Discuss how to secure user data, respect user data preferences, support iCloud Private Relay and Mail Privacy Protection, replace CAPTCHAs with Private Access Tokens, and more. Ask about Privacy nutrition labels, Privacy manifests, and more.

Privacy Documentation

Posts under Privacy tag

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I have a question about the privacy manifest including the process, that is Do I need to declare a privacy manifest file for the SDKs that Apple is not listed in their list? Let's take an example, I have two SDK's like SDK1, SDK2 used in my app and both the SDK's used the "NSUserDefaults" privacy part and both the SDK's are not listed in the Apple list and also both SDK's did not have their own privacy manifest file. Now, the questions are, Do I need to include Privacy Manifest file to both the SDK's? OR Can I add one Privacy Manifest file in the app-specific then Xcode will combine OR use thisPprivacy Manifest file for the SDK's too? Thanks!
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Using the DeviceActivity framework we are able to display data based on a user's screentime and device usage. With the DeviceActivityFilter property, you can specify the date interval to collect data between. In testing, it seems that data only becomes accessible once the extension has been installed (so the extension isn't reading the screentime data already collected on device). However, once installed, I'm curious how far back you can query data from in the data interval? Opal which uses the Screentime API appears to have a lifetime Screentime metric, so hypothetically it should possible to query data as far back as collection starts. Unless they are getting around the sandbox environment and storing the data somehow. Side note on Opal -- They seem to have a community average of Screentime among people in the same age group. Does anyone know how they are collecting the data for this average? Is it actually using live Screentime data or just aggregating data from other studies?
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I received an email from Apple saying my app is using the following privacy-restricted APIs without an API declaration. NSPrivacyAccessedAPICategoryUserDefaults NSPrivacyAccessedAPICategoryFileTimestamp NSPrivacyAccessedAPICategorySystemBootTime It's true, my app is using those features, in multiple pods that I depend on. For example, my app depends on the FBAudienceNetwork cocoapod, and I've upgraded it to version 6.15.0, which added a privacy manifest specifically to ensure that Apple wouldn't flag my app with an error. https://developers.facebook.com/docs/audience-network/setting-up/platform-setup/ios/changelog/ I can see its privacy manifest explicitly covers these APIs, below: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd"> <plist version="1.0"> <dict> <key>NSPrivacyTrackingDomains</key> <array> <string>ep1.facebook.com</string> <string>ep6.facebook.com</string> </array> <key>NSPrivacyCollectedDataTypes</key> <array> <dict> <key>NSPrivacyCollectedDataType</key> <string>NSPrivacyCollectedDataTypeAdvertisingData</string> <key>NSPrivacyCollectedDataTypeLinked</key> <true/> <key>NSPrivacyCollectedDataTypeTracking</key> <true/> <key>NSPrivacyCollectedDataTypePurposes</key> <array> <string>NSPrivacyCollectedDataTypePurposeThirdPartyAdvertising</string> <string>NSPrivacyCollectedDataTypePurposeAnalytics</string> </array> </dict> <dict> <key>NSPrivacyCollectedDataType</key> <string>NSPrivacyCollectedDataTypeDeviceID</string> <key>NSPrivacyCollectedDataTypeLinked</key> <true/> <key>NSPrivacyCollectedDataTypeTracking</key> <true/> <key>NSPrivacyCollectedDataTypePurposes</key> <array> <string>NSPrivacyCollectedDataTypePurposeThirdPartyAdvertising</string> </array> </dict> </array> <key>NSPrivacyAccessedAPITypes</key> <array> <dict> <key>NSPrivacyAccessedAPIType</key> <string>NSPrivacyAccessedAPICategoryUserDefaults</string> <key>NSPrivacyAccessedAPITypeReasons</key> <array> <string>CA92.1</string> </array> </dict> <dict> <key>NSPrivacyAccessedAPIType</key> <string>NSPrivacyAccessedAPICategorySystemBootTime</string> <key>NSPrivacyAccessedAPITypeReasons</key> <array> <string>35F9.1</string> </array> </dict> <dict> <key>NSPrivacyAccessedAPIType</key> <string>NSPrivacyAccessedAPICategoryFileTimestamp</string> <key>NSPrivacyAccessedAPITypeReasons</key> <array> <string>C617.1</string> </array> </dict> </array> <key>NSPrivacyTracking</key> <true/> </dict> </plist> So, why is Apple flagging my app with "Missing API Declaration" errors? The API declaration is right there. What am I still missing?
