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Explore the networking protocols and technologies used by the device to connect to Wi-Fi networks, Bluetooth devices, and cellular data services.

Networking Documentation

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Is it possible to scan for nearby WiFi networks and connect to a device in AP mode on iOS?
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?
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154
Jun ’25
Bonjour for discovering a specific device's ip
Hi, I'm new to swift programming and right now writing an app for esp8266-controlled lamp device. My lamp is broadcasting it's own IP through bonjour. So all I want is to discover any lamps in my network (http.tcp) and to read name and value. Is there any example of such implementation? All I found so far is old or a lit bit complicated for such simple question. Thanks in advance!
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16k
Dec ’25
Multipeer Connectivity stopped working between iPad simulators
We have an iPad application that utilizes Multipeer Connectivity to enable local communication between devices running a copy of our app. Until recently, we were able to test this functionality in the Xcode simulator without any issues. We could easily set up multiple simulators and have them all communicate with each other. However, recently, either due to an upgrade to Xcode or MacOS, this functionality ceased working in the simulator. Surprisingly, it still functions perfectly on physical devices. If we reboot the development computer and launch the simulator immediately after the reboot (without building and sending from Xcode, but running the existing code on the device), the issue resolves. However, the moment we generate a new build and send it to the simulator from Xcode, the multipeer functionality stops working again in the simulator. The simulators won’t reconnect until a reboot of the physical Mac hardware hosting the simulator. We’ve tried the usual troubleshooting steps, such as downgrading Xcode, deleting simulators and recreating them, cleaning the build folder, and deleting derived data, but unfortunately, none of these solutions have worked. The next step is to attempt to use a previous version of MacOS (15.3) and see if that helps, but I’d prefer to avoid this if possible. Does anyone have any obvious suggestions or troubleshooting steps that might help us identify the cause of this issue?
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392
Jun ’25
Determine outgoing flow source IPs without allowing data leakage using NEFilterDataProvider
I'm looking for help with a network extension filtering issue. Specifically, we have a subclass of NEFilterDataProvider that is used to filter flows based upon a set of rules, including source IP and destination IP. We've run into an issue where the source IP is frequently 0.0.0.0 (or the IPv6 equivalent) on outgoing flows. This has made it so rules based upon source IP don't work. This is also an issue as we report these connections, but we're lacking critical data. We were able to work around the issue somewhat by keeping a list of flows that we allow that we periodically check to see if the source IP is available, and then report after it becomes available. We also considered doing a "peekBytes" to allow a bit of data to flow and then recheck the flow, but we don't want to allow data leakage on connections that should be blocked because of the source IP. Is there a way to force the operating system or network extension frameworks to determine the source IP for an outbound flow without allowing any bytes to flow to the network? STEPS TO REPRODUCE Create a network filtering extension for filtering flows using NEFilterDataProvider See that when handleNewFlow: is called, the outgoing flow lacks the source IP (is 0.0.0.0) in most cases There is this post that is discussing a similar question, though for a slightly different reason. I imagine the answer to this and the other post will be related, at least as far as NEFilterDataProvider:handleNewFlow not having source IP is considered. Thanks!
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187
Apr ’25
intermittent multicast socket failures, new to Sequoia, still not fixed
multicast sockets fail to send/receive on macosx, errno 65 "no route to host". Wireshark and Terminal.app (which have root privileges) both show incoming multicast traffic just fine. Normal UDP broadcast sockets have no problems. Toggling the Security&Privacy -> Local Network setting may fix the problem for some Users. There is no pattern for when multicast socket fails. Sometimes, recreating the sockets fix the problem. Restart the app, sometimes multicast fails, sometimes success (intermittent, no pattern). Reboot machine (intermittent fail) Create a fresh new user on machine, install single version of app, give app permission. (intermittent fail, same as above). We have all the normal entitlements / notarized app. Similar posts here see FB16923535, Related to FB16512666 https://forum.xojo.com/t/udp-multicast-receive-on-mac-failing-intermittant/83221 see my post from 2012 "distinguishing between SENDING sockets and RECEIVING sockets" for source code example of how we bind multicast sockets. Our other socket code is standard "Stevens, et al." code. The bind() is the call that fails in this case. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/10692956/what-does-it-mean-to-bind-a-multicast-udp-socket . Note that this post from 2012 is still relevant, and that it is a workaround to a longstanding Apple bug that was never fixed. Namely, "Without this fix, multicast sending will intermittently get sendto() errno 'No route to host'. If anyone can shed light on why unplugging a DHCP gateway causes Mac OS X multicast SENDING sockets to get confused, I would love to hear it." This may be a hint as to the underlying bug that Apple really needs to fix, but if it's not, then please Apple, fix the Sequoia bug first. These are probably different bugs because in one case, sendto() fails when a socket becomes "unbound" after you unplug an unrelated network cable. In this case, bind() fails, so sendto() is never even called. Note, that we have also tried to use other implementations for network discovery, including Bonjour, CFNetwork, etc. Bonjour fails intermittently, and also suffers from both bugs mentioned above, amongst others.
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118
May ’25
Working with a Wi-Fi Accessory
For important background information, read Extra-ordinary Networking before reading this. Share and Enjoy — Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com" Working with a Wi-Fi Accessory Building an app that works with a Wi-Fi accessory presents specific challenges. This post discusses those challenges and some recommendations for how to address them. Note While my focus here is iOS, much of the info in this post applies to all Apple platforms. IMPORTANT iOS 18 introduced AccessorySetupKit, a framework to simplify the discovery and configuration of an accessory. I’m not fully up to speed on that framework myself, but I encourage you to watch WWDC 2024 Session 10203 Meet AccessorySetupKit and read the framework documentation. IMPORTANT iOS 26 introduced WiFiAware, a framework for setting up communication with Wi-Fi Aware accessories. Wi-Fi Aware is an industry standard to securely discover, pair, and communicate with nearby devices. This is especially useful for stand-alone accessories (defined below). For more on this framework, watch WWDC 2025 Session 228 Supercharge device connectivity with Wi-Fi Aware and read the framework documentation. For information on how to create a Wi-Fi Aware accessory that works with iPhone, go to Developer > Accessories, download Accessory Design Guidelines for Apple Devices, and review the Wi-Fi Aware chapter. Accessory Categories I classify Wi-Fi accessories into three different categories. A bound accessory is ultimately intended to join the user’s Wi-Fi network. It may publish its own Wi-Fi network during the setup process, but the goal of that process is to get the accessory on to the existing network. Once that’s done, your app interacts with the accessory using ordinary networking APIs. An example of a bound accessory is a Wi-Fi capable printer. A stand-alone