Prioritize user privacy and data security in your app. Discuss best practices for data handling, user consent, and security measures to protect user information.

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Received my first Digital Services Act spam
Like many/most developers, I gave Connect the info required to comply with the DSA. Perhaps unlike most, I always give unique email addresses so that I can easily track the source of abuse. Yesterday I finally had a phish come in to my DSA address claiming "Message blocked" and doing the standard click-to-login-for-details FOMO bait. So, yep, DSA just becomes yet another public database that malicious actors can use to target you. It would be really nice if Apple provided a way to supply our contact info only for legitimate business purposes. Mail Privacy Protection (or similar) for this would be a start.
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Apr ’25
App Attest Issue in Production - Attestation Object Size Increased
Hi Apple Team and Community, We encountered a sudden and widespread failure related to the App Attest service on Friday, July 25, starting at around 9:22 AM UTC. After an extended investigation, our network engineers noted that the size of the attestation objects received from the attestKey call grew in size notably starting at that time. As a result, our firewall began blocking the requests from our app made to our servers with the Base64-encoded attestation objects in the payload, as these requests began triggering our firewall's max request length rule. Could Apple engineers please confirm whether there was any change rolled out by Apple at or around that time that would cause the attestation object size to increase? Can anyone else confirm seeing this? Any insights from Apple or others would be appreciated to ensure continued stability. Thanks!
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Jul ’25
Importing a PEM-based RSA Private Key and its Certificate
This post is an extension to Importing Cryptographic Keys that covers one specific common case: importing a PEM-based RSA private key and its certificate to form a digital identity. If you have questions or comments, start a new thread in Privacy & Security > General. Tag your thread with Security so that I see it. Share and Enjoy — Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com" Importing a PEM-based RSA Private Key and its Certificate I regularly see folks struggle to import an RSA private key and its corresponding certificate. Importing Cryptographic Keys outlines various options for importing keys, but in this post I want to cover one specific case, namely, a PEM-based RSA private key and its corresponding certificate. Together these form a digital identity, represented as a SecIdentity object. IMPORTANT If you can repackage your digital identity as a PKCS#12, please do. It’s easy to import that using SecPKCS12Import. If you can switch to an elliptic curve (EC) private key, please do. It’s generally better and Apple CryptoKit has direct support for importing an EC PEM. Assuming that’s not the case, let’s explore how to import a PEM-base RSA private key and its corresponding certificate to form a digital identity. Note The code below was built with Xcode 16.2 and tested on the iOS 18.2 simulator. It uses the helper routines from Calling Security Framework from Swift. This code assumes the data protection keychain. If you’re targeting macOS, add kSecUseDataProtectionKeychain to all the keychain calls. See TN3137 On Mac keychain APIs and implementations for more background to that. Unwrap the PEM To start, you need to get the data