I’m developing a hybrid app (WebView / Turbo Native) that uses getUserMedia to access the back camera for a PPG/heart rate measurement feature (the user places their finger on the camera).
Problem: Even when I specify constraints like:
{
video: {
deviceId: '...',
facingMode: { exact: 'environment' },
advanced: [{ zoom: 1.0 }]
},
audio: false
}
On iPhone 15 (iOS 18), iOS unexpectedly switches between the wide, ultra-wide, and telephoto lenses during the measurement.
This breaks the heart rate detection, and it forces the user to move their finger in the middle of the measurement.
Question: Is there any way, via getUserMedia/WebRTC, to force iOS to use only the wide-angle lens and prevent automatic lens switching?
I know that with AVFoundation (Swift) you can pick .builtInWideAngleCamera, but I’m hoping to avoid building a custom native layer and would prefer to stick with WebView/JavaScript if possible to save time and complexity.
Any suggestions, workarounds, or updates from Apple would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks a lot!
Photos & Camera
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Hey,
I have a camera app that captures a ProRaw photo and then runs a few Core Image filters before saving it to the device as a HEIC. However I'm finding that capturing at 48MP is rather slow. Testing a minimal pipeline on an iPhone 16 Pro:
Shutter press => file received in output: 1.2 ~ 1.6s
CIRawFilter created using photo file representation then rendered to context, without any filters: 0.8s ~ 1s
Saving to device ~0.15s
Is this the expected time for capturing processing? The native camera app seems to save the images within half a second. I'm using QualityPrioritization.balanced and the highest resolution available which is 48MP.
Would using the CIRawFilter with the pixelBuffer from the photo output be faster? I tried it but couldn't get it to output an image. Are there any other things I could try to speed this up? Is it possible to capture at 24MP instead?
Thanks,
Alex
I'm updating my Photo Editing Extension to support HDR. To do this I set imageView.preferredImageDynamicRange = .high. But you can turn off the option to view HDR photos in the complete dynamic range in Settings > Photos. When you do that, open a photo, and tap the edit button, it does not appear in the full range as expected, but when you select my app from More > Extensions, it does appear in the complete dynamic range unexpectedly. I need to set imageView.preferredImageDynamicRange = .standard when View Full HDR is off, but I don't see any way to get that in my PHContentEditingController.
I am working on an iOS application using SwiftUI where I want to convert a JPG and a MOV file to a live photo. I am utilizing the LivePhoto Class from Github for this. The JPG and MOV files are displayed correctly in my WallpaperDetailView, but I am facing issues when trying to download the live photo to the gallery and generate the Live Photo.
Here is the relevant code and the errors I am encountering:
Console prints:
Play button should be visible Image URL fetched and set: Optional("https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/...") Video is ready to play Video downloaded to: file:///var/mobile/Containers/Data/Application/.../tmp/CFNetworkDownload_7rW5ny.tmp Failed to generate Live Photo
I have verified that the app has the necessary permissions to access the Photo Library.
The JPEG and MOV files are successfully downloaded and can be displayed in the app.
The issue seems to occur when generating the Live Photo from the downloaded files.
struct WallpaperDetailView: View {
var wallpaper: Wallpaper
@State private var isLoading = false
@State private var isImageSaved = false
@State private var imageURL: URL?
@State private var livePhotoVideoURL: URL?
@State private var player: AVPlayer?
@State private var playerViewController: AVPlayerViewController?
@State private var isVideoReady = false
@State private var showBuffering = false
var body: some View {
ZStack {
if let imageURL = imageURL {
GeometryReader { geometry in
KFImage(imageURL)
.resizable()
...
}
}
if let playerViewController = playerViewController {
VideoPlayerViewController(playerViewController: playerViewController)
.frame(maxWidth: .infinity, maxHeight: .infinity)
.clipped()
.edgesIgnoringSafeArea(.all)
}
}
.onAppear {
PHPhotoLibrary.requestAuthorization { status in
if status == .authorized {
loadImage()
} else {
print("User denied access to photo library")
}
}
}
private func loadImage() {
isLoading = true
if let imageURLString = wallpaper.imageURL, let imageURL = URL(string: imageURLString) {
self.imageURL = imageURL
if imageURL.scheme == "file" {
self.isLoading = false
print("Local image URL set: \(imageURL)")
} else {
fetchDownloadURL(from: imageURLString) { url in
self.imageURL = url
self.isLoading = false
print("Image URL fetched and set: \(String(describing: url))")
}
}
}
if let livePhotoVideoURLString = wallpaper.livePhotoVideoURL, let livePhotoVideoURL = URL(string: livePhotoVideoURLString) {
self.livePhotoVideoURL = livePhotoVideoURL
preloadAndPlayVideo(from: livePhotoVideoURL)
} else {
self.isLoading = false
print("No valid image or video URL")
}
}
private func preloadAndPlayVideo(from url: URL) {
self.player = AVPlayer(url: url)
let playerViewController = AVPlayerViewController()
playerViewController.player = self.player
self.playerViewController = playerViewController
let playerItem = AVPlayerItem(url: url)
playerItem.preferredForwardBufferDuration = 1.0
self.player?.replaceCurrentItem(with: playerItem)
...
