We are a hardware manufacturer. Our devices are connected via Ethernet to Mac mini systems, where our custom macOS application is installed and communicates with the connected hardware. The application is signed and deployed as a standard application bundle.
Description
The application performs a UDP broadcast using the Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) discovery mechanism to locate devices connected to the same local network segment.
We have observed a reproducible issue with macOS 15.x (confirmed with 15.1 through 15.4), where the discovery fails under specific circumstances. The behavior is as follows:
If the application is launched via Finder (e.g., double-clicked by the user), no device is discovered.
If the same binary is launched from the Terminal, discovery works as expected and the connected device is found.
Downgrading the affected Mac mini to macOS 14.x (e.g., Sonoma 14.0 or 14.1) restores the expected behavior—discovery works via Finder as well.
The issue is observed only on Intel-based Mac minis.
On Apple Silicon (ARM-based) Mac minis, the discovery via Finder works correctly, even on macOS 15.4.
What we know
The problem is tied to how the network stack or sandboxing behaves when the application is launched via Finder.
There are no visible error messages.
It is unclear whether the broadcast packet is being blocked, or if the response from the device is dropped or filtered by the system.
Reproduction Steps
Install our signed application bundle on a Mac mini (Intel).
Connect our device via Ethernet to the Mac mini.
Launch the application via Finder – the device is not found.
Quit the application.
Launch the same binary from Terminal – the device is correctly discovered.
Downgrade the same system to macOS 14.x – discovery works in both cases (Finder and Terminal).
Upgrade to macOS 15.x – the issue reappears.
Technical Details
macOS Version(s) Affected: 15.x (confirmed with 15.1 through 15.4),
Mac mini Model: Intel-based Mac minis
Type of Communication: UDP broadcast using UPnP
Reproducibility: 100% reproducible with affected macOS versions.
Software Environment: Custom application developed by us, running as a user-space application under standard macOS network APIs.
No Issues: When the same setup is used on earlier macOS versions.
Request
Can you confirm whether this is expected behavior due to changes in macOS 15 (e.g., sandboxing, entitlements, network permissions)?
What steps or configuration changes are required to ensure UDP discovery works again when the application is launched via Finder?
Are there relevant macOS logs (e.g., Console, system logs) we can inspect for network-related blocks or errors?
We would appreciate any guidance or clarification on how to adapt our application or system configuration to restore expected network discovery behavior.
Thank you in advance for your support!
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I'm confused by documentation and information I found regarding compatibility between versions of Xcode and macOS.
The site https://developer.apple.com/support/xcode/ is listing "Minimum OS required".
To my understanding it means "this particular version of macOS and all later/newer versions".
Also release notes for Xcode are consistently stating "Xcode xx.x. requires a Mac running macOS yy.yy.y or later."
But I also found statements like " In general, new versions of macOS will not run old versions of Xcode." in this forum, see https://forums.developer.apple.com/forums/thread/760737, which is the opposite to "requires macOS version X or later".
I'm also experiencing issues when trying to run Xcode 12.4 on macOS 14.5 (Sonoma), means XCode is not running.
It would be great if some of Apple Engineers here would shed some light on it :-)
Many thanks in advance!
Cheers,
Elena