I am developing an iOS app with video call functionality and implementing Picture in Picture (PiP) mode for video calls. The issue I am facing is that the camera stops capturing video when the app goes to the background, even though the PiP view is still visible. I have noticed that some apps, like Telegram, manage to keep the camera working in PiP mode while the app is in the background. How can I achieve this in my app?

I have an app that allows you to edit your photos. To preserve HDR, I edit both the SDR image and gain map image, like so: let sdrImage = CIImage(data: data, options: [.applyOrientationProperty: true]) let gainMapImage = CIImage(data: data, options: [.applyOrientationProperty: true, .auxiliaryHDRGainMap: true]) // edit them... try CIContext().writeHEIFRepresentation(of: sdrImage, to: url, format: .RGBA8, colorSpace: colorSpace, options: [.hdrGainMapImage: gainMapImage]) I also support editing the still photo in Live Photos. To do this you create a PHLivePhotoEditingContext, set the frameProcessor block which gives you a CIImage that I edit when the frame.type is .photo, then you create a PHContentEditingOutput and call saveLivePhoto. I’m not seeing any way to preserve HDR here. Interestingly the frame processor is called twice with .photo frame.type, but I don’t see any difference between these images. How can I edit a gain map image to preserve HDR in the still photo of a Live Photo?

Hello, I am a developer currently working on an AR application using ARKit. I aim to implement a Zoom feature that allows users to enlarge and reduce objects within the AR scene while simultaneously measuring the distance to those objects. Specifically, I want to incorporate Optical Zoom to provide a more natural and precise user experience. I have considered several approaches and would appreciate your advice on the most effective methods. Approaches Being Considered: Using UIPinchGestureRecognizer to Adjust the Camera's Field of View Modifying the scale Property of SCNNode to Enlarge/Reduce Specific Objects Leveraging AVFoundation to Control the Camera's Optical Zoom Questions: Compatibility Between ARKit and Optical Zoom: Is it feasible to control the camera's optical zoom using AVFoundation while utilizing ARKit's features? What should be considered when integrating these two frameworks? Integrating Object Distance Measurement with Zoom Functionality: What is the most effective approach to measure and display the distance to an object in real-time when a user zooms in on it? User Experience Considerations: Do you have any UI/UX design tips for implementing optical zoom to ensure a natural and intuitive experience? For example, how can visual feedback for zoom actions and distance measurements be effectively presented to users? Performance Optimization: What optimization strategies can minimize potential performance issues when implementing both optical zoom and distance measurement features simultaneously? Example Code and Reference Materials: Could you share any example code or reference materials that demonstrate similar functionalities? Thank you. Example Code Request: If possible, providing sample code that integrates optical zoom with distance measurement would be extremely helpful. Reference Links: Please share any tutorials or resources that demonstrate the combined use of ARKit and AVFoundation.

I would like to offer the functionality that the user aims the camera at a graph (including axes and scales) and the app detects the graph and the app replicates the graph using the image. I have the whole camera setup finished with a AVCaptureSession, VNDetectContoursRequest, VNImageRequestHandler, etc. However, now I get many many results so I guess I will now need to tell the image processing process what I am looking for. i.e. filter the VNContoursObservations. I 'think' I first need to detect two perpendicular lines (the two axes). How do I do that? If I do not see them, I can just ignore that input and wait for the next VNContoursObservation. When I found the axes of the graph, I will need to find the curve (graph) that I need to scan. Any tips on how I can find that curve and turn that curve into a bunch of coordinates? Thanks! Wouter

To get calibration data during video recording, I use AVCaptureDepthDataOutput together with AVCaptureVideoDataOutput, synchronized via AVCaptureDataOutputSynchronizer (using the dataOutputSynchronizer method of CameraController in the example). The issue is that AVCaptureDepthDataOutput can only be used with .builtInLiDARDepthCamera, meaning it isn’t available for devices without LiDAR. Is it possible to obtain calibration data during video recording on devices without LiDAR, such as with .builtInWideAngleCamera? Can lensDistortionLookupTable and lensDistortionCenter be used to undistort the sampleBuffer I receive from AVCaptureVideoDataOutput?

Hi guys, Can I use CMIO to achieve the following feature on macOS when a USB device (Camera/Mic/Speaker) is connected: When a third-party video conferencing app is not in a meeting, ensure the app defaults to using the USB device (Camera/Mic/Speaker). When a third-party conferencing app is in a meeting, ensure the app automatically switches to the USB device (Camera/Mic/Speaker).

