Summary We are observing that Wi-Fi Aware data transfer throughput on iPhone is heavily impacted by the device's Wi-Fi association state and by surrounding RF interference. When Wi-Fi is turned off from Control Center, Wi-Fi Aware throughput increases to roughly 2x (or higher) compared to when the device remains associated to a Wi-Fi network. We would like to confirm whether this is expected behavior or a system-level bug. Log Feedback ID: FB23454477 Environment Device: iPhone Feature under test: Wi-Fi Aware (NAN) data path transfer Steps to Reproduce Connect the iPhone to a Wi-Fi network (associate to an AP). Establish a Wi-Fi Aware (NAN) data-path session with a peer device. Start a sustained data transfer and measure the steady-state throughput. Repeat the measurement in two RF conditions: a. Clean RF environment (no other surrounding Wi-Fi/BLE devices nearby). b. Congested / high-interference RF environment. Turn Wi-Fi off from the Control Center pull-down menu (leave the peer/session as before). Repeat the same Wi-Fi Aware transfer and measure throughput again. Observed Behavior Scenario 1 — Wi-Fi connected (associated to an AP) Clean RF environment (Wi-Fi connected, no other surrounding Wi-Fi/BLE devices nearby): Wi-Fi Aware transfer throughput is approximately 20 MB/s. Congested / high-interference RF environment: Wi-Fi Aware transfer throughput drops to approximately 8 MB/s. Reference log: sysdiagnose_2026.06.28_21-05-09+0800_iPhone-OS_iPhone_23F81.tar.gz Scenario 2 — Wi-Fi turned off via Control Center After turning Wi-Fi off from the Control Center pull-down menu, the Wi-Fi Aware transfer throughput increases to 2x or higher compared to Scenario 1. Reference log: sysdiagnose_2026.06.28_21-15-00+0800_iPhone-OS_iPhone_23F81.tar.gz Expected Behavior Wi-Fi Aware throughput should not be significantly constrained by the device's Wi-Fi association state. We expect comparable Wi-Fi Aware performance regardless of whether the device is associated to a Wi-Fi network, since disabling Wi-Fi should not be required to achieve full Wi-Fi Aware data-path throughput. Questions for Apple Is the throughput reduction while associated to a Wi-Fi network expected behavior (e.g., due to time-sharing/channel scheduling between the infrastructure connection and the Wi-Fi Aware data path)? If this is by design, are there recommended APIs, configurations, or best practices to maintain higher Wi-Fi Aware throughput while the device remains connected to Wi-Fi? If this is not expected, we believe this is a system-level bug and would appreciate guidance on a fix or workaround.

We are currently investigating a serious issue related to Wi-Fi Aware and AccessorySetupKit. We found that some devices which originally supported Wi-Fi Aware may suddenly report that Wi-Fi Aware is not supported. After this happens, calling the following API fails: ASAccessorySession.showPicker(for:completionHandler:) API documentation: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/accessorysetupkit/asaccessorysession/showpicker(for:completionhandler:) The error returned is: Error Domain=ASErrorDomain Code=450 "Current device is not Wi-Fi Aware capable.” Related logs: error: Error Domain=ASErrorDomain Code=450 "Current device is not Wi-Fi Aware capable." 21:27:33.116061+0800 deviceaccessd Activating DASession: CID 0x7FC70001, BundleID xxxx, PID 542, WiFiAwareSupported: no 2026-05-26 21:27:33.118<103>21:27:33.118[E][WiFiAware::WA]@"":[ASK] showPicker callback error: Error Domain=ASErrorDomain Code=450 "Current device is not Wi-Fi Aware capable." UserInfo={ NSDebugDescription=Current device is not Wi-Fi Aware capable., cuErrorMsg=Current device is not Wi-Fi Aware capable., NSLocalizedFailureReason=Current device is not Wi-Fi Aware capable. } Device information: Device: iPhone 16 Pro OS Version: 26.5 The device was previously able to use Wi-Fi Aware successfully. However, after the issue occurs, the system reports: WiFiAwareSupported: no The only known way to recover so far is to erase all content and settings / factory reset the device. This is not an acceptable workaround for end users and may cause a severe user experience issue. We would like to ask for your help with the following questions: Under what conditions would an iPhone that supports Wi-Fi Aware suddenly be reported as not Wi-Fi Aware capable? Is WiFiAwareSupported: no determined by hardware capability, system configuration, region setting, privacy/security policy, entitlement state, or some cached system state? Is there any known issue in AccessorySetupKit or Wi-Fi Aware on iOS 26.5 that could cause this behavior? Is there a way to recover the Wi-Fi Aware capability without requiring a factory reset? Are there any additional logs, sysdiagnose profiles, or diagnostic commands you recommend us to collect when this issue occurs? This issue is critical for us because users who encounter it will no longer be able to proceed with accessory setup, even though their device should support Wi-Fi Aware. Please let us know if you need a sysdiagnose, sample project, full device logs, or additional reproduction information. We would appreciate any guidance on the root cause and possible workaround.