accessory publishes a Wi-Fi network at all times. An iOS device joins that network so that your app can interact with it. The accessory never provides access to the wider Internet. An example of a stand-alone accessory is a video camera that users take with them into the field. You might want to write an app that joins the camera’s network and downloads footage from it. A gateway accessory is one that publishes a Wi-Fi network that provides access to the wider Internet. Your app might need to interact with the accessory during the setup process, but after that it’s useful as is. An example of this is a Wi-Fi to WWAN gateway. Not all accessories fall neatly into these categories. Indeed, some accessories might fit into multiple categories, or transition between categories. Still, I’ve found these categories to be helpful when discussing various accessory integration challenges. Do You Control the Firmware? The key question here is Do you control the accessory’s firmware? If so, you have a bunch of extra options that will make your life easier. If not, you have to adapt to whatever the accessory’s current firmware does. Simple Improvements If you do control the firmware, I strongly encourage you to: Support IPv6 Implement Bonjour [1] These two things are quite easy to do — most embedded platforms support them directly, so it’s just a question of turning them on — and they will make your life significantly easier: Link-local addresses are intrinsic to IPv6, and IPv6 is intrinsic to Apple platforms. If your accessory supports IPv6, you’ll always be able to communicate with it, regardless of how messed up the IPv4 configuration gets. Similarly, if you support Bonjour, you’ll always be able to find your accessory on the network. [1] Bonjour is an Apple term for three Internet standards: RFC 3927 Dynamic Configuration of IPv4 Link-Local Addresses RFC 6762 Multicast DNS RFC 6763 DNS-Based Service Discovery WAC For a bound accessory, support Wireless Accessory Configuration (WAC). This is a relatively big ask — supporting WAC requires you to join the MFi Program — but it has some huge benefits: You don’t need to write an app to configure your accessory. The user will be able to do it directly from Settings. If you do write an app, you can use the EAWiFiUnconfiguredAccessoryBrowser class to simplify your configuration process. HomeKit For a bound accessory that works in the user’s home, consider supporting HomeKit. This yields the same onboarding benefits as WAC, and many other benefits as well. Also, you can get started with the HomeKit Open Source Accessory Development Kit (ADK). Bluetooth LE If your accessory supports Bluetooth LE, think about how you can use that to improve your app’s user experience. For an example of that, see SSID Scanning, below. Claiming the Default Route, Or Not? If your accessory publishes a Wi-Fi network, a key design decision is whether to stand up enough infrastructure for an iOS device to make it the default route. IMPORTANT To learn more about how iOS makes the decision to switch the default route, see The iOS Wi-Fi Lifecycle and Network Interface Concepts. This decision has significant implications. If the accessory’s network becomes the default route, most network connections from iOS will be routed to your accessory. If it doesn’t provide a path to the wider Internet, those connections will fail. That includes connections made by your own app. Note It’s possible to get around this by forcing your network connections to run over WWAN. See Binding to an Interface in Network Interface Techniques and Running an HTTP Request over WWAN. Of course, this only works if the user has WWAN. It won’t help most iPad users, for example. OTOH, if your accessory’s network doesn’t become the default route, you’ll see other issues. iOS will not auto-join such a network so, if the user locks their device, they’ll have to manually join the network again. In my experience a lot of accessories choose to become the default route in situations where they shouldn’t. For example, a bound accessory is never going to be able to provide a path to the wider Internet so it probably shouldn’t become the default route. However, there are cases where it absolutely makes sense, the most obvious being that of a gateway accessory. Acting as a Captive Network, or Not? If your accessory becomes the default route you must then decide whether to act like a captive network or not. IMPORTANT To learn more about how iOS determines whether a network is captive, see The iOS Wi-Fi Lifecycle. For bound and stand-alone accessories, becoming a captive network is generally a bad idea. When the user joins your network, the captive network UI comes up and they have to successfully complete it to stay on the network. If they cancel out, iOS will leave the network. That makes it hard for the user to run your app while their iOS device is on your accessory’s network. In contrast, it’s more reasonable for a gateway accessory to act as a captive network. SSID Scanning Many developers think that TN3111 iOS Wi-Fi API overview is lying when it says: iOS does not have a general-purpose API for Wi-Fi scanning It is not. Many developers think that the Hotspot Helper API is a panacea that will fix all their Wi-Fi accessory integration issues, if only they could get the entitlement to use it. It will not. Note this comment in the official docs: NEHotspotHelper is only useful for hotspot integration. There are both technical and business restrictions that prevent it from being used for other tasks, such as accessory integration or Wi-Fi based location. Even if you had the entitlement you would run into these technical restrictions. The API was specifically designed to support hotspot navigation — in this context hotspots are “Wi-Fi networks where the user must interact with the network to gain access to the wider Internet” — and it does not give you access to on-demand real-time Wi-Fi scan results. Many developers look at another developer’s app, see that it’s displaying real-time Wi-Fi scan results, and think there’s some special deal with Apple that’ll make that work. There is not. In reality, Wi-Fi accessory developers have come up with a variety of creative approaches for this, including: If you have a bound accessory, you might add WAC support, which makes this whole issue go away. In many cases, you can avoid the need for Wi-Fi scan results by adopting AccessorySetupKit. You might build your accessory with a barcode containing the info required to join its network, and scan that from your app. This is the premise behind the Configuring a Wi-Fi Accessory to Join the User’s Network sample code. You might configure all your accessories to have a common SSID prefix, and then take advantage of the prefix support in NEHotspotConfigurationManager. See Programmatically Joining a Network, below. You might have your app talk to your accessory via some other means, like Bluetooth LE, and have the accessory scan for Wi-Fi networks and return the results. Programmatically Joining a Network Network Extension framework has an API, NEHotspotConfigurationManager, to programmatically join a network, either temporarily or as a known network that supports auto-join. For the details, see Wi-Fi Configuration. One feature that’s particularly useful is it’s prefix support, allowing you to create a configuration that’ll join any network with a specific prefix. See the init(ssidPrefix:) initialiser for the details. For examples of how to use this API, see: Configuring a Wi-Fi Accessory to Join the User’s Network — It shows all the steps for one approach for getting a non-WAC bound accessory on to the user’s network. NEHotspotConfiguration Sample — Use this to explore the API in general. Secure Communication Users expect all network communication to be done securely. For some ideas on how to set up a secure connection to an accessory, see TLS For Accessory Developers. Revision History 2025-11-05 Added a link to the Accessory Design Guidelines for Apple Devices. 2025-06-19 Added a preliminary discussion of Wi-Fi Aware. 2024-09-12 Improved the discussion of AccessorySetupKit. 2024-07-16 Added a preliminary discussion of AccessorySetupKit. 2023-10-11 Added the HomeKit section. Fixed the link in Secure Communication to point to TLS For Accessory Developers. 2023-07-23 First posted.
