My workout watch app supports audio playback during exercise sessions.
When users carry both Apple Watch, iPhone, and AirPods, with AirPods connected to the iPhone, I want to route audio from Apple Watch to AirPods for playback. I've implemented this functionality using the following code.
try? session.setCategory(.playback, mode: .default, policy: .longFormAudio, options: [])
try await session.activate()
When users are playing music on iPhone and trigger my code in the watch app, Apple Watch correctly guides users to select
AirPods, pauses the iPhone's music, and plays my audio.
However, when playback finishes and I end the session using the code below:
try session.setActive(false, options:[.notifyOthersOnDeactivation])
the iPhone
doesn't automatically resume the previously interrupted music playback—it requires manual intervention.
Is this expected behavior, or am I missing other important steps in my code?
Audio
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Is there any feasible way to get a Core Audio device's system effect status (Voice Isolation, Wide Spectrum)?
AVCaptureDevice provides convenience properties for system effects for video devices. I need to get this status for Core Audio input devices.
I've got a problem with my app where I'm testing it on my own phone.
I'm using audio kit to generate tones as part of the app. Everything seems to work fine. Sounds start, Stop, etc. They play when the app is closed and when the phone is locked, so background is working.
However, I'm seeing an issue where, even when STOP is pressed and the application exited, if I get a notification such as a text message, the base tone for the app starts to play.
If I then open the app, check the Start/Stop button - it says start so that. hasnt' been activated. If I click Start, then a 2nd tone starts. This one stops with the Stop button. However the original tone that was set off by an incoming message carries on playing.
Until I go to the Open Apps View on the phone and slide the application upwards.
For the life of me, I can't figure out whats happening here.
Hi, everyone, I downloaded the source code EditingSpatialAudioWithAnAudioMix.zip from https://developer.apple.com/documentation/Cinematic/editing-spatial-audio-with-an-audio-mix, when I carried out one of the actions named "process" in command line the program crashed!!
Form the source code, I found that the value of componentType is set to kAudioUnitType_FormatConverter:
// The actual `AudioUnit`.
public var auAudioMix = AVAudioUnitEffect()
init() {
// Generate a component description for the audio unit.
let componentDescription = AudioComponentDescription(
componentType: kAudioUnitType_FormatConverter,
componentSubType: kAudioUnitSubType_AUAudioMix,
componentManufacturer: kAudioUnitManufacturer_Apple,
componentFlags: 0,
componentFlagsMask: 0)
auAudioMix=AVAudioUnitEffect(audioComponentDescription: componentDescription)
}
But in the document from https://developer.apple.com/documentation/avfaudio/avaudiouniteffect/init(audiocomponentdescription:), it seems that componentType can not be set to kAudioUnitType_FormatConverter and :
Has everyone encountered this problem?
iOS 26.0 (23A5276f) – Bluetooth Call Audio Issue
I’m experiencing a Bluetooth audio issue on iOS 26.0 (build 23A5276f). I cannot make or receive phone calls properly using Bluetooth devices — this affects both my car’s Bluetooth system and my AirPods Pro (2nd generation).
Notably:
Regular phone calls have no audio (either I can’t hear the other person, or they can’t hear me).
WhatsApp and other VoIP apps work fine with the same Bluetooth devices.
Media playback (music, video, etc.) works without issues over Bluetooth.
It seems this bug is limited to the native Phone app or the system audio routing for regular cellular calls. Please advise if this is a known issue or if a fix is expected in upcoming beta releases.
Since the last update to IOS 26.0 (23A5276f) the AirPods connect to my IPhone and the Audio is still running through the phone. They are shown in the Bluetooth Icon that they’re paired.
Topic:
Media Technologies
SubTopic:
Audio
I am trying to stream audio from local filesystem.
For that, I am trying to use an AVAssetResourceLoaderDelegate for an AVURLAsset. However, Content-Length is not known at the start. To overcome this, I tried several methods:
Set content length as nil, in the AVAssetResourceLoadingContentInformationRequest
Set content length to -1, in the ContentInformationRequest
Both of these cause the AVPlayerItem to fail with an error.
I also tried setting Content-Length as INT_MAX, and setting a renewalDate = Date(timeIntervalSinceNow: 5). However, that seems to be buggy. Even after updating the Content-Length to the correct value (e.g. X bytes) and finishing that loading request, the resource loader keeps getting requests with requestedOffset = X with dataRequest.requestsAllDataToEndOfResource = true. These requests keep coming indefinitely, and as a result it seems that the next item in the queue does not get played. Also, .AVPlayerItemDidPlayToEndTime notification does not get called.