Actual Result: After showPicker(for:), the system AccessorySetupUI RemoteAlert brings up a remote keyboard. User taps are dispatched to AccessorySetupUI’s UIRemoteKeyboardWindow instead of the picker content window. App-side endEditing(true) / resignFirstResponder cannot dismiss it because the keyboard belongs to the system AccessorySetupUI remote scene. Key Evidence: 19:51:54.066: App window snapshot before showPicker has no UITextEffectsWindow. 19:51:54.009968: ASAccessorySession ### showPickerWithDisplayItems 19:51:54.013299: AccessorySetupUI showPickerWithOverrideBundleID 19:51:54.051591: AccessorySetupUI reports remote keyboard onscreen, frame {{0, 623}, {440, 333}} 19:51:54.095643: display layout shows com.apple.AccessorySetupUI foreground and com.osmo.tech obscured. 19:51:56.207/19:51:56.305: touch events are sent to and logged as KeyboardTouch touch down/up. Questions for Apple: Is AccessorySetupKit picker expected to show a keyboard when no text input is focused? Is it a system bug that UIRemoteKeyboardWindow covers/intercepts the “Find Accessories” action? Is there any public API for a third-party app to dismiss the keyboard inside AccessorySetupUI RemoteAlert? If this is expected behavior, what is the recommended workaround or required picker/display item configuration?

wifip2pd leaks file descriptors during repeated Wi-Fi Aware NDP cycles → EMFILE → Wi-Fi Aware permanently broken Summary Under repeated Wi-Fi Aware (NAN) datapath connect/teardown cycles, wifip2pd leaks file descriptors until it hits the per-process limit (EMFILE, "Too many open files"). After that, wifip2pd can no longer create the socket needed to configure the nan0 interface, so updating the nan0 IPv6 link-local address fails with Apple80211Error Bad file descriptor. From the app's side, the NDP datapath is established but the NetworkConnection never gets a local IPv6 address and stays stuck in .preparing. The condition does not self-heal and is not cleared by restarting the app — only a reboot (or wifip2pd restart) recovers Wi-Fi Aware. Configuration iPhone 16 Pro Max, iOS 26.5 Network framework (new Swift NetworkConnection / NetworkBrowser Wi-Fi Aware API) System component: wifip2pd Where the problem is The leak and the failure are entirely inside wifip2pd (the per-process descriptor table fills up). The chain is: fd leak in wifip2pd → EMFILE ("Too many open files", errno 24) → socket() fails → cannot set nan0 IPv6 link-local address (Apple80211 ioctl on invalid fd → EBADF) → app NWConnection NWPath = satisfied but localEndpoint = nil → NetworkConnection stuck in .preparing, times out Abnormal console logs (the evidence) The smoking-gun lines from the unified log / Console (process wifip2pd): wifip2pd <Error> Failed to create socket: Too many open files wifip2pd <Error> Failed to update nan0 IPv6 address to [fe80::30c1:22ff:fe97:fefb] (from [fe80::e8a0:9bff:fe25:4d5c]) because <Apple80211Error Bad file descriptor> wifip2pd <Error> nw_path_shared_necp_fd necp_open failed [24: Too many open files] # errno 24 = EMFILE wifip2pd(Network) <Error> File descriptor is bad, could not create socket Counts over one ~11.5-minute failing capture: wifip2pd "Too many open files": 45 occurrences (a healthy capture has 0). nan0 IPv6 address update: 2 success / 13 fail (the 2 successes are before exhaustion; everything after fails with "Bad file descriptor"). Healthy device, for contrast — the IPv6 update succeeds on every NAN MAC rotation, and the app connection then works: wifip2pd Successfully updated nan0 IPv6 address to [fe80::f4c4:14ff:fe28:784a] # → app NWPath: status=satisfied, local=fe80::f4c4:14ff:fe28:784a%nan0 → NetworkConnection .ready Two facts that localize the bug: The leak is in wifip2pd, not the app. wifip2pd is one persistent daemon (constant pid) whose fd count only grows; the client app was restarted multiple times during the test and that did not release the descriptors. All "Too many open files" lines are emitted by wifip2pd. The NDP datapath itself still succeeds — only socket/interface-address configuration fails: kernel nan0: handleDataPathEstablished: NAN-DP Data path ESTABLISHED ... encrypt 1, EstDPs 1 wifip2pd #### Data Confirmed With Peer: ... port: 9004 Application-layer