AppEntitlements

A Swift package that provides type-safe runtime access to app entitlements for iOS, macOS, tvOS, visionOS, and watchOS applications.

Overview

AppEntitlements provides a unified, type-safe API for accessing app entitlements at runtime across all Apple platforms.

Why This Package?

• macOS: The Security framework only provides a C API SecTaskCopyValueForEntitlement that's cumbersome to use from Swift. This package wraps it with type-safe properties.
• iOS/tvOS/visionOS/watchOS: Apple provides no public API at all for runtime entitlement access. This package implements direct access by parsing Mach-O code signatures in memory, without using any private APIs (App Store safe).
• Type Safety: Swift properties and enums instead of error-prone string-based lookups
• Modern Swift: Built with Swift 6, strict concurrency, and comprehensive documentation

Features

• ✅ Type-Safe API - Properties instead of string-based lookups
• ✅ Extensible - Easy access to custom entitlements via getValue and getArray
• ✅ Swift 6 - Modern Swift with strict concurrency support
• ✅ Complete Documentation - DocC documentation with examples and guides
• ✅ 13 Core Entitlements - Common entitlements available without build plugin
• ✅ 150+ Catalog Entitlements - Extended Apple entitlements catalog via AppEntitlementsCatalog

Core and Catalog

AppEntitlements provides two modules from a single package:

AppEntitlements (Core)

Contains the runtime API for accessing entitlements, including 13 commonly used entitlement properties, getValue/getArray for custom lookups, and the underlying Mach-O/Security framework implementation. No build plugin required.

import AppEntitlements

let appID = try AppEntitlements.applicationIdentifier
let apsEnvironment = try AppEntitlements.apsEnvironment

// Access any entitlement by its key
let custom: String? = try AppEntitlements.getValue(
    for: "com.example.custom-entitlement"
)

For a complete list of core entitlements and detailed usage, see the package documentation.

AppEntitlementsCatalog

Extends AppEntitlements with 150+ type-safe properties generated from Apple's entitlement metadata via a build plugin. Since the build plugin runs code during compilation, Xcode displays a one-time security prompt when first building with this module.

import AppEntitlementsCatalog

let networkExtension = try AppEntitlements.networkExtension

Note: Each developer needs to trust the plugin once on their machine. For CI/CD environments, see Xcode's documentation on plugin trust.

Error Handling

All entitlement access can throw errors. Always use try:

do {
    if let groups = try AppEntitlements.applicationGroups {
        print("App Groups: \(groups)")
    }
} catch {
    // Handle entitlement access errors
    print("Failed to access entitlements: \(error)")
}

Common errors:

• macOS: EntitlementsError.failedToCreateSecurityTask - Invalid code signature or security context
• iOS/tvOS/visionOS/watchOS: EntitlementsError.failedToLoadLibrary or EntitlementsError.failedToLoadExecutableSymbol - Mach-O parsing issues

Installation

Swift Package Manager

Add the dependency to your Package.swift:

dependencies: [
    .package(url: "https://github.com/wiedem/app-entitlements.git", from: "2.0.0")
]

Then add the product(s) to your target:

.target(
    name: "YourApp",
    dependencies: [
        // Core — no build plugin, no trust prompt
        .product(name: "AppEntitlements", package: "app-entitlements"),

        // Optional: Extended entitlements catalog — includes build plugin, one-time trust prompt
        .product(name: "AppEntitlementsCatalog", package: "app-entitlements"),
    ]
)

Or add it in Xcode:

1. File → Add Package Dependencies...
2. Enter: https://github.com/wiedem/app-entitlements.git

Requirements

• iOS 15.0+ / macOS 12.0+ / tvOS 15.0+ / visionOS 1.0+ / watchOS 8.0+
• Swift 6.0+
• Xcode 16.0+

Testing

The package includes comprehensive unit tests covering:

• DER decoding with real-world samples
• PropertyList value type conversion
• Code signature blob parsing
• Entitlement data extraction
• Error handling

Run tests via Swift Package Manager:

swift test

Or in Xcode:

⌘U (Product → Test)

Documentation

Full DocC documentation is available online:

AppEntitlements Documentation →

Build documentation locally:

swift package generate-documentation

Or in Xcode:

Product → Build Documentation

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to:

• Report bugs or request features via GitHub Issues
• Submit pull requests with improvements
• Improve documentation or add examples
• Share feedback on API design

Data Attribution

Entitlement metadata in this package is derived from publicly available Apple Developer Documentation. This package is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Apple Inc.

All entitlement keys, type information, and platform availability data are factual technical specifications extracted from Apple's public documentation. Documentation links reference the original Apple Developer Documentation for detailed information.

References

• Apple Developer: Entitlements
• Diagnosing Issues with Entitlements
• Apple TechNote: Using the latest code signature format
• Apple Open Source: Security Framework
• Apple Open Source: codesign tool

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See LICENSE.txt for details.

Author

Created and maintained by Holger Wiedemann

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Note: This package reads code signature data from Mach-O binaries for entitlement access. It does not modify code or signatures in any way.