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1.9k
Nov ’25
NE System Extension stuck on Validation By Category
Hello, I'm having some problems when install my Packet Tunnel network extension as system extension on my mac(macos 15.0). It stuck on Validation By Category. (it works well as NE app extension on ios) systemextensionsctl list --- com.apple.system_extension.network_extension enabled active teamID bundleID (version) name [state] <...> com.myteam.balabalabla.ne (1.0/1) - [validating by category] This is my install System Extension Code sample public class SystemExtension: NSObject, OSSystemExtensionRequestDelegate { private let forceUpdate: Bool private let inBackground: Bool private let semaphore = DispatchSemaphore(value: 0) private var result: OSSystemExtensionRequest.Result? private var properties: [OSSystemExtensionProperties]? private var error: Error? private init(_ forceUpdate: Bool = false, _ inBackground: Bool = false) { } // some request function i overwrite public func activation() throws -> OSSystemExtensionRequest.Result? { let request = OSSystemExtensionRequest.activationRequest(forExtensionWithIdentifier: FilePath.packageName + ".myNeName", queue: .main) request.delegate = self OSSystemExtensionManager.shared.submitRequest(request) semaphore.wait() if let error { throw error } return result } public func getProperties() throws -> [OSSystemExtensionProperties] { let request = OSSystemExtensionRequest.propertiesRequest(forExtensionWithIdentifier: FilePath.packageName + ".myNeName", queue: .main) request.delegate = self OSSystemExtensionManager.shared.submitRequest(request) semaphore.wait() if let error { throw error } return properties! } public nonisolated static func install(forceUpdate: Bool = false, inBackground: Bool = false) async throws -> OSSystemExtensionRequest.Result? { try await Task.detached { try SystemExtension(forceUpdate, inBackground).activation() }.result.get() } public nonisolated static func uninstall() async throws -> OSSystemExtensionRequest.Result? { try await Task.detached { try SystemExtension().deactivation() }.result.get() } } // And other methods I follow this post Your Friend the System Log and use this command line to collect log. After I initiated the system extension request sudo log collect --last 5m Here is my log (),I only pasted some code snippets that caught me, full version see attachments.(only include com.apple.sysextd), if need more, plz ask me. 1. Some policy missing ```log 22:00:13.818257 `sysextd` extension mockTeamID app.balabala.com.mockbalabala (1.0/1) advancing state from staging to validating 22:00:13.818263 sysextd returning cdhash for local arch arm64 of extension app.balabala.com.mockbalabala info 2025-05-01 22:00:13.818336 sysextd Extension with identifier <private> reached state <private> 22:00:13.819185 sysextd [0x9a2034b00] activating connection: mach=false listener=false peer=false name=com.apple.CodeSigningHelper 22:00:13.819911 sysextd [0x9a2034b00] invalidated after the last release of the connection object 22:00:13.821024 sysextd making activation decision for extension with teamID teamID("mockTeamID ), identifier app.balabala.com.mockbalabala 22:00:13.821026 sysextd no related kext found for sysex `app.balabala.com.mockbalabala` 22:00:13.821027 sysextd no extension policy -- activation decision is UserOption nesessionmanager.system-extensions interrupted 22:00:14.313576 sysextd [0x9a2178280] invalidated because the client process (pid 1886) either cancelled the connection or exited 22:00:14.542154 sysextd connection to com.apple.nesessionmanager.system-extensions interrupted 22:00:14.542319 sysextd [0x9a2178000] Re-initialization successful; calling out to event handler with XPC_ERROR_CONNECTION_INTERRUPTED 22:00:14.542351 sysextd connection to com.apple.nesessionmanager.system-extensions interrupted 22:00:14.589375 nesessionmanager [0x6c80e4500] activating connection: mach=true listener=false peer=false name=com.apple.sysextd And when i debug the System Extension code i notice the request Error catch by didFailWithError public func request(_: OSSystemExtensionRequest, didFailWithError error: Error) { self.error = error semaphore.signal() } error is OSSystemExtensionErrorDomain code 1 This problem has been bothering me for a long time, I would appreciate any help, if need more info, comment, thank you.
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305
May ’25
WiFi Connect error,NEHotspotConfigurationErrorDomain code=11
hi everybody, When I use the following code to connect to WiFi network, an error message of "error=null" or "error='Error Domain=NEHotspotConfigurationErrorDomain Code=11 "" UserInfo={NSLocalizedDescription=}' " will occur. It has been uploaded to Feedback. Feedback ID: FB16819345 (WiFi-无法加入网络) NEHotspotConfiguration *hotspotConfig = [[NEHotspotConfiguration alloc] initWithSSID:ssid passphrase:psk isWEP:NO]; [[NEHotspotConfigurationManager sharedManager] applyConfiguration:hotspotConfig completionHandler:^(NSError * _Nullable error) { }];
15
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697
Jun ’25
NWBrowser scan for arbitrary Bonjour Services with Multicast Entitlement ?!
Dear Girls, Guys and Engineers. I'm currently building a Home Network Scanner App for People which want to know which Bonjour Devices are in her/his Home Network environment. From an older Question I got the answer, that I need an Entitlement to do this. I started to work on the App and requested the Multicast Entitlement from Apple. They gave me the Entitlement for my App and now I'm trying to discover all devices in my Home Network but I got stuck and need Help. I only test direct on device, like the recommendation. I also verified that my app is build with the multicast entitlement there where no problems. My problem is now, that is still not possible to discover all Bonjour services in my Home Network with the Help of the NWBrowser. Can you please help me to make it work ? I tried to scan for the generic service type: let browser = NWBrowser(for: .bonjour(type: "_services._dns-sd._udp.", domain: nil), using: .init()) but this is still not working even tough I have the entitlement and the app was verified that the entitlement is correctly enabled if I scan for this service type, I got the following error: [browser] nw_browser_fail_on_dns_error_locked [B1] Invalid meta query type specified. nw_browser_start_dns_browser_locked failed: BadParam(-65540) So what's the correct way now to find all devices in the home network ? Thank you and best regards Vinz
10
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2.4k
Jun ’25
split Tunnel + exclude APNs
Hello, im currently developing proxy app with XrayCore trying to bypass APNs when tunnel us up and i found .excludeAPNs property in NETunnelProviderProtocol that works only when includeAllNetworks property is also TRUE. I wonder if there is a possible way to make APNs bypass tunnel in split tunnelling mode? because we use excludedRoutes and full tunnel is not an option
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115
May ’25
Level Networking on watchOS for Duplex audio streaming
I did watch WWDC 2019 Session 716 and understand that an active audio session is key to unlocking low‑level networking on watchOS. I’m configuring my audio session and engine as follows: private func configureAudioSession(completion: @escaping (Bool) -> Void) { let audioSession = AVAudioSession.sharedInstance() do { try audioSession.setCategory(.playAndRecord, mode: .voiceChat, options: []) try audioSession.setActive(true, options: .notifyOthersOnDeactivation) // Retrieve sample rate and configure the audio format. let sampleRate = audioSession.sampleRate print("Active hardware sample rate: \(sampleRate)") audioFormat = AVAudioFormat(standardFormatWithSampleRate: sampleRate, channels: 1) // Configure the audio engine. audioInputNode = audioEngine.inputNode audioEngine.attach(audioPlayerNode) audioEngine.connect(audioPlayerNode, to: audioEngine.mainMixerNode, format: audioFormat) try audioEngine.start() completion(true) } catch { print("Error configuring audio session: \(error.localizedDescription)") completion(false) } } private func setupUDPConnection() { let parameters = NWParameters.udp parameters.includePeerToPeer = true connection = NWConnection(host: "***.***.xxxxx.***", port: 0000, using: parameters) setupNWConnectionHandlers() } private func setupTCPConnection() { let parameters = NWParameters.tcp connection = NWConnection(host: "***.***.xxxxx.***", port: 0000, using: parameters) setupNWConnectionHandlers() } private func setupWebSocketConnection() { guard let url = URL(string: "ws://***.***.xxxxx.***:0000") else { print("Invalid WebSocket URL") return } let session = URLSession(configuration: .default) webSocketTask = session.webSocketTask(with: url) webSocketTask?.resume() print("WebSocket connection initiated") sendAudioToServer() receiveDataFromServer() sendWebSocketPing(after: 0.6) } private func setupNWConnectionHandlers() { connection?.stateUpdateHandler = { [weak self] state in DispatchQueue.main.async { switch state { case .ready: print("Connected (NWConnection)") self?.isConnected = true self?.failToConnect = false self?.receiveDataFromServer() self?.sendAudioToServer() case .waiting(let error), .failed(let error): print("Connection error: \(error.localizedDescription)") DispatchQueue.main.asyncAfter(deadline: .now() + 2) { self?.setupNetwork() } case .cancelled: print("NWConnection cancelled") self?.isConnected = false default: break } } } connection?.start(queue: .main) } I am reaching out to seek further assistance regarding the challenges I've been experiencing with establishing a UDP, TCP & web socket connection on watchOS using NWConnection for duplex audio streaming. Despite implementing the recommendations provided earlier, I am still encountering difficulties. Or duplex audio streaming not possible on apple watch?
6
0
211
Apr ’25
When restarting a PC with macOS15, communication on the local network is denied for the target app even though "Local Network" in "Privacy and Security" is allowed.
