Issue:
Under certain conditions, using CallKit does not automatically enable the microphone.
Steps to Reproduce:
1.Start an outgoing call, then the user manually mutes the audio.
2.Receive a native incoming call, end the current call, then answer the new incoming call.(This order is important.)
3.End the incoming call.
4.Start another outgoing call and observe the microphone; do not manually mute or unmute.
Actual Behavior:
The audio icon indicates that the audio is unmuted, but the microphone remains off, and the small yellow dot in the top status bar (which represents the microphone) does not appear.
Expected Behavior:
The microphone should be on, consistent with the audio icon display, and the small yellow dot should appear in the top status bar.
Device:
iPhone 16 pro & iPhone 15 pro, iOS 18.0+
Can it be reproduced using speakerbox(CallKit Demo)?
YES
Audio
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I've been trying to use AVMIDIControlChangeEvent with a bankSelect message type to change the instrument the sequencer uses on a AVMusicTrack with no luck.
I started with the Apple AVAEMixerSample, converting the initial setup/loading and portions dealing with the sequencer to Swift. I got that working and playing the "bluesyRiff" and then modified it to play individual notes. So my createAndSetupSequencer looked like
func createAndSetupSequencer() {
sequencer = AVAudioSequencer(audioEngine: engine)
// guard let midiFileURL = Bundle.main.url(forResource: "bluesyRiff", withExtension: "mid") else {
// print (" failed guard trying to get URL for bluesyRiff")
// return
// }
let track = sequencer.createAndAppendTrack()
var currTime = 1.0
for i: UInt32 in 0...8 {
let newNoteEvent = AVMIDINoteEvent(channel: 0, key: 60+i, velocity: 64, duration: 2.0)
track.addEvent(newNoteEvent, at: AVMusicTimeStamp(currTime))
currTime += 2.0
}
The notes played, so then I also replaced the gs_instruments sound bank with GeneralUser GS MuseScore v1.442 first by trying
guard let soundBankURL = Bundle.main.url(forResource: "GeneralUser GS MuseScore v1.442", withExtension: "sf2") else {
return}
do {
try sampler.loadSoundBankInstrument(at: soundBankURL, program: 0x001C, bankMSB: 0x79, bankLSB: 0x08)
} catch{....
}
This appears to work, the instrument (8 which is "Funk Guitar") plays. If I change to bankLSB: 0x00 I get the "Palm Muted guitar". So I know that the soundfont has these instruments
Stuff goes off the rails when I try to change the instruments in createAndSetupSequencer. Putting
let programChange = AVMIDIProgramChangeEvent(channel: 0, programNumber: 0x001C)
let bankChange = AVMIDIControlChangeEvent(channel: 0, messageType: AVMIDIControlChangeEvent.MessageType.bankSelect, value: 0x00)
track.addEvent(programChange, at: AVMusicTimeStamp(1.0))
track.addEvent(bankChange, at: AVMusicTimeStamp(1.0))
just before my add note loop doesn't produce any change. Loading bankLSB 8 (Funk) in sampler.loadSoundBankInstrument and trying to change with bankSelect 0 (Palm muted) in createAndSetupSequencer results in instrument 8 (Funk) playing not Palm Muted.
Loading bankLSB 0 (Palm muted) and trying to change with bankSelect 8 (Funk) doesn't work, 0 (Palm muted) plays
I also tried sampler.loadInstrument(at: soundBankURL) and then I always get the first instrument in the sound font file (piano)no matter what values I put in my programChange/bankChange
I've also changed the time in the track.addEvent to be 0, 1.0, 3.0 etc to no success
The sampler.loadSoundBankInstrument specifies two UInt8 parameters, bankMSB and BankLSB while the AVMIDIControlChangeEvent bankSelect value is UInt32 suggesting it might be some combination of bankMSB and BankLSB. But the documentation makes no mention of what this should look like. I tried various combinations of 0x7908, 0X0879 etc to no avail
I will also point out that I am able to successfully execute other control change events
For example adding
if i == 1 {
let portamentoOnEvent = AVMIDIControlChangeEvent(channel: 0, messageType: AVMIDIControlChangeEvent.MessageType.portamento, value: 0xFF)
track.addEvent(portamentoOnEvent, at: AVMusicTimeStamp(currTime))
let portamentoRateEvent = AVMIDIControlChangeEvent(channel: 0, messageType: AVMIDIControlChangeEvent.MessageType.portamentoTime, value: 64)
track.addEvent(portamentoRateEvent, at: AVMusicTimeStamp(currTime))
}
does produce a change in the sound. (As an aside, a definition of what portamento time is, other than "the rate of portamento" would be welcome. is it notes/seconds? freq/minute? beats/hour?)