I wanted to check if this is an expected behavior or is there a bug in this implementation. Also, what is the recommended way to stream audio of unknown initial length from local file system?
Thanks!
I have a simple AVAudioEngine graph as follows:
AVAudioPlayerNode -> AVAudioUnitEQ -> AVAudioUnitTimePitch -> AVAudioUnitReverb -> Main mixer node of AVAudioEngine.
I noticed that whenever I have AVAudioUnitTimePitch or AVAudioUnitVarispeed in the graph, I noticed a very distinct crackling/popping sound in my Airpods Pro 2 when starting up the engine and playing the AVAudioPlayerNode and unable to find the reason why this is happening. When I remove the node, the crackling completely goes away. How do I fix this problem since i need the user to be able to control the pitch and rate of the audio during playback.
import AVKit
@Observable @MainActor
class AudioEngineManager {
nonisolated private let engine = AVAudioEngine()
private let playerNode = AVAudioPlayerNode()
private let reverb = AVAudioUnitReverb()
private let pitch = AVAudioUnitTimePitch()
private let eq = AVAudioUnitEQ(numberOfBands: 10)
private var audioFile: AVAudioFile?
private var fadePlayPauseTask: Task<Void, Error>?
private var playPauseCurrentFadeTime: Double = 0
init() {
setupAudioEngine()
}
private func setupAudioEngine() {
guard let url = Bundle.main.url(forResource: "Song name goes here", withExtension: "mp3") else {
print("Audio file not found")
return
}
do {
audioFile = try AVAudioFile(forReading: url)
} catch {
print("Failed to load audio file: \(error)")
return
}
reverb.loadFactoryPreset(.mediumHall)
reverb.wetDryMix = 50
pitch.pitch = 0 // Increase pitch by 500 cents (5 semitones)
engine.attach(playerNode)
engine.attach(pitch)
engine.attach(reverb)
engine.attach(eq)
// Connect: player -> pitch -> reverb -> output
engine.connect(playerNode, to: eq, format: audioFile?.processingFormat)
engine.connect(eq, to: pitch, format: audioFile?.processingFormat)
engine.connect(pitch, to: reverb, format: audioFile?.processingFormat)
engine.connect(reverb, to: engine.mainMixerNode, format: audioFile?.processingFormat)
}
func prepare() {
guard let audioFile else { return }
playerNode.scheduleFile(audioFile, at: nil)
}
func play() {
DispatchQueue.global().async { [weak self] in
guard let self else { return }
engine.prepare()
try? engine.start()
DispatchQueue.main.async { [weak self] in
guard let self else { return }
playerNode.play()
fadePlayPauseTask?.cancel()
playPauseCurrentFadeTime = 0
fadePlayPauseTask = Task { [weak self] in
guard let self else { return }
while true {
let volume = updateVolume(for: playPauseCurrentFadeTime / 0.1, rising: true)
// Ramp up volume until 1 is reached
if volume >= 1 { break }
engine.mainMixerNode.outputVolume = volume
try await Task.sleep(for: .milliseconds(10))
playPauseCurrentFadeTime += 0.01
}
engine.mainMixerNode.outputVolume = 1
}
}
}
}
func pause() {
fadePlayPauseTask?.cancel()
playPauseCurrentFadeTime = 0
fadePlayPauseTask = Task { [weak self] in
guard let self else { return }
while true {
let volume = updateVolume(for: playPauseCurrentFadeTime / 0.1, rising: false)
// Ramp down volume until 0 is reached
if volume <= 0 { break }
engine.mainMixerNode.outputVolume = volume
try await Task.sleep(for: .milliseconds(10))
playPauseCurrentFadeTime += 0.01
}
engine.mainMixerNode.outputVolume = 0
playerNode.pause()
// Shut down engine once ramp down completes
DispatchQueue.global().async { [weak self] in
guard let self else { return }
engine.pause()
}
}
}
private func updateVolume(for x: Double, rising: Bool) -> Float {
if rising {
// Fade in
return Float(pow(x, 2) * (3.0 - 2.0 * (x)))
} else {
// Fade out
return Float(1 - (pow(x, 2) * (3.0 - 2.0 * (x))))
}
}
func setPitch(_ value: Float) {
pitch.pitch = value
}
func setReverbMix(_ value: Float) {
reverb.wetDryMix = value
}
}
struct ContentView: View {
@State private var audioManager = AudioEngineManager()
@State private var pitch: Float = 0
@State private var reverb: Float = 0
var body: some View {
VStack(spacing: 20) {
Text("🎵 Audio Player with Reverb & Pitch")
.font(.title2)
HStack {
Button("Prepare") {
audioManager.prepare()
}
Button("Play") {
audioManager.play()
}
.padding()
.background(Color.green)
.foregroundColor(.white)
.cornerRadius(10)
Button("Pause") {
audioManager.pause()
}
.padding()
.background(Color.red)
.foregroundColor(.white)
.cornerRadius(10)
}
VStack {
Text("Pitch: \(Int(pitch)) cents")
Slider(value: $pitch, in: -2400...2400, step: 100) { _ in
audioManager.setPitch(pitch)
}
}
VStack {
Text("Reverb Mix: \(Int(reverb))%")
Slider(value: $reverb, in: 0...100, step: 1) { _ in
audioManager.setReverbMix(reverb)
}
}
}
.padding()
}
}
AVAudioFormat has no Swift concurrency annotations but the documentation states "Instances of this class are immutable."
