Explore the integration of media technologies within your app. Discuss working with audio, video, camera, and other media functionalities.

All subtopics
Posts under Media Technologies topic

Post

Replies

Boosts

Views

Activity

MusicKit and sorted artist and album names?
I have an app that gets data from Music.app with both the iTunesLibrary and MusicKit. iTunesLibrary has ITLibArtist.sortName and ITLibAlbum.sortTitle and ITLibAlbum.sortAlbumArtist. I can’t seem to find an equivalent in MusicKit. How are those properties obtained using MusicKit? Thanks. FYI I have filed FB15554956 on this. You also may see my code at https://github.com/bolsinga/itunes_json
1
1
492
Nov ’24
Can't play queues with mixed library and non-library items correctly
If a queue (ApplicationMusicPlayer.Queue) is set with both library and non-library (catalog) items, the queue will play only one kind of item (library or non-library) or will just stop playing when the next item is of a different kind. Using both Xcode 16 beta 4 and Xcode 15.4. The issue was present in iOS 17 and is not resolved as of iOS 18 beta 4. FB14491999
1
1
634
Sep ’24
iOS 16 MusicKit - Artwork has no background or text colors
Hello, I'm new to the Swift MusicKit API and am starting with the implementation in iOS 16. I'm getting stuck on an issue where there is no background or text color associated with the Artwork object. Is this something you have to make an additional property request for, and if so, how do you do that? var catalogSearch = MusicCatalogResourceRequest<Album>(matching: \.id, equalTo: item.id) let catalogResponse = try await request.response() guard let firstItem = catalogResponse.items.first else { return } In this example, firstItem.artwork only contains the url and what look like incorrect max width/height values. here's a printout of firstItem.artwork Optional(Artwork(   urlFormat: "musicKit://artwork/library/5F37858D-F46B-4F12-BA67-40FA8DD63D87/{w}x{h}?at=item&fat=&id=7718670444435992305&lid=5F37858D-F46B-4F12-BA67-40FA8DD63D87&mt=music&aat=Music122/v4/37/25/f5/3725f515-249f-7b91-77bb-f479cd48201c/22UMGIM32254.rgb.jpg", maximumWidth: 0, maximumHeight: 0 ))
1
1
877
Mar ’25
Best Approach for Reliable Background Audio Playback with Audio Ducking on Command from Server
I am developing an iOS app that needs to play spoken audio on demand from a server, while ducking the audio of background music from another app (e.g., SoundtrackYourBrand or Apple Music). This must work even when the app is in the background, and the server dictates when and what audio is played. Ideally, the message should be played within a minute of the server requesting it. Current Attempt & Observations I initially tried using Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) silent notifications to send a URL to an audio file, which the app would then play using AVPlayer. This works consistently when the app is active, but in the background, it only works about 60% of the time. In cases where it fails, iOS ducks the background music (e.g., from SoundtrackYourBrand) but never plays the spoken audio. Interestingly, when I play the audio without enabling audio ducking, it seems to work 100% of the time from my limited testing, even in the background. The app has background modes enabled for Audio, Background Fetch, and Remote Notifications. Best Approach to Achieve This? I’d like guidance on the best Apple-compliant approach to reliably play audio on command from the server, even when the app is in the background. Some possible paths: Ensuring the app remains active in the background – Are there recommended ways to prevent the app from getting suspended, such as background tasks, a special background mode, or a persistent connection to the server? Alternative triggering mechanisms – Would something like VoIP, Push-to-Talk, or another background service be better suited for this use case? Built-in iOS speech synthesis (AVSpeechSynthesizer) – If playing external audio is unreliable, would generating speech dynamically from text be a more robust approach? Streaming audio instead of sending a URL – Could continuous streaming from the server keep the app active and allow playback at the right moment? I want to ensure the solution is reliable and works 100% of the time when needed. Any recommendations on the best approach for this would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time and guidance.
0
1
333
Feb ’25
Macro-mode in AVCaptureDevice(custom camera)
Hi, I would like to use macro-mode for the custom camera using AVCaptureDevice in my project. This feature might help to automatically adjust and switch between lenses to get a close up clear image. It looks like this feature is not available and there are no open apis to achieve macro mode from Apple. Is there a way to get this functionality in the custom camera without losing the image quality. Please let me know if this is possible. Thanks you, Adil Thamarasseri