I was able to get the instrument to change in a different program using MusicPlayer and a series of MusicTrackNewMIDIChannelEvent on a track but these operate on a MusicTrack not the AVMusicTrack which the sequencer uses.
Has anyone been successful in switching instruments through an AVMIDIControlChangeEvent or have any feedback on how to do this?
Is it possible to play WebM audio on iOS? Either with AVPlayer, AVAudioEngine, or some other API?
Safari has supported this for a few releases now, and I'm wondering if I missed something about how to do this. By default these APIs don't seem to work (nor does ExtAudioFileOpen).
Our usecase is making it possible for iOS users to play back audio recorded in our webapp (desktop versions of Chrome & Firefox only support webm as a destination format for MediaRecorder)
Bug Report: ScreenCaptureKit System Audio Capture Crashes with EXC_BAD_ACCESS
Summary
When using ScreenCaptureKit to capture system audio for extended periods, the application crashes with EXC_BAD_ACCESS in Swift's error handling runtime. The crash occurs in swift_getErrorValue when trying to process an error from the SCStream delegate method didStopWithError. This appears to be a framework-level issue in ScreenCaptureKit or its underlying ReplayKit implementation.
Environment
macOS Sonoma 14.6.1
Swift 5.8
ScreenCaptureKit framework
Detailed Description
Our application captures system audio using ScreenCaptureKit's audio capture capabilities. After successfully capturing for several minutes (typically after 3-4 segments of 60-second recordings), the application crashes with an EXC_BAD_ACCESS error. The crash happens when the Swift runtime attempts to process an error in the SCStreamDelegate.stream(_:didStopWithError:) method.
The crash consistently occurs in swift_getErrorValue when attempting to access the class of what appears to be a null object. This suggests that the error being passed from the system framework to our delegate method is malformed or contains invalid memory.
Steps to Reproduce
Create an SCStream with audio capture enabled
Add audio output to the stream
Start capture and write audio data to disk
Allow the capture to run for several minutes (3-5 minutes typically triggers the issue)
The app will crash with EXC_BAD_ACCESS in swift_getErrorValue
Code Sample
func stream(_ stream: SCStream, didStopWithError error: Error) {
print("Stream stopped with error: \(error)") // Crash occurs before this line executes
}
func stream(_ stream: SCStream, didOutputSampleBuffer sampleBuffer: CMSampleBuffer, of type: SCStreamOutputType) {
guard type == .audio, sampleBuffer.isValid else { return }
// Process audio data...
}
Expected Behavior
The error should be properly propagated to the delegate method, allowing for graceful error handling and recovery.
Actual Behavior
The application crashes with EXC_BAD_ACCESS when the Swift runtime attempts to process the error in swift_getErrorValue.
