Ios – Core Data viewContext not receiving updates from newBackgroundContext() with NSFetchedResultsController

iOS 9 and later:

iOS 9 added a new class called NSBatchDeleteRequest that allows you to easily delete objects matching a predicate without having to load them all in to memory. Here's how you'd use it:

Swift 5

let fetchRequest: NSFetchRequest<NSFetchRequestResult> = NSFetchRequest(entityName: "Car")
let deleteRequest = NSBatchDeleteRequest(fetchRequest: fetchRequest)

do {
    try myPersistentStoreCoordinator.execute(deleteRequest, with: myContext)
} catch let error as NSError {
    // TODO: handle the error
}

Objective-C

NSFetchRequest *request = [[NSFetchRequest alloc] initWithEntityName:@"Car"];
NSBatchDeleteRequest *delete = [[NSBatchDeleteRequest alloc] initWithFetchRequest:request];

NSError *deleteError = nil;
[myPersistentStoreCoordinator executeRequest:delete withContext:myContext error:&deleteError];

More information about batch deletions can be found in the "What's New in Core Data" session from WWDC 2015 (starting at ~14:10).

iOS 8 and earlier:

Fetch 'em all and delete 'em all:

NSFetchRequest *allCars = [[NSFetchRequest alloc] init];
[allCars setEntity:[NSEntityDescription entityForName:@"Car" inManagedObjectContext:myContext]];
[allCars setIncludesPropertyValues:NO]; //only fetch the managedObjectID

NSError *error = nil;
NSArray *cars = [myContext executeFetchRequest:allCars error:&error];
[allCars release];
//error handling goes here
for (NSManagedObject *car in cars) {
  [myContext deleteObject:car];
}
NSError *saveError = nil;
[myContext save:&saveError];
//more error handling here

Are you getting any delegate call backs from the NSFetchedResultsController? If not then this may be a bug with the NSFetchedResultsController itself. I would recommend creating a test project that can confirm/deny this issue in isolation.

If you can duplicate it in isolation;

1. I would love to see it :)
2. File a radar with Apple.

After reviewing the code, the answer is to change your notification observer from NSManagedObjectContextWillSaveNotification to NSManagedObjectContextDidSaveNotification. You were sending the message just before the save occurred which was causing your issues.