iOS crash popup on relaunch after hard-close with active LiveKit session

[benyaminR]

Summary

On iOS (TestFlight builds), when the app is force-closed while connected to a LiveKit session (with an active livestream) and relaunched within 5 seconds, iOS shows a “App was terminated because it failed to terminate gracefully after 5.0s” popup.

This does not occur:

• In development builds (debug/profile)

• If the app is relaunched after 5s

• If no LiveKit session is active

Crash Logs

Excerpt from .ips crash report:

Failed to terminate gracefully after 5.0s

Apple’s watchdog indicates the app is blocked during termination, likely due to LiveKit resources not shutting down fast enough (sockets, media tracks, AVFoundation).

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Steps to Reproduce

1. Connect to a LiveKit room with active livestream

2. Force-close the app

3. Relaunch within 5 seconds

4. App hangs briefly → iOS shows crash popup

No popup if:

• Relaunch happens after 5s

• No LiveKit session was active

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Where it happens

• Only reproducible in TestFlight / App Store builds

• Not reproducible in simulator

• Consistently occurs when a LiveKit session is active during termination

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Possible Causes

• LiveKit socket not closing in time

• Ongoing HTTP requests blocking shutdown

• AVFoundation camera/mic teardown delay

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🔗 References

• Apple Docs: Addressing watchdog terminations

• Apple Docs: Analyzing crash reports

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Notes

• Issue only visible in TestFlight / production builds

• App was still accepted by App Review despite the popup

• Some developers ship anyway, but the problem appears directly tied to LiveKit teardown

Savvy-2025-09-08-170056.txt