.PersistentIdentifierBacking.managedObjectID(0xb2dbc55f3f4c57f2 <x-coredata://B1E3206B-40DE-4185-BC65-4540B4705B40/MYShapeLayer/p1>))) with Optional(A6CA4F89-107F-4A66-BC49-DD7DAC689F77) struct ContentView: View { @Environment(\.modelContext) private var modelContext @Query private var designs: [MYDesign] var layers: [MYLayer] { designs.first?.layers ?? [] } var body: some View { NavigationStack { List { ForEach(layers) { layer in Text(layer.description) } } .onAppear { let design = MYDesign(title: "My Design") modelContext.insert(design) try? modelContext.save() } .toolbar { Menu("Add", systemImage: "plus") { Button(action: addTextLayer) { Text("Add Text Layer") } Button(action: addShapeLayer) { Text("Add Shape Layer") } } } } } private func addTextLayer() { if let design = designs.first { let newLayer = MYLayer(order: layers.count, kind: .text) newLayer.design = design modelContext.insert(newLayer) try? modelContext.save() } } private func addShapeLayer() { if let design = designs.first { let newLayer = MYShapeLayer(shapeName: "Ellipse", order: layers.count) newLayer.design = design modelContext.insert(newLayer) try? modelContext.save() } } } #Preview { ContentView() .modelContainer(for: [MYDesign.self, MYLayer.self, MYShapeLayer.self], inMemory: true) } @Model final class MYDesign { var title: String = "" @Relationship(deleteRule: .cascade, inverse: \MYLayer.design) var layers: [MYLayer] = [] init(title: String = "") { self.title = title } } @available(iOS 26.0, macOS 26.0, *) @Model class MYLayer { var design: MYDesign! var order: Int = 0 var title: String = "" init(order: Int = 0, title: String = "New Layer") { self.order = order self.title = title } } @available(iOS 26.0, macOS 26.0, *) @Model class MYShapeLayer: MYLayer { var shapeName: String = "" init(shapeName: String, order: Int = 0) { self.shapeName = shapeName super.init(order: order) } }
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164
Activity
Sep ’25
NSFileVersion.currentVersionOfItem not consistent across devices after simultaneous edit
I’m building an app that edits files in iCloud and uses an NSFilePresenter to monitor changes. When a conflict occurs, the system calls presentedItemDidGain(_:). In that method, I merge the versions by reading the current (canonical) version using NSFileVersion.currentVersionOfItem(at:) and the conflicting ones using NSFileVersion.unresolvedConflictVersionsOfItem(at:). This generally works, but sometimes, if two devices edit the same file at the same time, each device sees its own local version as the current one. For example: Device A writes fileVerA (slightly later in real time) Device B writes fileVerB On Device A all works fine, currentVersionOfItem returns fileVerA, as expected, and unresolvedConflictVersionsOfItem returns [fileVerB]. But on Device B, currentVersionOfItem returns fileVerB!? And unresolvedConflictVersionsOfItem returns the same, local file [fileVerB], without any hint of the other conflicting version, fileVerA. Later, the newer version from the Device A arrives on Device B as a normal, non-conflicting update via presentedItemDidChange(_:). This seems to contradict Apple’s documentation: “The currentVersionOfItemAtURL: method returns an NSFileVersion object representing what’s referred to as the current file; the current file is chosen by iCloud on some basis as the current “conflict winner” and is the same across all devices.” Is this expected behavior, or a bug in how iCloud reports file versions?
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3
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262
Activity
Oct ’25
Production Mac app becomes progressively unusable in Issues workspace; Mac_Dev remains fast
The production macOS build is showing severe performance problems, while Mac_Dev performs normally. Observed behavior in production Mac build: Issue board scrolling becomes inconsistent or nearly unusable Changing an issue status in detail view is very slow Scrolling the status menu/options can be slow Typing in issue description/notes fields becomes sluggish Dragging issues between milestones/statuses on the board can lag badly Observed behavior in Mac_Dev: Board scrolling is smooth Status changes are immediate Typing in description fields is responsive Drag/drop between milestones works well Important comparison: Mac_Dev appears to run against an isolated local SwiftData store Production Mac app uses the normal CloudKit-backed store Because the same UI is fast in Mac_Dev, this does not look like a pure rendering problem Most likely cause is production store / CloudKit sync churn amplifying existing SwiftUI invalidation and save behavior Current hypothesis: The production app is saving or observing live Issue mutations too aggressively Detail view edits and some quick actions may be causing repeated saves / broad view invalidation Cloud-backed persistence likely makes the problem much worse than the isolated dev store The UI architecture may still need cleanup, but the production data lane is likely a major factor Any help in understanding how best to address this would be helpful.