We are developing a desktop app for macOS, built with Electron + Angular + Node.js. The app has the ability to access devices on the local network. We are having some trouble with the behavior of the "Local Network" feature added in macOS 15. Procedure: MacBook Pro 14inch (M1Pro) 2021, 16GB memory - macOS Sequoia15.4.1 Network Environment: The PC and the access point are connected by wire, and the target device and the access point are also connected by wire. Not connected to an external network Install the target app Start the application and allow the "Local Network" dialog that appears Open the "Local Network" item in "Privacy and Security" and make sure the target app is allowed. Confirm that you can access the target device on the local network Restart the PC Open the "Local Network" item in "Privacy and Security" and make sure the target app is allowed. Start the app and access the target device on the local network Result: Access to the target device may fail (this does not occur 100% of the time) If you turn the target app in the "Local Network" section of "Privacy and Security" OFF and then ON, you will be able to connect However, it seems that the problem may occur again if you restart your PC. According to our research, the probability of this happening increases if the target app is the only app allowed on the "local network". This happens not only with our app, but also when you follow the above steps in "Google Chrome". Based on the above investigation results, I suspect that this is a problem with the OS. What do you think?
2
0
152
May ’25
Internet is blocked when `includeAllNetworks` is enabled and `NEHotspotHelper` is registered
Hello, We are facing what we believe is a compatibility issue with two networking APIs. If the Network extension VPN configuration has includeAllNetworks flag enabled and the NEHotspotHelper is registered. The user has internet connection but it is blocked, and there user will get internet back only after restarting the device. VPN Configuration is as below while connecting to VPN, { localizedDescription = WLVPN WireGuard Configuration enabled = YES protocolConfiguration = { serverAddress = <18-char-str> passwordReference = {length = 20, bytes = 0x67656e70ed0d05c06b1b4896bf4fef2031e1a92d} disconnectOnSleep = NO includeAllNetworks = YES excludeLocalNetworks = YES excludeCellularServices = YES excludeAPNs = YES excludeDeviceCommunication = YES enforceRoutes = NO providerBundleIdentifier = com.wlvpn.ios.consumervpn.network-extension } onDemandEnabled = NO onDemandRules = () } After running the code shown below. Regardless if the VPN is connected or not, the user needs to restart his device to regain internet access. private let neHelperQueue = DispatchQueue(label: "com.wlvpn.ios.consumervpn.hotspot", attributes: DispatchQueue.Attributes.concurrent) let options: [String: NSObject] = [kNEHotspotHelperOptionDisplayName : "" as NSObject] let status = NEHotspotHelper.register(options: nil, queue: neHelperQueue) { cmd in NSLog("Received command: \(cmd.commandType.rawValue)") } We need to use the includeAllNetworks flag to prevent the novel "Tunnel vision" vulnerability. Can we please have some help getting confirmation if both functionalities are compatible or if there's a way to enable them at the same time?
4
1
657
Mar ’26
Non-functioning IP_RECVIF on sockets proxied with NETransparentProxyProvider
Hi! I've noticed that the IP_RECVIF socket option, i.e.: int y = 1; setsockopt(fd, IPPROTO_IP, IP_RECVIF, &y, sizeof(y)); does not seem to work if the socket is proxied by a NETransparentProxyProvider type network extension: there's no ancillary data in messages received with recvmsg. As soon as I disable the network extension, recvmsg starts returning ancillary data containing the interface name. This seems to break some applications which rely on IP_RECVIF in the presence of a transparent proxy, making it, in fact, not transparent. One such example is Apple's own libresolv, which relies on IP_RECVIF and breaks if there's no ancillary data in the recvmsg result. I don't think that this is the intended behaviour, since IPV6_PKTINFO seems to work fine. I've filed a bug report (FB17586550) about this, however, I would greatly appreciate if someone could point me in the direction of a workaround.
1
4
280
May ’25
connect() iOS 18.5 Developer Beta (22EF5042g)
Hello! 👋 I am noticing new failures in the iOS 18.5 Developer Beta build (22EF5042g) when calling the system call connect() (from C++ source, in network extension). When using cell/mobile data (Mint & T-Mobile) this returns with EINTR (interrupted system call) right away. When I switch over to wifi, everything works fine. Note: I have not tested on other mobile carriers; which could make a difference since T-Mobile/Mint are IPv6 networks. FWIW, this is working in the previous developer beta (18.4). Anyone have any ideas?
5
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365
Apr ’25
Getting WIFI SSID
Greetings I'm trying to get on iPad the SSID from the wifi I'm connected to. For that, I added the wifi entitlement and I'm requesting permission to the user for Location. Once I have it, I'm using the function CNCopySupportedInterfaces to get the interfaces, but I can only receive the en0, which using the method CNCopyCurrentNetworkInfo returns nil. I also tried using the NEHotspotNetwork.fetchCurrent and the SSID keeps being nil. So right now I'm drawing a blank. Is there any way to make it work? Thanks.
1
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490
May ’25
iOS 18.4 key usage requirements fails TLS connections
iOS 18.4 introduced some requirements on the Key Usage of 802.1x server certificates, as described here. https://support.apple.com/en-us/121158 When using TLS_ECDHE_RSA or TLS_DHE_RSA cipher suites, 802.1X server certificates containing a Key Usage extension must have Digital Signature key usage set. When using the TLS_RSA cipher suite, 802.1X server certificates containing a Key Usage extension must have Key Encipherment key usage set. It reads like the change is supposed to affect 802.1x only. However, we have found out that the new restrictions are actually imposed on all TLS connections using the Network framework, including in Safari. Unlike other certificate errors which can be either ignored by users (as in Safari) or by code (via sec_protocol_options_set_verify_block), these new ones can't. Even if passing completion(true) in the TLS verification block, the connection still ends up in waiting state with error -9830: illegal parameter. I understand that these requirements are valid ones but as a generic TLS library I also expect that Network framework could at least allow overriding the behavior. The current treatment is not consistent with those on other certificate errors. Since I can't upload certificates, here is how to reproduce a certificate that fails. Create a OpenSSL config file test.cnf [ req ] default_bits = 2048 distinguished_name = dn x509_extensions = v3_ca prompt = no [ dn ] CN = example.com [ v3_ca ] subjectKeyIdentifier = hash authorityKeyIdentifier = keyid:always,issuer basicConstraints = CA:TRUE keyUsage = critical, keyCertSign, cRLSign Generate certificate and private key openssl req -x509 -new -nodes -keyout key.pem -out cert.pem -days 365 -config test.cnf And here is the client code to test. // Target server and port let host = NWEndpoint.Host("example.com") let port = NWEndpoint.Port("443")! // Configure insecure TLS options let tlsOptions = NWProtocolTLS.Options() sec_protocol_options_set_verify_block(tlsOptions.securityProtocolOptions, { _, _, completion in // Always trust completion(true) }, DispatchQueue.global()) let params = NWParameters(tls: tlsOptions) let connection = NWConnection(host: .init(host), port: .init(rawValue: port)!, using: params) connection.stateUpdateHandler = { newState in switch newState { case .ready: print("TLS connection established") case .failed(let error): print("Connection failed: \(error)") case .cancelled: print("Connection canceled") case .preparing: print("Connection preparing") case .waiting(let error): print("Connection waiting: \(error)") case .setup: print("Connection setup") default: break } } connection.start(queue: .global()) Output Connection preparing Connection waiting: -9830: illegal parameter Previously reported as FB17099740
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Apr ’25
Is it possible to scan for nearby WiFi networks and connect to a device in AP mode on iOS?
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?
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2
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2
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154
Activity
Jun ’25
Bonjour for discovering a specific device's ip
Hi, I'm new to swift programming and right now writing an app for esp8266-controlled lamp device. My lamp is broadcasting it's own IP through bonjour. So all I want is to discover any lamps in my network (http.tcp) and to read name and value. Is there any example of such implementation? All I found so far is old or a lit bit complicated for such simple question. Thanks in advance!
