ManagedSettings applicationCategories to applications

The ManagedSettingsStore only reports back the settings that have been set by your authorized application. So for example, if the application sets the .all() policy for store.shield.applicationCategories (like so store.shield.applicationCategories = .all()), then the store will report back that it has set it the .all() policy when queried again. Similarly, if the app doesn't set the value of store.shield.applications, then the store will also not report anything back when queried.

Both the shield.applicationCategories and shield.applications are separate settings that work in tandem to allow authorized applications to shield apps. shield.applicationCategories lets the authorized application shield other applications based on their category with specific exceptions, whereas shield.applications allows it to shield specific applications instead of by category.

In order to get a list of installed applications on the device, as well as generate ApplicationTokens, the authorized application can use the FamilyActivityPicker, to allow users to make the selection they desire while maintaining their privacy. The selected applications will be stored in the FamilyActivitySelection object used to initiate the picker (be sure to use init(includeEntireCategory: true) if you'd like all application tokens in a category if the category is selected).

I should also note that an instance of a ManagedSettingsStore cannot cause another store to be less restrictive. For example, if you have a store (store1) that sets store1.shield.applicationCategories = .all(), no matter what you set in store2, it cannot cause the policy to be less restrictive than .all(), since that's the most restrictive policy we have for shield.applicationCategories. So in order to block all apps except for apps that the user selects, it should all be done in a single store in a single policy like so:

let exceptions = selection.applicationTokens // apps selected in FamilyActivityPicker
store.shield.applicationCategories = .all(except:exceptions)

I created 2 stores:

First store using .all(except:exceptions) and second using specific(categories). As soon as I create second store with non overlapping items, it starts conflicting with the first store. I see a shield on the exceptions passed in First store.