Supported URL Schemes

Some Apple URL schemes are documented for third-party use. It’s fine to use those URL schemes for their intended purpose.

Other Apple URL schemes are not officially documented. Their use is unsupported. If you rely on such implementation details, things might work, or they might not, and that state might change over time.

IMPORTANT If you ship via the App Store, pay attention to clause 2.5.1 of the App Review Guidelines.

The Apple URL scheme documentation is not always easy to find. I’m aware of the following:

• Apple URL Scheme Reference

• QA1924 Opening Keyboard Settings from a Keyboard Extension [This Q&A was retired years ago.]

• The doc comments for es_new_client in <EndpointSecurity/ESClient.h> (macOS only)

• Developer > Bug Reporting describes the applefeedback scheme

Additionally, as questions about this most commonly crop up in the context of opening Settings (System Settings on macOS), I wanted to highlight the following:

• UIApplication.openSettingsURLString property (in Objective-C this is UIApplicationOpenSettingsURLString)

• AccessibilitySettings.openSettings(for:) method

• FIFinderSyncController.showExtensionManagementInterface() class method

• SMAppService.openSystemSettingsLoginItems() class method

If your app needs to perform some action that’s not covered by the above, file an enhancement request for a supported way to do that. Make sure to describes your use case in detail.

Share and Enjoy
—
Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"

Revision History

• 2024-10-01 Added info about the applefeedback URL scheme.

• 2024-09-29 Added a link to SMAppService.openSystemSettingsLoginItems().

• 2024-09-27 Added a titbit for Finder Sync extension developers. Added an invitation to file feedback.

• 2024-08-05 First posted.