Hello developer community. I purchase recently my new iPhone 16 Pro Max; it is a premium device with great quality overall. However, I am having a big trouble shotting in ProRaw MAX (48 mode) with native camera. Just to be clear, the problem that i will describe do not happen in 3rd apps, such as ProCam; only with native camera. When I use ProRaw Max, and take the photo, and watch the photo in the gallery the image can’t load and render properly. Even, when I maximize the image to the maximum I can see pixelated portions, defects and super low resolution and excessive denoise. For comparison, this not occur with my previous iPhone 15 PM and/or when I capture photos from ProCam (same settings and configurations) in the 16PM. I proceed to take the photo, open the gallery and I see full of details, when zoomed to 100%. I tried to format the phone, reinstall the software via my mac. Tried even to look at some forums to find if there’s someone with the same issue, the information available so far is very low. I’m in contact with apple assistant from my country (Portugal), and they escalated this problem to the engineers. (that’s what I’ve been told). They did all the tests remotely (via analysis and improvement’s) and they told me that my phone is perfect in the hardware department. I will wait for the next days to be contacted again. I’m on iOS 18.0.1. (The last software available at this time). I tried multiple 16PM, from friends, family and stores (more or less 10 units), and they all showed the exact same problematic. I’m a professional photographer, so I find this frustrating and unacceptable. I would appreciate any additional suggestion or information. Thank you! Cannot add photos or files because they are bigger than 5Mb.

Hello, I'm building a camera app around ARKit. I've created a Lockscreen Capture Extension and added a control to initiate my camera app, but when I launch the extension I see just a black screen with no hints at any errors. Also attaching the debugger to the running process shows no logs. Im wondering: Is LockedCameraCapture supported with ARView and ARSession? ARKit was featured in a WWDC video with a camera app use-case, also the introduction of captureHighResolutionFrame(completion:) made me pick it up as an interesting camera app backbone - but if lockscreen capture is not possible with it I have to refactor my codebase.