Crash Log Details
Thread #35, queue = 'com.apple.NSXPCConnection.m-user.com.apple.replayd', stop reason = EXC_BAD_ACCESS (code=1, address=0x0)
frame #0: 0x0000000194c3088c libswiftCore.dylib`swift::_swift_getClass(void const*) + 8
frame #1: 0x0000000194c30104 libswiftCore.dylib`swift_getErrorValue + 40
frame #2: 0x00000001057fba30 shadow`NewScreenCaptureService.stream(stream=0x0000600002de6700, error=Swift.Error @ 0x000000016b7b5e30) at NEW+ScreenCaptureService.swift:365:15
frame #3: 0x00000001057fc050 shadow`@objc NewScreenCaptureService.stream(_:didStopWithError:) at <compiler-generated>:0
frame #4: 0x0000000219ec5ca0 ScreenCaptureKit`-[SCStreamManager stream:didStopWithError:] + 456
frame #5: 0x00000001ca68a5cc ReplayKit`-[RPScreenRecorder stream:didStopWithError:] + 84
frame #6: 0x00000001ca696ff8 ReplayKit`-[RPDaemonProxy stream:didStopWithError:] + 224
Printing description of stream._streamQueue:
error: ObjectiveC.id:4294967281:18: note: 'id' has been explicitly marked unavailable here
public typealias id = AnyObject
^
error: /var/folders/v4/3xg1hmp93gjd8_xlzmryf_wm0000gn/T/expr23-dfa421..cpp:1:65: 'id' is unavailable in Swift: 'id' is not available in Swift; use 'Any'
Swift._DebuggerSupport.stringForPrintObject(Swift.UnsafePointer<id>(bitPattern: 0x104ae08c0)!.pointee)
^~
ObjectiveC.id:2:18: note: 'id' has been explicitly marked unavailable here
public typealias id = AnyObject
^
warning: /var/folders/v4/3xg1hmp93gjd8_xlzmryf_wm0000gn/T/expr23-dfa421..cpp:5:7: initialization of variable '$__lldb_error_result' was never used; consider replacing with assignment to '_' or removing it
var $__lldb_error_result = __lldb_tmp_error
~~~~^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
_
Before the crash, we observed this error message in the console:
[ERROR] *****SCStream*****RemoteAudioQueueOperationHandlerWithError:1015 Error received from the remote queue -16665
Additional Context
The issue occurs consistently after approximately 3-4 successful audio segment recordings of 60 seconds each
Commenting out custom segment rotation logic does not prevent the crash
The crash involves XPC communication with Apple's ReplayKit daemon
The error appears to be corrupted or malformed when crossing the XPC boundary
Workarounds Attempted
Added proper thread safety for all published properties using DispatchQueue.main.async
Implemented more robust error handling in the delegate methods
None of these approaches prevented the crash since it occurs at the Swift runtime level before our code executes.
Impact
This issue prevents reliable long-duration audio capture using ScreenCaptureKit.
This bug significantly limits the usefulness of ScreenCaptureKit for any application requiring continuous system audio capture for more than a few minutes.
Perhaps this issue might be related to a macOS bug where the system dialog indicates that the screen is being shared, even though nothing is actually being shared. Moreover, when attempting to stop sharing, nothing happens.
Mobile app - Ellie's Gift
https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/ellies-gift/id1617597875
Using AVFoundation to play audio tracks within the app.
Has always been working fine across apple and android, but iphone 14 and newer devices are unable to play audio.
Any idea's or suggestions?
Hi guys,
I am having issue in live-streaming audio from Bluetooth headset and playing it live on the iPhone speaker.
I am able to redirect audio back to the headset but this is not what I want.
The issue happens when I am trying to override output - the iPhone switches to speaker but also switches a microphone.
