diff --git a/runtime/launcher.m b/runtime/launcher.m
index e2d3229da274..d0f2a9cc4b07 100644
--- a/runtime/launcher.m
+++ b/runtime/launcher.m
@@ -368,6 +368,8 @@
 	// The launch code here is publicly documented in xamarin/launch.h
 	// The numbers in the comments refer to numbers in xamarin/launch.h.
 
+	xamarin_is_extension = is_extension;
+
 #ifndef SYSTEM_LAUNCHER
 	if (xammac_setup ()) {
 		data->exit_code = -1;
diff --git a/runtime/monotouch-debug.m b/runtime/monotouch-debug.m
index 16afb8ec09fc..77114a642a86 100644
--- a/runtime/monotouch-debug.m
+++ b/runtime/monotouch-debug.m
@@ -561,8 +561,11 @@ void monotouch_configure_debugging ()
 
 #if MONOTOUCH && (defined(__i386__) || defined (__x86_64__))
 	// Try to read shared memory as well
-	key_t shmkey = ftok ("/Library/Frameworks/Xamarin.iOS.framework/Versions/Current/bin/mtouch", 0);
-	if (shmkey == -1) {
+	key_t shmkey;
+	if (!xamarin_is_extension) {
+		// Don't read shared memory in normal apps, because we're always able to pass
+		// the debug data (host/port) using either command-line arguments or environment variables
+	} else if ((shmkey = ftok ("/Library/Frameworks/Xamarin.iOS.framework/Versions/Current/bin/mtouch", 0)) == -1) {
 		LOG (PRODUCT ": Could not create shared memory key: %s\n", strerror (errno));
 	} else {
 		int shmsize = 1024;
diff --git a/runtime/monotouch-main.m b/runtime/monotouch-main.m
index ce486e410f12..81c679bba088 100644
--- a/runtime/monotouch-main.m
+++ b/runtime/monotouch-main.m
@@ -239,6 +239,8 @@ - (void) memoryWarning: (NSNotification *) sender
 	patch_sigaction ();
 #endif
 
+	xamarin_is_extension = is_extension;
+
 	memset (managed_argv, 0, sizeof (char*) * (argc + 2));
 	managed_argv [0] = "monotouch";
 
diff --git a/runtime/runtime.m b/runtime/runtime.m
index cf777cf19600..facae8b32e1e 100644
--- a/runtime/runtime.m
+++ b/runtime/runtime.m
@@ -76,6 +76,7 @@
 #endif
 enum MarshalObjectiveCExceptionMode xamarin_marshal_objectivec_exception_mode = MarshalObjectiveCExceptionModeDefault;
 enum MarshalManagedExceptionMode xamarin_marshal_managed_exception_mode = MarshalManagedExceptionModeDefault;
+bool xamarin_is_extension = false;
 
 /* Callbacks */
 
diff --git a/runtime/xamarin/main.h b/runtime/xamarin/main.h
index 2ef4c7fa83bb..f61b7ab2458c 100644
--- a/runtime/xamarin/main.h
+++ b/runtime/xamarin/main.h
@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@ extern const char *xamarin_arch_name;
 extern bool xamarin_is_gc_coop;
 extern enum MarshalObjectiveCExceptionMode xamarin_marshal_objectivec_exception_mode;
 extern enum MarshalManagedExceptionMode xamarin_marshal_managed_exception_mode;
+extern bool xamarin_is_extension;
 
 #ifdef MONOTOUCH
 extern NSString* xamarin_crashlytics_api_key;