out of the PEM: /// Extracts the data from a PEM. /// /// As PEM files can contain a large range of data types, you must supply the /// expected prefix and suffix strings. For example, for a certificate these /// are `"-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----` and `-----END CERTIFICATE-----`. /// /// - important: This assumes the simplest possible PEM format. It does not /// handle metadata at the top of the PEM or PEMs with multiple items in them. func dataFromPEM(_ pem: String, _ expectedPrefix: String, _ expectedSuffix: String) -> Data? { let lines = pem.split(separator: "\n") guard let first = lines.first, first == expectedPrefix, let last = lines.last, last == expectedSuffix else { return nil } let base64 = lines.dropFirst().dropLast().joined() guard let data = Data(base64Encoded: base64) else { return nil } return data } IMPORTANT Read the doc comment to learn about some important limitations with this code. Import a Certificate When adding a digital identity to the keychain, it’s best to import the certificate and the key separately and then add them to the keychain. That makes it easier to track down problems you encounter. To import a PEM-based certificate, extract the data from the PEM and call SecCertificateCreateWithData: /// Import a certificate in PEM format. /// /// - important: See ``dataFromPEM(_:_:_:)`` for some important limitations. func importCertificatePEM(_ pem: String) throws -> SecCertificate { guard let data = dataFromPEM(pem, "-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----", "-----END CERTIFICATE-----"), let cert = SecCertificateCreateWithData(nil, data as NSData) else { throw NSError(domain: NSOSStatusErrorDomain, code: Int(errSecParam), userInfo: nil) } return cert } Here’s an example that shows this in action: let benjyCertificatePEM = """ -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE----- MIIC4TCCAcmgAwIBAgIBCzANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQsFADAfMRAwDgYDVQQDDAdNb3Vz ZUNBMQswCQYDVQQGEwJHQjAeFw0xOTA5MzAxNDI0NDFaFw0yOTA5MjcxNDI0NDFa MB0xDjAMBgNVBAMMBUJlbmp5MQswCQYDVQQGEwJHQjCCASIwDQYJKoZIhvcNAQEB BQADggEPADCCAQoCggEBAOQe5ai68FQhTVIgpsDK+UOPIrgKzqJcW+wwLnJRp6GV V9EmifJq7wjrXeqmP1XgcNtu7cVhDx+/ONKl/8hscak54HTQrgwE6mK628RThld9 BmZoOjaWWCkoU5bH7ZIYgrKF1tAO5uTAmVJB9v7DQQvKERwjQ10ZbFOW6v8j2gDL esZQbFIC7f/viDXLsPq8dUZuyyb9BXrpEJpXpFDi/wzCV3C1wmtOUrU27xz4gBzi 3o9O6U4QmaF91xxaTk0Ot+/RLI70mR7TYa+u6q7UW/KK9q1+8LeTVs1x24VA5csx HCAQf+xvMoKlocmUxCDBYkTFkmtyhmGRN52XucHgu0kCAwEAAaMqMCgwDgYDVR0P AQH/BAQDAgWgMBYGA1UdJQEB/wQMMAoGCCsGAQUFBwMCMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBCwUA A4IBAQAyrArH7+IyHTyEOrv/kZr3s3h4HWczSVeiO9qWD03/fVew84J524DiSBK4 mtAy3V/hqXrzrQEbsfyT7ZhQ6EqB/W0flpVYbku10cSVgoeSfjgBJLqgJRZKFonv OQPjTf9HEDo5A1bQdnUF1y6SwdFaY16lH9mZ5B8AI57mduSg90c6Ao1GvtbAciNk W8y4OTQp4drh18hpHegrgTIbuoWwgy8V4MX6W39XhkCUNhrQUUJk3mEfbC/yqfIG YNds0NRI3QCTJCUbuXvDrLEn4iqRfbzq5cbulQBxBCUtLZFFjKE4M42fJh6D6oRR yZSx4Ac3c+xYqTCjf0UdcUGxaxF/ -----END CERTIFICATE----- """ print(try? importCertificatePEM(benjyCertificatePEM)) If you run this it prints: Optional(<cert(0x11e304c10) s: Benjy i: MouseCA>) Import a Private Key To import a PEM-base RSA private key, extract the data from the PEM and call SecKeyCreateWithData: /// Import an 2048-bit RSA private key in PEM format. /// /// Don’t use this code if: /// /// * If you can switch to an EC key. EC keys are generally better and, for /// this specific case, there’s support for importing them in Apple CryptoKit. /// /// * You can switch to using a PKCS#12. In that case, use the system’s /// `SecPKCS12Import` routine instead. /// /// - important: See ``dataFromPEM(_:_:_:)`` for some important limitations. func importRSA2048PrivateKeyPEM(_ pem: String) throws -> SecKey { // Most private key PEMs are in PKCS#8 format. There’s no way to import // that directly. Instead you need to strip the header to get to the // `RSAPrivateKey` data structure encapsulated within the PKCS#8. Doing that // in the general case is hard. In the specific case of an 2048-bit RSA // key, the following hack works. let rsaPrefix: [UInt8] = [ 0x30, 0x82, 0x04, 0xBE, 0x02, 0x01, 0x00, 0x30, 0x0D, 0x06, 0x09, 0x2A, 0x86, 0x48, 0x86, 0xF7, 0x0D, 0x01, 0x01, 0x01, 0x05, 0x00, 0x04, 0x82, 0x04, 0xA8, ] guard let pkcs8 = dataFromPEM(pem, "-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----", "-----END PRIVATE KEY-----"), pkcs8.starts(with: rsaPrefix) else { throw NSError(domain: NSOSStatusErrorDomain, code: Int(errSecParam), userInfo: nil) } let rsaPrivateKey = pkcs8.dropFirst(rsaPrefix.count) return try secCall { SecKeyCreateWithData(rsaPrivateKey as NSData, [ kSecAttrKeyType: kSecAttrKeyTypeRSA, kSecAttrKeyClass: kSecAttrKeyClassPrivate, ] as NSDictionary, $0) } } IMPORTANT This code only works with 2048-bit RSA private keys. The comments explain more about that limitation. Here’s an example that shows this in action: let benjyPrivateKeyPEM = """ -----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY----- MIIEvgIBADANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQEFAASCBKgwggSkAgEAAoIBAQDkHuWouvBUIU1S IKbAyvlDjyK4Cs6iXFvsMC5yUaehlVfRJonyau8I613qpj9V4HDbbu3FYQ8fvzjS pf/IbHGpOeB00K4MBOpiutvEU4ZXfQZmaDo2llgpKFOWx+2SGIKyhdbQDubkwJlS Qfb+w0ELyhEcI0NdGWxTlur/I9oAy3rGUGxSAu3/74g1y7D6vHVGbssm/QV66RCa V6RQ4v8MwldwtcJrTlK1Nu8c+IAc4t6PTulOEJmhfdccWk5NDrfv0SyO9Jke02Gv ruqu1FvyivatfvC3k1bNcduFQOXLMRwgEH/sbzKCpaHJlMQgwWJExZJrcoZhkTed l7nB4LtJAgMBAAECggEBAKOPF6ED776SZgrliEog/dmXrhABB6jXybytyw+CRkuP dXhrRmr+isZ9Y0gTzMN4+dILVgW4EozzoP0/sgZ04oWwDqQS30eU2qzRRzMbo+3k oYsZXeu3nhxcYppwXIDsfAEd/ygMFzaadRPKYhrFykR2rA/dpLYCvW2tfm5SuULp RxnKykFlVi8yVT64AovVm0XGOy/QTO5BBbUdftvZY9QCjGn/IEL8QFEz0rxZsb2L s0HgVMUcB1My38RksZQRKLMWCtqLqWnez3oCnPka+dxFQj5RU//vNtRoVh1ExbmW txHz48v00AKQvaudC4ujIspZlY8+UPdYQT0TNjhsfoUCgYEA+7yEvyCgRtYwUNm6 jHTg67LoSldHwENOry63qGZp3rCkWBkPXle7ulgRtuw+e11g4MoMMAgkIGyIGB/Z 6YvnQGmJCTMw+HHIyw3k/OvL1iz4DM+QlxDuD79Zu2j2UIL4maDG0ZDskiJujVAf sFOy4r36TvYedmd7qgh9pgpsFl8CgYEA5/v8PZDs2I1wSDGllGfTr6aeQcxvw98I p8l/8EV/lYpdKQMFndeFZI+dnJCcTeBbeXMmPNTAdL5gOTwDReXamIAdr93k7/x6 iKMHzBrpQZUMEhepSd8zdR1+vLvyszvUU6lvNXcfjwbu7gJQkwbA6kSoXRN+C1Cv i5/w66t0f1cCgYBt02FWwTUrsmaB33uzq4o1SmhthoaXKsY5R3h4z7WAojAQ/13l GwGb2rBfzdG0oJiTeZK3odWhD7iQTdUUPyU0xNY0XVEQExQ3AmjUr0rOte/CJww9 2/UAicrsKG7N0VYEMFCNPVz4pGz22e35T4rLwXZi3J2NqrgZBntK5WEioQKBgEyx L4ii+sn0qGQVlankUUVGjhcuoNxeRZxCrzsdnrovTfEbAKZX88908yQpYqMUQul5 ufBuXVm6/lCtmF9pR8UWxbm4X9E+5Lt7Oj6tvuNhhOYOUHcNhRN4tsdqUygR5XXr E8rXIOXF4wNoXH7ewrQwEoECyq6u8/ny3FDtE8xtAoGBALNFxRGikbQMXhUXj7FA lLwWlNydCxCc7/YwlHfmekDaJRv59+z7SWAR15azhbjqS9oXWJUQ9uvpKF75opE7 MT0GzblkKAYu/3uhTENCjQg+9RFfu5w37E5RTWHD2hANV0YqXUlmH3d+f5uO0xN7 7bpqwYuYzSv1hBfU/yprDco6 -----END PRIVATE KEY----- """ print(try? importRSA2048PrivateKeyPEM(benjyPrivateKeyPEM)) If you run this it prints: Optional(<SecKeyRef algorithm id: 1, key type: RSAPrivateKey, version: 4, 2048 bits (block size: 256), addr: 0x600000c5ce50>) Form a Digital Identity There are two common ways to form a digital identity: SecPKCSImport SecItemCopyMatching SecPKCSImport is the most flexible because it gives you an in-memory digital identity. You can then choose to add it to the keychain or not. However, it requires a PKCS#12 as input. If you’re starting out with separate private key and certificate PEMs, you