Although most application networking will involve downloading content over standard protocols, such as HTTP(S), and using standard representations, there are times when having a specific data stream protocol is required. In this case, a stream-oriented process will allow individual bytes to be read or written, or a datagram or packet-oriented process can be used to send individual packets of data.

There are networking libraries to support both; an NSStream higher-level Objective-C based class provides a mechanism to drive stream-based responses, and although lower-level packet connections are possible with the CoreFoundation or the POSIX layer, local multiplayer gaming using the MultipeerConnectivity module is often appropriate.