Privacy Manifest Check

Skill: Privacy Manifest Check

Purpose

Detects missing or incomplete PrivacyInfo.xcprivacy privacy manifest files, enforcing Guideline 5.1 and Apple's required-reason API declaration policy enforced from May 1, 2024.

Apple Guideline

• Primary: 5.1 — Privacy: Data Collection and Storage
• Related: 5.1.1(ii)
• Reference: references/guidelines/5-legal.md

Real-World Rejection Cases

• Case: Received ITMS-91053 email: "Missing API declaration" — app used UserDefaults without PrivacyInfo.xcprivacy declaring reason CA92.1

Source: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/bundleresources/privacy-manifest-files — enforced May 1, 2024 Root cause: All apps using required reason APIs must declare them in PrivacyInfo.xcprivacy; Apple's automated pipeline scans submitted binaries and issues ITMS-91053 rejection emails for missing declarations

• Case: App using Firebase Performance SDK received ITMS-91053 for mach_absolute_time — Firebase Performance uses it internally to measure timing but the app's PrivacyInfo.xcprivacy did not declare NSPrivacyAccessedAPICategorySystemBootTime

Source: firebase-ios-sdk GitHub issue #12557 Root cause: Firebase Performance SDK calls machabsolutetime internally; apps must declare NSPrivacyAccessedAPICategorySystemBootTime with reason 35F9.1 even if the app code does not call machabsolutetime directly — the SDK call counts

• Case: Flutter app using Datadog SDK received ITMS-91053 — Datadog's dd-sdk-flutter used required-reason APIs but had not yet shipped a PrivacyInfo.xcprivacy in that SDK version

Source: dd-sdk-flutter GitHub issue #587 Root cause: Third-party SDKs must each ship their own PrivacyInfo.xcprivacy; if an SDK version predates the May 2024 enforcement, the app team must upgrade to an SDK version that includes a privacy manifest or add the declarations to the app-level manifest

Trigger

Invoke on any iOS/macOS project before App Store submission to verify privacy manifest completeness.

Inputs

| Name | Type | Default | Description | |------|------|---------|-------------| | project_root | path | cwd | iOS/macOS project root | | shared_context | object | nil | Pre-collected context from appstore-full-audit Phase 1 |

Actions

Phase 1: Context Collection

Skip this phase if shared_context is provided.

1. Glob **/PrivacyInfo.xcprivacy — locate the privacy manifest file.
2. Glob **/*.swift — collect Swift source files for API usage scanning.
3. Glob **/*.m — collect Objective-C source files.

Phase 2: Checks

1. PrivacyInfo.xcprivacy existence

Glob **/PrivacyInfo.xcprivacy — if no file found → 🔴 CRITICAL. All apps submitted to the App Store must include a privacy manifest as of May 1, 2024. Automated ITMS-91053 rejection email will be issued.

1. NSPrivacyAccessedAPITypes array present

If manifest found, Read PrivacyInfo.xcprivacy — verify NSPrivacyAccessedAPITypes key and array are present. If absent → 🔴 CRITICAL.

1. UserDefaults → CA92.1 declaration

Grep pattern UserDefaults in **/*.swift and **/*.m. If found, verify NSPrivacyAccessedAPICategoryUserDefaults with reason CA92.1 (or 1C8F.1, AC6B.1, C617.1) is declared in NSPrivacyAccessedAPITypes array in the manifest → 🔴 CRITICAL if absent.

1. File timestamp APIs → DDA9.1 declaration

Grep pattern FileManager.*creationDate|attributesOfItem|FileManager.*modificationDate in **/*.swift and **/*.m. If found, verify NSPrivacyAccessedAPICategoryFileTimestamp with reason DDA9.1 (or C617.1, 3B52.1, 0A2A.1) is declared in the manifest → 🔴 CRITICAL if absent.

1. Device identifier → 3EC4.1 declaration

Grep pattern UIDevice.*identifierForVendor|identifierForVendor in **/*.swift and **/*.m. If found, verify NSPrivacyAccessedAPICategoryDeviceID with reason 3EC4.1 (or 4D65.1) is declared in the manifest → 🔴 CRITICAL if absent. Note: The correct category is NSPrivacyAccessedAPICategoryDeviceID, not NSPrivacyAccessedAPICategoryDiskSpace.