This is example of the code:
import AVFoundation
class AudioRecorder {
let player: AVAudioPlayerNode
let engine:AVAudioEngine
let audioSession:AVAudioSession
let audioSessionOutput:AVAudioSession
init() {
self.player = AVAudioPlayerNode()
self.engine = AVAudioEngine()
self.audioSession = AVAudioSession.sharedInstance()
self.audioSessionOutput = AVAudioSession()
do {
try self.audioSession.setCategory(AVAudioSession.Category.playAndRecord, options: [.defaultToSpeaker])
try self.audioSessionOutput.setCategory(AVAudioSession.Category.playAndRecord, options: [.allowBluetooth]) // enables Bluetooth HFP profile
try self.audioSession.setMode(AVAudioSession.Mode.default)
try self.audioSession.setActive(true)
// try self.audioSession.overrideOutputAudioPort(.speaker) // doens't work
} catch {
print(error)
}
let input = self.engine.inputNode
self.engine.attach(self.player)
let bus = 0
let inputFormat = input.inputFormat(forBus: bus)
self.engine.connect(self.player, to: engine.mainMixerNode, format: inputFormat)
input.installTap(onBus: bus, bufferSize: 512, format: inputFormat) { (buffer, time) -> Void in
self.player.scheduleBuffer(buffer)
print(buffer)
}
}
public func start() {
try! self.engine.start()
self.player.play()
}
public func stop() {
self.player.stop()
self.engine.stop()
}
}
I am not sure if this is a bug or not.
Can somebody point me into the right direction?
I there a way to design a custom audio routing?
I would also appreciate some good documentation besides AVFoundation docs.
Hello! I'm use AVFoundation for preview video and audio from selected device, and I try use AVAudioEngine for preview audio in real-time, but I can't or I don't understand how select input device? I can hear only my microphone in real-time
So far, I'm using AVCaptureAudioPreviewOutput for in real-time hear audio, but I think has delay.
On iOS works easy with AVAudioEngine, but on macOS bruh...
Topic:
Media Technologies
SubTopic:
Audio
Tags:
AudioToolbox
AVAudioSession
AVAudioEngine
AVFoundation
We have application using PTT Framework to record audio messages when app is backgrounded. Right now we are using AVAudioRecorder for that purpose. And problem is one specific user has frequent issue - recorded audio contains only silence.
I've checked almost everything I can imagine but didn't find any possible reason of issue.
Conditions:
AVAudioRecorder uses following configuration:
[
AVEncoderAudioQualityKey: AVAudioQuality.low.rawValue,
AVFormatIDKey : kAudioFormatMPEG4AAC,
AVNumberOfChannelsKey: 1,
AVSampleRateKey: 16000.0
]
App waits both didBeginTransmitting and didActivate audioSession from PTChannelManager (audio session has playback category at that moment)
App does AVAudioSession category change to playAndRecord
App gets routeChangeNotification with categoryChange and category = playAndRecord
There is no any interruption notifications from AVAudioSession during recording
There is no any error notification from AVAudioRecorder
Any idea what exactly I do wrong? Is there anything else I should check?
Thanks in advance.
P.S. it looks like recording audio with AudioUnit has the same issue, but let's exclude it from question atm for simplicity.
I am developing a VOD playback app, but when I stream video to an external monitor connected via HDMI with Lightning on iOS 18 or later, the screen goes dark and I cannot confirm playback.
The app I am developing does not detect the HDMI and display the Player separately, but simply mirrors the video.
We have confirmed that the same phenomenon occurs with other services, but we were able to confirm playback with some services such as Apple TV.
Please let us know if there are any other necessary settings such as video certificates required for video playback.
We would also like to know if the problem occurs with iOS 18 or later.
Topic:
Media Technologies
SubTopic:
Audio
We have the necessary background recording entitlements, and for many users... do not run into any issues.
However, there is a subset of users that routinely get recordings ending.. we have narrowed this down and believe it to be the work of the watch dog.
First we removed the entire view hierarchy when app is backgrounded. There is just 'Text("Recording")'
This got the CPU usage in profiler down to 0%. We saw massive improvements to recording success rate.
We walked away assuming that was enough. However we are still seeing the same sort of crashes. All in the background. We're using Observation to drive audio state changes to a Live Activity.
Are those Observations causing the problem? Why doesn't apple provide a better API to background audio? The internet is full of weird issues
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/76010213/why-is-my-react-native-app-sometimes-terminated-in-the-background-while-tracking
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/71656047/why-is-my-react-native-app-terminating-in-the-background-while-recording-ios-r
https://github.com/expo/expo/issues/16807
This is such a terrible user experience. And we have very little visibility into what is happening and why.
