Local Network access - Not working and duplicate app toggles

I just ran across a post on the Apple Developer forums that referenced this issue and included an interesting statement. See entry #16 in this FAQ list: Local Network Privacy FAQ | Apple Developer Forums

It turns out that most Apple developers have no idea of how Apple views its own platforms. Apple thinks in terms of "API". If you're not using an official API, then there is no guarantee that anything will work. It may stop working at any time and for any reason. Most often, this will manifest itself as, "I updated macOS and now X app stopped working. This is an Apple bug!". No, it's not an Apple bug. The programmer made an incorrect assumption based on their experiences with other operating systems that kind of look similar.

Is this a bug in your own app? Maybe contact Apple Developer support then.

As far as I'm aware, this is exclusively a bug in Chrome and similar apps, most likely due to their constant and incorrect auto-update methods. I wasn't aware that any other app was having this problem.

Owl303 wrote:

Can you tell me more about the "incorrect auto-update methods"? Our app has been live for years, and we did not have this issue until recently. Thanks!

That's just my guess about what's most likely to cause the problem. Could be some other cause. I don't use Chrome or similar apps, so I've never seen it. I don't know anything about your app, so I can't comment on it.

Here are a few bug reports from Chrome:

https://issues.chromium.org/issues/346505950

https://issues.chromium.org/issues/380367775

https://issues.chromium.org/issues/376742636

Unfortunately, they're convinced that it's a bug in macOS, a bug that seems to only affect Chrome. If you're seeing it in your own app, perhaps you and the Chrome folks could compare notes.