symptom (developer-facing) The same client code works before exhaustion and fails after: Before: NetworkConnection<UDP> reaches .ready; NWPath.localEndpoint = fe80::…%nan0. After: NetworkConnection<UDP> stays .preparing; every onPathUpdate reports status=satisfied, interfaces=["nan0"], local=nil; it times out and retries forever. The decisive developer-visible signal is NWPath.status == .satisfied together with localEndpoint == nil on nan0. Correlating timestamps confirms the contradiction: the console shows Data Confirmed With Peer ... port 9004 ~9–10 s before the app's NetworkConnection gives up, while the matching nan0 IPv6 update fails with "Bad file descriptor". The datapath is up at L2, but the connection is unusable because no local address was ever assigned. Steps to Reproduce Pair an iPhone with a Wi-Fi Aware peer that publishes a datapath service (_media-sync._udp, paired device, NCS-SK-CCM-128). Repeatedly establish and tear down the NDP datapath. In our case the peer device repeatedly powers off/on; each cycle forces a fresh browse + re-pair + NDP establish (the peer's NAN MAC is randomized each boot). Loop this; wifip2pd is never restarted, so the leak accumulates (failure appeared by ~the 9th iteration). Expected vs Actual Expected: wifip2pd releases the descriptors of each completed/torn-down browse/subscribe/datapath session; fd count stays bounded; nan0 IPv6 updates keep succeeding; NetworkConnection reaches .ready. Actual: wifip2pd fd count grows until EMFILE; nan0 IPv6 update then fails permanently; NetworkConnection is stuck .preparing for the rest of the wifip2pd process lifetime. Impact Any app using Wi-Fi Aware NDP datapaths under frequent connect/teardown eventually loses all Wi-Fi Aware connectivity. The failure is sticky for the wifip2pd lifetime and is invisible to / unrecoverable by the client app. Workaround Reboot the device (resets wifip2pd). The client can only slow the leak (fewer reconnects, prompt release of NetworkConnection), not prevent it, since the descriptors leak inside wifip2pd. To confirm / fix A sysdiagnose captured during the reproduction should show wifip2pd's open-fd count growing monotonically per connect/teardown cycle (which descriptor type leaks per browse/subscribe/datapath). Repro signature to grep in the logs: wifip2pd emitting Failed to create socket: Too many open files, necp_open failed [24: Too many open files], and Failed to update nan0 IPv6 address ... Apple80211Error Bad file descriptor.

We are currently planning to develop a third‑party hardware accessory that supports Wi‑Fi Aware using AccessorySetupKit on iOS, based on the official documentation: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/accessorysetupkit/ Before finalizing our hardware and firmware design, we would like to better understand the real‑world behavior and user experience of Wi‑Fi Aware in actual third‑party accessories. Specifically, we would like to ask: Existing Third‑Party Hardware Are there any commercially available third‑party accessories (not Apple products) that already support Wi‑Fi Aware via AccessorySetupKit? If so, are there any public examples, reference designs, or recommended products we can purchase to observe the real onboarding, discovery, and pairing experience? Reference or Evaluation Hardware Does Apple provide any reference hardware, evaluation kits, or recommended vendor solutions (for example, based on common Wi‑Fi chipsets) that are known to work well with Wi‑Fi Aware on iOS? Are there specific Wi‑Fi chipset vendors that have validated interoperability with AccessorySetupKit? Practical Behavior and Limitations In real usage, what are the typical discovery latency, reliability, and background/foreground behavior developers should expect? Are there known limitations or best practices when designing hardware that relies on Wi‑Fi Aware for initial accessory discovery and setup? Our goal is to evaluate the feasibility and user experience of Wi‑Fi Aware for third‑party accessories by testing against existing implementations or recommended hardware, before investing heavily in custom hardware development. Any guidance, examples, or pointers to existing accessories or partners would be greatly appreciated.