This made me always assume it was safe to pass AVAudioFormat instances around. Is this the case? If so can it be marked as Sendable? Am I missing something?
Hi everyone,
I'm running into an issue with AVAudioRecorder when handling interruptions such as phone calls or alarms.
Problem:
When the app is recording audio and an interruption occurs:
I handle the interruption with audioRecorder?.pause() inside AVAudioSession.interruptionNotification (on .began).
On .ended, I check for .shouldResume and call audioRecorder?.record() again.
The recorder resumes successfully, but only the audio recorded after the interruption is saved. The audio recorded before the interruption is lost, even though I'm using the same file URL and not recreating the recorder.
Repro:
Start a recording with AVAudioRecorder
Simulate a system interruption (e.g., incoming call)
Resume recording after the interruption
Stop and inspect the output audio file
Expected: Full audio (before and after interruption) should be saved.
Actual: Only the audio after interruption is saved; the earlier part is missing
Notes:
According to the documentation, calling .record() after .pause() should resume recording into the same file.
I confirmed that the file URL does not change, and I do not recreate the recorder instance.
No error is thrown by the system during this process.
This behavior happens consistently when the app is interrupted and resumed.
Question:
Is this a known issue? Is there a recommended workaround for preserving the full recording when interruptions happen?
Thanks in advance!
Hello!
I've two mics connected to a USB-hub. The USB-hub is then connected to my iPad. Both mics are part of the audio session's list of available inputs.
The problem is that regardless of which mic I select in my app (using setPreferredInput() on the audio session), the audio keeps coming from the mic that was last connected to the USB-hub.
Anyone that knows if this is a limitation in iPadOS/iOS?
Topic:
Media Technologies
SubTopic:
Audio
The AVB AVnu MILAN Convention has a groweing Population. Many big companies (Cisco, Meyer Sound, d&b Audio, l‘acoustics, Presonus, digico etc.) implements the AVB AVnu Milan Standards. Is there a plan on the Apple side to also implement AVnu Milan on top of the AVB Protocol?
The advantage for Apple Sound would be a great Integration in the professionell Audio market and a more stable intergration on top of the AVB protocol. The atdecc work, but Not that stable.
Topic:
Media Technologies
SubTopic:
Audio
Feature Request: Long-Lived Access to Personal Apple Music Data
Use Case Summary
I'm developing a personal portfolio website (using Nuxt) and want to display information from my own Apple Music library - showcasing personal playlists, recently played tracks, or a read-only "now playing" widget. This is purely for personal use on my website and doesn't require other users to log in.
With Spotify's API, implementing this was straightforward thanks to automatic token refresh. I want a similarly seamless integration with Apple Music.
Challenge with MusicKit and Music User Tokens
Apple Music API requirements
Apple's Music API requires a valid Music User Token (MUT) for requests involving personal library data. Beyond the Apple Developer Token, you must obtain a user-specific token via MusicKit authentication to access your own library playlists, play history, or current playback status.
Token expiration and manual renewal
Music User Tokens expire after approximately 6 months without any mechanism to automatically refresh or renew them - unlike typical OAuth flows that provide refresh tokens. Apple's guidance suggests the device (e.g., iPhone) is responsible for obtaining new user tokens when old ones expire. This works for interactive apps on Apple devices but fails in server-side or long-lived web contexts like a personal website widget.
