CKShare in iOS 26

Question

gohnjanotis OP

Created 4d

Replies 5

Boosts 0

Participants 3

I have an app that uses CKShare to allow users to share CloudKit data with other users.

With the first build of the iOS 26, I'm seeing a few issues:

I'm not able to add myself as a participant anymore when I have the link to a document.
Some participants names no longer show up in the app.

Looking at the release notes for iOS & iPadOS 26 Beta, there is a CloudKit section with two bullets:

CloudKit sharing URLs do not launch third-party apps. (151778655)
The request access APIs, such as CKShareRequestAccessOperation, are available in the SDK but are currently nonfunctional. (151878020)

It sounds like the first issue is addressed by the first bullet, although the error message makes me wonder if I need to make changes to my iCloud account permissions or something in order to open it. It works fine in iOS 18.5. This is the error I get when I try to open a link to a shared document (I blocked out my email address, which is what was in quotes):

As far as the second issue, I am really confused about what is going on. Some names still show up, while others do not. I can't find a pattern, and the missing users are not on the iOS 26 beta. The release notes mention CKShareRequestAccessOperation being nonfunctional, which is new in the beta and has some minor documentation, but I can't find information about how it's supposed to be used yet.

In previous years there have been WWDC sessions about what's new in CloudKit, but I haven't found anything that talks about these changes to document sharing.

Is there a guide or session somewhere that I'm missing?

Does anyone know what's going on with these changes to CloudKit?

Answered by DTS Engineer in 844496022

The app can't accept invitation

Just to confirm that this isn't an expected behavior. Thanks for filing your feedback report against the issue.

When fetching a CKShare, CKShare.owner.userIdentity.lookupInfo?.emailAddress is always empty, even after inviting a user.

This is an intentional change – We removed the info from un-entitled apps to better protect user's privacy. For folks who really need the information, I’d suggest that you file a feedback report with your concrete use case to request a solution – If you do so, please share your report ID here.

Best,
——
Ziqiao Chen
 Worldwide Developer Relations.

Boost

Answer 1

stef2nice OP

2d

I have exactly the same issue! CloudKit sharing is totally broken on iOS 26.

The app can't accept invitation
When fetching a CKShare, CKShare.owner.userIdentity.lookupInfo?.emailAddress is always empty, even after inviting a user.

I filed a Feedback under FB18158747

1

Answer 2

DTS Engineer OP

Apple

1d

Recommended

The app can't accept invitation

Just to confirm that this isn't an expected behavior. Thanks for filing your feedback report against the issue.

When fetching a CKShare, CKShare.owner.userIdentity.lookupInfo?.emailAddress is always empty, even after inviting a user.

This is an intentional change – We removed the info from un-entitled apps to better protect user's privacy. For folks who really need the information, I’d suggest that you file a feedback report with your concrete use case to request a solution – If you do so, please share your report ID here.

Best,
——
Ziqiao Chen
 Worldwide Developer Relations.

0

Answer 3

gohnjanotis OP

1d

I have filed FB18191886 about a related issue.

The biggest unaddressed issue that I am seeing here is that owner.userIdentity.nameComponents on a CKShare that a participant has already joined is always appearing empty in iOS 26 Seed 1 (23A5260n).

This is critical information that breaks my app in iOS 26 beta, since a user may be a participant on multiple records owned by multiple different users that can only be differentiated by the owner's name.

0

Answer 4

stef2nice OP

8h

Ziqiao,

Thanks for the follow-up.

I am not sure to understand. Are you saying that Apple does not care about breaking existing apps, does not document the changes, and make changes without any prior notice? Worse, Apple is doing a push back with the usual trick "tell me your concrete use case"?

This is disrespectful.

Please revert the changes. If you want to make changes, deprecate the API and add new ones.

The bare minimum is to provide a stable (anonymous) identifier for all participants to a zone sharing, including the owner. How can you manage the users, if not. Does it exist?

I can't believe Apple is breaking apps intentionally.

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Answer 5

stef2nice OP

1h

I have updated Feedback FB18158747 with the "concrete use case"

0