NSAllowsArbitraryLoads not working

Question

I had a working app that downloads some info from an http domain. But after the Swift 2.0 and Xcode 7 update, my app can't connect to the server and download the json data, I get the "App Transport Security has blocked a cleartext HTTP (http://) resource load since it is insecure. Temporary exceptions can be configured via your app's Info.plist file." error.

I have tried putting this lines in my info.plist:

<key>NSAppTransportSecurity</key>
<dict>
    <key>NSAllowsArbitraryLoads</key>
    <true/>
</dict>

But I get the same error, it's not working. I always get nil data from the download methods. Any one has this same error? Thanks!

EDIT: Here is a picture from my info.plist file:

It looks weird, have you tried clean the project, build folder and derived data? — Julian, Oct 09 '15 at 09:14

score 21 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 19 '15 at 23:09

21

I feel so stupid. I added the keys for disabling the ATS on the wrong Info.plist. Instead of adding it in the Supporting Files/Info.plist file, I added it on MyAppTests/Supporting Files/Info.plist file. Not really a bug in Xcode, but a bug in my brain. Thank you all for your answers!

answered Oct 19 '15 at 23:09

Pablo Quemé

1,414
4
16
29

There are 3 info.plist files within view of my project and I chose the last. A fair mistake! – vj1 Sep 04 '21 at 14:01

simple_code · Answer 2 · 2015-10-09T09:07:01.507

15

You can try using

nscurl --ats-diagnostics <your-URL>

in the terminal. This can help you find the settings that will allow your app to connect to your-URL. This only works on OSX El Capitan. Check out the apple technote.

But if you've tried NSArbitraryLoads in your info.plist file, this diagnostic tool probably won't help you. I think you might have found a bug.

edited Oct 09 '15 at 09:07

answered Oct 09 '15 at 09:00

simple_code

707
9
24

score 5 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 14 '15 at 11:08

I had the same problem, I tried adding NSExceptionMinimumTLSVersion and it works.

<key>NSAppTransportSecurity</key>
<dict>
   <key>NSExceptionMinimumTLSVersion</key>
   <string>TLSv1.0</string>
    <key>NSAllowsArbitraryLoads</key>
    <true/>
</dict>

I am not sure why this helps, but... it does! I hope it's helpful to someone out there too

score 4 · Answer 4 · answered Mar 23 '17 at 08:40

In my case I needed to remove all the other keys like "Allow Arbitrary Loads in Web Content" or "Exception Domains" in order to get "Allow Arbitrary Load" to work as it set to true under "App Transport Security Settings" in Info.plist.

Tested using XCode 8.2.1, iOS 10.2.

score 3 · Answer 5 · answered Jun 15 '16 at 05:49

3

If you need to load a http:// resource only in web (UIWebView/WKWebView/SafariViewController) then the following should suffice.

<key>NSAppTransportSecurity</key>
<dict>
    <key>NSAllowsArbitraryLoadsInWebContent</key>
    <true/>
</dict>

answered Jun 15 '16 at 05:49

Vijay Tholpadi

2,135
1
15
20

score 2 · Answer 6 · answered Nov 09 '15 at 20:30

None of the previous solutions worked for me, I had the NSAllowsArbitraryLoads set to true, but still HTP wont work, after looking around I noticed that the info.plist file has NSExceptionDomains section, so I deleted it for testing and everything worked.

So it seems that having NSExceptionDomains cancels the NSAllowsArbitraryLoads, hope this is helpful.

score 2 · Answer 7 · answered Oct 15 '18 at 23:27

In iOS12 I could not make it work with the old way NSAllowsArbitraryLoads

Only when I updated the key to NSExceptionAllowsInsecureHTTPLoads it worked. My info.plist section that works:

<key>NSAppTransportSecurity</key>
    <dict>
        <key>NSExceptionDomains</key>
        <dict>
            <key>yourdomain.com</key>
            <dict>
                <key>NSExceptionAllowsInsecureHTTPLoads</key>
                <true/>
            </dict>
        </dict>
    </dict>

ridvankucuk · Answer 8 · 2015-10-05T14:50:54.243

1

Did you try to add your domain such as? You should add it into NSAppTransportSecurity dictionary.

<key>NSExceptionDomains</key>
        <dict>
            <key>abcde.com</key>
            <dict>
                <key>NSExceptionRequiresForwardSecrecy</key>
                <true/>
                <key>NSIncludesSubdomains</key>
                <true/>
                <key>NSTemporaryExceptionAllowsInsecureHTTPLoads</key>
                <true/>
            </dict>
        </dict>

edited Oct 05 '15 at 14:50

answered Oct 05 '15 at 14:41

ridvankucuk

2,407
1
23
41

I have updated my answer. You should add it into `NSAppTransportSecurity`. In your .plist you added it outside of the `NSAppTransportSecurity`. @PabloQuemé – ridvankucuk Oct 05 '15 at 14:52
I updated my info.plist as you suggested but still getting the same error. Could there be something wrong with my AppDelegate or my Xcode? – Pablo Quemé Oct 05 '15 at 16:31

score 1 · Answer 9 · answered May 22 '17 at 20:17

1

I had the same issue in XCode Version 8.3.2 (8E2002) with iOS 10.3. After removing all the keys like "Allow Arbitrary Loads in Web Content" or "Exception Domains", the "Allow Arbitrary Load" key works as expected. Thanks @dariukas.

answered May 22 '17 at 20:17

David Liu

952
7
15

score 0 · Answer 10 · answered Jan 13 '16 at 15:27

0

I had a similar issue and after a while I figured out that the info.plist file was corrupted. I can only advise to check the xml directly not only the plist editor in xcode.

answered Jan 13 '16 at 15:27

Gerrit Horeis

541
5
14

NSAllowsArbitraryLoads not working

10 Answers10

Linked