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by dfabulich.
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I have a question regarding the way iOS handles app permissions. Why doesn't Apple provide a feature to review the reasons an app gave for requesting certain permissions after the initial authorization? There are instances where permissions were granted a long time ago or perhaps inadvertently, and now I can't recall why the app needed those permissions in the first place. This feature could be helpful for users trying to understand and manage their privacy settings more effectively. Thank you for any insights or information
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We have a question about tracking domains: If we found a tracking domain in our app(eg."example.tracking.com"), but not put it into the PrivacyInfo.xcprivacy -> tracking domain list (refer to https://developer.apple.com/documentation/bundleresources/privacy_manifest_files), will iOS auto block the connection of this domain even when the tracking permission is granted? At the current time, the answer seems to be NO, but we are not sure about the situation in the future. Add this is the test result: tracking domains added + tracking permission granted -> not blocked tracking domains added + tracking permission not granted -> blocked tracking domains not added + tracking permission granted -> not blocked tracking domains not added + tracking permission not granted -> not blocked So it there any suggestion about the question? Thanks!
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by youyou76.
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Hello, we have noticed a change in the last few weeks in how Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) is operating. Specifically, MPP pre-caches images within email newsletters that are protected via Private Relay. The end result of the pre-cacheing is that every image in the newsletter is retrieved from our servers even if the user does not open the newsletter. This has been in place since '21. What we've noticed in the last month or so, is that the amount of pre-cacheing has dropped significantly, on the order of 20-25%. We can compare this with newsletters opened in non-MPP environments to know that email sends are consistent, it is only that pre-cached events seem to have changed. Does anyone know of any changes to the logic of Private Relay / MPP that would impact how it is pre-caching data from email newsletters? Thank you.
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by mpisula.
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Hello everyone,I am a student who is working on my final project of my college.I do not get an official development account since I do not need to put my app on AppStore. In my project,I need to use the camera of iOS device, and I know I need to add NSCameraUsageDesciption in Info.plist.However, as I add the description in my Info and build my project, it failed and says"Provisioning profile "iOS Team Provisioning Profile: " doesn't include the NSCameraUsageDescription and NSPhotoLibraryUsageDescription entitlements." I also notice that in the Info.plist file, when I change the property type to entitlements,I just cannot find NSCameraUsageDescription when I add row. What's the problem?Is this because I am not an official developer?
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I am new to coding so pardon my naivety. I made a simple app for my company where customers can place orders and leave their names and phones numbers. Upon placing an order the app creates a collection in Google Firebase then generates an email with some HTML code. My app does not use any API's directly, and I believe I received the warning email solely because of the Firebase SDK like many others. I updated my app with what I believe to be proper "declaration of the data collected by my app or by third-party SDKs" according to https://developer.apple.com/documentation/bundleresources/privacy_manifest_files/describing_data_use_in_privacy_manifests - but I am wondering if I actually did it correctly! See Attached
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Let's say I have an iOS app on the app store. Anyone can download and use it, but I would like to restrict the app from granting access to certain features to a select set of people I can personally vouch for. So, for example, to get access, the app send email to me, you have to convince me I know you, and if you do, I send you back some kind of token string which you can enter into the app. However, I'd like for that token to not be shareable, and to be locked to that device. Is there any kind of persistent ID associated with a device that I can use to tie the token I grant to that persistent ID? Or can someone suggest a way that once I trust a user, I can give them a token which will cannot be shared to anyone else? Also, does anyone know if restricting access to app features in this way is any kind of issue with regards to the app review process? The app itself is free, and there are no in-app purchases. I simply don't want certain features of the app (which end up sending push notifications) to get abused.
