diff --git a/.github/workflows/macos.yml b/.github/workflows/macos.yml
index 5766b18363..a3958820c9 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/macos.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/macos.yml
@@ -239,7 +239,7 @@ jobs:
 
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
 
-      - run: cmake -B build -DCMAKE_UNITY_BUILD=ON -DCURL_WERROR=ON ${{ matrix.build.generate }}
+      - run: cmake -B build -DCMAKE_UNITY_BUILD=ON -DCURL_WERROR=ON -DUSE_APPLE_IDN=ON ${{ matrix.build.generate }}
         name: 'cmake generate'
 
       - run: cmake --build build --parallel 3
diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 4cc8a9d2e2..51b4aa3654 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -899,6 +899,21 @@ if(WIN32)
   endif()
 endif()
 
+if(APPLE)
+  option(USE_APPLE_IDN "Use Apple built-in IDN support" OFF)
+  if(USE_APPLE_IDN)
+    cmake_push_check_state()
+    set(CMAKE_REQUIRED_LIBRARIES "icucore")
+    check_symbol_exists("uidna_openUTS46" "unicode/uidna.h" HAVE_APPLE_IDN)
+    cmake_pop_check_state()
+    if(HAVE_APPLE_IDN)
+      list(APPEND CURL_LIBS "icucore")
+    else()
+      set(USE_APPLE_IDN OFF)
+    endif()
+  endif()
+endif()
+
 #libpsl
 option(CURL_USE_LIBPSL "Use libPSL" ON)
 mark_as_advanced(CURL_USE_LIBPSL)
@@ -1600,7 +1615,7 @@ if(NOT CURL_DISABLE_INSTALL)
   _add_if("brotli"        HAVE_BROTLI)
   _add_if("zstd"          HAVE_ZSTD)
   _add_if("AsynchDNS"     USE_ARES OR USE_THREADS_POSIX OR USE_THREADS_WIN32)
-  _add_if("IDN"           HAVE_LIBIDN2 OR USE_WIN32_IDN)
+  _add_if("IDN"           HAVE_LIBIDN2 OR USE_WIN32_IDN OR USE_APPLE_IDN)
   _add_if("Largefile"     (SIZEOF_CURL_OFF_T GREATER 4) AND
                           ((SIZEOF_OFF_T GREATER 4) OR USE_WIN32_LARGE_FILES))
   _add_if("SSPI"          USE_WINDOWS_SSPI)
diff --git a/docs/TODO b/docs/TODO
index 159e2e8753..e5bf092433 100644
--- a/docs/TODO
+++ b/docs/TODO
@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@
  1.3 struct lifreq
  1.4 Better and more sharing
  1.5 get rid of PATH_MAX
- 1.6 native IDN support on macOS
  1.8 CURLOPT_RESOLVE for any port number
  1.9 Cache negative name resolves
  1.10 auto-detect proxy
@@ -251,16 +250,6 @@
  there we need libssh2 to properly tell us when we pass in a too small buffer
  and its current API (as of libssh2 1.2.7) does not.
 
-1.6 native IDN support on macOS
-
- On recent macOS versions, the getaddrinfo() function itself has built-in IDN
- support. By setting the AI_CANONNAME flag, the function will return the
- encoded name in the ai_canonname struct field in the returned information.
- This could be used by curl on macOS when built without a separate IDN library
- and an IDN host name is used in a URL.
-
- See initial work in https://github.com/curl/curl/pull/5371
-
 1.8 CURLOPT_RESOLVE for any port number
 
  This option allows applications to set a replacement IP address for a given
diff --git a/lib/curl_config.h.cmake b/lib/curl_config.h.cmake
index 11b0cb54fd..5d394675d2 100644
--- a/lib/curl_config.h.cmake
+++ b/lib/curl_config.h.cmake
@@ -794,6 +794,9 @@ ${SIZEOF_TIME_T_CODE}
 /* to enable Windows IDN */
 #cmakedefine USE_WIN32_IDN 1
 
+/* to enable Apple IDN */
+#cmakedefine USE_APPLE_IDN 1
+
 /* Define to 1 to enable websocket support. */
 #cmakedefine USE_WEBSOCKETS 1
 
diff --git a/lib/curl_setup.h b/lib/curl_setup.h
index 620680b54f..5dd94b3c79 100644
--- a/lib/curl_setup.h
+++ b/lib/curl_setup.h
@@ -649,13 +649,14 @@
 
 /* ---------------------------------------------------------------- */
 
-#if defined(HAVE_LIBIDN2) && defined(HAVE_IDN2_H) && !defined(USE_WIN32_IDN)
+#if defined(HAVE_LIBIDN2) && defined(HAVE_IDN2_H) && \
+  !defined(USE_WIN32_IDN) && !defined(USE_APPLE_IDN)
 /* The lib and header are present */
 #define USE_LIBIDN2
 #endif
 
-#if defined(USE_LIBIDN2) && defined(USE_WIN32_IDN)
-#error "Both libidn2 and WinIDN are enabled, choose one."
+#if defined(USE_LIBIDN2) && (defined(USE_WIN32_IDN) || defined(USE_APPLE_IDN))
+#error "libidn2 cannot be enabled with WinIDN or AppleIDN, choose one."
 #endif
 
 #define LIBIDN_REQUIRED_VERSION "0.4.1"
diff --git a/lib/idn.c b/lib/idn.c
index 3890b0b06b..c795672544 100644
--- a/lib/idn.c
+++ b/lib/idn.c
@@ -50,6 +50,63 @@
 #include "curl_memory.h"
 #include "memdebug.h"
 