have to use SecItemCopyMatching. Note macOS also has SecIdentityCreateWithCertificate, but it has some seriously limitations. First, it’s only available on macOS. Second, it requires the key to be in the keychain. If you’re going to add the key to the keychain anyway, you might as well use SecItemCopyMatching. To form a digital identity from a separate private key and certificate: Add the certificate to the keychain. Add the private key to the keychain. Call SecItemCopyMatching to get back a digital identity. Here’s an example of that in action: /// Imports a digital identity composed of separate certificate and private key PEMs. /// /// - important: See ``dataFromPEM(_:_:_:)`` for some important limitations. /// See ``importRSA2048PrivateKeyPEM(_:)`` for alternative strategies that are /// much easier to deploy. func addRSA2048DigitalIdentityPEMToKeychain(certificate: String, privateKey: String) throws -> SecIdentity { // First import the certificate and private key. This has the advantage in // that it triggers an early failure if the data is in the wrong format. let certificate = try importCertificatePEM(certificate) let privateKey = try importRSA2048PrivateKeyPEM(privateKey) // Check that the private key matches the public key in the certificate. If // not, someone has given you bogus credentials. let certificatePublicKey = try secCall { SecCertificateCopyKey(certificate) } let publicKey = try secCall { SecKeyCopyPublicKey(privateKey) } guard CFEqual(certificatePublicKey, publicKey) else { throw NSError(domain: NSOSStatusErrorDomain, code: Int(errSecPublicKeyInconsistent)) } // Add the certificate first. If that fails — and the most likely error is // `errSecDuplicateItem` — we want to stop immediately. try secCall { SecItemAdd([ kSecValueRef: certificate, ] as NSDictionary, nil) } // The add the private key. do { try secCall { SecItemAdd([ kSecValueRef: privateKey, ] as NSDictionary, nil) } } catch let error as NSError { // We ignore a `errSecDuplicateItem` error when adding the key. It’s // possible to have multiple digital identities that share the same key, // so if you try to add the key and it’s already in the keychain then // that’s fine. guard error.domain == NSOSStatusErrorDomain, error.code == errSecDuplicateItem else { throw error } } // Finally, search for the resulting identity. // // I originally tried querying for the identity based on the certificate’s // attributes — the ones that contribute to uniqueness, namely // `kSecAttrCertificateType`, `kSecAttrIssuer`, and `kSecAttrSerialNumber` — // but that failed for reasons I don't fully understand (r. 144152660). So // now I get all digital identities and find the one with our certificate. let identities = try secCall { SecItemCopyMatching([ kSecClass: kSecClassIdentity, kSecMatchLimit: kSecMatchLimitAll, kSecReturnRef: true, ] as NSDictionary, $0) } as! [SecIdentity] let identityQ = try identities.first { i in try secCall { SecIdentityCopyCertificate(i, $0) } == certificate } return try secCall(Int(errSecItemNotFound)) { identityQ } } IMPORTANT This code is quite subtle. Read the comments for an explanation as to why it works the way it does. Further reading For more information about the APIs and techniques used above, see: Importing Cryptographic Keys On Cryptographic Keys Formats SecItem: Fundamentals SecItem: Pitfalls and Best Practices Calling Security Framework from Swift TN3137 On Mac keychain APIs and implementations Finally, for links to documentation and other resources, see Security Resources. Revision History 2025-02-13 Added code to check for mismatched private key and certificate. 2025-02-04 First posted.
