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ioscordovaionic3cordova-ios

Ionic v3 Remove Specific Keys from PLIST

I'm working on an Ionic app which uses geolocation and based on my config.xml and an extra edit-config element, I'm getting the following three keys in my info.plist file:

  • NSLocationWhenInUseUsageDescription : Location will be used while app is in use.
  • NSLocationAlwaysUsageDescription : This app requires constant access to your location in order to track your position, even when the screen is off or the app is in the background.
  • NSLocationAlwaysAndWhenInUseUsageDescription : This app requires constant access to your location in order to track your position, even when the screen is off or the app is in the background.

The LocationWhenInUse key is something I'm adding but the other two are coming in from somewhere else. Here's my relevant config.xml:

    ...
    <platform name="ios">
        <edit-config file="*-Info.plist" mode="merge" target="NSLocationWhenInUseUsageDescription">
            <string>Location will be used while app is in use.</string>
        </edit-config>
        ...
    </platform>
    ...
    <plugin name="cordova-plugin-geolocation" spec="^4.0.1">
        <variable name="GEOLOCATION_USAGE_DESCRIPTION" value="Geolocation will be used to determine your location" />
    </plugin>

What I would like to do is remove the two "Always" permissions. The only thing I want to ask the user is Never/When In Use.

Is there any way I can just remove the two "always" elements using the config.xml? I don't want to have to remember to remove those two keys every time I do a production iOS build.

Solution

  • These keys are placeholders added by cordova-diagnostic-plugin.

    The strings contained within NSLocationAlwaysUsageDescription and NSLocationAlwaysAndWhenInUseUsageDescription will only be displayed if you request to use location "Always" at runtime.

    Update

    To remove those keys from the .plist, you could use cordova-custom-config. First install it:

    cordova plugin add cordova-custom-config

    Then add <custom-config-file> blocks under <platform name="ios"> to delete the unwanted keys:

    <platform name="ios">
    <custom-config-file parent="NSLocationAlwaysUsageDescription" target="*-Info.plist" mode="delete"/>
    <custom-config-file parent="NSLocationAlwaysAndWhenInUseUsageDescription" target="*-Info.plist" mode="delete"/>