print("Live Photo Video URL set: \(url)")
}
private func saveWallpaperToPhotos() {
if let imageURL = imageURL, let livePhotoVideoURL = livePhotoVideoURL {
saveLivePhotoToPhotos(imageURL: imageURL, videoURL: livePhotoVideoURL)
} else if let imageURL = imageURL {
saveImageToPhotos(url: imageURL)
}
}
private func saveImageToPhotos(url: URL) {
...
}
private func saveLivePhotoToPhotos(imageURL: URL, videoURL: URL) {
isLoading = true
downloadVideo(from: videoURL) { localVideoURL in
guard let localVideoURL = localVideoURL else {
print("Failed to download video for Live Photo")
DispatchQueue.main.async {
self.isLoading = false
}
return
}
print("Video downloaded to: \(localVideoURL)")
self.generateAndSaveLivePhoto(imageURL: imageURL, videoURL: localVideoURL)
}
}
private func generateAndSaveLivePhoto(imageURL: URL, videoURL: URL) {
LivePhoto.generate(from: imageURL, videoURL: videoURL, progress: { percent in
print("Progress: \(percent)")
}, completion: { livePhoto, resources in
guard let resources = resources else {
print("Failed to generate Live Photo")
DispatchQueue.main.async {
self.isLoading = false
}
return
}
print("Live Photo generated with resources: \(resources)")
self.saveLivePhotoToLibrary(resources: resources)
})
}
private func saveLivePhotoToLibrary(resources: LivePhoto.LivePhotoResources) {
LivePhoto.saveToLibrary(resources) { success in
DispatchQueue.main.async {
if success {
self.isImageSaved = true
print("Live Photo saved successfully")
} else {
print("Failed to save Live Photo")
}
self.isLoading = false
}
}
}
private func fetchDownloadURL(from gsURL: String, completion: @escaping (URL?) -> Void) {
let storageRef = Storage.storage().reference(forURL: gsURL)
storageRef.downloadURL { url, error in
if let error = error {
print("Failed to fetch image URL: \(error)")
completion(nil)
} else {
completion(url)
}
}
}
private func downloadVideo(from url: URL, completion: @escaping (URL?) -> Void) {
let task = URLSession.shared.downloadTask(with: url) { localURL, response, error in
guard let localURL = localURL, error == nil else {
print("Failed to download video: \(String(describing: error))")
completion(nil)
return
}
completion(localURL)
}
task.resume()
}
}```
Topic:
Media Technologies
SubTopic:
Photos & Camera
Tags:
Files and Storage
Swift
SwiftUI
Photos and Imaging
I want to create a Live Photo. The project includes a .jpg image and a .mov video (2 seconds). I am sure they are correct.
Two permissions in xcode have been added:
Privacy - Photo Library Usage Description
Privacy - Photo Library Additions Usage Description Simulate: iphone 16, ios 18.3
The codes in ContentView.swift :
private func saveLivePhoto(imageURL: URL, videoURL: URL, completion: @escaping (Bool, Error?) -> Void) {
PHPhotoLibrary.shared().performChanges {
let creationRequest = PHAssetCreationRequest.forAsset()
let options = PHAssetResourceCreationOptions()
options.shouldMoveFile = false
creationRequest.addResource(with: .photo, fileURL: imageURL, options: options)
creationRequest.addResource(with: .pairedVideo, fileURL: videoURL, options: options)
} completionHandler: { success, error in
DispatchQueue.main.async {
print(error)
completion(success, error)
}
}
}
guard let imageURL = Bundle.main.url(forResource: "livephoto", withExtension: "jpeg"),
let videoURL = Bundle.main.url(forResource: "livephoto", withExtension: "mov") else {
showAlertMessage(title: "error", message: "cant find Live Photo ")
return
}
print("imageURL: \(imageURL)")
print("videoURL: \(videoURL)")
saveLivePhoto(imageURL: imageURL, videoURL: videoURL) { success, error in
if success {
xxxxx
} else {
xxxxx
}
}
Really need help, thanks
If I want to edit image in preview app. But there is only option to rotate left and right 90degree rotations. No option to rorate in any prticular angle. So Please look into this and provide option in next update
Topic:
Media Technologies
SubTopic:
Photos & Camera
Tags:
Image I/O
Graphics and Games
App Review
Media
I have the following code in my ObservableObject class and recently XCode started giving purple coloured runtime issues with it (probably in iOS 18):
Issue 1: Performing I/O on the main thread can cause slow launches.