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2
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98
Activity
1w
Does 'perform(schedule: .immediate)' guarantee serial execution?
If I have two consecutive calls like to perform(schedule: .immediate) like so: func doSomething() async { await self.perform(schedule: .immediate) { // add log event 1 to data store } await self.perform(schedule: .immediate) { // add log event 2 to data store } } Can I be guaranteed that the block for log event 1 will happen after log event 2? "log event" here is just an example, so please ignore things like storing date, etc. Looking at the documentation here: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/coredata/nsmanagedobjectcontext/perform(schedule:_:) It's a little unclear whether any such guarantee is in place. However, given that the function returns the value from the block, it seems like I should be able to expect event 1 will always be executed before event 2 regardless of the schedule parameter?
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171
Activity
Feb ’26
Missing demo project
Hi forum! I’m currently following a series of videos about SwiftData. In the WWDC23 Build an app with SwiftData video, it mentions that you can follow up with a demo project. However, I’m encountering an issue (at least in my case) where there’s no link on the entire page to download the project. I can download the video and other resources (even using the Developer’s App), but there’s no link for the project. Does anyone else face this issue? Is it possible that the project has been removed? I’m using my developer (single user) account, by the way. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated!
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361
Activity
Mar ’26
CKSyncEngine: Duplicate FetchedRecordZoneChanges & Sync Handling Questions
Hi everyone, I've recently implemented CKSyncEngine in my app, and I have two questions regarding its behavior: Duplicate FetchedRecordZoneChanges After Sending Changes: I’ve noticed that the engine sometimes receives a FetchedRecordZoneChanges event containing modifications and deletions that were just sent by the same device a few moments earlier. This event arrives after the SentRecordZoneChanges event, and both events share the same recordChangeTag, which results in double-handling the record. Is this expected behavior? I’d like to confirm if this is how CKSyncEngine works or if I might be overlooking something. Handling Initial Sync with a "Sync Screen": When a user opens the app for the first time and already has data stored in iCloud, I need to display a "Sync Screen" temporarily to prevent showing partial data or triggering abrupt, rapid UI changes. I’ve found that canceling current operations, then awaiting sendChanges() and fetchChanges() works well to ensure data is fully synced before dismissing the sync screen: displaySyncScreen = true await syncEngine.cancelOperations() try await syncEngine.sendChanges() try await syncEngine.fetchChanges() displaySyncScreen = false However, I’m unsure if canceling operations like this could lead to data loss or other issues. Is this a safe approach, or would you recommend a better strategy for handling this initial sync state?
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2
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800
Activity
6d
Best Practices for Using CKAssets in Public CloudKit Database for Social Features
Hello Apple Team, We are looking at developing an iOS feature on our current development that stores user-generated images as CKAssets in the public CloudKit database, with access control enforced by our app’s own logic (not CloudKit Sharing as that has a limit of 100 shares per device). Each story or post is a public record, and users only see content based on buddy relationships handled within the app. We’d like to confirm that this pattern is consistent with Apple’s best practices for social features. Specifically: Is it acceptable to store user-uploaded CKAssets in the public CloudKit database, as long as access visibility is enforced by the app? Are there any performance or quota limitations (e.g., storage, bandwidth, or user sync limits) that apply to CKAssets in the public database when used at scale? Would CloudKit Sharing be recommended instead, even if we don’t require user-to-user sharing invitations? For App Review, is this model (public CKAssets + app-enforced access control) compliant with Apple’s data and security expectations? Are there any caching or bandwidth optimization guidelines for handling image-heavy public CKAsset data in CloudKit? Thanks again for your time
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216
Activity
Oct ’25
