Search Issue Tracker

By Design

By Design in 6.2.X

Votes

1

Found in [Package]

6.2.0

Issue ID

ARKB-91

Regression

No

Underlying macOS Platform is incorrectly detected when running iOS apps on Apple Silicon Macs via Native Subsystem

Package: ARKit

-

Reproduction steps:
1. Clone the “AR Foundation Samples” from https://github.com/Unity-Technologies/arfoundation-samples/tree/5.1
2. Open the cloned project
3. Build the project for the iOS Platform
4. Open the built Xcode project and sign it
5. In Xcode, set the Target to “My Mac (Designed for iPad)” and run the project
6. In the running application, observe the Face Tracking and Body Tracking functionalities selections
7. Press the “Simple AR” Button to activate the camera

Expected result: The Face Tracking and Body Tracking functionalities are available and the camera activates successfully
Actual result: The functionalities are not available and the camera fails to activate

Reproducible with: 2022.3.63f1, 6000.0.50f1, 6000.1.6f1, 6000.2.0b4

Reproducible on: macOS Sequoia 15.5 (M1 Max)
Not reproducible on: No other environments tested

Note: Select the “AR Foundation Samples” branch according to the README of the repository

  1. Resolution Note:

    The scenario in this issue, building for iOS but deploying on Mac, is not a supported workflow. This is by design.

  2. Resolution Note (6.2.X):

    The scenario in this issue, building for iOS but deploying on Mac, is not a supported workflow. This is by design.

Log in to vote on this issue

Comments (4)

  1. misutaaAsriel

    Feb 03, 2026 00:18

    "The scenario in this issue, building for iOS but deploying on Mac, is not a supported workflow. This is by design."

    Well it's a very bad design then. Key APIs are UNAVAILABLE ON macOS OUTSIDE OF THIS WORKFLOW. THIS INCLUDES ARKIT.

    ARKit is only available via Catalyst & iOS native APIs on macOS (latter exclusive to Apple Silicon).

    This decision effectively hinders vast swaths of potential applications from being built upon Unity. The fact many toolkits RELY on Unity outright prevents these applications from being ported to macOS *period.*

    This is also VERY CLEARLY A BUG, EVEN IF THE WORKFLOW IS UNSUPPORTED. iOS apps on Apple Silicon SHOULD NOT "BREAK CONTAINMENT" UNDER NORMAL CONDITIONS.

  2. misutaaAsriel

    Sep 07, 2025 17:19

    This is marked as under consideration for 6.2, but this issue is also present in the current active LTS versions, and at least some games and software which rely on the LTS.

    Will any patches be considered for 2022 or 2023?

  3. misutaaAsriel

    Jun 04, 2025 20:13

    (Correction on my previous comment: Applications on macOS outside of the iOS subsystem and catalyst do not have access to *ARKit.* SceneKit is a separate API that was erroneously mentioned. Apologies.

  4. misutaaAsriel

    Jun 04, 2025 20:10

    Note: The sample URL is just https://github.com/Unity-Technologies/arfoundation-samples/tree/5.1 — The URL seems to have been mangled having been ported over from the Unity Bug Report.

    Amongst various apps on the Apple App Store, a notable impacted application, currently in TestFlight, is VRChat for iOS. Application completely crashes when entering into the 3D client from the 2D one. VRChat is built upon the 2022 LTS.

    ARKit APIs are notable examples as they are easy to trigger the underlying issue, but this issue goes well beyond ARKit. However, amongst other things, this significantly limits what developers can do with Apple APIs on Mac.

    E.G there are no VTubing/Virtual Avatar applications capable of taking advantage of ARKit face tracking, as most popular avatar packages and formats are reliant upon Unity, but macOS apps outside of the iOS subsystem or catalyst do not have access to SceneKit.

    This issue effectively walls off "universal" APIs, restricting Unity applications on macOS to APIs only available to AppKit applications.

    This issue is also present in the 2019 LTS but that is no longer supported.

Add comment

Log in to post comment

All about bugs

View bugs we have successfully reproduced, and vote for the bugs you want to see fixed most urgently.

Latest issues

See all new issues