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Hello, I was referring to the post - https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/663769 to determine if my app has been granted access to Local Network or not. I am starting an NWConnection for a local network address and checking if the currentPath?.unsatisfiedReason == .localNetworkDenied. This is not working as expected. Even when I accept the local network permission prompt, I still get the unsatisfied reason as .localNetworkDenied. I have also tried turning off/on the permission toggle from the settings app. I have also checked this with the 2nd method in the above post about using pathUpdateHandler and getting the same results. I am using an iOS 17.4.1 device. Is this method reliable? Is there some other method/api that I can use to check for local network access in my app?
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Hello, I need help understanding how to manage the privacyInfo.xcprivacy file for apps. Do I need to include privacy details from SDKs in the app’s own file? For instance, if an SDK’s file mentions "Privacy Tracking Enabled: YES," does the app need the same setting? Also, if the SDK lists "Device ID" as a Collected Data Type, should the app list it too? I thought it was best to keep the app’s privacy file just about the app itself and not add SDK information to avoid making things too complex. But I can’t find clear rules on this. Can someone clarify this for me? Thanks!
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by soonhyong.
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Should the privacyInfo.xcprivacy file provided by an app also cover the content of the privacyInfo.xcprivacy from an SDK? For example, if Privacy Tracking Enabled is set to true in a third-party SDK, does that mean Privacy Tracking Enabled should also set to true in the privacyInfo.xcprivacy file included in the app?
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by soonhyong.
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I work on an app that uses a couple 3P SDKs that have their own SDK. My app also uses some of the APIs (UserDefaults) and declares those reasons in it's privacy manifest file. I was under the impression that I should only declare the reasons from my app in it's Privacy Manifest file, and that the 3P SDK reasons would automatically be pulled in (because they include them). Uploading to TestFlight I get warnings that this is not the case. If I only declare my app's reasons, it warns me that the APIs the SDK accesses are not included in the manifest. The only way to get it to work, is manually copying in the same declarations that the 3P SDK has into my own manifest file. Is this the way it's supposed to work? Or should it be generating a holistic manifest automatically for me?
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by domitrzs.
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How can I open the user's Health Privacy Settings directly from my app when I'd like them to review them? I believe similar questions have been asked before like this one: https://forums.developer.apple.com/forums/thread/730434 However, I'm wondering if the situation is changed for iOS 17 or if there's a way that works for Health permissions. This is directly possible in the Garmin Connect app for example which is a major app on the store.
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Hey, I’m updating all of my apps to target the new versions of all the plugins we use, and for some reason, I have a warning message : ITMS-91053: Missing API declaration - Your app’s code in the “*****” file references one or more APIs that require reasons, including the following API categories: NSPrivacyAccessedAPICategoryDiskSpace. ... ITMS-91053: Missing API declaration - Your app’s code in the “*****” file references one or more APIs that require reasons, including the following API categories: NSPrivacyAccessedAPICategoryFileTimestamp. ... Apple Developer Relations But in my Cordova config.xml, I have already added the <privacy-manifest> tag: <privacy-manifest> <key>NSPrivacyTracking</key> <false/> <key>NSPrivacyCollectedDataTypes</key> <array/> <key>NSPrivacyTrackingDomains</key> <array/> <key>NSPrivacyAccessedAPITypes</key> <array> <dict> <key>NSPrivacyAccessedAPIType</key> <string>NSPrivacyAccessedAPICategoryDiskSpace</string> <key>NSPrivacyAccessedAPITypeReasons</key> <array> <string>E174.1</string> </array> </dict> <dict> <key>NSPrivacyAccessedAPIType</key> <string>NSPrivacyAccessedAPICategoryFileTimestamp</string> <key>NSPrivacyAccessedAPITypeReasons</key> <array> <string>3B52.1</string> </array> </dict> </array> </privacy-manifest> I have already sent some applications to Apple, and there is no problem; they haven’t sent me back the ‘Missing API declaration’ error. So in conclusion, I don’t know what the problem is for three of my app’s pool. it’s been several days that I’ve been working on this issue. If you have a solution, please let me know. Best regards."
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by devacd.