Issue 2: Interprocess communication on the main thread can cause non-deterministic delays.
Issue 3: Interprocess communication on the main thread can cause non-deterministic delays.
Here is the code:
@Published var cameraAuthorization:AVAuthorizationStatus
@Published var micAuthorization:AVAuthorizationStatus
@Published var photoLibAuthorization:PHAuthorizationStatus
@Published var locationAuthorization:CLAuthorizationStatus
var locationManager:CLLocationManager
override init() {
// Issue 1 (Performing I/O on the main thread can cause slow launches.)
cameraAuthorization = AVCaptureDevice.authorizationStatus(for: AVMediaType.video)
micAuthorization = AVCaptureDevice.authorizationStatus(for: AVMediaType.audio)
photoLibAuthorization = PHPhotoLibrary.authorizationStatus(for: .addOnly)
//Issue 1: Performing I/O on the main thread can cause slow launches.
locationManager = CLLocationManager()
locationAuthorization = locationManager.authorizationStatus
super.init()
//Issue 2: Interprocess communication on the main thread can cause non-deterministic delays.
locationManager.delegate = self
}
And also in route Change notification handler of AVAudioSession.routeChangeNotification,
//Issue 3: Hangs - Interprocess communication on the main thread can cause non-deterministic delays.
let categoryPlayback = (AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().category == .playback)
I wonder how checking authorisation status can give these issues? What is the fix here?
Topic:
Media Technologies
SubTopic:
Photos & Camera
Tags:
Core Location
AVFoundation
Concurrency
Xcode Sanitizers and Runtime Issues
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.
Hi Team,
Camera preview plugin stopped working after upgrading the iOS 18.1.1 in mobile. Is there any way to implement the CameraPreview Plugin application. After clicking on camera icon, only black screen shown, on the other hand same build working fine with prior version of iOS 18.
Is there any way to resolved this issue.
Error CameraPreview Plugin upgraded to iOS 18
Topic:
Media Technologies
SubTopic:
Photos & Camera
On some devices, when i select the same media multiple times, the data by` loadFileRepresentation(forTypeIdentifier: completionHandler) ` returned is different(data.count is not equal).
environment:
* Model: iPhone 12
* Model Number: MGGM3CH/A
* iOS Version: 18.3.2
```Swift
// import PhotosUI
func picker(_ picker: PHPickerViewController, didFinishPicking results: [PHPickerResult]) {
picker.dismiss(animated: true, completion: nil)
guard let provider = results.last?.itemProvider else { return }
guard provider.hasItemConformingToTypeIdentifier(UTType.movie.identifier) else {
return
}
Task {
provider.loadFileRepresentation(forTypeIdentifier: UTType.movie.identifier) { url, error in
guard let url = url else {
return
}
if let data = try? Data(contentsOf: url) {
print("data count is: \(data.count)")
}
}
}
}
```
ps: I also try some other function, eg: ` provide.loadItem(forTypeIdentifier:)`, but not work too.
I'm developing a tennis ball tracking feature using Vision Framework in Swift, specifically utilizing VNDetectedObjectObservation and VNTrackObjectRequest.
Occasionally (but not always), I receive the following runtime error:
Failed to perform SequenceRequest: Error Domain=com.apple.Vision Code=9 "Internal error: unexpected tracked object bounding box size" UserInfo={NSLocalizedDescription=Internal error: unexpected tracked object bounding box size}
From my investigation, I suspect the issue arises when the bounding box from the initial observation (VNDetectedObjectObservation) is too small. However, Apple's documentation doesn't clearly define the minimum bounding box size that's considered valid by VNTrackObjectRequest.
Could someone clarify:
What is the minimum acceptable bounding box width and height (normalized) that Vision Framework's VNTrackObjectRequest expects?
Is there any recommended practice or official guidance for bounding box size validation before creating a tracking request?
This information would be extremely helpful to reliably avoid this internal error.
Thank you!
Topic:
Media Technologies
SubTopic:
Photos & Camera
Tags:
ML Compute
Machine Learning
Camera
AVFoundation
I am developing a video streaming app for iPhone.
Minimum version is IOS 13.
I want to connect an external USB camera to the iPhone app and stream from it.
I have looked through a lot of information and have not found how to do this.
Is it possible to do this? Is there any documentation on this?
Hi,
Could anybody share the full list of supported Predicate keys for the PHFetchOptions?
