We are seeing a strange lifecycle issue on multiple MDM-managed iPads where application(_:didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:) is not called after the device is idle overnight.
Even if we terminate the app manually via the app switcher, the next morning the system does not perform a cold launch. Instead, the app resumes directly in:
applicationDidBecomeActive(_:)
This causes all initialization logic that depends on didFinishLaunching to be completely skipped.
This behavior is consistent across four different supervised MDM devices.
Environment
Devices: iPads enrolled in MDM (supervised)
iOS version: 18.3
Xcode: 16.4
macOS: Sequoia 15.7.2
App type: Standard UIKit iOS app
App: Salux Audiometer (App Store app)
Expected Behavior
If the app was terminated manually using the app switcher, the next launch should:
Start a new process
Trigger application(_:didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:)
Follow the normal cold-start lifecycle
Actual Behavior
After leaving the iPad idle overnight (8–12 hours):
The next launch skips didFinishLaunching
The app resumes directly in applicationDidBecomeActive
No new process is started
App behaves as if it had been suspended, even though it was manually terminated
Logs (Relevant Extracts) Day 1 — Normal cold launch [12:06:44.152 PM] PROCESS_STARTED [12:06:44.214 PM] DID_FINISH_LAUNCHING_START launchOptions=[] [12:06:44.448 PM] DID_FINISH_LAUNCHING_END
We then used the app and terminated it via app switcher.
Day 2 — Unexpected resume without cold start [12:57:49.328 PM] APP_DID_BECOME_ACTIVE
No PROCESS_STARTED No didFinishLaunching No cold-start logs
This means the OS resumed the app from a previous state that should not exist.
Reproducible Steps
Use an MDM-enrolled iPad.
Launch the app normally.
Terminate it manually via the multitasking app switcher.
Leave the device idle overnight (8–12 hours).
Launch the app the next morning.
Observe that:
didFinishLaunching does not fire
applicationDidBecomeActive fires directly
Questions for Apple Engineers / Community
Is this expected behavior on MDM-supervised devices in iOS 18?
Are there any known OS-level changes where terminated apps may be revived from disk/memory?
Could MDM restrictions or background restoration policies override app termination?
How can we ensure that our app always performs a clean initialization when launched after a long idle period?
Additional Information
We have full logs from four separate MDM iPads showing identical behavior. Happy to share a minimal reproducible sample if required.