Impact on personal projects
Displaying Apple Music data on a public-facing site becomes difficult. I would need to periodically re-authenticate through the MusicKit JS flow every few months just to keep a widget alive. Embedding credentials in a public site is insecure, and manual token refreshing is cumbersome and easy to forget.
Comparison to Spotify's Token Model
Spotify's API offers a developer-friendly authentication model. Their OAuth flow provides a Refresh Token that applications can use to obtain new access tokens automatically without requiring user re-authorization. This means a personal app can maintain continuous access to a user's Spotify data for extended periods until access is revoked.
When building a similar feature with Spotify, this automatic token renewal was crucial. I could safely store the refresh token on my server and have my app periodically update the access token. Many developers have created public-facing widgets showing currently playing tracks on blogs or GitHub profiles using this model. Unfortunately, Apple Music's API lacks an equivalent capability, putting it at a disadvantage for personal projects.
Proposed Solutions
I request Apple's consideration for one of these enhancements:
Provide a mechanism to refresh or extend a Music User Token programmatically for server-side applications. This could be an OAuth-style refresh token issued alongside the MUT, or a dedicated endpoint to exchange an expired MUT for a new one. This would enable renewal without a full user re-auth/login each time.
Allow developers to access their own Apple Music library data with just the long-lived Developer Token. Apple could permit GET requests to personal library endpoints using the Developer Token alone, or a special token tied to the developer's Apple ID. This access would be read-only - no ability to modify the library, purely for retrieving data. It could be an opt-in feature in the Apple Developer account settings.
Either solution would significantly improve the developer experience for Apple Music API in personal projects.
Security and Privacy Considerations
This request is not about accessing others' data or creating privacy loopholes - it's about empowering an Apple Music subscriber to access their own information more conveniently. The proposed options respect privacy principles:
The data accessed is only what the user already has access to - their own playlists, library items, or playback status.
An automatic token refresh can be designed securely (revocable tokens bound to a single account with no increase in permissions).
Read-only developer token access could be restricted to non-sensitive data and require explicit opt-in.
Conclusion
I request an improvement to Apple Music's developer experience through either (1) an automatic Music User Token refresh mechanism, or (2) a provision for read-only personal library access using a Developer Token. This would bring Apple Music integration capabilities closer to parity with services like Spotify for personal projects.
I ask Apple's Developer Relations and the Apple Music API team to consider this feature request. If there are existing best practices or workarounds with current APIs, I would appreciate guidance.
I invite feedback from Apple or other developers. Are there known patterns for maintaining an Apple Music user token for server-side applications, or any plans to support non-interactive use cases? Any advice is welcome.
Thank you for your consideration. I look forward to integrating Apple Music into my personal site as smoothly as with other services, and believe many developers would benefit from this added flexibility.
Sources:
User Authentication for MusicKit - Requirements for Music User Tokens
StackOverflow: Do Apple Music User Tokens expire? - Confirmation of 6-month expiration
MetaBrainz GSoC Blog - Documentation of MusicKit authentication limitations
Apple Developer Forums - Information on token renewal behavior
Spotify for Developers - Documentation on refresh token mechanism
Topic:
Media Technologies
SubTopic:
Audio
Tags:
Apple Music API
MusicKit
MusicKit JS
Apple Music Feed
Hello,
The search functionality of the coreaudio-api mailing list archive has been broken for a very long time. Several of the lower-level audio APIs have only been discussed on this mailing list, making it critical for those of us maintaining old audio code.
Steps to reproduce:
Open https://lists.apple.com/archives/list/coreaudio-api@lists.apple.com/ in your web browser.
Enter a search term in the "Search this list" field in the top-right corner of the page.
The search will eventually time out with "502 Bad Gateway"
Can somebody please forward this information to the current maintainer? I've tried to contact developer support but they weren't sure what to do.
Thanks!