No where in apple documentation states that in order for background recording to work, the app can only be 'Text("Recording")'
It does not outline a CPU or memory threshold. It just kills us.
The device is connected to Bluetooth A and Bluetooth B, currently the audio is played through Bluetooth A, click the interface button, how to realize the code to switch to Bluetooth B?
Hello,
We are developing a real-time speech recognition application and are utilizing AVAudioEngine with voice processing enabled on the input node. However, we have observed that enabling this mode interferes with the built-in iOS screen recording feature - specifically, the recorded video does not capture any audio when this mode is active.
Since we want users to be able to record their experience within our app, this issue significantly impacts our functionality. Is there a known workaround or recommended approach to ensure that both voice processing and screen recording can function simultaneously?
Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!
Hi,
Not sure if this is the right forum to ask this question in, but could you please advise if I can use Apple Digital Masters logo (badge) in my iOS app that is playing music from Apple Music service?
Topic:
Media Technologies
SubTopic:
Audio
I'm trying to write 16-bit interleaved 2-channel data captured from a LiveSwitch audio source to a AVAudioFile. The buffer and file formats match but I get a bad parameter error from the API. Does this API not support the specified format or is there some other issue?
Here is the debugger output.
(lldb) po audioFile.url
▿ file:///private/var/mobile/Containers/Data/Application/1EB14379-0CF2-41B6-B742-4C9A80728DB3/tmp/Heart%20Sounds%201
- _url : file:///private/var/mobile/Containers/Data/Application/1EB14379-0CF2-41B6-B742-4C9A80728DB3/tmp/Heart%20Sounds%201
- _parseInfo : nil
- _baseParseInfo : nil
(lldb) po error
Error Domain=com.apple.coreaudio.avfaudio Code=-50 "(null)" UserInfo={failed call=ExtAudioFileWrite(_impl->_extAudioFile, buffer.frameLength, buffer.audioBufferList)}
(lldb) po buffer.format
<AVAudioFormat 0x302a12b20: 2 ch, 44100 Hz, Int16, interleaved>
(lldb) po audioFile.fileFormat
<AVAudioFormat 0x302a515e0: 2 ch, 44100 Hz, Int16, interleaved>
(lldb) po buffer.frameLength
882
(lldb) po buffer.audioBufferList
▿ 0x0000000300941e60
- pointerValue : 12894608992
This code handles the details of converting the Live Switch frame into an AVAudioPCMBuffer.
extension FMLiveSwitchAudioFrame {
func convertedToPCMBuffer() -> AVAudioPCMBuffer {
Self.convertToAVAudioPCMBuffer(from: self)!
}
static func convertToAVAudioPCMBuffer(from frame: FMLiveSwitchAudioFrame) -> AVAudioPCMBuffer? {
// Retrieve the audio buffer and format details from the FMLiveSwitchAudioFrame
guard
let buffer = frame.buffer(),
let format = buffer.format() as? FMLiveSwitchAudioFormat else { return nil }
// Extract PCM format details from FMLiveSwitchAudioFormat
let sampleRate = Double(format.clockRate())
let channelCount = AVAudioChannelCount(format.channelCount())
// Determine bytes per sample based on bit depth
let bitsPerSample = 16
let bytesPerSample = bitsPerSample / 8
let bytesPerFrame = bytesPerSample * Int(channelCount)
let frameLength = AVAudioFrameCount(Int(buffer.dataBuffer().length()) / bytesPerFrame)
// Create an AVAudioFormat from the FMLiveSwitchAudioFormat
guard let avAudioFormat = AVAudioFormat(commonFormat: .pcmFormatInt16, sampleRate: sampleRate, channels: channelCount, interleaved: true) else {
return nil
}
// Create an AudioBufferList to wrap the existing buffer
let audioBufferList = UnsafeMutablePointer<AudioBufferList>.allocate(capacity: 1)
audioBufferList.pointee.mNumberBuffers = 1
audioBufferList.pointee.mBuffers.mNumberChannels = channelCount
audioBufferList.pointee.mBuffers.mDataByteSize = UInt32(buffer.dataBuffer().length())
audioBufferList.pointee.mBuffers.mData = buffer.dataBuffer().data().mutableBytes // Directly use LiveSwitch buffer
// Transfer ownership of the buffer to AVAudioPCMBuffer
let pcmBuffer = AVAudioPCMBuffer(pcmFormat: avAudioFormat, bufferListNoCopy: audioBufferList) /* { buffer in
// Ensure the buffer is freed when AVAudioPCMBuffer is deallocated
buffer.deallocate() // Only call this if LiveSwitch allows manual deallocation
} */
pcmBuffer?.frameLength = frameLength
return pcmBuffer
}
}
This is the handler that is invoked with every frame in order to convert it for use with AVAudioFile and optionally update a scrolling signal display on the screen.
