JSON Serialization returns null from local file - ios

Question

I'm writing JSON to disk, and that works great. But when I try to read it back, it is nil.
Specifically, this line is nil: NSMutableDictionary *jsonDictFromDocuments = [NSJSONSerialization JSONObjectWithData:[jsonString2 dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding] options:kNilOptions error:&jsonError];. (I tried NSDictionary *jsonDict2 = [NSJSONSerialization JSONObjectWithData:jsonData2 options:kNilOptions error:&jsonError]; too, but still got nil.)
Every line up until that point logs the correct information from what I can tell.
// Read JSON back from disk
NSString *fileName2 = #"/myJSONFull.json";
NSLog(#"FN: %#", fileName2);
NSURL *documentsFolderURL2 = [[[NSFileManager defaultManager] URLsForDirectory:NSDocumentDirectory inDomains:NSUserDomainMask] lastObject];
NSLog(#"dFURL2: %#", documentsFolderURL2);
NSString *filePath2 = [documentsFolderURL2.path stringByAppendingString:fileName2];
NSLog(#"FP2: %#", filePath2);
NSString *jsonString2 = [[NSString alloc] initWithContentsOfFile:filePath2 encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding error:NULL];
NSLog(#"JSONs2: %#", jsonString2);
NSError *jsonError;
NSData *jsonData2 = [jsonString2 dataUsingEncoding:NSASCIIStringEncoding];
NSDictionary *jsonDict2 = [NSJSONSerialization JSONObjectWithData:jsonData2 options:kNilOptions error:&jsonError];
NSLog(#"JDFD2: %#", jsonDict2);
NSMutableDictionary *jsonDictFromDocuments = [NSJSONSerialization JSONObjectWithData:[jsonString2 dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding] options:kNilOptions error:&jsonError];
NSLog(#"JDFD: %#", jsonDictFromDocuments);
Any ideas?
EDIT:
This is what I have now, but it is still nil
// Read JSON back from disk
NSString *fileName2 = #"/myJSONFull.json";
NSURL *documentsFolderURL2 = [[[NSFileManager defaultManager] URLsForDirectory:NSDocumentDirectory inDomains:NSUserDomainMask] lastObject];
NSString *filePath2 = [documentsFolderURL2.path stringByAppendingString:fileName2];
NSString *jsonString2 = [[NSString alloc] initWithContentsOfFile:filePath2 encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding error:NULL];
NSError *jsonError;
NSData *data = [NSData dataWithContentsOfFile:filePath2];
NSMutableDictionary *jsonDictFromDocuments = [NSJSONSerialization JSONObjectWithData:data options:kNilOptions error:&jsonError];

Answer 1

Please try this, it uses the URL related API and logs a possible error in the deserialization.
NSString *fileName2 = #"myJSONFull.json";
NSLog(#"FN: %#", fileName2);
NSURL *documentsFolderURL2 = [[[NSFileManager defaultManager] URLsForDirectory:NSDocumentDirectory inDomains:NSUserDomainMask] lastObject];
NSLog(#"dFURL2: %#", documentsFolderURL2);
NSURL *fileURL = [documentsFolderURL2 URLByAppendingPathComponent:fileName2];
NSLog(#"FP2: %#", fileURL);
NSData *jsonData = [NSData dataWithContentsOfURL:fileURL];
NSError *jsonError;
NSDictionary *jsonDict2 = [NSJSONSerialization JSONObjectWithData:jsonData options:kNilOptions error:&jsonError];
NSLog(#"JDFD2: %# - error: %#", jsonDict2, jsonError);
Edit:
Since your JSON is PLIST in reality –
the error message JSON text did not start... means This is no JSON –
use the appropriate serialization class:
...
NSLog(#"FP2: %#", fileURL);
NSData *plistData = [NSData dataWithContentsOfURL:fileURL];
NSError *plistError;
NSArray *plistArray = (NSArray *)[NSPropertyListSerialization propertyListWithData:plistData
options:NSPropertyListImmutable
format:nil
error:&plistError];
NSLog(#"JDFD2: %# - error: %#", plistArray, jsonError);