Performance in Large Datasets (SwiftUI+SwiftData app)
Hi everyone, In the simple app below, I have a QueryView that has LazyVStack containing 100k TextField's that edit the item's content. The items are fetched with a @Query. On launch, the app will generate 100k items. Once created, when I press any of the TextField's , a severe hang happens, and every time I type a single character, it will cause another hang over and over again. I looked at it in Instruments and it shows that the main thread is busy during the duration of the hang (2.31 seconds) updating QueryView. From the cause and effect graph, the update is caused by @Observable QueryController <Item>.(Bool). Why does it take too long to recalculate the view, given that it's in a LazyVStack? (In other words, why is the hang duration directly proportional to the number of items?) How to fix the performance of this app? I thought adding LazyVStack was all I need to handle the large dataset, but maybe I need to add a custom pagination with .fetchLimit on top of that? (I understand that ModelActor would be an alternative to @Query because it will make the database operations happen outside of the main thread which will fix this problem, but with that I will lose the automatic fetching of @Query.) Thank you for the help! import SwiftData import SwiftUI @main struct QueryPerformanceApp: App { var body: some Scene { WindowGroup { ContentView() .modelContainer(for: [Item.self], inMemory: true) } } } @Model final class Item { var name: String init(name: String) { self.name = name } } struct ItemDetail: View { @Bindable var item: Item var body: some View { TextField("Name", text: $item.name) } } struct QueryView: View { @Query private var items: [Item] var body: some View { ScrollView { LazyVStack { ForEach(items) { item in VStack { ItemDetail(item: item) } } } } } } struct ContentView: View { let itemCount = 100_000 @Environment(\.modelContext) private var context @State private var isLoading = true var body: some View { Group { if isLoading { VStack(spacing: 16) { ProgressView() Text("Generating \(itemCount) items...") } } else { QueryView() } } .task { for i in 1...itemCount { context.insert(Item(name: "Item \(i)")) } try? context.save() isLoading = false } } }
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222
Activity
Jan ’26
macOS SwiftData app never syncs with CloudKit
I'm using SwiftData with CloutKit with a very simple app. Data syncs between iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS, but not macOS. From what I can tell, macOS is never getting CK messages unless I'm running the app from Xcode. I can listen for the CK messages and show a line in a debug overlay. This works perfectly when I run from Xcode. I can see the notifications and see updates in my app. However, if I just launch the app outside of Xcode I will never see any changes or notifications. It is as if the Mac app never even tries to contact CloudKit. Schema has been deployed in the CloudKit console. The app is based on the multi-platform Xcode template. Again, only the macOS version has this issue. Is there some extra permission or setting I need to set up in order to use CloudKit on macOS? @State private var publisher = NotificationCenter.default.publisher(for: NSPersistentCloudKitContainer.eventChangedNotification).receive(on: DispatchQueue.main) .onReceive(publisher) { notification in // Listen for changes in CK events if let userInfo = notification.userInfo, let event = userInfo[NSPersistentCloudKitContainer.eventNotificationUserInfoKey] as? NSPersistentCloudKitContainer.Event { let message = "CloudKit Sync: \(event.type.rawValue) - \(event.succeeded ? "Success" : "Failed") - \(event.description)" // Store for UI display syncNotifications.append(message) if syncNotifications.count > 10 { syncNotifications.removeFirst() } } } .overlay(alignment: .topTrailing) { if !syncNotifications.isEmpty { VStack(alignment: .leading) { ForEach(syncNotifications, id: \.self) { notification in Text(notification) .padding(8) } } .frame(width: 800, height: 500) .cornerRadius(8) .background(Color.secondary.opacity(0.2)) .padding() .transition(.move(edge: .top)) } }
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210
Activity
May ’25
SwiftData crashes on fetchHistory
Hi, would it be possible that instead of crashing when calling fetchHistory that function simply throws an error instead? fetchHistory seems to crash when it cannot understand the models if they are not compatible etc… which is understandable, but it makes it really difficult to handle and debug, there's not a lot of details, and honestly I would just rather that it throws an error and let me ignore a history entry that might be useless rather than crashing the entire app. Thank you!
