Background NSURLSessions ignore the allowsCellular setting on NSMutableURLRequests

Originator:padraig.kennedy
Number:rdar://15356374 Date Originated:30 October 2013
Status:Closed Resolved:
Product:iOS SDK Product Version:7.0.3
Classification:Serious Bug Reproducible:Always
 
Summary:
An NSURLSession configured with backgroundSessionConfiguration ignores the allowsCellularAccess setting on an NSMutableURLRequest. It will start and continue a download task over cellular even if allowsCellularAccess is set to NO on the request.

I have attached a demo project that illustrates this issue.

This is not the behaviour documented here: xcdoc://ios/documentation/NetworkingInternetWeb/Conceptual/NetworkingOverview/Platform-SpecificNetworkingTechnologies/Platform-SpecificNetworkingTechnologies.html which recommends "At the Foundation layer, you can use the setAllowsCellularAccess: method on NSMutableURLRequest to specify whether a request can be sent over a cellular connection. You can also use the allowsCellularAccess to check the current value."

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Create an NSURLSession configured with backgroundSessionConfiguration.
2. Create an NSMutableURLRequest and set its allowsCellularAccess property to NO
3. While connected to a cellular network (not wifi) initiate a download request using that NSMutableURLRequest against the background session.

Expected Results:
The download should fail since we're on cellular and have set allowsCellularAccess = NO

Actual Results:
The download proceeds using cellular data despite allowsCellularAccess = NO being no on the request.

Version:
Xcode 5.0.1, iOS 7.0.3

Comments

We believe this issue has been addressed. Please verify with iOS 8 beta (Build 12A4265u) release, and reply back with your results.

iOS 8 beta (Build 12A4265u) https://developer.apple.com/devcenter/ios/index.action Posted Date: June 2, 2014

If this issue is still occurring, please include any relevant logs, and or a test case with your update.

Logging Instructions/Test Case Requirements: https://developer.apple.com/bug-reporting/ios/

By padraig.kennedy at July 31, 2014, 4:21 p.m. (reply...)

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