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579
Feb ’25
Clarification on Apple Sign-In Integration Across Multiple Applications
Dear Apple Support Team, I hope this message finds you well. Our tech team is currently working on integrating the Apple Sign-In feature, and we have a specific query where we would appreciate your guidance. Background Context: We have several applications across different brands and are aiming to implement a unified sign-up and sign-in experience. Currently, we are utilizing a shared website to enable single sign-in functionality across all these applications. Our Query: If we embed the same website in all of these applications and implement the Apple Sign-In within this website—using a dedicated Service ID that is configured with the App Store name and icon—will users consistently see the Apple Sign-In pop-up with the Service ID’s name and icon, regardless of which base application (e.g., App A, App B, etc.) the website is accessed from? We would like to ensure a seamless and consistent user experience and want to confirm that the branding within the Apple Sign-In prompt will reflect the Service ID’s configuration, rather than that of the hosting app. Looking forward to your guidance on this matter.
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69
Apr ’25
Unexpectedly invalidated Biometrics in iOS 18.3.2 or later
There is a sudden surge of users in our apps with invalidated biometrics. Even though the issue is being handled correctly and the user has another way to login, some of the users forgot their passwords and they can not login. Is there any known issue with Biometrics in iOS 18.3.2 or later? There is a (possible) related discussion here: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/256011565
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Apr ’25
[Resolved] Sign in with Apple Service Outage: Thursday, June 12, 2025
On Thursday, June 12, 2025, Sign in with Apple was impacted by an incorrect subdomain defined in its /.well-known/openid-configuration file. The JSON returned incorrectly provided https://account.apple.com instead of the expected https://appleid.apple.com. For Sign in with Apple, the value for the issuer (iss) claim in the user's identity token is https://appleid.apple.com. Additionally, if your clients use the Sign in with Apple REST API, the following endpoints should be used for each request: https://appleid.apple.com/auth/authorize https://appleid.apple.com/auth/token https://appleid.apple.com/auth/revoke https://appleid.apple.com/auth/keys This issue with the /.well-known/openid-configuration file was resolved the same day. Use the URL below to confirm the expected subdomain is provided, as needed: https://appleid.apple.com/.well-known/openid-configuration Cheers, Paris X Pinkney |  WWDR | DTS Engineer
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221
Jun ’25
Cannot revoke the account of Sign in with Apple
Our service has ended and the app has been removed from the App store. This app supported Sign in with Apple, but even if I try to revoke the account from the iOS settings or account.apple.com on the web, but can't delete it and no error is displayed. Does anyone know the cause of this problem or have encountered it? I'm not sure if it's related, but this app was previously transferred from another organization.
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261
Jan ’25
How to Digitally Sign a PDF File in Swift?
