Explore the power of machine learning within apps. Discuss integrating machine learning features, share best practices, and explore the possibilities for your app.

Posts under General subtopic

Post

Replies

Boosts

Views

Activity

Inquiry About Building an App for Object Detection, Background Removal, and Animation
Hi all! Nice to meet you., I am planning to build an iOS application that can: Capture an image using the camera or select one from the gallery. Remove the background and keep only the detected main object. Add a border (outline) around the detected object’s shape. Apply an animation along that border (e.g., moving light or glowing effect). Include a transition animation when removing the background — for example, breaking the background into pieces as it disappears. The app Capword has a similar feature for object isolation, and I’d like to build something like that. Could you please provide any guidance, frameworks, or sample code related to: Object segmentation and background removal in Swift (Vision or Core ML). Applying custom borders and shape animations around detected objects. Recognizing the object name (e.g., “person”, “cat”, “car”) after segmentation. Thank you very much for your support. Best regards, SINN SOKLYHOR
0
0
80
1d
RecognizeDocumentsRequest for receipts
Hi, I'm trying to use the new RecognizeDocumentsRequest from the Vision Framework to read a receipt. It looks very promising by being able to read paragraphs, lines and detect data. So far it unfortunately seems to read every line on the receipt as a paragraph and when there is more space on one line it creates two paragraphs. Is there perhaps an Apple Engineer who knows if this is expected behaviour or if I should file a Feedback for this? Code setup: let request = RecognizeDocumentsRequest() let observations = try await request.perform(on: image) guard let document = observations.first?.document else { return } for paragraph in document.paragraphs { print(paragraph.transcript) for data in paragraph.detectedData { switch data.match.details { case .phoneNumber(let data): print("Phone: \(data)") case .postalAddress(let data): print("Postal: \(data)") case .calendarEvent(let data): print("Calendar: \(data)") case .moneyAmount(let data): print("Money: \(data)") case .measurement(let data): print("Measurement: \(data)") default: continue } } } See attached image as an example of a receipt I'd like to parse. The top 3 lines are the name, street, and postal code + city. These are all separate paragraphs. Checking on detectedData does see the street (2nd line) as PostalAddress, but not the complete address. Might that be a location thing since it's a Dutch address. And lower on the receipt it sees the block with "Pomp 1 95 Ongelood" and the things below also as separate paragraphs. First picking up the left side and after that the right side. So it's something like this: * Pomp 1 Volume Prijs € TOTAAL * BTW Netto 21.00 % 95 Ongelood 41,90 l 1.949/ 1 81.66 € 14.17 67.49
3
1
407
1d
tensorflow-metal fails with tensorflow > 2.18.1
Also submitted as feedback (ID: FB20612561). Tensorflow-metal fails on tensorflow versions above 2.18.1, but works fine on tensorflow 2.18.1 In a new python 3.12 virtual environment: pip install tensorflow pip install tensor flow-metal python -c "import tensorflow as tf" Prints error: Traceback (most recent call last): File "", line 1, in File "/Users//pt/venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/tensorflow/init.py", line 438, in _ll.load_library(_plugin_dir) File "/Users//pt/venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/tensorflow/python/framework/load_library.py", line 151, in load_library py_tf.TF_LoadLibrary(lib) tensorflow.python.framework.errors_impl.NotFoundError: dlopen(/Users//pt/venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/tensorflow-plugins/libmetal_plugin.dylib, 0x0006): Library not loaded: @rpath/_pywrap_tensorflow_internal.so Referenced from: <8B62586B-B082-3113-93AB-FD766A9960AE> /Users//pt/venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/tensorflow-plugins/libmetal_plugin.dylib Reason: tried: '/Users//pt/venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/tensorflow-plugins/../_solib_darwin_arm64/_U@local_Uconfig_Utf_S_S_C_Upywrap_Utensorflow_Uinternal___Uexternal_Slocal_Uconfig_Utf/_pywrap_tensorflow_internal.so' (no such file), '/Users//pt/venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/tensorflow-plugins/../_solib_darwin_arm64/_U@local_Uconfig_Utf_S_S_C_Upywrap_Utensorflow_Uinternal___Uexternal_Slocal_Uconfig_Utf/_pywrap_tensorflow_internal.so' (no such file), '/opt/homebrew/lib/_pywrap_tensorflow_internal.so' (no such file), '/System/Volumes/Preboot/Cryptexes/OS/opt/homebrew/lib/_pywrap_tensorflow_internal.so' (no such file)
5
3
1.4k
2d
no tensorflow-metal past tf 2.18?