Topic:
Media Technologies
SubTopic:
Audio
I have the new iOS 26 SpeechTranscriber working in my application. The issue I am facing is how to determine if the device I am running on supports SpeechTranscriber. I was able to create code that tests if the device supports transcription but it takes a bit of time to run and thus the results are not available when the app launches. What I am looking for is a list of what iOS 26 devices it doesn't run on. I think its safe to assume any new devices will support it so if we can just have a list of what devices that can run iOS 26 and not able to do transcription it would be much faster for the app. I have determined it doesn't work on a SE 2nd Gen, it works on iPhone 12, SE 3rd Gen, iPhone 14 Pro, 15 Pro. As the SpeechTranscriber doesn't work in the simulator I can't determine that way. I have checked the docs and it doesn't list the devices it doesn't work on.
Since many users like me use Apple Music on Android, the app is almost as feature-rich as iOS. It would be fantastic if the developers could add the new iOS 26 features to the Android app, along with a minor UI change. I know it’s challenging to implement liquid glass on Android hardware or design, but features like auto-mix, pronunciation, and translation could be added.
kindly consider this request !!!!
Hi,
I am creating an app that can include videos or images in it's data. While
@Attribute(.externalStorage)
helps with images, with AVAssets I actually would like access to the URL behind that data. (as it would be stupid to load and then save the data again just to have a URL)
One key component is to keep all of this clean enough so that I can use (private) CloudKit syncing with the resulting model.
All the best
Christoph
Sequoia 15.4.1 (24E263)
XCode: 16.3 (16E140)
Logic Pro: 11.2.1
I’ve been developing a complex audio unit for Mac OS that works perfectly well in its own bespoke host app and is now well into its beta testing stage.
It did take some effort to get it to work well in Logic Pro however and all was fine and working well until:
The AU part is an empty app extension with a framework containing its code.
The framework contains Swift code for the UI and C code for the DSP parts.
When the framework is compiled using the Swift 5 compiler the AU will run in Logic with no problems.
(I should also mention that AU passes the most strict auval tests).
But… when the framework is compiled with Swift 6 Logic Pro cannot load it.
Logic displays a message saying the audio unit could not be loaded and to contact the developer.
My own host app loads the AU perfectly well with the Swift 6 version, so I know there’s nothing wrong with the audio unit.
I cannot find any differences in any of the built output files except, of course, the actual binary code in the framework.
I’ve worked for hours on this and cannot find a solution other than to build the framework in Swift 5.
(I worked hard to get all the async code updated and working with Swift 6! so I feel a little cheated!)
What is happening?
Is this a bug in Logic?
Is this a bug in Swift 6 compiler/linker?
I’m at the Duh! hands in the air, tearing out hair stage! ( once again!)
Hello,
I have an existing AUv3 instrument plugin. In the plug in, users can access files (audio files, song projects) via a UIDocumentPickerViewController
In Logic Pro, (and some other hosts, but not all), the document picker is unable to receive touches, while a keyboard case is attached to the iPad.
Removing the case (this is an Apple brand iPad case) allows the interactions to resume and allows me to pick files in the usual way.
One of my users reports this non-responsive behavior occurs even after disconnecting their keyboard.
I have fiddled with entitlements all day, and have determined that is not the issue, since the keyboard disconnection appears to fix it every time for me.
Here is my, very boilerplate, presentation code :
guard let type = UTType("com.my.type") else {
return
}
let fileBrowser = UIDocumentPickerViewController(forOpeningContentTypes: [type])
fileBrowser.overrideUserInterfaceStyle = .dark
fileBrowser.delegate = self
fileBrowser.directoryURL = myFileFolderURL()
self.present(fileBrowser, animated: true) {
My current app implements a custom video player, based on a AVSampleBufferRenderSynchronizer synchronising two renderers:
an AVSampleBufferDisplayLayer receiving decoded CVPixelBuffer-based video CMSampleBuffers,
and an AVSampleBufferAudioRenderer receiving decoded lpcm-based audio CMSampleBuffers.
The AVSampleBufferRenderSynchronizer is started when the first image (in presentation order) is decoded and enqueued, using avSynchronizer.setRate(_ rate: Float, time: CMTime), with rate = 1 and time the presentation timestamp of the first decoded image.
Presentation timestamps of video and audio sample buffers are consistent, and on most streams, the audio and video are correctly synchronized.
However on some network streams, on iOS, the audio and video aren't synchronized, with a time difference that seems to increase with time.
On the other hand, with the same player code and network streams on macOS, the synchronization always works fine.
This reminds me of something I've read, about cases where an AVSampleBufferRenderSynchronizer could not synchronize audio and video, causing them to run with independent and potentially drifting clocks, but I cannot find it again.
So, any help / hints on this sync problem will be greatly appreciated! :)