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28
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16k
Activity
Dec ’25
Multipeer Connectivity stopped working between iPad simulators
We have an iPad application that utilizes Multipeer Connectivity to enable local communication between devices running a copy of our app. Until recently, we were able to test this functionality in the Xcode simulator without any issues. We could easily set up multiple simulators and have them all communicate with each other. However, recently, either due to an upgrade to Xcode or MacOS, this functionality ceased working in the simulator. Surprisingly, it still functions perfectly on physical devices. If we reboot the development computer and launch the simulator immediately after the reboot (without building and sending from Xcode, but running the existing code on the device), the issue resolves. However, the moment we generate a new build and send it to the simulator from Xcode, the multipeer functionality stops working again in the simulator. The simulators won’t reconnect until a reboot of the physical Mac hardware hosting the simulator. We’ve tried the usual troubleshooting steps, such as downgrading Xcode, deleting simulators and recreating them, cleaning the build folder, and deleting derived data, but unfortunately, none of these solutions have worked. The next step is to attempt to use a previous version of MacOS (15.3) and see if that helps, but I’d prefer to avoid this if possible. Does anyone have any obvious suggestions or troubleshooting steps that might help us identify the cause of this issue?
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1
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392
Activity
Jun ’25
Determine outgoing flow source IPs without allowing data leakage using NEFilterDataProvider
I'm looking for help with a network extension filtering issue. Specifically, we have a subclass of NEFilterDataProvider that is used to filter flows based upon a set of rules, including source IP and destination IP. We've run into an issue where the source IP is frequently 0.0.0.0 (or the IPv6 equivalent) on outgoing flows. This has made it so rules based upon source IP don't work. This is also an issue as we report these connections, but we're lacking critical data. We were able to work around the issue somewhat by keeping a list of flows that we allow that we periodically check to see if the source IP is available, and then report after it becomes available. We also considered doing a "peekBytes" to allow a bit of data to flow and then recheck the flow, but we don't want to allow data leakage on connections that should be blocked because of the source IP. Is there a way to force the operating system or network extension frameworks to determine the source IP for an outbound flow without allowing any bytes to flow to the network? STEPS TO REPRODUCE Create a network filtering extension for filtering flows using NEFilterDataProvider See that when handleNewFlow: is called, the outgoing flow lacks the source IP (is 0.0.0.0) in most cases There is this post that is discussing a similar question, though for a slightly different reason. I imagine the answer to this and the other post will be related, at least as far as NEFilterDataProvider:handleNewFlow not having source IP is considered. Thanks!
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187
Activity
Apr ’25
intermittent multicast socket failures, new to Sequoia, still not fixed
multicast sockets fail to send/receive on macosx, errno 65 "no route to host". Wireshark and Terminal.app (which have root privileges) both show incoming multicast traffic just fine. Normal UDP broadcast sockets have no problems. Toggling the Security&Privacy -> Local Network setting may fix the problem for some Users. There is no pattern for when multicast socket fails. Sometimes, recreating the sockets fix the problem. Restart the app, sometimes multicast fails, sometimes success (intermittent, no pattern). Reboot machine (intermittent fail) Create a fresh new user on machine, install single version of app, give app permission. (intermittent fail, same as above). We have all the normal entitlements / notarized app. Similar posts here see FB16923535, Related to FB16512666 https://forum.xojo.com/t/udp-multicast-receive-on-mac-failing-intermittant/83221 see my post from 2012 "distinguishing between SENDING sockets and RECEIVING sockets" for source code example of how we bind multicast sockets. Our other socket code is standard "Stevens, et al." code. The bind() is the call that fails in this case. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/10692956/what-does-it-mean-to-bind-a-multicast-udp-socket . Note that this post from 2012 is still relevant, and that it is a workaround to a longstanding Apple bug that was never fixed. Namely, "Without this fix, multicast sending will intermittently get sendto() errno 'No route to host'. If anyone can shed light on why unplugging a DHCP gateway causes Mac OS X multicast SENDING sockets to get confused, I would love to hear it." This may be a hint as to the underlying bug that Apple really needs to fix, but if it's not, then please Apple, fix the Sequoia bug first. These are probably different bugs because in one case, sendto() fails when a socket becomes "unbound" after you unplug an unrelated network cable. In this case, bind() fails, so sendto() is never even called. Note, that we have also tried to use other implementations for network discovery, including Bonjour, CFNetwork, etc. Bonjour fails intermittently, and also suffers from both bugs mentioned above, amongst others.
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118
Activity
May ’25
Working with a Wi-Fi Accessory
For important background information, read Extra-ordinary Networking before reading this. Share and Enjoy — Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com" Working with a Wi-Fi Accessory Building an app that works with a Wi-Fi accessory presents specific challenges. This post discusses those challenges and some recommendations for how to address them. Note While my focus here is iOS, much of the info in this post applies to all Apple platforms. IMPORTANT iOS 18 introduced AccessorySetupKit, a framework to simplify the discovery and configuration of an accessory. I’m not fully up to speed on that framework myself, but I encourage you to watch WWDC 2024 Session 10203 Meet AccessorySetupKit and read the framework documentation. IMPORTANT iOS 26 introduced WiFiAware, a framework for setting up communication with Wi-Fi Aware accessories. Wi-Fi Aware is an industry standard to securely discover, pair, and communicate with nearby devices. This is especially useful for stand-alone accessories (defined below). For more on this framework, watch WWDC 2025 Session 228 Supercharge device connectivity with Wi-Fi Aware and read the framework documentation. For information on how to create a Wi-Fi Aware accessory that works with iPhone, go to Developer > Accessories, download Accessory Design Guidelines for Apple Devices, and review the Wi-Fi Aware chapter. Accessory Categories I classify Wi-Fi accessories into three different categories. A bound accessory is ultimately intended to join the user’s Wi-Fi network. It may publish its own Wi-Fi network during the setup process, but the goal of that process is to get the accessory on to the existing network. Once that’s done, your app interacts with the accessory using ordinary networking APIs. An example of a bound accessory is a Wi-Fi capable printer. A stand-alone accessory publishes a Wi-Fi network at all times. An iOS device joins that network so that your app can interact with it. The accessory never provides access to the wider Internet. An example of a stand-alone accessory is a video camera that users take with them into the field. You might want to write an app that joins the camera’s network and downloads footage from it. A gateway accessory is one that publishes a Wi-Fi network that provides access to the wider Internet. Your app might need to interact with the accessory during the setup process, but after that it’s useful as is. An example of this is a Wi-Fi to WWAN gateway. Not all accessories fall neatly into these categories. Indeed, some accessories might fit into multiple categories, or transition between categories. Still, I’ve found these categories to be helpful when discussing various accessory integration challenges. Do You Control the Firmware? The key question here is Do you control the accessory’s firmware? If so, you have a bunch of extra options that will make your life easier. If not, you have to adapt to whatever the accessory’s current firmware does. Simple Improvements If you do control the firmware, I strongly encourage you to: Support IPv6 Implement Bonjour [1] These two things are quite easy to do — most embedded platforms support them directly, so it’s just a question of turning them on — and they will make your life significantly easier: Link-local addresses are intrinsic to IPv6, and IPv6 is intrinsic to Apple platforms. If your accessory supports IPv6, you’ll always be able to communicate with it, regardless of how messed up the IPv4 configuration gets. Similarly, if you support Bonjour, you’ll always be able to find your accessory on the network. [1] Bonjour is an Apple term for three Internet standards: RFC 3927 Dynamic Configuration of IPv4 Link-Local Addresses RFC 6762 Multicast DNS RFC 6763 DNS-Based Service Discovery WAC For a bound accessory, support Wireless Accessory Configuration (WAC). This is a relatively big ask — supporting WAC requires you to join the MFi Program — but it has some huge benefits: You don’t need to write an app to configure your accessory. The user will be able to do it directly from Settings. If you do write an app, you can use the EAWiFiUnconfiguredAccessoryBrowser class to simplify your configuration process. HomeKit For a bound accessory that works in the user’s home, consider supporting HomeKit. This yields the same onboarding benefits as WAC, and many other benefits as well. Also, you can get started with the HomeKit