iOS app doesn’t ask for location permission

Question or problem in the Swift programming language:

My Swift-iOS app is meant to show the user’s location on a map. However, the XCode debug console tells me I need to ask permission to show the user’s location. I think, I do that but the dialog never comes up.

Here is the error message, and below the ViewController where I call CLLocationManager::requestWhenInUseAuthorization()

Error:

ViewController:

import UIKit
import MapKit
import CoreLocation

class ViewController: UIViewController, MKMapViewDelegate {
    @IBOutlet var mapview: MKMapView = nil
    var locationmgr : CLLocationManager!
                            
    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()
        // Do any additional setup after loading the view, typically from a nib.
        locationmgr = CLLocationManager()
        locationmgr.requestWhenInUseAuthorization()
        mapview.showsUserLocation = true
    }

    override func didReceiveMemoryWarning() {
        super.didReceiveMemoryWarning()
        // Dispose of any resources that can be recreated.
    }
}

How do I request authorization to use the location?
You can find the complete project here.(Commit)

Even making ViewController inherit from CLLocationManagerDelegate and setting the delegate to self as indicated here doesn’t help.

How to solve the problem:

Solution 1:

As of iOS 8 you have to call one of the request… functions and add the appropriate entry to your Info.plist file, either NSLocationWhenInUseUsageDescription or NSLocationAlwaysUsageDescription.

For more information, see the reference here

Update

Make sure that

1. the map is centered on the simulated location.
2. Also make sure that a location is simulated. Either do so in the Debug Area (down below) of XCode (see image), or do it in the simulator under Debug > Location.

Debug Area:

Solution 2:

You need to use requestWhenInUseAuthorization and also need to create a value at yourapp-Info.plist named NSLocationWhenInUseUsageDescription

Solution 3:

I use NSLocationAlwaysUsageDescription with the value as the text that will pop up when asking for permission, such as

“I would like permission to spy on you 24/7”

I would also add NSLocationWhenInUseUsageDescription with the value as the message.

Solution 4:

As David Berry, Cayke Prudente and Levi Johnson mentioned, I just needed to add NSLocationAlwaysUsageDescription to my Info.plist file. To understand more WHY I needed this, I went for further documentation and I’m sharing here, as it can help others the same way they helped me.

The user prompt contains the text from the NSLocationWhenInUseUsageDescription key in your app’s Info.plist file, and the presence of that key is required when calling this method.

https://developer.apple.com/documentation/corelocation/cllocationmanager/1620562-requestwheninuseauthorization

Hope this helps!