Realm Object Server refuses to recognize permission and loads objects extremely slow - ios

Question

I have a synchronized realm running on Realm Object Server. It is a global realm created by the admin user. I created another user on the server (not an admin) and used the admin user to grant read-only permissions to that user for that particular realm.
I can see the permission when I query the admin's management realm and the normal user's permission realm. However, when I connect to the global realm from my iOS app (Swift 3) with the normal user, the server returns error code 206: permission denied and closes the realm file.
The strange thing is that the app manages to download a few objects from the realm, and it also loads a few more objects (about 3) every time I relaunch it.
An even stranger thing is that when I launch the app with the admin user the same thing happens except it loads about 100 extra objects in every relaunch and it doesn't show the permission denied error.
Note: I'm getting these results on the iOS simulator and still haven't tried the app on an actual device.
UPDATE: I have tried the app on a physical device and the problem persists.
I'm using Realm Swift v2.10.1 on Xcode 8.3.3 and Realm Object Server v1.8.3 on a Linux Ubuntu 16.04.3 x64 machine.
EDIT:
Here is how I apply the permission:
let per = SyncPermissionValue(realmPath: "/realmname", userID: "userId", accessLevel: .read)
realmUser!.applyPermission(per, callback: { (error) in
print("PERMISSION ERROR: \(String(describing: error))")
if error == nil {
print("no error")
}
})
Here is how connect from my app. These methods are in a custom class which is used by the view controller requesting the objects from the realm.
private func logInToServer() {
SyncUser.logIn(with: .usernamePassword(username: "username", password: "pass", register: false), server: URL(string: "http://server IP:9080")!, onCompletion: { (user, error) in
var realmUser = user
if realmUser == nil {
realmUser = SyncUser.current
}
self.connectToDatabase(realmUser: realmUser!)
})
} // end logInToServer()
private func connectToDatabase(realmUser: SyncUser) {
DispatchQueue.main.async(execute: {
let configuration = Realm.Configuration(syncConfiguration: SyncConfiguration(user: realmUser, realmURL: URL(string: "realm://server IP/realmname")!))
self.realm = try! Realm(configuration: configuration)
// I initially found out that implementing a small delay gave the app enough time to download all objects even though the permission denied error was still there. But, this no longer works.
Timer.scheduledTimer(timeInterval: self.delay, target: self, selector: #selector(self.populateResults), userInfo: nil, repeats: false)
})
} // end connectToDatabase()
#objc private func populateResults() {
self.categories = self.realm.objects(BookCategory.self)
self.books = self.realm.objects(Book.self)
delegate?.didPopulteResults(categories, books) // The delegate is the view controller requesting the objects.
}