I'm currently working on a project in Swift where I need to digitally sign a PDF file. I have the following resources available: Private Key stored in the iOS Keychain with a tag. Public Key also stored in the iOS Keychain with a tag. A valid certificate stored as a PEM string. I need to digitally sign a PDF file with the above keys and certificate, but I'm struggling to find a clear and straightforward example or guidance on how to achieve this in Swift. Specifically, I’m looking for help with: Creating the digital signature using the private key and certificate. Embedding this signature into the PDF file. Any considerations I should be aware of regarding the format of the signed PDF (e.g., CMS, PKCS7, etc.). If anyone has experience with digitally signing PDFs in Swift, I would greatly appreciate your guidance or code examples. Thank you in advance!
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543
Dec ’24
Sign in with Apple ends unexpectedly with code 1001
We're integrating Sign in with Apple into our iOS app The Apple ID login UI appears correctly on real devices, but after tapping Continue, the system immediately stops and shows code 1001. This issue happens across multiple devices and Apple ID accounts, even with no prior login history. We’ve confirmed the following Sign in with Apple is enabled in both Developer Portal and Xcode Capabilities Automatic signing and provisioning are set correctly Device is signed into iCloud and system time is synced Performed clean build, app reinstall, and other standard debugging steps We suspect that the sign in handshake process may not be completing properly due to some kind of account or server-side restriction, and we’d appreciate any insights into this behavior.
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127
Jun ’25
App Closes After Apple Sign-In on Vision Pro When Launched Directly
I am experiencing an issue with Apple Sign-In on Vision Pro. When I build and run the app from Xcode, everything works fine—after signing in, the app returns to the foreground as expected. However, when I launch the app directly on Vision Pro (not from Xcode), after completing the sign-in process, the app does not reopen from the background automatically. Instead, it closes, and I have to manually tap the app icon to reopen it. Has anyone else encountered this issue? Is there a way to ensure the app properly resumes after sign-in without requiring manual intervention?
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501
Feb ’25
Incorrect Branding and Messaging Displayed on "Call Customer Center" Feature
We’ve identified an issue in our app where, upon clicking the "Call Customer Center" button, users are unexpectedly shown a logo and message option on a native pop-up window. However, this wasn't the case before, and it should only display a phone number to dial, which was given inside our code. This is incorrect and misleading for our users, as: We are a Canadian-based service and have no affiliation with US messaging chat. The messaging feature was never enabled or intended for our app. Our app should only initiate a phone call to our customer support center — no messages or branding from third parties should appear
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Jun ’25
SecItem: Fundamentals
I regularly help developers with keychain problems, both here on DevForums and for my Day Job™ in DTS. Many of these problems are caused by a fundamental misunderstanding of how the keychain works. This post is my attempt to explain that. I wrote it primarily so that Future Quinn™ can direct folks here rather than explain everything from scratch (-: If you have questions or comments about any of this, put them in a new thread and apply the Security tag so that I see it. Share and Enjoy — Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com" SecItem: Fundamentals or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the SecItem API The SecItem API seems very simple. After all, it only has four function calls, how hard can it be? In reality, things are not that easy. Various factors contribute to making this API much trickier than it might seem at first glance. This post explains the fundamental underpinnings of the keychain. For information about specific issues, see its companion post, SecItem: Pitfalls and Best Practices. Keychain Documentation Your basic starting point should be Keychain Items. If your code runs on the Mac, also read TN3137 On Mac keychain APIs and implementations. Read the doc comments in <Security/SecItem.h>. In many cases those doc comments contain critical tidbits. When you read keychain documentation [1] and doc comments, keep in mind that statements specific to iOS typically apply to iPadOS, tvOS, and watchOS as well (r. 102786959). Also, they typically apply to macOS when you target the data protection keychain. Conversely, statements specific to macOS may not apply when you target the data protection keychain. [1] Except TN3137, which is very clear about this (-: Caveat Mac Developer macOS supports two different keychain implementations: the original file-based keychain and the iOS-style data protection keychain. IMPORTANT If you’re able to use the data protection keychain, do so. It’ll make your life easier. See the Careful With that Shim, Mac Developer section of SecItem: Pitfalls and Best Practices for more about this. TN3137 On Mac keychain APIs and implementations explains this distinction. It also says: The file-based keychain is on the road to deprecation. This is talking about the implementation, not any specific API. The SecItem API can’t be deprecated because it works with both the data protection keychain and the file-based keychain. However, Apple has deprecated many APIs that are specific to the file-based keychain, for example, SecKeychainCreate. TN3137 also notes that some programs, like launchd daemons, can’t use the file-based keychain. If you’re working on such a program then you don’t have to worry about the deprecation of these file-based keychain APIs. You’re already stuck with the file-based keychain implementation, so using a deprecated file-based keychain API doesn’t make things worse. The Four Freedoms^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H Functions The SecItem API contains just four functions: SecItemAdd(_:_:) SecItemCopyMatching(_:_:) SecItemUpdate(_:_:) SecItemDelete(_:) These directly map to standard SQL database operations: SecItemAdd(_:_:) maps to INSERT. SecItemCopyMatching(_:_:) maps to SELECT. SecItemUpdate(_:_:) maps to UPDATE. SecItemDelete(_:) maps to DELETE. You can think of each keychain item class (generic password, certificate, and so on) as a separate SQL table within the database. The rows of that table are the individual keychain items for that class and the columns are the attributes of those items. Note Except for the digital identity class, kSecClassIdentity, where the values are split across the certificate and key tables. See Digital Identities Aren’t Real in SecItem: Pitfalls and Best Practices. This is not an accident. The data protection keychain is actually implemented as an SQLite database. If you’re curious about its structure, examine it on the Mac by pointing your favourite SQLite inspection tool — for example, the sqlite3 command-line tool — at the keychain database in ~/Library/Keychains/UUU/keychain-2.db, where UUU is a UUID. WARNING Do not depend on the location and structure of this file. These have changed in the past and are likely to change again in the future. If you embed knowledge of them into a shipping product, it’s likely that your product will have binary compatibility problems at some point in the future. The only reason I’m mentioning them here is because I find it helpful to poke around in the file to get a better understanding of how the API works. For information about which attributes are supported by each keychain item class — that is, what columns are in each table — see the Note box at the top of Item Attribute Keys and Values. Alternatively, look at the Attribute Key Constants doc comment in <Security/SecItem.h>. Uniqueness A critical part of the keychain model is uniqueness. How does the keychain determine if item A is the same as item B? It turns out that this is class dependent. For each keychain item class there is a set of attributes that form the uniqueness constraint for items of that class. That is, if you try to add item A where all of its attributes are the same as item B, the add fails with errSecDuplicateItem. For more information, see the errSecDuplicateItem page. It has lists of attributes that make up this uniqueness constraint, one for each class. These uniqueness constraints are a major source of confusion, as discussed in the Queries and the Uniqueness Constraints section of SecItem: Pitfalls and Best Practices. Parameter Blocks Understanding The SecItem API is a classic ‘parameter block’ API. All of its inputs are dictionaries, and you have to know which properties to set in each dictionary to achieve your desired result. Likewise for when you read properties in output dictionaries. There are five different property groups: The item class property, kSecClass, determines the class of item you’re operating on: kSecClassGenericPassword, kSecClassCertificate, and so on. The item attribute properties, like kSecAttrAccessGroup, map directly to keychain item attributes. The search properties, like kSecMatchLimit, control how the system runs a query. The return type properties, like kSecReturnAttributes, determine what values the query returns. The value type properties, like kSecValueRef perform multiple duties, as explained below. There are other properties that perform a variety of specific functions. For example, kSecUseDataProtectionKeychain tells macOS to use the data protection keychain instead of the file-based keychain. These properties are hard to describe in general; for the details, see the documentation for each such property. Inputs Each of the four SecItem functions take dictionary input parameters of the same type, CFDictionary, but these dictionaries are not the same. Different dictionaries support different property groups: The first parameter of SecItemAdd(_:_:) is an add dictionary. It supports all property groups except the search properties. The first parameter of SecItemCopyMatching(_:_:) is a query and return dictionary. It supports all property groups. The first parameter of SecItemUpdate(_:_:) is a pure query dictionary. It supports all property groups except the return type properties. Likewise for the only parameter of SecItemDelete(_:). The second parameter of