Open Source Accessory Development Kit (ADK). Bluetooth LE If your accessory supports Bluetooth LE, think about how you can use that to improve your app’s user experience. For an example of that, see SSID Scanning, below. Claiming the Default Route, Or Not? If your accessory publishes a Wi-Fi network, a key design decision is whether to stand up enough infrastructure for an iOS device to make it the default route. IMPORTANT To learn more about how iOS makes the decision to switch the default route, see The iOS Wi-Fi Lifecycle and Network Interface Concepts. This decision has significant implications. If the accessory’s network becomes the default route, most network connections from iOS will be routed to your accessory. If it doesn’t provide a path to the wider Internet, those connections will fail. That includes connections made by your own app. Note It’s possible to get around this by forcing your network connections to run over WWAN. See Binding to an Interface in Network Interface Techniques and Running an HTTP Request over WWAN. Of course, this only works if the user has WWAN. It won’t help most iPad users, for example. OTOH, if your accessory’s network doesn’t become the default route, you’ll see other issues. iOS will not auto-join such a network so, if the user locks their device, they’ll have to manually join the network again. In my experience a lot of accessories choose to become the default route in situations where they shouldn’t. For example, a bound accessory is never going to be able to provide a path to the wider Internet so it probably shouldn’t become the default route. However, there are cases where it absolutely makes sense, the most obvious being that of a gateway accessory. Acting as a Captive Network, or Not? If your accessory becomes the default route you must then decide whether to act like a captive network or not. IMPORTANT To learn more about how iOS determines whether a network is captive, see The iOS Wi-Fi Lifecycle. For bound and stand-alone accessories, becoming a captive network is generally a bad idea. When the user joins your network, the captive network UI comes up and they have to successfully complete it to stay on the network. If they cancel out, iOS will leave the network. That makes it hard for the user to run your app while their iOS device is on your accessory’s network. In contrast, it’s more reasonable for a gateway accessory to act as a captive network. SSID Scanning Many developers think that TN3111 iOS Wi-Fi API overview is lying when it says: iOS does not have a general-purpose API for Wi-Fi scanning It is not. Many developers think that the Hotspot Helper API is a panacea that will fix all their Wi-Fi accessory integration issues, if only they could get the entitlement to use it. It will not. Note this comment in the official docs: NEHotspotHelper is only useful for hotspot integration. There are both technical and business restrictions that prevent it from being used for other tasks, such as accessory integration or Wi-Fi based location. Even if you had the entitlement you would run into these technical restrictions. The API was specifically designed to support hotspot navigation — in this context hotspots are “Wi-Fi networks where the user must interact with the network to gain access to the wider Internet” — and it does not give you access to on-demand real-time Wi-Fi scan results. Many developers look at another developer’s app, see that it’s displaying real-time Wi-Fi scan results, and think there’s some special deal with Apple that’ll make that work. There is not. In reality, Wi-Fi accessory developers have come up with a variety of creative approaches for this, including: If you have a bound accessory, you might add WAC support, which makes this whole issue go away. In many cases, you can avoid the need for Wi-Fi scan results by adopting AccessorySetupKit. You might build your accessory with a barcode containing the info required to join its network, and scan that from your app. This is the premise behind the Configuring a Wi-Fi Accessory to Join the User’s Network sample code. You might configure all your accessories to have a common SSID prefix, and then take advantage of the prefix support in NEHotspotConfigurationManager. See Programmatically Joining a Network, below. You might have your app talk to your accessory via some other means, like Bluetooth LE, and have the accessory scan for Wi-Fi networks and return the results. Programmatically Joining a Network Network Extension framework has an API, NEHotspotConfigurationManager, to programmatically join a network, either temporarily or as a known network that supports auto-join. For the details, see Wi-Fi Configuration. One feature that’s particularly useful is it’s prefix support, allowing you to create a configuration that’ll join any network with a specific prefix. See the init(ssidPrefix:) initialiser for the details. For examples of how to use this API, see: Configuring a Wi-Fi Accessory to Join the User’s Network — It shows all the steps for one approach for getting a non-WAC bound accessory on to the user’s network. NEHotspotConfiguration Sample — Use this to explore the API in general. Secure Communication Users expect all network communication to be done securely. For some ideas on how to set up a secure connection to an accessory, see TLS For Accessory Developers. Revision History 2025-11-05 Added a link to the Accessory Design Guidelines for Apple Devices. 2025-06-19 Added a preliminary discussion of Wi-Fi Aware. 2024-09-12 Improved the discussion of AccessorySetupKit. 2024-07-16 Added a preliminary discussion of AccessorySetupKit. 2023-10-11 Added the HomeKit section. Fixed the link in Secure Communication to point to TLS For Accessory Developers. 2023-07-23 First posted.
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1.9k
Activity
Nov ’25
NE System Extension stuck on Validation By Category
Hello, I'm having some problems when install my Packet Tunnel network extension as system extension on my mac(macos 15.0). It stuck on Validation By Category. (it works well as NE app extension on ios) systemextensionsctl list --- com.apple.system_extension.network_extension enabled active teamID bundleID (version) name [state] <...> com.myteam.balabalabla.ne (1.0/1) - [validating by category] This is my install System Extension Code sample public class SystemExtension: NSObject, OSSystemExtensionRequestDelegate { private let forceUpdate: Bool private let inBackground: Bool private let semaphore = DispatchSemaphore(value: 0) private var result: OSSystemExtensionRequest.Result? private var properties: [OSSystemExtensionProperties]? private var error: Error? private init(_ forceUpdate: Bool = false, _ inBackground: Bool = false) { } // some request function i overwrite public func activation() throws -> OSSystemExtensionRequest.Result? { let request = OSSystemExtensionRequest.activationRequest(forExtensionWithIdentifier: FilePath.packageName + ".myNeName", queue: .main) request.delegate = self OSSystemExtensionManager.shared.submitRequest(request) semaphore.wait() if let error { throw error } return result } public func getProperties() throws -> [OSSystemExtensionProperties] { let request = OSSystemExtensionRequest.propertiesRequest(forExtensionWithIdentifier: FilePath.packageName + ".myNeName", queue: .main) request.delegate = self OSSystemExtensionManager.shared.submitRequest(request) semaphore.wait() if let error { throw error } return properties! } public nonisolated static func install(forceUpdate: Bool = false, inBackground: Bool = false) async throws -> OSSystemExtensionRequest.Result? { try await Task.detached { try SystemExtension(forceUpdate, inBackground).activation() }.result.get() } public nonisolated static func uninstall() async throws -> OSSystemExtensionRequest.Result? { try await Task.detached { try SystemExtension().deactivation() }.result.get() } } // And other methods I follow this post Your Friend the System Log and use this command line to collect log. After I initiated the system extension request sudo log collect --last 5m Here is my log (),I only pasted some code snippets that caught me, full version see attachments.(only include com.apple.sysextd), if need more, plz ask me. 1. Some policy missing ```log 22:00:13.818257 `sysextd` extension mockTeamID app.balabala.com.mockbalabala (1.0/1) advancing state from staging to validating 22:00:13.818263 sysextd returning cdhash for local arch arm64 of extension app.balabala.com.mockbalabala info 2025-05-01 22:00:13.818336 sysextd Extension with identifier <private> reached state <private> 22:00:13.819185 sysextd [0x9a2034b00] activating connection: mach=false listener=false peer=false name=com.apple.CodeSigningHelper 22:00:13.819911 sysextd [0x9a2034b00] invalidated after the last release of the connection object 22:00:13.821024 sysextd making activation decision for extension with teamID teamID("mockTeamID ), identifier app.balabala.com.mockbalabala 22:00:13.821026 sysextd no related kext found for sysex `app.balabala.com.mockbalabala` 22:00:13.821027 sysextd no extension policy -- activation decision is UserOption nesessionmanager.system-extensions interrupted 22:00:14.313576 sysextd [0x9a2178280] invalidated because the client process (pid 1886) either cancelled the connection or exited 22:00:14.542154 sysextd connection to com.apple.nesessionmanager.system-extensions interrupted 22:00:14.542319 sysextd [0x9a2178000] Re-initialization successful; calling out to event handler with XPC_ERROR_CONNECTION_INTERRUPTED 22:00:14.542351 sysextd connection to com.apple.nesessionmanager.system-extensions interrupted 22:00:14.589375 nesessionmanager [0x6c80e4500] activating connection: mach=true listener=false peer=false name=com.apple.sysextd And when i debug the System Extension code i notice the request Error catch by didFailWithError public func request(_: OSSystemExtensionRequest, didFailWithError error: Error) { self.error = error semaphore.signal() } error is OSSystemExtensionErrorDomain code 1 This problem has been bothering me for a long time, I would appreciate any help, if need more info, comment, thank you.