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101
Activity
Apr ’25
Cannot Accept CloudKit Share After First App Install
I have an iOS app (1Address) which allows users to share their address with family and friends using CloudKit Sharing. Users share their address record (CKRecord) via a share link/url which when tapped allows the receiving user to accept the share and have a persistent view into the sharing user's address record (CKShare). However, most users when they recieve a sharing link do not have the app installed yet, and so when a new receiving user taps the share link, it prompts them to download the app from the app store. After the new user downloads the app from the app store and opens the app, my understanding is that the system (iOS) will/should then vend to my app the previously tapped cloudKitShareMetadata (or share url), however, this metadata is not being vended by the system. This forces the user to re-tap the share link and leads to some users thinking the app doesn't work or not completing the sharing / onboarding flow. Is there a workaround or solve for this that doesn't require the user to tap the share link a second time? In my scene delegate I am implementing: func scene(_ scene: UIScene, willConnectTo session: UISceneSession, options connectionOptions: UIScene.ConnectionOptions) {...} And also func scene(_ scene: UIScene, continue userActivity: NSUserActivity) {...} And also: func windowScene(_ windowScene: UIWindowScene, userDidAcceptCloudKitShareWith cloudKitShareMetadata: CKShare.Metadata) {...} And: func scene(_ scene: UIScene, openURLContexts URLContexts: Set<UIOpenURLContext>) {...} Unfortunately, none of these are called or passed metadata on the initial app run after install. Only after the user goes back and taps a link again can they accept the share. This documentation: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/cloudkit/ckshare says that adding the CKSharingSupported key to your app's Info.plist file allows the system to launch your app when a user taps or clicks a share URL, but it does not clarify what should happen if your app is being installed for the first time. This seems to imply that the system is holding onto the share metadata and/or url, but for some reason it is not being vended to the app on first run. Open to any ideas here for how to fix and I also filed feedback: FB20934189.
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2
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277
Activity
Jan ’26
good morning having trouble testing my ckshare code in testflight
it seems that is going to the appstore to find the app to execute the share but my app is not in the appstore yet. I am using a sandboxed user and a non sandboxed user, I have tried real phones connected to xcode and simulator same effect, looking for how to test my ckshare in testflight thanks
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3
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372
Activity
Dec ’25
iOS26.1 crashing all my live SwiftData Apps 😡
Apple WTF? What did you do to all my Apps? none of them work in iOS26.1 (all worked in 26.0). XCode simply says: CoreData: error: addPersistentStoreWithType:configuration:URL:options:error: returned error NSCocoaErrorDomain (134140) * SwiftData is supposed to do all these automatically 🤷🏻
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4
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303
Activity
Nov ’25
CKSyncEngine on macOS: Automatic Fetch Extremely Slow Compared to iOS
Hi everyone, We’re currently using CKSyncEngine to sync all our locally persisted data across user devices (iOS and macOS) via iCloud. We’ve noticed something strange and reproducible: On iOS, when the CKSyncEngine is initialized with manual sync behavior, both manual calls to fetchChanges() and sendChanges() happen nearly instantly (usually within seconds). Automatic syncing is also very fast. On macOS, when the CKSyncEngine is initialized with manual sync behavior, fetchChanges() and sendChanges() are also fast and responsive. However, once CKSyncEngine is initialized with automatic syncing enabled on macOS: sendChanges() still appears to transmit changes immediately. But automatic fetching becomes significantly slower — often taking minutes to pick up changes from the cloud, even when new data is already available. Even manual calls to fetchChanges() behave as if they’re throttled or delayed, rather than performing an immediate fetch. Our questions: Is this delay in automatic (and post-automatic manual) fetch behavior on macOS expected, or possibly a bug? Are there specific macOS constraints that impact CKSyncEngine differently than on iOS? Once CKSyncEngine has been initialized in automatic mode, is fetchChanges() no longer treated as a truly manual trigger? Is there a recommended workaround to enable fast sync behavior on macOS — for example, by sticking to manual sync configuration and triggering sync using a CKSubscription-based mechanism when remote changes occur? Any guidance, clarification, or experiences from other developers (or Apple engineers) would be greatly appreciated — especially regarding maintaining parity between iOS and macOS sync performance. Thanks in advance!