private func onRaisedFrame(obj: Any!) -> Void {
// Bail out early if no one is interested in the data.
guard isMonitoring else { return }
// Convert LS frame to AVAudioPCMBuffer (no-copy)
let frame = obj as! FMLiveSwitchAudioFrame
let buffer = frame.convertedToPCMBuffer()
// Hand subscribers a reference to the buffer for rendering to display.
bufferPublisher?.send(buffer)
// If we have and output file, store the data there, as well.
guard let audioFile = self.audioFile else { return }
do {
try audioFile.write(from: buffer) // FIXME: This call is throwing error -50
} catch {
FMLiveSwitchLog.error(withMessage: "Failed to write buffer to audio file at \(audioFile.url): \(error)")
self.audioFile = nil
}
}
This is how the audio file is being setup.
static var recordingFormat: AVAudioFormat = {
AVAudioFormat(commonFormat: .pcmFormatInt16, sampleRate: 44_100, channels: 2, interleaved: true)!
}()
let audioFile = try AVAudioFile(forWriting: outputURL, settings: Self.recordingFormat.settings)
I have an app under development - demo here - https://youtu.be/VbAfUk_eYl0?si=s6EDBx-4G6P_QbZO - which is sort of an audio player for airdropped files - something useful to musicians who dump work in progress to their phone, make notes, revise and update.
I've been testing my handling of audio session interruption notifications, but seems to be a lot of inconsistency in how, when and why iOS delivers them, and I'm wondering if there is some rhyme or reason to it that I'm just not detecting.
For example, I am playing a song in my app. Switch to Apple Music and start playing a song there. My app gets an interruption began notification - this is consistent.
Switch back to my app, and about half the time, I will get an interruption ended notification (coupled often with a blast of the tail of whatever audio buffer was partially played when the interruption started, even though the engine was stopped - and followed by call to my AVAudioPlayerNodeCompletionCallback - is there some way to avoid this?). Half the time I don't get an interruption ended notification; my app can (as expected) end the interruption by activating the AVAudioSession and playing something.
I have not been able to determine any pattern to this behavior, other than that if my app started playing using AVAudioPlayerNode.scheduleSegment rather than scheduleFile I think the notification will be consistently delivered on app activation rather than when I activate the session programmatically.
I would like my app to behave deterministically, and would appreciate any help in deciphering what causes the inconsistent behavior in notifications from iOS.
I was trying to set custom audio output device for a generated audio on macCatalyst.
While using let status = AudioUnitSetProperty(outputUnit,
kAudioOutputUnitProperty_CurrentDevice,
kAudioUnitScope_Global,
0,
&outputDeviceID,
UInt32(MemoryLayout.size))
kAudioOutputUnitProperty_CurrentDevice is invalid, and status = -10879, indicating an error.
STEPS TO REPRODUCE
Set Run Destination to MacOS and run the program. "AudioUnitSetProperty: 0" should be printed, indicating it works fine.
Set Run Destination to Mac Catalyst and run the program. "Error setting output device: -10879" should be printed, indicating an error.