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3
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305
Activity
May ’25
WiFi Connect error,NEHotspotConfigurationErrorDomain code=11
hi everybody, When I use the following code to connect to WiFi network, an error message of "error=null" or "error='Error Domain=NEHotspotConfigurationErrorDomain Code=11 "" UserInfo={NSLocalizedDescription=}' " will occur. It has been uploaded to Feedback. Feedback ID: FB16819345 (WiFi-无法加入网络) NEHotspotConfiguration *hotspotConfig = [[NEHotspotConfiguration alloc] initWithSSID:ssid passphrase:psk isWEP:NO]; [[NEHotspotConfigurationManager sharedManager] applyConfiguration:hotspotConfig completionHandler:^(NSError * _Nullable error) { }];
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15
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697
Activity
Jun ’25
XCODE Debugger local network
I develop a terminal app with c++. Everything was fin until i upgraded to Sequoia. If i debug my program with Xcode, all requests to a local network like MQTT fails. How can i grant XCODE the privilege to access the local network?
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1
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141
Activity
May ’25
NWBrowser scan for arbitrary Bonjour Services with Multicast Entitlement ?!
Dear Girls, Guys and Engineers. I'm currently building a Home Network Scanner App for People which want to know which Bonjour Devices are in her/his Home Network environment. From an older Question I got the answer, that I need an Entitlement to do this. I started to work on the App and requested the Multicast Entitlement from Apple. They gave me the Entitlement for my App and now I'm trying to discover all devices in my Home Network but I got stuck and need Help. I only test direct on device, like the recommendation. I also verified that my app is build with the multicast entitlement there where no problems. My problem is now, that is still not possible to discover all Bonjour services in my Home Network with the Help of the NWBrowser. Can you please help me to make it work ? I tried to scan for the generic service type: let browser = NWBrowser(for: .bonjour(type: "_services._dns-sd._udp.", domain: nil), using: .init()) but this is still not working even tough I have the entitlement and the app was verified that the entitlement is correctly enabled if I scan for this service type, I got the following error: [browser] nw_browser_fail_on_dns_error_locked [B1] Invalid meta query type specified. nw_browser_start_dns_browser_locked failed: BadParam(-65540) So what's the correct way now to find all devices in the home network ? Thank you and best regards Vinz
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10
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2.4k
Activity
Jun ’25
split Tunnel + exclude APNs
Hello, im currently developing proxy app with XrayCore trying to bypass APNs when tunnel us up and i found .excludeAPNs property in NETunnelProviderProtocol that works only when includeAllNetworks property is also TRUE. I wonder if there is a possible way to make APNs bypass tunnel in split tunnelling mode? because we use excludedRoutes and full tunnel is not an option
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1
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115
Activity
May ’25
Level Networking on watchOS for Duplex audio streaming
I did watch WWDC 2019 Session 716 and understand that an active audio session is key to unlocking low‑level networking on watchOS. I’m configuring my audio session and engine as follows: private func configureAudioSession(completion: @escaping (Bool) -> Void) { let audioSession = AVAudioSession.sharedInstance() do { try audioSession.setCategory(.playAndRecord, mode: .voiceChat, options: []) try audioSession.setActive(true, options: .notifyOthersOnDeactivation) // Retrieve sample rate and configure the audio format. let sampleRate = audioSession.sampleRate print("Active hardware sample rate: \(sampleRate)") audioFormat = AVAudioFormat(standardFormatWithSampleRate: sampleRate, channels: 1) // Configure the audio engine. audioInputNode = audioEngine.inputNode audioEngine.attach(audioPlayerNode) audioEngine.connect(audioPlayerNode, to: audioEngine.mainMixerNode, format: audioFormat) try audioEngine.start() completion(true) } catch { print("Error configuring audio session: \(error.localizedDescription)") completion(false) } } private func setupUDPConnection() { let parameters = NWParameters.udp parameters.includePeerToPeer = true connection = NWConnection(host: "***.***.xxxxx.***", port: 0000, using: parameters) setupNWConnectionHandlers() } private func setupTCPConnection() { let parameters = NWParameters.tcp connection = NWConnection(host: "***.***.xxxxx.***", port: 0000, using: parameters) setupNWConnectionHandlers() } private func setupWebSocketConnection() { guard let url = URL(string: "ws://***.***.xxxxx.***:0000") else { print("Invalid WebSocket URL") return } let session = URLSession(configuration: .default) webSocketTask = session.webSocketTask(with: url) webSocketTask?.resume() print("WebSocket connection initiated") sendAudioToServer() receiveDataFromServer() sendWebSocketPing(after: 0.6) } private func setupNWConnectionHandlers() { connection?.stateUpdateHandler = { [weak self] state in DispatchQueue.main.async { switch state { case .ready: print("Connected (NWConnection)") self?.isConnected = true self?.failToConnect = false self?.receiveDataFromServer() self?.sendAudioToServer() case .waiting(let error), .failed(let error): print("Connection error: \(error.localizedDescription)") DispatchQueue.main.asyncAfter(deadline: .now() + 2) { self?.setupNetwork() } case .cancelled: print("NWConnection cancelled") self?.isConnected = false default: break } } } connection?.start(queue: .main) } I am reaching out to seek further assistance regarding the challenges I've been experiencing with establishing a UDP, TCP & web socket connection on watchOS using NWConnection for duplex audio streaming. Despite implementing the recommendations provided earlier, I am still encountering difficulties. Or duplex audio streaming not possible on apple watch?
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6
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211
Activity
Apr ’25
When restarting a PC with macOS15, communication on the local network is denied for the target app even though "Local Network" in "Privacy and Security" is allowed.
We are developing a desktop app for macOS, built with Electron + Angular + Node.js. The app has the ability to access devices on the local network. We are having some trouble with the behavior of the "Local Network" feature added in macOS 15. Procedure: MacBook Pro 14inch (M1Pro) 2021, 16GB memory - macOS Sequoia15.4.1 Network Environment: The PC and the access point are connected by wire, and the target device and the access point are also connected by wire. Not connected to an external network Install the target app Start the application and allow the "Local Network" dialog that appears Open the "Local Network" item in "Privacy and Security" and make sure the target app is allowed. Confirm that you can access the target device on the local network Restart the PC Open the "Local Network" item in "Privacy and Security" and make sure the target app is allowed. Start the app and access the target device on the local network Result: Access to the target device may fail (this does not occur 100% of the time) If you turn the target app in the "Local Network" section of "Privacy and Security" OFF and then ON, you will be able to connect However, it seems that the problem may occur again if you restart your PC. According to our research, the probability of this happening increases if the target app is the only app allowed on the "local network". This happens not only with our app, but also when you follow the above steps in "Google Chrome". Based on the above investigation results, I suspect that this is a problem with the OS. What do you think?