Hi We're on tensorflow 2.20 that has support now for python 3.13 (finally!). tensorflow-metal is still only supporting 2.18 which is over a year old. When can we expect to see support in tensorflow-metal for tf 2.20 (or later!) ? I bought a mac thinking I would be able to get great performance from the M processors but here I am using my CPU for my ML projects. If it's taking so long to release it, why not open source it so the community can keep it more up to date? cheers Matt
1
1
243
1w
Where are Huggingface Models, downloaded by Swift MLX apps cached
I'm downloading a fine-tuned model from HuggingFace which is then cached on my Mac when the app first starts. However, I wanted to test adding a progress bar to show the download progress. To test this I need to delete the cached model. From what I've seen online this is cached at /Users/userName/.cache/huggingface/hub However, if I delete the files from here, using Terminal, the app still seems to be able to access the model. Is the model cached somewhere else? On my iPhone it seems deleting the app also deletes the cached model (app data) so that is useful.
0
0
374
2w
Downloading my fine tuned model from huggingface
I have used mlx_lm.lora to fine tune a mistral-7b-v0.3-4bit model with my data. I fused the mistral model with my adapters and upload the fused model to my directory on huggingface. I was able to use mlx_lm.generate to use the fused model in Terminal. However, I don't know how to load the model in Swift. I've used Imports import SwiftUI import MLX import MLXLMCommon import MLXLLM let modelFactory = LLMModelFactory.shared let configuration = ModelConfiguration( id: "pharmpk/pk-mistral-7b-v0.3-4bit" ) // Load the model off the main actor, then assign on the main actor let loaded = try await modelFactory.loadContainer(configuration: configuration) { progress in print("Downloading progress: \(progress.fractionCompleted * 100)%") } await MainActor.run { self.model = loaded } I'm getting an error runModel error: downloadError("A server with the specified hostname could not be found.") Any suggestions? Thanks, David PS, I can load the model from the app bundle // directory: Bundle.main.resourceURL! but it's too big to upload for Testflight
1
0
488
2w
tensorflow-metal
Using Tensorflow for Silicon gives inaccurate results when compared to Google Colab GPU (9-15% differences). Here are my install versions for 4 anaconda env's. I understand the Floating point precision can be an issue, batch size, activation functions but how do you rectify this issue for the past 3 years? 1.) Version TF: 2.12.0, Python 3.10.13, tensorflow-deps: 2.9.0, tensorflow-metal: 1.2.0, h5py: 3.6.0, keras: 2.12.0 2.) Version TF: 2.19.0, Python 3.11.0, tensorflow-metal: 1.2.0, h5py: 3.13.0, keras: 3.9.2, jax: 0.6.0, jax-metal: 0.1.1,jaxlib: 0.6.0, ml_dtypes: 0.5.1 3.) python: 3.10.13,tensorflow: 2.19.0,tensorflow-metal: 1.2.0, h5py: 3.13.0, keras: 3.9.2, ml_dtypes: 0.5.1 4.) Version TF: 2.16.2, tensorflow-deps:2.9.0,Python: 3.10.16, tensorflow-macos 2.16.2, tensorflow-metal: 1.2.0, h5py:3.13.0, keras: 3.9.2, ml_dtypes: 0.3.2 Install of Each ENV with common example: Create ENV: conda create --name TF_Env_V2 --no-default-packages start env: source TF_Env_Name ENV_1.) conda install -c apple tensorflow-deps , conda install tensorflow,pip install tensorflow-metal,conda install ipykernel ENV_2.) conda install pip python==3.11, pip install tensorflow,pip install tensorflow-metal,conda install ipykernel ENV_3) conda install pip python 3.10.13,pip install tensorflow, pip install tensorflow-metal,conda install ipykernel ENV_4) conda install -c apple tensorflow-deps, pip install tensorflow-macos, pip install tensor-metal, conda install ipykernel Example used on all 4 env: import tensorflow as tf cifar = tf.keras.datasets.cifar100 (x_train, y_train), (x_test, y_test) = cifar.load_data() model = tf.keras.applications.ResNet50( include_top=True, weights=None, input_shape=(32, 32, 3), classes=100,) loss_fn = tf.keras.losses.SparseCategoricalCrossentropy(from_logits=False) model.compile(optimizer="adam", loss=loss_fn, metrics=["accuracy"]) model.fit(x_train, y_train, epochs=5, batch_size=64)
