We’re having an iPad issue accessing the local network with iPadOS 26.3. We have an automation system that tests our app on an iPad using accessibility tags. the XCTest test code sends messages from the iPad via TCP/IP to setup external test equipment. The messages abruptly stopped transmitting across the iPad blood-brain barrier with iPadOS 26.3 (26.2.1 and earlier works fine).
The technique that worked involved installing a helper app with the same bundleID as our app, allowing the helper app to access the network, and when our app runs it has network access through the helper. It’s clever and kludgey.
Forums that we referenced in the past:
https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/663858
TN3179: Understanding local network privacy | Apple Developer Documentation
I suspect that something was changed in 26.3 that closed our window. I need two things: ID what is different in 26.3 and fix the automation system. If there’s a new way for XCUITest code to access the local network I’m happy to try it out.
XCTest Bundle cannot access local network.
For those reading along at home, I helped one of ADietz’s colleagues with this issue a few years back, so I have some inside knowledge.
For example, I know that they filed a bug about this back then (FB12846267). I just checked on it, and there’s nothing helpful to share on that front.
It’s clever and kludgey.
Yeah, and unfortunately it has come unstuck. That’s why I was hoping that we’d provide a real fix for this issue, but that hasn’t happened )-:
I’d like to confirm that this is tied to the OS version rather than the Xcode version. If you use Xcode 26.3 to run this test on iOS 26.2 and 26.3, it works on 26.2 but fails on 26.3. Right?
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Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"
The combinations we've confirmed are:
Xcode 16.x + iPadOS 18.x.x = works
Xcode 26.2 + iPadOS 18.x.x = works.
Xcode 26.2 + iPadOS 26.2.1 = works.
Xcode 26.2 + iPadOS 26.3 = broken.
Have we tried Xcode 26.3? No - honestly I was neck deep in troubleshooting when Xcode 26.3 came out last week. And we're a med device company so we typically don't rush to update tools because we need to maintain specific development environments. I know you're thinking "what could it hurt at this point?" lol. I'll test that today.
Xcode 26.2 + iPadOS 26.3.1 = broken
Xcode 26.3 + iPados 26.2.1 = works
Xcode 26.3 + iPadOS 26.3 = broken
Xcode 26.3 + iPadOS 26.3.1 = broken