+/* for macOS and iOS targets */
+#if defined(USE_APPLE_IDN)
+#include <unicode/uidna.h>
+
+static CURLcode mac_idn_to_ascii(const char *in, char **out)
+{
+  UErrorCode err = U_ZERO_ERROR;
+  UIDNA* idna = uidna_openUTS46(UIDNA_CHECK_BIDI, &err);
+  if(U_FAILURE(err)) {
+    return CURLE_OUT_OF_MEMORY;
+  }
+  else {
+    UIDNAInfo info = UIDNA_INFO_INITIALIZER;
+    char buffer[256] = {0};
+    (void)uidna_nameToASCII_UTF8(idna, in, -1, buffer,
+      sizeof(buffer), &info, &err);
+    uidna_close(idna);
+    if(U_FAILURE(err)) {
+      return CURLE_URL_MALFORMAT;
+    }
+    else {
+      *out = strdup(buffer);
+      if(*out)
+        return CURLE_OK;
+      else
+        return CURLE_OUT_OF_MEMORY;
+    }
+  }
+}
+
+static CURLcode mac_ascii_to_idn(const char *in, char **out)
+{
+  UErrorCode err = U_ZERO_ERROR;
+  UIDNA* idna = uidna_openUTS46(UIDNA_CHECK_BIDI, &err);
+  if(U_FAILURE(err)) {
+    return CURLE_OUT_OF_MEMORY;
+  }
+  else {
+    UIDNAInfo info = UIDNA_INFO_INITIALIZER;
+    char buffer[256] = {0};
+    (void)uidna_nameToUnicodeUTF8(idna, in, -1, buffer,
+      sizeof(buffer), &info, &err);
+    uidna_close(idna);
+    if(U_FAILURE(err)) {
+      return CURLE_URL_MALFORMAT;
+    }
+    else {
+      *out = strdup(buffer);
+      if(*out)
+        return CURLE_OK;
+      else
+        return CURLE_OUT_OF_MEMORY;
+    }
+  }
+}
+#endif
+
 #ifdef USE_WIN32_IDN
 /* using Windows kernel32 and normaliz libraries. */
 
@@ -181,6 +238,8 @@ static CURLcode idn_decode(const char *input, char **output)
     result = CURLE_NOT_BUILT_IN;
 #elif defined(USE_WIN32_IDN)
   result = win32_idn_to_ascii(input, &decoded);
+#elif defined(USE_APPLE_IDN)
+  result = mac_idn_to_ascii(input, &decoded);
 #endif
   if(!result)
     *output = decoded;
@@ -198,6 +257,10 @@ static CURLcode idn_encode(const char *puny, char **output)
   CURLcode result = win32_ascii_to_idn(puny, &enc);
   if(result)
     return result;
+#elif defined(USE_APPLE_IDN)
+  CURLcode result = mac_ascii_to_idn(puny, &enc);
+  if(result)
+    return result;
 #endif
   *output = enc;
   return CURLE_OK;
diff --git a/lib/idn.h b/lib/idn.h
index e75124ef9f..2bdce8927f 100644
--- a/lib/idn.h
+++ b/lib/idn.h
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@
 
 bool Curl_is_ASCII_name(const char *hostname);
 CURLcode Curl_idnconvert_hostname(struct hostname *host);
-#if defined(USE_LIBIDN2) || defined(USE_WIN32_IDN)
+#if defined(USE_LIBIDN2) || defined(USE_WIN32_IDN) || defined(USE_APPLE_IDN)
 #define USE_IDN
 void Curl_free_idnconverted_hostname(struct hostname *host);
 CURLcode Curl_idn_decode(const char *input, char **output);
diff --git a/lib/version.c b/lib/version.c
index 257c1fedbf..66371923a7 100644
--- a/lib/version.c
+++ b/lib/version.c
@@ -209,6 +209,8 @@ char *curl_version(void)
   src[i++] = idn_version;
 #elif defined(USE_WIN32_IDN)
   src[i++] = (char *)"WinIDN";
+#elif defined(USE_APPLE_IDN)
+  src[i++] = (char *)"AppleIDN";
 #endif
 
 #ifdef USE_LIBPSL
@@ -475,7 +477,7 @@ static const struct feat features_table[] = {
   !defined(CURL_DISABLE_HTTP)
   FEATURE("HTTPS-proxy", https_proxy_present, CURL_VERSION_HTTPS_PROXY),
 #endif
-#if defined(USE_LIBIDN2) || defined(USE_WIN32_IDN)
+#if defined(USE_LIBIDN2) || defined(USE_WIN32_IDN) || defined(USE_APPLE_IDN)
   FEATURE("IDN",         idn_present,         CURL_VERSION_IDN),
 #endif
 #ifdef USE_IPV6
diff --git a/tests/libtest/lib1560.c b/tests/libtest/lib1560.c
index 1509c76a7f..2f7c76a433 100644
--- a/tests/libtest/lib1560.c
+++ b/tests/libtest/lib1560.c
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@
  */
 
 #include "test.h"
-#if defined(USE_LIBIDN2) || defined(USE_WIN32_IDN)
+#if defined(USE_LIBIDN2) || defined(USE_WIN32_IDN) || defined(USE_APPLE_IDN)
 #define USE_IDN
 #endif