Can't search app store while using Charles Proxy as proxy server

Question

I'm using Charles on a Macbook Air to monitor wi-fi traffic on my iPhone. I have the Charles certificate installed and https traffic from my phone is showing up in the results. All good!

Only problem I'm having is that when I open the App Store app on my phone, I cannot use the search feature to find apps. When I enter some search terms, it just keeps spinning and never producing any results. Under the proxy settings in Charles, I added a few apple websites to bypass like mzstatic, phobos, anything.apple, but no luck. The phone still gets hung up searching for apps.

Any idea why Charles would shut down an App Store search? Thanks!

Answer 1

If you've set up the phone with the correct Charles certificate it may be that the App Store App is using Certificate Pinning - much like Facebook. Certificate pinning prevents the usage of even a trusted proxy like Charles from monitoring their traffic.

Answer 2

For some reason, Apple blocks the App Store of being opened while using proxy listener.

The solution is pretty simple: Proxy -> Recording Settings -> "Exclude" tab -> Add "*.apple.com" (or "itunes.apple.com", to be more specific).

In addition, make sure that under Proxy -> SSL Proxying Settings -> "SSL Proxying" tab, ":" or any domain including "apple.com" isn't there.

Now those network calls won't be recorded in Charles, but will open and work as usual.

Answer 3

As of February 21, 2021, I can browse the App Store with the following settings.

Proxy > SSL Proxy Settings... > SSL Proxying

Exclude

• *.apple.com
• *.mzstatic.com