PLATFORM AND VERSION :iOS 18.5 I wanted to bring to your attention a critical issue some of our production users are experiencing with the CoinOut app. Specifically, users are encountering a problem when attempting to capture photos of receipts using the app's customized camera feature. The camera, which utilizes AVCaptureVideoPreviewLayer and AVCaptureDevice, occasionally fails to load the preview, resulting in a black screen instead of the expected camera view. This camera blackout issue is significantly impacting the user experience as it prevents them from snapping photos of their receipts, which is a core functionality of the CoinOut app. Any help/suggestion to this issue would be greatly appreciated. STEPS TO REPRODUCE Open the app and click on camera icon. It will display camera to capture photo. Camera shows black for few production user's. class ViewController: UIViewController { @IBOutlet private weak var captureButton: UIButton! private var fillLayer: CAShapeLayer! private var previewLayer : AVCaptureVideoPreviewLayer! private var output: AVCapturePhotoOutput! private var device: AVCaptureDevice! private var session : AVCaptureSession! private var highResolutionEnabled: Bool = false private let sessionQueue = DispatchQueue(label: "session queue") override func viewDidLoad() { super.viewDidLoad() setupCamera() customiseUI() } @IBAction func startCamera(sender: UIButton) { didTapTakePhoto() } private func setupCamera() { let session = AVCaptureSession() session.sessionPreset = AVCaptureSession.Preset.high previewLayer = AVCaptureVideoPreviewLayer(session: session) output = AVCapturePhotoOutput() device = AVCaptureDevice.default(.builtInWideAngleCamera, for: AVMediaType.video, position: .back) if let device = self.device{ do{ let input = try AVCaptureDeviceInput(device: device) if session.canAddInput(input){ session.addInput(input)} else { print("\(#fileID):\(#function):\(#line) : Session Input addition failed") } if session.canAddOutput(output){ output.isHighResolutionCaptureEnabled = self.highResolutionEnabled session.addOutput(output) } else { print("\(#fileID):\(#function):\(#line) : Session Input high resolution failed") } previewLayer.videoGravity = .resizeAspectFill previewLayer.session = session sessionQueue.async { session.startRunning() } self.session = session self.session.accessibilityElementIsFocused() try device.lockForConfiguration() if device.isWhiteBalanceModeSupported(AVCaptureDevice.WhiteBalanceMode.autoWhiteBalance) { device.whiteBalanceMode = .autoWhiteBalance } else { print("\(#fileID):\(#function):\(#line) : isWhiteBalanceModeSupported no supported") } if device.isWhiteBalanceModeSupported(AVCaptureDevice.WhiteBalanceMode.continuousAutoWhiteBalance) { device.whiteBalanceMode = .continuousAutoWhiteBalance } else { print("\(#fileID):\(#function):\(#line) : isWhiteBalanceModeSupported no supported") } if device.isFocusModeSupported(.continuousAutoFocus) { device.focusMode = .continuousAutoFocus} else if device.isFocusModeSupported(.autoFocus) { device.focusMode = .autoFocus } device.unlockForConfiguration() } catch { print("\(#fileID):\(#function):\(#line) : \(error.localizedDescription)") } } else { print("\(#fileID):\(#function):\(#line) : Device found as nil") } } private func customiseUI() { let path = UIBezierPath(roundedRect: CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: self.view.bounds.width, height: self.view.bounds.height), cornerRadius: 0) let rectangleWidth = view.frame.width - (view.frame.width * 0.16) let x = (view.frame.width - rectangleWidth) / 2 let rectangleHeight = view.frame.height - (view.frame.height * 0.16) let y = (view.frame.height - rectangleHeight) / 2 let roundRect = UIBezierPath(roundedRect: CGRect(x: x, y: y, width: rectangleWidth, height: rectangleHeight), byRoundingCorners:.allCorners, cornerRadii: CGSize(width: 0, height: 0)) roundRect.move(to: CGPoint(x: self.view.center.x , y: self.view.center.y)) path.append(roundRect) path.usesEvenOddFillRule = true fillLayer = CAShapeLayer() fillLayer.path = path.cgPath fillLayer.fillRule = .evenOdd fillLayer.opacity = 0.4 previewLayer.addSublayer(fillLayer) previewLayer.frame = view.bounds view.layer.addSublayer(previewLayer) view.bringSubviewToFront(captureButton) } private func didTapTakePhoto() { let settings = self.getSettings(camera: self.device) if device.isAdjustingFocus { do { try device.lockForConfiguration() device.focusMode = .continuousAutoFocus device.unlockForConfiguration() device.addObserver(self, forKeyPath: "adjustingFocus", options: [.new], context: nil) } catch { print(error) } } else { output.capturePhoto(with: settings, delegate: self) } } func getSettings(camera: AVCaptureDevice) -> AVCapturePhotoSettings { var settings = AVCapturePhotoSettings() if let rawFormat = output.availableRawPhotoPixelFormatTypes.first { settings = AVCapturePhotoSettings(rawPixelFormatType: OSType(rawFormat)) } settings.isHighResolutionPhotoEnabled = self.highResolutionEnabled let previewPixelType = settings.availablePreviewPhotoPixelFormatTypes.first! let previewFormat = [kCVPixelBufferPixelFormatTypeKey as String: previewPixelType] as [String : Any] settings.previewPhotoFormat = previewFormat return settings } } extension ViewController: AVCapturePhotoCaptureDelegate { func photoOutput(_ output: AVCapturePhotoOutput, willCapturePhotoFor resolvedSettings: AVCaptureResolvedPhotoSettings) { AudioServicesDisposeSystemSoundID(1108) } func photoOutput(_ output: AVCapturePhotoOutput, didFinishProcessingPhoto photo: AVCapturePhoto, error: Error?) { guard let data = photo.fileDataRepresentation() else { return } let image = UIImage(data: data)! showImage(cropped: image) } func showImage(cropped: UIImage) { let vc = self.storyboard?.instantiateViewController(withIdentifier: "ImagePreviewViewController") as? ImagePreviewViewController vc?.captured = cropped self.present(vc!, animated: true) } }```

I am using ImageCaptureCore to access and (sometimes) download media files from a digital camera connected via USB (either to a Mac oder to an iOS device with Apple lightning to USB3 camera adapter). This works very well in general, but what puzzles me is that for the ICCameraFile's EXIF creation/modification date, it always returns nil. I can access the ICCameraItem's creation/modification date instead, which, as it says in the documentation "usually [is] the same as its EXIF creation date", but, well not always. Generally the EXIF tags are more reliable than the file dates, especially the modification date is easily messed up when copying files. As for my cameras, they show the stable EXIF date on their display, so for consistency I would prefer to use the same in my app. Is there a way to get it without downloading the image from the camera and reading it from the file? Does it possibly depend on the brand of camera (I mostly have Canon) whether ICCameraFile.exifCreationDate is ever populated or always nil? For a thumb drive with DCIM folder, which is treated just like a camera, it is also nil.

I created a locked camera capture extension as explained in Apple's documentation. I'm trying to explore the possibilities of using a bluetooth peripheral from that extension - anybody knows if this is possible? The CBCentralManagerDelegate reports .unsupported in func centralManagerDidUpdateState, even if I have provided all the permissions in Info.plist.

Hey everyone😊, I am building an app that includes a live camera feed preview. That's all I need to do along side identifying the images with createML's image classification. I don't need to capture images at all. I've seen some very complicated tutorials. I just want to use a couple of lines of code.