SecItemUpdate(_:_:) is an update dictionary. It supports the item attribute and value type property groups. Outputs Two of the SecItem functions, SecItemAdd(_:_:) and SecItemCopyMatching(_:_:), return values. These output parameters are of type CFTypeRef because the type of value you get back depends on the return type properties you supply in the input dictionary: If you supply a single return type property, except kSecReturnAttributes, you get back a value appropriate for that return type. If you supply multiple return type properties or kSecReturnAttributes, you get back a dictionary. This supports the item attribute and value type property groups. To get a non-attribute value from this dictionary, use the value type property that corresponds to its return type property. For example, if you set kSecReturnPersistentRef in the input dictionary, use kSecValuePersistentRef to get the persistent reference from the output dictionary. In the single item case, the type of value you get back depends on the return type property and the keychain item class: For kSecReturnData you get back the keychain item’s data. This makes most sense for password items, where the data holds the password. It also works for certificate items, where you get back the DER-encoded certificate. Using this for key items is kinda sketchy. If you want to export a key, called SecKeyCopyExternalRepresentation. Using this for digital identity items is nonsensical. For kSecReturnRef you get back an object reference. This only works for keychain item classes that have an object representation, namely certificates, keys, and digital identities. You get back a SecCertificate, a SecKey, or a SecIdentity, respectively. For kSecReturnPersistentRef you get back a data value that holds the persistent reference. Value Type Subtleties There are three properties in the value type property group: kSecValueData kSecValueRef kSecValuePersistentRef Their semantics vary based on the dictionary type. For kSecValueData: In an add dictionary, this is the value of the item to add. For example, when adding a generic password item (kSecClassGenericPassword), the value of this key is a Data value containing the password. This is not supported in a query dictionary. In an update dictionary, this is the new value for the item. For kSecValueRef: In add and query dictionaries, the system infers the class property and attribute properties from the supplied object. For example, if you supply a certificate object (SecCertificate, created using SecCertificateCreateWithData), the system will infer a kSecClass value of kSecClassCertificate and various attribute values, like kSecAttrSerialNumber, from that certificate object. This is not supported in an update dictionary. For kSecValuePersistentRef: For query dictionaries, this uniquely identifies the item to operate on. This is not supported in add and update dictionaries. Revision History 2025-05-28 Expanded the Caveat Mac Developer section to cover some subtleties associated with the deprecation of the file-based keychain. 2023-09-12 Fixed various bugs in the revision history. Added a paragraph explaining how to determine which attributes are supported by each keychain item class. 2023-02-22 Made minor editorial changes. 2023-01-28 First posted.
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4.1k
May ’25
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137
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380
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128
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237
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Hello, I currently have an app that includes the "Sign in with Apple" feature, and I need to transfer this app to another app team. I have reviewed all official documentation but have not found the answer I need. My situation has some specificities, and I hope to receive assistance. The .p8 key created by the original developer team has been lost, and the app’s backend does not use a .p8 key for verification—instead, it verifies by obtaining Apple’s public key. However, according to the official documentation I reviewed, obtaining a transfer identifier during the app transfer process requires a client_secret generated from the original team’s .p8 key. This has left us facing a challenge, and we have two potential approaches to address this issue: Q1: During the transfer, is it possible to skip obtaining the transfer identifier and proceed directly with the app transfer, without performing any backend operations? Is this approach feasible? Q2: If the above approach is not feasible, should we create a new .p8 key in the original team’s account and use this new key for the transfer? If a new key is generated, do we need to re-release a new version of the app before initiating the transfer? If neither of the above approaches is feasible, are there better solutions to resolve our issue? I hope to receive a response. Thank you. TN3159: Migrating Sign in with Apple users for an app transfer | Apple Developer Documentation/ https://developer.apple.com/documentation/signinwithapple/transferring-your-apps-and-users-to-another-team
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64
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413
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