How to Implement Limited Contact Picker in iOS 18 with CNContactPickerViewController?

Question

I am currently using CNContactPickerViewController in my Swift app to allow users to select contacts. With the introduction of the new iOS 18 feature for Limited Contact Access, I want to modify my implementation so that only the contacts selected by the user in the Limited Contact Access permission screen are displayed.

Is there a way to show only the limited contacts in the CNContactPickerViewController once the user grants permission for Limited Contact Access in iOS 18? If so, what adjustments do I need to make in the Swift code to support this?

Here’s the current Swift code I’m using for the contact picker:

@IBAction func addContactBtnEvent(_ sender: Any) {
        PermissionsService.shared.requestContactsAccess { [weak self] isGranded in
            DispatchQueue.main.async {
                if isGranded {
                    if #available(iOS 18.0, *) {
                        if CNContactStore.authorizationStatus(for: .contacts) == .limited {
                            // Fetch limited access contacts
                        }
                    } else {
                        // Fallback on earlier versions
                        self?.presentContactPickerViewController()
                    }
                } else {
                    self?.showContactSettingsAlert()
                }
            }
        }
    }

func requestContactsAccess(completion: @escaping (_ granted: Bool) -> Void) {
        let contactStore = CNContactStore()
        let authorizationStatus = CNContactStore.authorizationStatus(for: .contacts)
        switch authorizationStatus {
        case .authorized:
            completion(true)
        case .denied, .restricted:
            completion(false)
        case .limited:
            completion(true)
        case .notDetermined:
            contactStore.requestAccess(for: .contacts) { granted, error in
                if granted {
                    completion(true)
                } else {
                    completion(false)
                }
            }
        @unknown default:
            fatalError()
        }
    }

func presentContactPickerViewController() {
        let contactPicker = CNContactPickerViewController()
        contactPicker.delegate = self
        contactPicker.predicateForEnablingContact = NSPredicate(format: "%K.@count > 0", CNContactPhoneNumbersKey)
        self.present(contactPicker, animated: true, completion: nil)
    }

Answer 1

CNContactPickerViewController and limited contact access are two related, but independent ways of allowing the user to limit an app's access to their contacts.

CNContactPickerViewController allows the app to provide one-time access to a selected contact. Your app doesn't need to request contact access permissions to use it.

Limited contact access provides your app with ongoing access to a selected set of contacts. This provides the user with more control than the "full contact access" permission which grants an app ongoing access to all current and future contacts; A much broader permission than the user may desire.

If you do need ongoing access to a set of contacts and want the user to select one of those contacts then you will need to build your own selection screen.