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169
Activity
Oct ’25
Persistent CloudKit Server-to-Server INTERNAL_ERROR (500) Despite Correct Key Parsing & Request Formatting for /users/current
Hello Devs, I'm encountering a persistent INTERNAL_ERROR (HTTP 500) when making Server-to-Server API calls to CloudKit, specifically when trying to hit the /users/current endpoint, even after meticulously verifying all client-side components. I'm hoping someone might have insight into what could cause this. Context: Goal: Authenticate to CloudKit from a Vercel Serverless Function (Node.js) to perform operations like record queries. Problem Endpoint: POST https://api.apple-cloudkit.com/database/1/iCloud.com.dannybaseball.Danny-Baseball/production/public/users/current Key Generation Method: Using the CloudKit Dashboard's "Tokens &amp; Keys" -&gt; "New Server-to-Server Key" flow, where I generate the private key using openssl ecparam -name prime256v1 -genkey -noout -out mykey.pem, then extract the public key using openssl ec -in mykey.pem -pubout, and paste the public key material (between BEGIN/END markers) into the dashboard. The private key was then converted to PKCS#8 format using openssl pkcs8 -topk8 -nocrypt -in mykey.pem -out mykey_pkcs8.pem. Current Setup Being Tested (in a Vercel Node.js function): CLOUDKIT_CONTAINER: iCloud.com.dannybaseball.Danny-Baseball CLOUDKIT_KEY_ID: 9368dddf141ce9bc0da743b9f69bc3eda132b9bb3e62a4167e428d4f320b656e (This is the Key ID generated from the CloudKit Dashboard for the public key I provided). CLOUDKIT_P8_KEY (Environment Variable): Contains the base64 encoded string of the entire content of my PKCS#8 formatted private key file. Key Processing in Code: const p8Base64 = process.env.CLOUDKIT_P8_KEY; const privateKeyPEM = Buffer.from(p8Base64, 'base64').toString('utf8'); // This privateKeyPEM string starts with "-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----" and ends with "-----END PRIVATE KEY-----" const privateKey = crypto.createPrivateKey({ key: privateKeyPEM, format: 'pem' }); // This line SUCCEEDS without DECODER errors in my Vercel function logs. Use code with caution. JavaScript Request Body for /users/current: "{}" Signing String (message = Date:BodyHash:Path): Date: Correct ISO8601 format (e.g., "2025-05-21T19:38:11.886Z") BodyHash: Correct SHA256 hash of "{}", then Base64 encoded (e.g., "RBNvo1WzZ4oRRq0W9+hknpT7T8If536DEMBg9hyq/4o=") Path: Exactly /database/1/iCloud.com.dannybaseball.Danny-Baseball/production/public/users/current Headers: X-Apple-CloudKit-Request-KeyID: Set to the correct Key ID. X-Apple-CloudKit-Request-ISO8601Date: Set to the date used in the signature. X-Apple-CloudKit-Request-SignatureV1: Set to the generated signature. X-Apple-CloudKit-Environment: "production" Content-Type: "application/json" Observed Behavior &amp; Logs: The Node.js crypto.createPrivateKey call successfully parses the decoded PEM key in my Vercel function. The request is sent to CloudKit. CloudKit responds with HTTP 500 and the following JSON body (UUID varies per request): { "uuid": "xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx", "serverErrorCode": "INTERNAL_ERROR" } Use code with caution. Json This happens consistently. Previously, with other key pairs or different P8 processing attempts, I was getting AUTHENTICATION_FAILED (401) or local DECODER errors. Now that the key parsing is successful on my end with this current key pair and setup, I'm hitting this INTERNAL_ERROR. Troubleshooting Done: Verified Key ID (9368dddf...) is correct and corresponds to the key generated via CloudKit Dashboard. Verified Container ID (iCloud.com.dannybaseball.Danny-Baseball) is correct. Successfully parsed the private key from the environment variable (after base64 decoding) within the Vercel function. Meticulously checked the signing string components (Date, BodyHash, Path) against Apple's documentation. Path format is /database/1////. Ensured all required headers are present with correct values. Local Node.js tests (bypassing Vercel but using the same key data and signing logic) also result in this INTERNAL_ERROR. Question: What could cause CloudKit to return an INTERNAL_ERROR (500) for a /users/current request when the client-side key parsing is successful and all request components (path, body hash for signature, date, headers) appear to conform exactly to the Server-to-Server Web Services Reference? Are there any known subtle issues with EC keys generated via openssl ecparam (and then converted to PKCS#8) that might lead to this, even if crypto.createPrivateKey parses them in Node.js? Could there be an issue with my specific Key ID or container that would manifest this way, requiring Apple intervention? Any insights or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I can provide more detailed logs of the request components if needed. Thank you!
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147
Activity
May ’25
Provisioning profile missing entitlement
My iOS app uses CloudKit key-value storage. I have not updated the app in a few years but it works fine. Since it was last updated, I transferred the app from an old organization to my personal developer account. Now that I'm working on the app again I get an error: Provisioning profile "iOS Team Provisioning Profile: com.company.app" doesn't match the entitlements file's value for the com.apple.developer.ubiquity-kvstore-identifier entitlement. In the entitlement file, it has $(TeamIdentifierPrefix)$(CFBundleIdentifier) as the value for iCloud Key-Value Store. I've verified the variables resolve as expected. When I parse the provisioning profile there is no entitlement value for key-value storage. What am I getting wrong?