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In my react native app deployed on appstore. I've added Privacy.Info file to declare privacy manifest as requested by Apple. But as soon as I added this file in my project using xcode, I am getting the Multiple commands produce Error when I make the build. Below is the code for my privacy.info file, which I've added in the root ios folder of my react native project. <dict> <key>NSPrivacyAccessedAPITypes</key> <array> <dict> <key>NSPrivacyAccessedAPIType</key> <string>NSPrivacyAccessedAPICategoryDiskSpace</string> <key>NSPrivacyAccessedAPITypeReasons</key> <array> <string>E174.1</string> </array> </dict> <dict> <key>NSPrivacyAccessedAPIType</key> <string>NSPrivacyAccessedAPICategoryUserDefaults</string> <key>NSPrivacyAccessedAPITypeReasons</key> <array> <string>CA92.1</string> </array> </dict> <dict> <key>NSPrivacyAccessedAPIType</key> <string>NSPrivacyAccessedAPICategoryFileTimestamp</string> <key>NSPrivacyAccessedAPITypeReasons</key> <array> <string>C617.1</string> </array> </dict> <dict> <key>NSPrivacyAccessedAPIType</key> <string>NSPrivacyAccessedAPICategorySystemBootTime</string> <key>NSPrivacyAccessedAPITypeReasons</key> <array> <string>35F9.1</string> </array> </dict> </array> </dict>
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My app uses CGEventTapCreateForPid to monitor keyboard events of a corresponding process. My app has already enabled the Accessibility permission, and AXIsProcessTrustedWithOptions returns true. However, CGEventTapCreateForPid returns null. What could be the problem? Does anyone know? I tested and found that if CGEventTapCreateForPid returns null, I can reset the Accessibility permission using tccutil reset Accessibility myapp_bundleid without restarting my app. But my app can still get the permission through AXIsProcessTrustedWithOptions
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by emerys.
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What happens if I submit an app and one of the third party libraries (but not in the big list of common third party libraries) in my app has errors in its privacy manifest? Does my app get rejected? Or does Apple go after the third party to fix their library? The error is simple enough. They simply failed to include the NSPrivacyCollectedDataTypes key. Actually, it is missing other keys but the error report probably stopped at the first one. The error is from Xcode > Window > Organizer > Archives > command click an archive from the list > Generate Privacy Report. The exact text of the error in that report is: Errors Encountered Missing an expected key: 'NSPrivacyCollectedDataTypes' I am not concerned with how to fix the syntax. I know that much. I want to know what Apple will do if I submit the app for review with the errors present in the third party lib. There are verbal rumors and speculation that Apple contacts third party library devs and leave app devs alone if a library messes up its privacy file, but I cannot find any confirmation of this on the Internet. And again, while this lib is from medium size commercial vendor, it is not common enough to be on Apple's list.
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So as we know it's nearty 1/5 and the deadline of Privacy Manifest is near, I had take care allmost of case in my project but the things is I keep getting warning emails saying that I need to state for some "required api" that I'm using in my code. Which I'm current not. So after thinking abit, I decided to look into the IPA and extract the binary version of my IPA's package content using nm command. And supprisingly I can easily saw all the "reuqired API" that stated in the email Apple send me for my release So my question is: Do we really need to handle those case too? because always the "behind the scence" things using those API and honest I can't confirm where did they run or what did they do (due to limit of time until 1/5)
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by Stagit1.
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how could I remove the key NSMotionUsageDescription? cause it leads some crash problem.But after I remove the key NSMotionUsageDescription, I submit to Apple Store connect,I will receive issue .TMS-90683: Missing purpose string in Info.plist - Your app’s code references one or more APIs that access sensitive user data, or the app has one or more entitlements that permit such access. The Info.plist file for the “ydbus.app” bundle should contain a NSMotionUsageDescription key with a user-facing purpose string explaining clearly and completely why your app needs the data. If you’re using external libraries or SDKs, they may reference APIs that require a purpose string. While your app might not use these APIs, a purpose string is still required. For details, visit: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/uikit/protecting_the_user_s_privacy/requesting_access_to_protected_resources. How could I solve the problem? I reviewed my project,I don't use the key NSMotionUsageDescription api.
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