5
2
1.1k
2w
Data used for MLX fine-tuning
The WWDC25: Explore large language models on Apple silicon with MLX video talks about using your own data to fine-tune a large language model. But the video doesn't explain what kind of data can be used. The video just shows the command to use and how to point to the data folder. Can I use PDFs, Word documents, Markdown files to train the model? Are there any code examples on GitHub that demonstrate how to do this?
2
0
154
4w
Updated DetectHandPoseRequest revision from WWDC25 doesn't exist
I watched this year WWDC25 "Read Documents using the Vision framework". At the end of video there is mention of new DetectHandPoseRequest model for hand pose detection in Vision API. I looked Apple documentation and I don't see new revision. Moreover probably typo in video because there is only DetectHumanPoseRequst (swift based) and VNDetectHumanHandPoseRequest (obj-c based) (notice lack of Human prefix in WWDC video) First one have revision only added in iOS 18+: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/vision/detecthumanhandposerequest/revision-swift.enum/revision1 Second one have revision only added in iOS14+: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/vision/vndetecthumanhandposerequestrevision1 I don't see any new revision targeting iOS26+
0
0
91
Oct ’25
My Vision for AI and Algorithmically Optimised Operating Systems
Bear with me, please. Please make sure a highly skilled technical person reads and understands this. I want to describe my vision for (AI/Algorithmically) Optimised Operating Systems. To explain it properly, I will describe the process to build it (pseudo). Required Knowledge (no particular order): Processor Logic Circuits, LLM models, LLM tool usage, Python OO coding, Procedural vs OO, NLP fuzzy matching, benchmarking, canvas/artefacts/dynamic HTML interfaces, concepts of how AI models are vastly compressed and miniaturised forms of full data, Algorithmic vs AI. First, take all OO Python code (example) on GitHub (example), then separate each function from each object into its own procedure (procedural logic) by making a logical procedural list of actions to perform only that function based on its entire dependency chain (i.e. all other objects it relies on). Relate all compiled functions using (for example) fuzzy matching on the name, or AI-based functional profiling to get multiple instances of each function. Starting with the most used function, test each one against the others that perform the same task for bugs and completeness. Determine the fastest, most optimal version of that function (and every function). Add a single instance of each most optimal function to the centralised tool codebase, which will later be utilised by the language models. This ensures we rely only on the most optimised function for each and every use case — with every program using one shared instance of that function instead of compiling it separately. In this way, we optimise all existing (Python OO) code based on maximum availability of certain resources. Use the optimised code to teach the AI how to map each user task directly to optimised code (i.e. each user-facing function in unoptimised program code to its optimised version). Later, teach the codebase how to optimise these functions directly to the logic circuits on the processor — as an Operating System — using essentially the same process. Eventually, use the most optimised form for tasks via a dynamic canvas/artefacts UI interface generated by the Start Menu using the language model. Allow custom interfaces to emerge dynamically from the available functions based on language understanding. Grow and optimise the algorithmic codebase until the entire operating system — with versioning — evolves based on the AI-generated user interfaces (compressing them into new versions of the tools codebase). Please don’t give up until you understand this concept completely and nothing in the description is beyond your full comprehension. It’s a highly significant step forward.