How does a third party developer go about supporting the new Enhanced Dialogue option for video apps in tvOS 18?
If an app is using the standard AVPlayerViewController, I had assumed it would be a simple-ish matter of building against the tvOS 18 SDK but apparently not, the options don't appear, not even greyed out.
hi,
i need to read wether the transport is playing or stopped but my current method that works for vst does not work for au.
is there a lpx resource available for developers anywhere?
if (auto* playHead = processor->getPlayHead())
{
juce::AudioPlayHead::CurrentPositionInfo posInfo;
if (playHead->getCurrentPosition(posInfo))
{
bool isCurrentlyPlaying = posInfo.isPlaying;
if (isCurrentlyPlaying != wasTransportPlaying)
{
if (isCurrentlyPlaying)
{
wasTransportPlaying = isCurrentlyPlaying;
startAllTimers();
}
else
{
wasTransportPlaying = isCurrentlyPlaying;
stopAllTimers();
}
}
}
}
thanks :)
The presentation "create audio drivers with DriverKit" from WWDC 2021 demonstrates how to use a dext to implement a virtual audio driver. It also says " If a virtual audio driver or device is all that is needed, the audio server plug-in driver model should continue to be used".
Indeed, in AudioDriverKit/AudioDriverKitTypes.h, there is no IOUserAudioTransportType Virtual, although CoreAudio/AudioHardwareBase.h includes kAudioDeviceTransportTypeVirtual.
For one of our products, we require virtual devices to implement a software loopback "cable". We've implemented this using the "traditional" HAL plugin, and as a proof-of-concept, also using a dext. In the dext, I tried setting the transport type to 'virt', which seems to only have the effect of changing the icon shown in Audio Midi Setup.
HAL plugins require an installer, and the installer has to kill coreaudiod in a post-install script. You have to turn off SIP to debug them. Just like AudioDriverKit drivers, they are out-of-process and run in a process not owned by the hosting app. Our HAL plugin's interface is property based; we had to write a lot of boiler-plate code to implement required properties. Writing an AudioDriverKit driver is in most respects easier - a lot of the scaffolding is implemented in the base driver, which we only alter where required. Debugging and installation is much easier.
The dext works just fine, as far as we can ascertain, just as well as a HAL plugin.
So, my question is - is the advice to use a HAL plugin for a virtual device still correct in 2025? And if so, what's the objection? We'd really prefer to ship the AudioDriverKit virtual audio device.
Let's consider the following code.
I've created an actor that loads a list of .mp3 files from a Bundle and then makes it available for audio reproduction.
Unfortunately, I'm experiencing a memory leak.
At the play method.
player.play()
From Instruments I get
_malloc_type_malloc_outlined libsystem_malloc.dylib
start_wqthread libsystem_pthread.dylib
private actor AudioActor {
enum Failure: Error {
case soundsNotLoaded([AudioPlayerClient.Sound: Error])
}
enum Player {
case music(AVAudioPlayer)
}
var players: [Sound: Player] = [:]
let bundles: [Bundle]
init(bundles: UncheckedSendable<[Bundle]>) {
self.bundles = bundles.wrappedValue
}
func load(sounds: [Sound]) throws {
try AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().setActive(true, options: [])
var errors: [Sound: Error] = [:]
for sound in sounds {
guard let url = bundle.url(forResource: sound.name, withExtension: "mp3")
else { continue }
do {
self.players[sound] = try .music(AVAudioPlayer(contentsOf: url))
} catch {
errors[sound] = error
}
}
guard errors.isEmpty
else { throw Failure.soundsNotLoaded(errors) }
}
func play(sound: Sound, loops: Int?) throws {
guard let player = self.players[sound]
else { return }
switch player {
case let .music(player):
player.numberOfLoops = loops ?? -1
player.play()
}
}
func stop(sound: Sound) throws {
guard let player = self.players[sound]
else { throw Failure.soundsNotLoaded([:]) }
switch player {
case let .music(player):
player.stop()
}
}
}