Apple App Review Location Services Consent Issue - ios

App Store Connection reviewers informed me that my build is in violation of the below rule:
Guideline 5.1.1 - Legal - Privacy - Data Collection and Storage
We noticed that your app requests the user’s consent to access their location but does not clarify the use of the location in the applicable purpose string.
...even though I have included the following key value pair in my App's Info.plist:
Privacy - Location When In Use Usage Description: Access to location
while the app is in use is required initialize your map feed.
...and I am therefore unable to replicate the issue in the screenshot they shared with me below:
Here is the dialogue I have always seen on the same Device (iPad) iOS 13.3:
My understanding of Apple's docs is that I only need NSLocationWhenInUseUsageDescription as my application only requires access to a user's location when in the foreground.
Has anyone encountered a similar issue before or have an idea what the source of it is? Many thanks!
Edit: Below is the code governing this experience.
func requestLocationAuthorization(completion: (() -> Void)?) {
let locationManagerAuthorizationStatus: CLAuthorizationStatus = CLLocationManager.authorizationStatus()
let appName = Bundle.main.infoDictionary![kCFBundleNameKey as String] as! String
switch locationManagerAuthorizationStatus {
case .notDetermined:
LNTLocationManager.sharedInstance.requestAuthorization()
case .denied:
let alertString = "To initialize your map feed to your location, enable " + appName + " to use your location while using the app."
presentSettingsAlert(with: alertString, completion: nil)
default:
break
}
completion?()
return
}
In the case where I don't enable location access, I always see the below prompt, not the one that the Reviewers experience:

The dialog they are displaying is what appears from the system the first time you say startUpdatingLocation at a time when locationServicesEnabled is false. It has nothing to do with the denied alert that you are putting up.
Note that this has nothing to do with user authorization! It has to do with location services being turned off as a whole. Apple, while testing, checks for that circumstance. It looks like your app doesn't.
To prevent the system dialog from appearing, always check whether locationServicesEnabled is true, and if it isn't, go no further.
(However, having said that, the message coming to you from Apple is incorrect if they think that the dialog they show is supposed to include your usage description. It isn't. It always looks the way they show it. You might want to write back and tell them that. They might have some people working for them right now who don't know what they're doing.)

Related

Why is CLLocationManager giving me the wrong authorization status?

I'm building a running-based app in Swift that requests the user's location. For the sake of this question, let's just assume the app runs only on iOS 13+. Shortly after launching the app, we prompt the user for location access via the CLLocationManager method: requestWhenInUseAuthorization().
However, this app actually needs access to the user's location all the time, so only being able to request "When In Use" location access (per iOS 13) restricts the UX (other apps like Zenly and Snapchat do this as well since getting constant location updates improves the experience for their users and/or their friends).
After prompting for the location permission, we then grab the latest location authorization status. If that value is not equal to authorizedAlways (and it won't be unless the user changes that value in his/her Settings app), we present a new screen basically telling the user, "Since this is a running app, we really need your location all the time, so please go to settings and change the permission to 'Always' since we can't do it for you."
The issue I'm running into here is that when listening for updates on the CLLocationManagerDelegate method: locationManager(_ manager: CLLocationManager, didChangeAuthorization status: CLAuthorizationStatus), sometimes that method provides the incorrect location authorization status.
Specifically, after a user selects "When In Use" and runs the app a few times, the value returned from that delegate method frequently reads as "Always," even though the Settings app on the phone still reflects the original, unchanged value ("When In Use").
Has anyone run into this before and, if so, do you have any ideas on what might cause it or how to fix it? Happy to provide more info on my setup. Thanks.