1. System boot time / uptime APIs → 35F9.1 declaration

Grep pattern mach_absolute_time|systemUptime|ProcessInfo.*systemUptime in **/*.swift and **/*.m. If found, verify NSPrivacyAccessedAPICategorySystemBootTime with reason 35F9.1 (or 8FFB.1, 3D61.1) is declared in the manifest → 🔴 CRITICAL if absent.

Phase 3: Output

Collect all findings from Phase 2 and build the prioritised findings list below. Include file paths and line numbers. Omit tiers with no findings.

Output Format

## Privacy Manifest Check — Findings

### 🔴 CRITICAL — Guaranteed rejection
- [ ] TODO: Add PrivacyInfo.xcprivacy to the app target — missing manifest will trigger automated ITMS-91053 rejection — Guideline 5.1
- [ ] TODO: Declare NSPrivacyAccessedAPICategoryUserDefaults with reason CA92.1 in PrivacyInfo.xcprivacy — UserDefaults usage detected at `AppStorage+Helpers.swift:14` — Guideline 5.1
- [ ] TODO: Declare NSPrivacyAccessedAPICategoryFileTimestamp with reason DDA9.1 in PrivacyInfo.xcprivacy — FileManager.attributesOfItem usage detected at `CacheManager.swift:55` — Guideline 5.1

### 🟠 HIGH — Very likely rejection
- [ ] TODO:  — Guideline 5.1

### 🟡 MEDIUM — Possible rejection
- [ ] TODO: Audit third-party SDK privacy manifests — each SDK must provide its own PrivacyInfo.xcprivacy; verify Xcode Privacy Report shows all required APIs covered

### 🟢 LOW — Best practice
- [ ] TODO: Run Product > Generate Privacy Report in Xcode before submission to validate all API declarations are complete

Tools Used

Glob, Grep, Read

Constraints

• Read-only. No file edits.
• No network calls.
• Skip Phase 1 if shared_context is provided by orchestrating agent.
• Works on Swift, Objective-C, React Native, Flutter projects.

Quick Commands

Run these in your project root to check manually:

# Check if PrivacyInfo.xcprivacy exists
!find . -name "PrivacyInfo.xcprivacy" -not -path "*/Pods/*" -not -path "*/.build/*"

# Parse PrivacyInfo.xcprivacy if found
!find . -name "PrivacyInfo.xcprivacy" -not -path "*/Pods/*" | head -1 | xargs plutil -convert json -o - 2>/dev/null | python3 -m json.tool

# Count UserDefaults usage (requires CA92.1 reason)
!grep -rn "UserDefaults" . --include="*.swift" | grep -v "//\|Test" | wc -l

# Check required reason API usage
!grep -rn "UserDefaults\|identifierForVendor\|mach_absolute_time\|systemUptime" . --include="*.swift" | grep -v "//"

Swift Anti-Pattern Reference

examples/swift/PrivacyPatterns.swift

Detection Steps

1. Find target files

• Glob: **/PrivacyInfo.xcprivacy

1. Search for rejection patterns

• File existence check: if no PrivacyInfo.xcprivacy found → immediate CRITICAL
• Grep NSPrivacyAccessedAPITypes in the file — must be present
• Check for required reason API declarations:
• NSFileSystemFreeSize → reason E174.1
• NSFileSystemSize → reason E174.1
• NSUserDefaults → reason CA92.1
• systemUptime → reason 35F9.1
• Grep these APIs in *.swift files to cross-reference with manifest declarations

1. Determine verdict

• PrivacyInfo.xcprivacy missing → 🔴 CRITICAL (ITMS-91053)
• Required reason API used in Swift but not declared in manifest → 🟠 HIGH
• All used APIs declared → 🟢 pass

1. Report

• Missing file: report that PrivacyInfo.xcprivacy must be added to the app target
• Missing declaration: report API name, required reason code, and file where API is used

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: cruisediary
• Source: cruisediary/apple-app-review-skills
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.