7
1
1.2k
Feb ’25
Playing fMP4 Raw Chunks in AVPlayer on iOS
Hello Apple Community, We are working on a real-time streaming feature where we receive chunks of raw MP4 data through a custom protocol and store them in a buffer (array). Our goal is to use these data chunks to play a continuous video stream in AVPlayer. What We've Tried: Custom URL Scheme with AVAssetResourceLoaderDelegate: We implemented a custom URL scheme (customscheme://) to serve the buffered data using AVAssetResourceLoaderDelegate. The method shouldWaitForLoadingOfRequestedResource is called only during the initial allocation. It doesn't get triggered when new chunks are appended to the buffer. Despite appending new data to the buffer, AVPlayer doesn’t request further chunks from the delegate. What We Need: We are looking for a solution where: The player continuously fetches data from the buffer as new chunks are added. The playback remains smooth and uninterrupted, even with real-time data being appended. Ideally, this solution works with AVPlayer while adhering to HLS-like behavior without implementing an HLS server. Questions: Is AVAssetResourceLoaderDelegate the right approach for this use case? If so, how can we ensure shouldWaitForLoadingOfRequestedResource is called whenever new data is available in the buffer? Are there alternative APIs or recommended patterns for playing real-time MP4 data chunks in AVPlayer? Would implementing a custom FFmpeg-based player be necessary, or can this be achieved using AVPlayer and its APIs? We appreciate any guidance, suggestions, or examples that can help us achieve this. Thank you!
0
1
504
Jan ’25
Is it possible to get only audio from ScreenCaptureKit?
I'm creating app that listening other app's sound. in this use case, screen data is not needed. but if I don't call SCStream#addStreamOutput(_, type: .screen, ...), console shows this error: [ERROR] _SCStream_RemoteVideoQueueOperationHandlerWithError:701 stream output NOT found. Dropping frame currently I'm setting SCStreamConfiguration#minimumFrameInterval to large value (e.g. 0.1fps) as workaround, but it would be good if i can completely disable screen capture for best performance. there is any way to disable screen capture and only captures apps audio?
5
1
3.1k
Nov ’24
Cannot load iTunesLibrary on macOS Sequoia 15.1
I use the iTunes Library framework in one of my apps, starting with macOS Sequoia 15.1 i can't create the ITLibrary object anymore with the following error: Connection to amplibraryd was interrupted. clientName:iTunesLibrary(ITLibraryLoader) Error connecting to the server via proxy object Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=4097 "connection to service named com.apple.amp.library.framework" UserInfo={NSDebugDescription=connection to service named com.apple.amp.library.framework} configure failed: Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=4097 "connection to service named com.apple.amp.library.framework" UserInfo={NSDebugDescription=connection to service named com.apple.amp.library.framework} I created a new sandboxed macOS app, added the music folder read permission and it reproduced the error: import SwiftUI import iTunesLibrary @main struct ITLibraryLoaderApp: App { var body: some Scene { WindowGroup { ContentView() } } } struct ContentView: View { var body: some View { Button("Load ITLibrary") { loadLibrary() } } func loadLibrary() { do { let _ = try ITLibrary(apiVersion: "1.0", options: .none) } catch { print(error) } } } I restarted my developer machine and the music app with no luck.
3
0
904
Jan ’25
PIP Camera in iOS App
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?
1
0
553
Jan ’25
AVCaptureSessionControlsDelegate Not Being Called From Capture App
I am looking to learn more about the new Capture Button controls for iPhone 16, and am working to adapt the AVCam Sample Code to support the Capture Button. While I believe I've followed the guidance in the Enhancing your app experience with the Camera Control documentation, I'm finding that while my AVCaptureControl items seem to be added to the capture session, the Capture Button does not ever do anything, nor are any of the delegate methods called. After I configure my capture session per the setupSession() method, I'm calling a method I added, func configureCameraControls(device:AVCaptureDevice): func configureCameraControls(device: AVCaptureDevice) { guard captureSession.supportsControls else { assertionFailure("App does not support camera control.") return } // Set the controls delegate captureSession.setControlsDelegate(controlsDelegate, queue: sessionQueue) // Begin configuring the capture session. captureSession.beginConfiguration() // Remove previously configured controls, if any. for control in captureSession.controls { captureSession.removeControl(control) } // Add a zoom