Location Services enabled from native Settings App

When my app is launched it requests to use location services.
If a user selects 'Don't Allow' I prompt again letting them know that Location Services are required for the best experience and they can enable in the settings app.
If a user does not allow and still creates an account, the main screen will not fully function without the location feature part.
From this point, if I manually enable in the Settings app I'm still not getting the main page to pick up the current location.
How do I detect that location services have been enabled from the Settings App?
Is there a method I need to enforce again from the AppDelegate?
You can tell if location has been enabled for your app using CLLocationManager.AuthorizationStatus, which returns a member of the CLAuthorizationStatus enum. If location is disabled completely, your app won't be authorized, so you know everything you need to know.
let authorization = CLLocationManager.authorizationStatus()
if authorization == .AuthorizedWhenInUse || authorization == .Authorized {
...
}
If you request authorization using CLLocationManager and the user denies it, you can't cause the window to come up again.
From a UX point of view, be careful about nags as well. Communicate clearly that your app benefits from using location, but try to avoid browbeating the user about it.
See also how to determine when settings change on ios to have your app retry location access right after a user (hopefully) enabled it.

iOS - Turn on Location Services with Settings and Cancel buttons -How do I Capture Cancel button click

When the user launches the app for the first time and attempts to login, they are prompted with the iOS dialog - "Turn On Location Services".
I need to capture when the user clicks "cancel". Is there a Notification sent? If so, what is its name? I've been unable to locate it.
The CLAUthorizationStatus is kCLAuthorizationDenied when Location Services are Disabled OR the user clicked "Don't allow". When the user clicks "Cancel", it does not fire the authorizationChange event. When user clicks "Cancel", the app just hangs.
Short answer: You can't catch that notification. You can infer about the user choice and act consequently by using CLLocationManager methods (the longer answer below).
Longer answer:
Firstly, welcome on Stack Overflow. Before kindly posing your question, and trying to be collaborative with people that are here to help, it's a good idea to search if somebody else previously posed the same question.
A brief search gave (just to mention some of them):
How to handle “Cancel” button on Alert pop up for Location services
How to get location services to reprompt the user for location permission if they accidentally refused it?
locationManager:didFailWithError: not called if user Location Services are off
How to prompt user to turn on Location Services…again
How can I prompt the user to turn on location services after user has denied their use
How to ask permission from user for second time to allow to access the current location?
Now, let's try to summarize them all, starting from iOS docs:
If your app relies on location services to function properly, you should include the UIRequiredDeviceCapabilities key in the app’s Info.plist file. You use this key to specify the location services that must be present in order for your app to run. The App Store uses the information in this key from preventing users from downloading apps to devices that do not contain the listed features.
Important: If your app uses location services but is able to operate successfully without them, do not include the corresponding strings in the UIRequiredDeviceCapabilities key.
So, if your app really needs to access the user's position you should add location-services and eventually gps to UIRequiredDeviceCapabilities.
Then, somewhere in your code - when needed, you have to check if the location services are enabled.
[CLLocationManager locationServicesEnabled]
they may be disallowed for three reasons:
The user can disable location services in the Settings app.
The user can deny location services for a specific app.
The device might be in Airplane mode and unable to power up the necessary hardware.
You are interested in the second case: the user refused to allow your app to use the location services.
Again, from the docs:
Important: In addition to hardware not being available, the user has the option of denying an application’s access to location service data. During its initial uses by an application, the Core Location framework prompts the user to confirm that using the location service is acceptable. If the user denies the request, the CLLocationManager object reports an appropriate error to its delegate during future requests. You can also check the application’s explicit authorization status using the authorizationStatus method.
[CLLocationManager authorizationStatus]
That may return:
kCLAuthorizationStatusNotDetermined if the user has not yet made a choice regarding whether this application can use location services.
kCLAuthorizationStatusRestricted this application is not authorized to use location services. The user cannot change this application’s status, possibly due to active restrictions such as parental controls being in place.
kCLAuthorizationStatusDenied The user explicitly denied the use of location services for this application or location services are currently disabled in Settings.
kCLAuthorizationStatusAuthorized This application is authorized to use location services.
If[CLLocationManager locationServicesEnabled] returns NO and you attempt to start location services anyway (i.e. calling [locationManager startUpdatingLocation]), the system prompts the user to confirm whether location services should be re-enabled. Given that location services are very likely to be disabled on purpose, the user might not welcome this prompt.
I suppose you know, and did all the previous steps (I'm only sure you checked the authorizationStatus). You refused to show us the significant code of your app so I can only suppose the overall logic behind. Now you said your app hangs. This should be because you didn't catch the error properly? Catching the error is the way to re-prompt the user, if you wish.
After calling [locationManager startUpdatingLocation], if not authorized, your delegate should define a locationManager:didFailWithError: in order to catch the kCLErrorDenied.
- (void)locationManager:(CLLocationManager *)manager didFailWithError:(NSError *)error
You may show, at this point, a UIAlert to insist asking the user to give you access to its position, or trigger a change in the UI or whatever you like.
Final notes
I hope you understand why I was asking for the code: the reason was to offer you an alternative solution instead of reply "You can't catch the 'Cancel' notification".
If this answer does not satisfy your question please elaborate why you need to catch the pushing of the "Cancel"/"Do not allow" button, so we can provide alternatives.
Clearly my advice is to not annoy people to death by continuously ask them for enabling location services if they don't want.
Post scriptum: Maybe that the answer looks pedantic and obvious in certain parts if not all to you, but we are here to provide answers also for future readers.