3
0
275
Oct ’25
LLM size for fine-tuning using MLX in MacBook
Hi, recently i tried to fine-tune Gemma-2-2b mlx model on my macbook (24 GB UMA). The code started running, after few seconds i saw swap size reaching 50GB and ram around 23 GB and then it stopped. I ran the Gemma-2-2b (cuda) on colab, it ran and occupied 27 GB on A100 gpu and worked fine. Here i didn't experienced swap issue. Now my question is if my UMA was more than 27 GB, i also would not have experienced swap disk issue. Thanks.
1
0
299
Oct ’25
Vision and iOS18 - Failed to create espresso context.
I'm playing with the new Vision API for iOS18, specifically with the new CalculateImageAestheticsScoresRequest API. When I try to perform the image observation request I get this error: internalError("Error Domain=NSOSStatusErrorDomain Code=-1 \"Failed to create espresso context.\" UserInfo={NSLocalizedDescription=Failed to create espresso context.}") The code is pretty straightforward: if let image = image { let request = CalculateImageAestheticsScoresRequest() Task { do { let cgImg = image.cgImage! let observations = try await request.perform(on: cgImg) let description = observations.description let score = observations.overallScore print(description) print(score) } catch { print(error) } } } I'm running it on a M2 using the simulator. Is it a bug? What's wrong?
3
1
1.5k
Sep ’25
videotoolbox superresolution
Hello, I'm using videotoolbox superresolution API in MACOS 26: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/videotoolbox/vtsuperresolutionscalerconfiguration/downloadconfigurationmodel(completionhandler:)?language=objc, when using swift, it's ok, when using objective-c, I get error when downloading model with downloadConfigurationModelWithCompletionHandler: [Auto] MA-auto{_failedLockContent} | failure reported by server | error:[com.apple.MobileAssetError.AutoAsset:MissingReference(6111)] [Auto] MA-auto{_failedLockContent} | failure reported by server | error:[com.apple.MobileAssetError.AutoAsset:UnderlyingError(6107)_1_com.apple.MobileAssetError.Download:47] Download completion handler called with error: The operation couldnxe2x80x99t be completed. (VTFrameProcessorErrorDomain error -19743.)
1
0
246
Sep ’25
Problem running NLContextualEmbeddingModel in simulator
Environment MacOC 26 Xcode Version 26.0 beta 7 (17A5305k) simulator: iPhone 16 pro iOS: iOS 26 Problem NLContextualEmbedding.load() fails with the following error In simulator Failed to load embedding from MIL representation: filesystem error: in create_directories: Permission denied ["/var/db/com.apple.naturallanguaged/com.apple.e5rt.e5bundlecache"] filesystem error: in create_directories: Permission denied ["/var/db/com.apple.naturallanguaged/com.apple.e5rt.e5bundlecache"] Failed to load embedding model 'mul_Latn' - '5C45D94E-BAB4-4927-94B6-8B5745C46289' assetRequestFailed(Optional(Error Domain=NLNaturalLanguageErrorDomain Code=7 "Embedding model requires compilation" UserInfo={NSLocalizedDescription=Embedding model requires compilation})) in #Playground I'm new to this embedding model. Not sure if it's caused by my code or environment. Code snippet import Foundation import NaturalLanguage import Playgrounds #Playground { // Prefer initializing by script for broader coverage; returns NLContextualEmbedding? guard let embeddingModel = NLContextualEmbedding(script: .latin) else { print("Failed to create NLContextualEmbedding") return } print(embeddingModel.hasAvailableAssets) do { try embeddingModel.load() print("Model loaded") } catch { print("Failed to load model: \(error)") } }
0
0
330
Sep ’25
iOS 18 new RecognizedTextRequest DEADLOCKS if more than 2 are run in parallel