Hi everyone, We're encountering an unexpected issue with our iPhone-only camera app: 👉 TimeMark - Photo Proof https://apps.apple.com/us/app/timemark-photo-proof/id6446071834 Problem Description: Our app uses a full-screen camera view via AVCaptureSession. In some cases reported by users, the camera fails immediately upon app launch, and we receive this interruption reason: AVCaptureSessionInterruptionReasonVideoDeviceNotAvailableWithMultipleForegroundApps According to the Apple documentation https://developer.apple.com/documentation/avfoundation/avcapturesession/interruptionreason/videodevicenotavailablewithmultipleforegroundapps?language=objc , this interruption typically occurs when the app is running in a multi-app layout such as Slide Over, Split View, or Picture in Picture — all of which are iPad-only features. However, this issue is being reported on iPhones, and our app does not support iPad at all. Also noted in the documentation: "Given your present AVCaptureSession configuration, the session may only be run if your app occupies the full screen." Additional Context: The issue occurs immediately on app launch, before the user can interact with the camera. We don’t enable multitaskingCameraAccessEnabled. We are 100% sure this is happening on iPhone, not iPad. It’s hard to reproduce; users report it happening sporadically. Locally, we tried playing Picture-in-Picture videos (e.g., Safari/YouTube) before launching our app, but we could not reproduce the issue. Questions: Why is this interruption reason occurring on iPhone, which doesn’t officially support Slide Over or Split View? Could this be caused by some system-level multitasking or resource contention (e.g., Picture in Picture from FaceTime or Safari)? Would enabling multitaskingCameraAccessEnabled help prevent this issue on iPhone, even though it's designed for iPad? Enabling multitaskingCameraAccessEnabled seems to require enabling UIBackgroundModes → voip. Would adding this background mode cause any App Store review risk or rejection if our app doesn't actually use VoIP functionality? Any help, insight, or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

The documentation for PHAssetChangeRequest.revertAssetContentToOriginal says it will fail if the original asset content is not on the current device so you should use PHAssetResourceManager to download it first, but this no longer seems to be the case in the latest iOS versions because an error no longer occurs when I take a photo on my iPhone, edit it, open Photos on my iPad and let it sync, then open my app on iPad and call revertAssetContentToOriginal for that asset. Does the system now take care of downloading the original when needed?

Hey, I'm building a camera app and I want to use the captured HDRGainMap along side the photo to do some processing with a CIFilter chain. How can this be done? I can't find any documentation any where on this, only on how to access the HDRGainMap from an existing HEIC file, which I have done successfully. For this I'm doing something like the following: let gainmap = CGImageSourceCopyAuxiliaryDataInfoAtIndex(source, 0, kCGImageAuxiliaryDataTypeHDRGainMap) let gainDict = NSDictionary(dictionary: gainmap) let gainData = gainDict[kCGImageAuxiliaryDataInfoData] as? Data let gainDescription = gainDict[kCGImageAuxiliaryDataInfoDataDescription] let gainMeta = gainDict[kCGImageAuxiliaryDataInfoMetadata] However I'm not sure what the approach is with a AVCapturePhoto output from a AVCaptureDevice. Thanks!

The documentation for AVCaptureDeviceRotationCoordinator says it is designed to work with any CALayer but it seems like it is designed to work only with AVCaptureVideoPreviewLayer. Can someone confirm it is possible to make it work with other layers such as CAMetalLayer or AVSampleBufferDisplayLayer?

iOS 26 added smoothness to CIRoundedRectangleGenerator, for use with CIFilter.roundedRectangleGenerator. What should the smoothness value be to achieve the same corner curve as CALayerCornerCurve.continuous? Does it need to be calculated based on the extent size, if so, how?

When shooting with an iPhone 15 or later, it’s possible to capture HEIC or JPEG images that include gain map information conforming to the ISO 21496-1 standard. However, during image format transcoding, the HEIC codec is able to preserve the ISO 21496-1 gain map. But when converting from HEIC to JPEG, the gain map is transformed into the Apple Gain Map format instead. Is there any solution to this issue?

Hello, I apologize if the answer is obvious but I'm having a hard time figuring this one out. Let's say the user taps an "Edit" button in my LockedCameraCaptureSession. The extension calls: activity.userInfo = ["ActivityKey": "ID"] try await session.openApplication(for: activity) Can I retrieve, in my application, the data stored in activity.userInfo (lets say, a flag "open editor"), or is data passing exclusively handled via appContext of CameraCaptureIntent? Thank you!

I’m working on real-time object detection using YOLOv8, but I only need to detect objects in approximately 40% of the screen area. Is it possible to limit the captureOut method to focus solely on that specific region of the screen? If this isn’t feasible, I’m considering an approach where the full-screen pixel buffer is captured and then cropped to the target area before running detection. However, I’m concerned about how this might affect real-time performance. I’d appreciate any insights on how to maintain real-time performance or suggestions for better alternatives. Thank you!