How to get IOS to ask users whether they want to allow application to use their location everytime?

If we try to access the user's location, iOS will tell the user that our application wants to use their location.
If I do this
[locationManager startUpdatingLocation];
An alert will show.
However, that only happens once.
It looks like some variable or default must have been set up once that display pops out.
How do I reset those default so that next time my app wants to use location users will be asked again?
Google map can displays that again and again.
It's Apple that asks them for permission, not you
Translation: You don't have any control over that part of the process. The little popup:
is only shown by Apple when you first ask for it - so the user always feels in control. After they accept for the first time, Apple assumes they are OK with your app getting their location information from their device, and won't show it again*.
*Unless they specifically go into Settings and disable Location Services for you app.
It's only showed on the first time and there's nothing you can do to change that. What you can do is ask your users to allow it on settings.
You can check if your app has permissions by checking:
[CLLocationManager locationServicesEnabled]
From the docs:
The user can enable or disable location services from the Settings application by toggling the Location Services switch in General.
You should check the return value of this method before starting location updates to determine whether the user has location services enabled for the current device. If this method returns NO and you start location updates anyway, the Core Location framework prompts the user to confirm whether location services should be reenabled.

Android like permissions in iOS

In android, you define permissions for gps, sms sending, location , .., in the manifest file.
Is there anything similar in the iOS, so the user would know what capabilities of the phone some app uses before installation?
Or is the user warned during app use when some function wants to use something (e.g. gps, sms...)?
In iOS you declare your application requirements in its manifest-like Info.plist. But this information is not used to ask user permission, only for ensuring device compatibility.
Only Notifications and Location Services require user permission, which is automatically asked to the user the very first time your application attempt to use the corresponding API.
My guess is that many other permissions are already granted via the Apple Store license agreement, that the user must have accepted, unlike Android (I guess you can install an app without using the market isnt? which changes a lot from a legal point of view)
There's no such things as permissions on iPhone.
The only thing that user is warned about is when application uses his current location - then user is prompted with system alert and must explicitly allow or deny application's access to location data.
What concerns sms and email, they can be created and sent only via standard controllers so user will be aware of that anyway
on iOS you don't have to declare all necessary permissions in some specific file. You just use them. For example location
info.plist
//Privacy - Location When In Use Usage Description
<key>NSLocationUsageDescription</key>
<string>title</string>
//Privacy - Location Always and When In Use Usage Description
<key>NSLocationWhenInUseUsageDescription</key>
<string>description</string>
import CoreLocation
let locationManager = CLLocationManager()
locationManager.delegate = self
locationManager.requestAlwaysAuthorization()
func locationManager(_ manager: CLLocationManager, didChangeAuthorization status: CLAuthorizationStatus) {
}
[IDFA]

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