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2
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152
Activity
May ’25
Internet is blocked when `includeAllNetworks` is enabled and `NEHotspotHelper` is registered
Hello, We are facing what we believe is a compatibility issue with two networking APIs. If the Network extension VPN configuration has includeAllNetworks flag enabled and the NEHotspotHelper is registered. The user has internet connection but it is blocked, and there user will get internet back only after restarting the device. VPN Configuration is as below while connecting to VPN, { localizedDescription = WLVPN WireGuard Configuration enabled = YES protocolConfiguration = { serverAddress = <18-char-str> passwordReference = {length = 20, bytes = 0x67656e70ed0d05c06b1b4896bf4fef2031e1a92d} disconnectOnSleep = NO includeAllNetworks = YES excludeLocalNetworks = YES excludeCellularServices = YES excludeAPNs = YES excludeDeviceCommunication = YES enforceRoutes = NO providerBundleIdentifier = com.wlvpn.ios.consumervpn.network-extension } onDemandEnabled = NO onDemandRules = () } After running the code shown below. Regardless if the VPN is connected or not, the user needs to restart his device to regain internet access. private let neHelperQueue = DispatchQueue(label: "com.wlvpn.ios.consumervpn.hotspot", attributes: DispatchQueue.Attributes.concurrent) let options: [String: NSObject] = [kNEHotspotHelperOptionDisplayName : "" as NSObject] let status = NEHotspotHelper.register(options: nil, queue: neHelperQueue) { cmd in NSLog("Received command: \(cmd.commandType.rawValue)") } We need to use the includeAllNetworks flag to prevent the novel "Tunnel vision" vulnerability. Can we please have some help getting confirmation if both functionalities are compatible or if there's a way to enable them at the same time?
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4
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657
Activity
Mar ’26
Non-functioning IP_RECVIF on sockets proxied with NETransparentProxyProvider
Hi! I've noticed that the IP_RECVIF socket option, i.e.: int y = 1; setsockopt(fd, IPPROTO_IP, IP_RECVIF, &y, sizeof(y)); does not seem to work if the socket is proxied by a NETransparentProxyProvider type network extension: there's no ancillary data in messages received with recvmsg. As soon as I disable the network extension, recvmsg starts returning ancillary data containing the interface name. This seems to break some applications which rely on IP_RECVIF in the presence of a transparent proxy, making it, in fact, not transparent. One such example is Apple's own libresolv, which relies on IP_RECVIF and breaks if there's no ancillary data in the recvmsg result. I don't think that this is the intended behaviour, since IPV6_PKTINFO seems to work fine. I've filed a bug report (FB17586550) about this, however, I would greatly appreciate if someone could point me in the direction of a workaround.
Replies
1
Boosts
4
Views
280
Activity
May ’25
connect() iOS 18.5 Developer Beta (22EF5042g)
Hello! 👋 I am noticing new failures in the iOS 18.5 Developer Beta build (22EF5042g) when calling the system call connect() (from C++ source, in network extension). When using cell/mobile data (Mint & T-Mobile) this returns with EINTR (interrupted system call) right away. When I switch over to wifi, everything works fine. Note: I have not tested on other mobile carriers; which could make a difference since T-Mobile/Mint are IPv6 networks. FWIW, this is working in the previous developer beta (18.4). Anyone have any ideas?
Replies
5
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0
Views
365
Activity
Apr ’25
Getting WIFI SSID
Greetings I'm trying to get on iPad the SSID from the wifi I'm connected to. For that, I added the wifi entitlement and I'm requesting permission to the user for Location. Once I have it, I'm using the function CNCopySupportedInterfaces to get the interfaces, but I can only receive the en0, which using the method CNCopyCurrentNetworkInfo returns nil. I also tried using the NEHotspotNetwork.fetchCurrent and the SSID keeps being nil. So right now I'm drawing a blank. Is there any way to make it work? Thanks.
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1
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0
Views
490
Activity
May ’25
how to set both protocols and `URLRequest` to `NSURLSessionWebSocketTask`
Hi there. How can I do for the title? URLRequest seems not to have property for protocols. NSURLSessionWebSocketTask seems to have either URLRequest or protocols, but have neither of them. What I want to do is setting both protocols and headers when using WebSocket. Should I use Network.framework instead?
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2
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0
Views
153
Activity
May ’25
iOS 18.4 key usage requirements fails TLS connections
iOS 18.4 introduced some requirements on the Key Usage of 802.1x server certificates, as described here. https://support.apple.com/en-us/121158 When using TLS_ECDHE_RSA or TLS_DHE_RSA cipher suites, 802.1X server certificates containing a Key Usage extension must have Digital Signature key usage set. When using the TLS_RSA cipher suite, 802.1X server certificates containing a Key Usage extension must have Key Encipherment key usage set. It reads like the change is supposed to affect 802.1x only. However, we have found out that the new restrictions are actually imposed on all TLS connections using the Network framework, including in Safari. Unlike other certificate errors which can be either ignored by users (as in Safari) or by code (via sec_protocol_options_set_verify_block), these new ones can't. Even if passing completion(true) in the TLS verification block, the connection still ends up in waiting state with error -9830: illegal parameter. I understand that these requirements are valid ones but as a generic TLS library I also expect that Network framework could at least allow overriding the behavior. The current treatment is not consistent with those on other certificate errors. Since I can't upload certificates, here is how to reproduce a certificate that fails. Create a OpenSSL config file test.cnf [ req ] default_bits = 2048 distinguished_name = dn x509_extensions = v3_ca prompt = no [ dn ] CN = example.com [ v3_ca ] subjectKeyIdentifier = hash authorityKeyIdentifier = keyid:always,issuer basicConstraints = CA:TRUE keyUsage = critical, keyCertSign, cRLSign Generate certificate and private key openssl req -x509 -new -nodes -keyout key.pem -out cert.pem -days 365 -config test.cnf And here is the client code to test. // Target server and port let host = NWEndpoint.Host("example.com") let port = NWEndpoint.Port("443")! // Configure insecure TLS options let tlsOptions = NWProtocolTLS.Options() sec_protocol_options_set_verify_block(tlsOptions.securityProtocolOptions, { _, _, completion in // Always trust completion(true) }, DispatchQueue.global()) let params = NWParameters(tls: tlsOptions) let connection = NWConnection(host: .init(host), port: .init(rawValue: port)!, using: params) connection.stateUpdateHandler = { newState in switch newState { case .ready: print("TLS connection established") case .failed(let error): print("Connection failed: \(error)") case .cancelled: print("Connection canceled") case .preparing: print("Connection preparing") case .waiting(let error): print("Connection waiting: \(error)") case .setup: print("Connection setup") default: break } } connection.start(queue: .global()) Output Connection preparing Connection waiting: -9830: illegal parameter Previously reported as FB17099740
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5
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0
Views
310
Activity
Apr ’25
XCode no access to local network
i unfortunatly upgraded to Sequoia since then I see when: i select XCode -&gt;Product-&gt;run i see Error: No route to host i cannot grant access to local network for XCode i can no longer debug my program as i did with Sonora
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1
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0
Views
100
Activity
May ’25