I'm aware of the list that is posted in the documentation:
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/photos/phfetchoptions
However I have reason to believe that this is not an exhaustive list and there also seem to be mistakes in this doc. i.e. isFavorite does not work but favorite does.
Through some experimentation I also found that this works:
NSPredicate(format: "adjustmentFormatIdentifier == 'com.pixelmatorteam.touch.x.photo.PhotosAdjustmentData.EmbeddedSlimSidecarFileInfo.compressed'")
even though adjustmentFormatIdentifier is not listed as a supported key.
Are there other secret keys that you are aware of?
Specifically I want to filter a fetch result for edited items. Something like this:
NSPredicate(format: "hasAdjustments == true")
(I tried this, doesn't work)
The native Photos app has such a filter which leads me to believe that there probably is a key for this:
If one of the Framework Developers reads this: Could you please update the documentation page with this information?
Finally if there really aren't any more secret keys, is there a way to achieve this with adjustmentFormatIdentifier? I have tried a bunch of stuff already like adjustmentFormatIdentifier != nil but for some reason that gives me the exact opposite of what I want: all the photos without edits. 🫠
Any tips on the correct syntax here would be much appreciated.
Hi Apple Engineer,
My app is using ImageCaptureCore framework to communicate to external DSLR Camera. When I connect my device to a camera, I execute the requestContentsAuthorization(completion:) to request for Access Files on Connected Cameras. This is the dialog when the request is executed:
When I tap "OK", the status of content authorization keeps "Denied". even when I open "Files and Folders" permission in "Privacy & Security" Settings.
When I switched ON the permission, the switch keeps back to turned off. You could see the reproduce in this GoogleDrive video https://drive.google.com/file/d/15B-R5TONgMWg8qFiYUGK0hTy62dsVGUX/view?usp=sharing
The occurrence keeps happen even:
I uninstall and install the app back
Do "Reset Location & Privacy"
Do "Reset All Settings"
I attached the sysdiagnose files in this GoogleDrive file https://drive.google.com/file/d/11lovl_xC95AKXQTkZ1_e6UbEgS5md0Z3/view?usp=sharing
I firstly experience this issue after researching ImageCaptureCore's API. I executed resetContentsAuthorizationWithCompletion:. After that, my permission request keeps denied as described above :(
There are other developer that experiences the same as mine https://forums.developer.apple.com/forums/thread/756960 . There is a simple sample project there and it's reproducible in my case.
Could you help me how to accomplished my app can be granted for permission to "Files and Folders" permission when using ImageCaptureCore? Could it be a bug from the system?
Hello Devs!
Anyone has an idea if it is feasible to override the native camera in apple?
So if a user have an app called "xyz" installed, when the user open his native camera and qr code is detected, we display a pop if he wants to continue with "xyz"
Thanks
Hi all,
In MacOS, how can I disable or enable build-in camera by program or script?
I've requested the authentication in my main app.
PHPhotoLibrary.requestAuthorization(for: .readWrite) { status in }
Add the privacy description in both the main app and the extension.
But No matter the device is locked or unlocked. When I call
let fetchResult = PHAsset.fetchAssets(with: .image, options: nil)
let count = fetchResult.count
the count is always zero, even after a new photo is saved to the album in the same session.
Topic:
Media Technologies
SubTopic:
Photos & Camera
Tags:
iOS
PhotoKit
Photos and Imaging
AVFoundation
I have a photo editing app which uses a simple Metal Render to display CIFilter output images. It works just fine in Swift 5 but in Swift 6 it crashes on starting the Metal command buffer with an error in the Queue : com.Metal.CompletionQueueDispatch (serial).
The crash is occurring before I can debug.. I changed the command buffer to report
MTLCommandBufferDescriptorStatus errorOptions = .encoderExecutionStatus.
No luck with getting insight into the source of the crash..
Likewise the error is happening before any of the usual Metal debug tools are enabled.
The Metal render works just fine in Swift 5 and also works fine with almost all of the Swift Compiler Upcoming feature flags set to Yes. [The "Default Internal Imports" flag is still No. (the number of compile errors with this setting is absolutely scary! but that's another topic)
Do you have any suggestions on debugging or ideas on why the Metal library is crashing in Swift 6???
Everything is current release versions and hardware.
As the image access policy has changed with Android targeting SDK 34, I’m planning to update the way our app accesses photos.
We are using the react-native-image-picker library to access images.
On Android, the system no longer prompts the user for image access permissions, but on iOS, permission requests still appear.
Since Android no longer requires explicit permissions, I’ve removed the permission request logic for Android.
In this case, is it also safe to remove the permission request for iOS?
In our app, photo access is only used for changing the user profile picture and attaching images when writing a post on the bulletin board.
Are there any limitations or considerations for this kind of usage?
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?