Apple is working on a new framework that will allow third-party photo apps to save images more reliably. Here are the details.
A long-standing request from photo app developers is about to be fulfilled
Alongside the (likely) final stages of development before the official release of iOS 26.1, Apple has also been working on a few new frameworks that should reach developers sooner rather than later.
One of them, as we discussed here, will allow developers to join Apple’s new migration feature to and from Android.
Another, as Apple detailed in a new article on its documentation blog, will allow developers to enable background photo backups via PhotoKit.
Here’s how Apple describes the new feature:
In iOS 26.1 and later, PhotoKit provides a new type of background asset download extension that allows photo apps to provide seamless cloud backup experiences. The system manages downloads on behalf of your app and processes them in the background even when users switch to other apps or lock their devices. The system calls your station when it’s time to process downloads and automatically manages network connectivity, power management, and synchronization to provide reliable processing.
This means that third-party photo apps and even cloud backup services will finally be able to save images automatically and reliably in the background, rather than resorting to workarounds or waiting for the user to reopen the app.
In very detailed documentation articleApple explains what developers will need to do to exploit the new feature, with the following steps:
- Create and configure the extension target
- Activate extension
- Process download tasks
- Retry failed tasks
- Acknowledge receipt of completed work
- Create download tasks
- Manage extension termination
Some aspects of the new feature will require express user consent, while others will run automatically once the extension is activated. Apple also notes that several aspects of the framework are still in beta, meaning they are likely to be changed before the final developer release.
