as an addition to @jakajancar's answer let me introduce an example code ; Send a message to the connection you want to cancel; set contentContext: parameter to NWConnection.ContentContext.finalMessage, then cancel the connection: connectionYouWantToCancel.send(content: nil, contentContext: .finalMessage, isComplete: true, completion: .idempotent) connectionYouWantToCancel.cancel() And read the message on the other device; check if the context is final connectionOnTheOtherDevice.receiveMessage { (content, context, isComplete, error) in if let context = context, context.isFinal { connectionOnTheOtherDevice.cancel() // any other logic if needed. return } // other logic } At least I'm handling the problem this way without any delay or any unexpected behaviour.

Still have the same issue