Following WWDC24 video "Discover Swift enhancements in the Vision framework" recommendations (cfr video at 10'41"), I used the following code to perform multiple new iOS 18 `RecognizedTextRequest' in parallel. Problem: if more than 2 request are run in parallel, the request will hang, leaving the app in a state where no more requests can be started. -> deadlock I tried other ways to run the requests, but no matter the method employed, or what device I use: no more than 2 requests can ever be run in parallel. func triggerDeadlock() {} try await withThrowingTaskGroup(of: Void.self) { group in // See: WWDC 2024 Discover Siwft enhancements in the Vision framework at 10:41 // ############## THIS IS KEY let maxOCRTasks = 5 // On a real-device, if more than 2 RecognizeTextRequest are launched in parallel using tasks, the request hangs // ############## THIS IS KEY for idx in 0..<maxOCRTasks { let url = ... // URL to some image group.addTask { // Perform OCR let _ = await performOCRRequest(on: url: url) } } var nextIndex = maxOCRTasks for try await _ in group { // Wait for the result of the next child task that finished if nextIndex < pageCount { group.addTask { let url = ... // URL to some image // Perform OCR let _ = await performOCRRequest(on: url: url) } nextIndex += 1 } } } } // MARK: - ASYNC/AWAIT version with iOS 18 @available(iOS 18, *) func performOCRRequest(on url: URL) async throws -> [RecognizedText] { // Create request var request = RecognizeTextRequest() // Single request: no need for ImageRequestHandler // Configure request request.recognitionLevel = .accurate request.automaticallyDetectsLanguage = true request.usesLanguageCorrection = true request.minimumTextHeightFraction = 0.016 // Perform request let textObservations: [RecognizedTextObservation] = try await request.perform(on: url) // Convert [RecognizedTextObservation] to [RecognizedText] return textObservations.compactMap { observation in observation.topCandidates(1).first } } I also found this Swift forums post mentioning something very similar. I also opened a feedback: FB17240843
7
0
224
Aug ’25
SpeechAnalyzer / AssetInventory and preinstalled assets
During testing the “Bringing advanced speech-to-text capabilities to your app” sample app demonstrating the use of iOS 26 SpeechAnalyzer, I noticed that the language model for the English locale was presumably already downloaded. Upon checking the documentation of AssetInventory, I found out that indeed, the language model can be preinstalled on the system. Can someone from the dev team share more info about what assets are preinstalled by the system? For example, can we safely assume that the English language model will almost certainly be already preinstalled by the OS if the phone has the English locale?
1
0
182
Jul ’25
Real Time Text detection using iOS18 RecognizeTextRequest from video buffer returns gibberish
Hey Devs, I'm trying to create my own Real Time Text detection like this Apple project. https://developer.apple.com/documentation/vision/extracting-phone-numbers-from-text-in-images I want to use the new iOS18 RecognizeTextRequest instead of the old VNRecognizeTextRequest in my SwiftUI project. This is my delegate code with the camera setup. I removed region of interest for debugging but I'm trying to scan English words in books. The idea is to get one word in the ROI in the future. But I can't even get proper words so testing without ROI incase my math is wrong. @Observable class CameraManager: NSObject, AVCapturePhotoCaptureDelegate ... override init() { super.init() setUpVisionRequest() } private func setUpVisionRequest() { textRequest = RecognizeTextRequest(.revision3) } ... func setup() -> Bool { captureSession.beginConfiguration() guard let captureDevice = AVCaptureDevice.default( .builtInWideAngleCamera, for: .video, position: .back) else { return false } self.captureDevice = captureDevice guard let deviceInput = try? AVCaptureDeviceInput(device: captureDevice) else { return false } /// Check whether the session can add input. guard captureSession.canAddInput(deviceInput) else { print("Unable to add device input to the capture session.") return false } /// Add the input and output to