Troubleshooting & FAQ for Apple platforms and Firebase

What versions of Xcode does Firebase support?

Firebase supports up to two major versions of Xcode, not including versions of Xcode that Apple no longer supports. For example, starting in March 2019, Apple required at least iOS 12 on all apps, meaning Xcode 9 support was dropped and Xcode 10 was the only major version supported.

Changes to support for specific minor or patch versions of Xcode (for example, 9.2.0 to 9.4.1) are determined based on the needs of the Firebase Apple platforms SDK and a survey of developer usage. These changes are reflected in the Firebase Apple platforms SDK release notes and on the Firebase Apple platforms SDK setup page.

To see the minimum Xcode version supported by the SDK, check the requirements listed in Add Firebase to your Apple project.

Firebase support for Beta releases of Xcode is available on a "best effort" basis. Developers can track and submit issues in the Firebase Apple platforms SDK repository on GitHub.

My app prompts the user for their password to access Keychain items on macOS. How do I fix this?

Upgrade your Firebase dependency to version 9.6.0 or higher and add the [Keychain Sharing capability](/docs/ios/troubleshooting-faq#macos-keychain-sharing) to your target.

Why does Firebase require the Keychain Sharing capability on macOS?

Firebase SDKs use keychain to store information like the Firebase installation ID used for FCM. Without Keychain access, Firebase SDKs may not function correctly. The macOS keychain behaves differently than the iOS-style keychain that is used on other platforms (iOS, tvOS, macCatalyst, and watchOS).

On macOS, apps use a shared keychain that may be modified by other apps and processes. Unlike iOS, there is no sandboxed keychain that the app has implicit access to. So, when a Mac app interacts with the keychain, the system prompts the user for access since the Mac app may be modifying a keychain item that it did not create. To address this discrepancy, Firebase queries the keychain with the kSecUseDataProtectionKeychain key, which tells the app to query a keychain item that is part of a keychain access group (this is default behavior on other platforms). The Keychain Sharing capability is required because the app needs it to synthesize an access group that can be shared amongst its targets, thus giving permission for the app to freely access keychain items in the access group.

For more information, see Apple's Keychain documentation .

In Xcode versions 13 and later, why can my UIKit apps not open some URLs I've registered
in my Info.plist?

Apple introduced a limit of 50 LSApplicationQueriesSchemes entries in Info.plist files. In 2015, Apple introduced LSApplicationQueriesSchemes to limit the number of URL queries each app could make. With the release of Xcode 13, these limits are enforced, while in Xcode 12 and earlier there was no effective limit to the number of schemes.

Some Firebase products, like Firebase Authentication and Firebase Dynamic Links, require the use of custom URL schemes to redirect to your application. These URLs conform to a concise and consistent URL scheme that should not count significantly against the 50 link scheme limit.

Note that for apps that continue to register more than 50 LSApplicationQueriesSchemes, some schemes will be silently ignored. The app may be unable to execute certain deeplinks, depending on the order in which they are added.