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16
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1.3k
Activity
Jan ’26
NSPersistentCloudKitContainer in duplicate processes
I have a single multiplatform application that I use NSPersistentCloudKitContainer on. This works great, except I noticed when I open two instances of the same process (not windows) on the same computer, which share the same store, data duplication and "Metadata Inconsistency" errors start appearing. This answer (https://stackoverflow.com/a/67243833) says this is not supported with NSPersistentCloudKitContainer. Is this indeed true? If it isn't allowed, is the only solution to disable multiple instances of the process via a lock file? I was thinking one could somehow coordinate a single "leader" process that syncs to the cloud, with the others using NSPersistentContainer, but this would be complicated when the "leader" process terminates. Currently, it seems iPad split views are new windows, not processes -- but overall I'm still curious :0 Thank you!
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304
Activity
Jan ’26
Avoid Duplicate Records with CloudKit & CoreData
When my app starts it loads data (of vehicle models, manufacturers, ...) from JSON files into CoreData.  This content is static. Some CoreData entities have fields that can be set by the user, for example an isFavorite boolean field. How do I tell CloudKit that my CoreData objects are 'static' and must not be duplicated on other devices (that will also load it from JSON files). In other words, how can I make sure that the CloudKit knows that the record created from JSON for vehicle model XYZ on one device is the same record that was created from JSON on any other device? I'm using NSPersistentCloudKitContainer.
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3.4k
Activity
Jun ’25
NSPersistentCloudKitContainer data loss edge case
Hi, I was testing the new iOS 18 behavior where NSPersistentCloudKitContainer wipes the local Core Data store if the user logs out of iCloud, for privacy purposes. I ran the tests both with a Core Data + CloudKit app, and a simple one using SwiftData with CloudKit enabled. Results were identical in either case. In my testing, most of the time, the feature worked as expected. When I disabled iCloud for my app, the data was wiped (consistent with say the Notes app, except if you disable iCloud it warns you that it'll remove those notes). When I re-enabled iCloud, the data appeared. (all done through the Settings app) However, in scenarios when NSPersistentCloudKitContainer cannot immediately sync -- say due to rate throttling -- and one disables iCloud in Settings, this wipes the local data store and ultimately results in data loss. This occurs even if the changes to the managed objects are saved (to the local store) -- it's simply they aren't synced in time. It can be a little hard to reproduce the issue, especially since when you exit to the home screen from the app, it generally triggers a sync. To avoid this, I swiped up to the screen where you can choose which apps to close, and immediately closed mine. Then, you can disable iCloud, and run the app again (with a debugger is helpful). I once saw a message with something along the lines of export failed (for my record that wasn't synced), and unfortunately it was deleted (and never synced). Perhaps before NSPersistentCloudKitContainer wipes the local store it ought to force sync with the cloud first?
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3
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378
Activity
Jan ’26
Strange behavior with 100k+ records in NSPersistentCloudKitContainer
I have been using the basic NSPersistentContainer with 100k+ records for a while now with no issues. The database size can fluctuate a bit but on average it takes up about 22mb on device. When I switch the container to NSPersistentCloudKitContainer, I see a massive increase in size to ~150mb initially. As the sync engine uploads records to iCloud it has ballooned to over 600mb on device. On top of that, the user's iCloud usage in settings reports that it takes up 1.7gb in the cloud. I understand new tables are added and history tracking is enabled but the size increase seems a bit drastic. I'm not sure how we got from 22mb to 1.7gb with the exact same data. A few other things that are important to note: I import all the 100k+ records at once when testing the different containers. At the time of the initial import there is only 1 relation (an import group record) that all the records are attached to. I save the background context only once after all the records and the import group have been made and added to the context. After the initial import, some of these records may have a few new relations added to them over time. I suppose this could be causing some of the size increase, but its only about 20,000 records that are updated. None of the records include files/ large binary data. Most of the attributes are encrypted. I'm syncing to the dev iCloud environment. When I do make a change to a single attribute in a record, CloudKit reports that every attribute has been modified (not sure if this is normal or not ) Also, When syncing to a new device, the sync can take hours - days. I'm guessing it's having to sync both the new records and the changes, but it exponentially gets slower as more records are downloaded. The console will show syncing activity, but new records are being added at a slower rate as more records are added. After about 50k records, it grinds to a halt and while the console still shows sync activity, only about 100 records are added every hour. All this to say i'm very confused where these issues are coming from. I'm sure its a combination of how i've setup my code and the vast record count, record history, etc. If anyone has any ideas it would be much appreciated.
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854
Activity
Nov ’25