session captureSession.addInput(deviceInput) /// Configure the video data output videoDataOutput.setSampleBufferDelegate( self, queue: videoDataOutputQueue) if captureSession.canAddOutput(videoDataOutput) { captureSession.addOutput(videoDataOutput) videoDataOutput.connection(with: .video)? .preferredVideoStabilizationMode = .off } else { return false } // Set zoom and autofocus to help focus on very small text do { try captureDevice.lockForConfiguration() captureDevice.videoZoomFactor = 2 captureDevice.autoFocusRangeRestriction = .near captureDevice.unlockForConfiguration() } catch { print("Could not set zoom level due to error: \(error)") return false } captureSession.commitConfiguration() // potential issue with background vs dispatchqueue ?? Task(priority: .background) { captureSession.startRunning() } return true } } // Issue here ??? extension CameraManager: AVCaptureVideoDataOutputSampleBufferDelegate { func captureOutput( _ output: AVCaptureOutput, didOutput sampleBuffer: CMSampleBuffer, from connection: AVCaptureConnection ) { guard let pixelBuffer = CMSampleBufferGetImageBuffer(sampleBuffer) else { return } Task { textRequest.recognitionLevel = .fast textRequest.recognitionLanguages = [Locale.Language(identifier: "en-US")] do { let observations = try await textRequest.perform(on: pixelBuffer) for observation in observations { let recognizedText = observation.topCandidates(1).first print("recognized text \(recognizedText)") } } catch { print("Recognition error: \(error.localizedDescription)") } } } } The results I get look like this ( full page of English from a any book) recognized text Optional(RecognizedText(string: e bnUI W4, confidence: 0.5)) recognized text Optional(RecognizedText(string: ?'U, confidence: 0.3)) recognized text Optional(RecognizedText(string: traQt4, confidence: 0.3)) recognized text Optional(RecognizedText(string: li, confidence: 0.3)) recognized text Optional(RecognizedText(string: 15,1,#, confidence: 0.3)) recognized text Optional(RecognizedText(string: jllÈ, confidence: 0.3)) recognized text Optional(RecognizedText(string: vtrll, confidence: 0.3)) recognized text Optional(RecognizedText(string: 5,1,: 11, confidence: 0.5)) recognized text Optional(RecognizedText(string: 1141, confidence: 0.3)) recognized text Optional(RecognizedText(string: jllll ljiiilij41, confidence: 0.3)) recognized text Optional(RecognizedText(string: 2f4, confidence: 0.3)) recognized text Optional(RecognizedText(string: ktril, confidence: 0.3)) recognized text Optional(RecognizedText(string: ¥LLI, confidence: 0.3)) recognized text Optional(RecognizedText(string: 11[Itl,, confidence: 0.3)) recognized text Optional(RecognizedText(string: 'rtlÈ131, confidence: 0.3)) Even with ROI set to a specific rectangle Normalized to Vision, I get the same results with single characters returning gibberish. Any help would be amazing thank you. Am I using the buffer right ? Am I using the new perform(on: CVPixelBuffer) right ? Maybe I didn't set up my camera properly? I can provide code
1
0
308
Jul ’25
AttributedString in App Intents
In this WWDC25 session, it is explictely mentioned that apps should support AttributedString for text parameters to their App Intents. However, I have not gotten this to work. Whenever I pass rich text (either generated by the new "Use Model" intent or generated manually for example using "Make Rich Text from Markdown"), my Intent gets an AttributedString with the correct characters, but with all attributes stripped (so in effect just plain text). struct TestIntent: AppIntent { static var title = LocalizedStringResource(stringLiteral: "Test Intent") static var description = IntentDescription("Tests Attributed Strings in Intent Parameters.") @Parameter var text: AttributedString func perform() async throws -> some IntentResult & ReturnsValue<AttributedString> { return .result(value: text) } } Is there anything else I am missing?
0
0
204
Jul ’25