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Clarification on Using Secure UITextField to Prevent Screen Capture
Hello Developer Forums Team, I’ve seen that some banking apps prevent screenshots on certain sensitive screens. I’m working on a similar feature in my SDK and want to confirm if my implementation complies with App Store guidelines. Since there’s no public API to block screenshots, I’m using a workaround based on the secure rendering behavior of UITextField (isSecureTextEntry = true). I embed my custom content (e.g., a UITableView) inside the internal secure container of a UITextField, which results in blank content being captured during screenshots—similar to what some banking apps do. Approach Summary I create a UITextField I detect its internal secure container by matching UIKit internal class names as strings I embed my real UI content into that container I do not use or call any private APIs, just match view class names via strings. ScreenshotPreventingView.swift final class ScreenshotPreventingView: UIView { private let textField = UITextField() private let recognizer = HiddenContainerRecognizer() private var contentView: UIView? public var preventScreenCapture = true { didSet { textField.isSecureTextEntry = preventScreenCapture } } public init(contentView: UIView? = nil) { super.init(frame: .zero) self.contentView = contentView setupUI() } private func setupUI() { guard let container = try? recognizer.getHiddenContainer(from: textField) else { return } addSubview(container) NSLayoutConstraint.activate([ container.topAnchor.constraint(equalTo: topAnchor), container.bottomAnchor.constraint(equalTo: bottomAnchor), container.leadingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: leadingAnchor), container.trailingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: trailingAnchor) ]) if let contentView = contentView { setup(contentView: contentView, in: container) } DispatchQueue.main.async { self.preventScreenCapture = true } } private func setup(contentView: UIView) { self.contentView?.removeFromSuperview() self.contentView = contentView guard let container = hiddenContentContainer else { return } container.addSubview(contentView) container.isUserInteractionEnabled = isUserInteractionEnabled contentView.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false let bottomConstraint = contentView.bottomAnchor.constraint(equalTo: container.bottomAnchor) bottomConstraint.priority = .required - 1 NSLayoutConstraint.activate([ contentView.leadingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: container.leadingAnchor), contentView.trailingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: container.trailingAnchor), contentView.topAnchor.constraint(equalTo: container.topAnchor), bottomConstraint ]) } } HiddenContainerRecognizer.swift struct HiddenContainerRecognizer { private enum Error: Swift.Error { case unsupportedOSVersion(version: Float) case desiredContainerNotFound(_ containerName: String) } func getHiddenContainer(from view: UIView) throws -> UIView { let containerName = try getHiddenContainerTypeInStringRepresentation() let containers = view.subviews.filter { subview in type(of: subview).description() == containerName } guard let container = containers.first else { throw Error.desiredContainerNotFound(containerName) } return container } private func getHiddenContainerTypeInStringRepresentation() throws -> String { if #available(iOS 15, *) { return "_UITextLayoutCanvasView" } if #available(iOS 14, *) { return "_UITextFieldCanvasView" } if #available(iOS 13, *) { return "_UITextFieldCanvasView" } if #available(iOS 12, *) { return "_UITextFieldContentView" } let currentIOSVersion = (UIDevice.current.systemVersion as NSString).floatValue throw Error.unsupportedOSVersion(version: currentIOSVersion) } } How I use it in my Screen let container = ScreenshotPreventingView() override func viewDidLoad() { super.viewDidLoad() container.preventScreenCapture = true container.setup(contentView: viewContainer) //viewContainer is UIView in storyboard, in which all other UI elements are placed in e.g. UITableView self.view.addSubview(container) container.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false NSLayoutConstraint.activate([ container.topAnchor.constraint(equalTo: self.view.topAnchor), container.bottomAnchor.constraint(equalTo: self.view.bottomAnchor), container.leadingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: self.view.leadingAnchor), container.trailingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: self.view.trailingAnchor) ]) } What I’d Like to Confirm Is this approach acceptable for App Store submission? Is there a more Apple-recommended approach to prevent screen capture of arbitrary UI? Thank you for your help in ensuring compliance.
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Jul ’25