control let systemZoomSlider = AVCaptureSystemZoomSlider(device: device) { zoomFactor in // TODO } // Create a control to adjust the device's exposure bias. let systemBiasSlider = AVCaptureSystemExposureBiasSlider(device: device) // Add a custom slider let focusSlider = AVCaptureSlider("Focus", symbolName: "scope", in: 0...1) focusSlider.setActionQueue(sessionQueue) { focusValue in // TODO } // Iterate over the passed in controls. for control in [systemZoomSlider, systemBiasSlider, focusSlider] { // Add the control to the capture session if possible. if captureSession.canAddControl(control) { captureSession.addControl(control) } else { print("Unable to add control \(control).") } } // Commit the capture session configuration. captureSession.commitConfiguration() } I define the controls delegate like so: final class CaptureControlsDelegate: NSObject, AVCaptureSessionControlsDelegate { func sessionControlsDidBecomeActive(_ session: AVCaptureSession) { } func sessionControlsWillEnterFullscreenAppearance(_ session: AVCaptureSession) { } func sessionControlsWillExitFullscreenAppearance(_ session: AVCaptureSession) { } func sessionControlsDidBecomeInactive(_ session: AVCaptureSession) { } } Which I instantiate earlier on in my app's lifecycle and make available to the CaptureService actor. I'm not sure if this snippet can provide enough detail to gather some help, but I can't quite fathom why the camera/capture pipeline works, but I'm not getting any functionality from the Capture Button nor is the AVCaptureSessionControlsDelegate ever having its methods called.
3
0
663
Sep ’24
CarPlay CPNowPlayingTemplate show wrong command buttons
i have a CarPlay implementation eand I want to show previous/next track button on player UI MPRemoteCommandCenter.shared().seekForwardCommand.isEnabled = false MPRemoteCommandCenter.shared().seekBackwardCommand.isEnabled = false MPRemoteCommandCenter.shared().previousTrackCommand.isEnabled = true MPRemoteCommandCenter.shared().nextTrackCommand.isEnabled = true It works correctly on CarPlay simulator , but on some car only SEEK button are shown . I have to suppose that it is that a problem on the car side , but I would ask about your opinion , maybe there is some pieces I'm missing
3
0
440
Jan ’25
Can Logic Pro load an Audio Unit v3 in-process?
After investing more than a week into getting a bunch of audio unit projects converted into app + appex + framework, they all are now correctly loaded in-process in the demo host app that is part of Xcode's template. However, Logic Pro adamantly refuses to load them in-process. Does Logic Pro simply not do that ever, or is there some hint or configuration my plugins need to provide to enable that? If it is unsupported, will it be supported in some future version of Logic? The entire point of investing that week was performance, which is moot if it is impossible to test the impact of loading in-process in a real-world usage scenario.
1
0
627
Jan ’25
ScreenCaptureKit crash
We are having issues with ScreenCaptureKit. Our use case is the following: We have multiple applications that each starts a stream capture, using ScreenCaptureKit. It works fine when just one application is streaming, but when starting multiple streams continuesly, all streams stops or crashes, without ScreenCaptureKit reporting an error back. Restarting replayd for the user will allow us to start streaming again, if the streaming applications are restartet too. We have build a small test program that we have tested on different Macs, running different versions of macOS, with identical results. The test program just calls the 'getShareableContentExcludingDesktopWindows' function multiple times, since this was the simplest way to show the problem. Our test setup is the following: Mac Mini M2 macOS 13.6 MacBook Pro M3 macOS 14.4 MacBook Pro M3 macOS 15.1 Code main.m #import <Foundation/Foundation.h> #import <ScreenCaptureKit/ScreenCaptureKit.h> @interface Runner : NSObject @property(atomic, assign) BOOL keepRunning; @property(atomic, retain) SCShareableContent* availableWindows; -(void) updateAvailableWindows; -(void) notif:(NSNotification*) aNotif; @end int main(int argc, const char * argv[]) { @autoreleasepool { NSRunLoop* loo = [NSRunLoop mainRunLoop]; Runner* r = [[Runner alloc] init]; [r updateAvailableWindows]; while (r.keepRunning) [loo runUntilDate:[NSDate distantFuture]]; NSLog(@"Program exit"); } return 0; } @implementation Runner -(instancetype) init { self = [super init]; if(self){ _keepRunning = YES; [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self selector:@selector(notif:) name:@"windowWasNotFound" object:nil]; [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self selector:@selector(notif:) name:@"windowWasFound" object:nil]; } return self; } -(void) updateAvailableWindows { @autoreleasepool { NSLog(@"begin"); [SCShareableContent getShareableContentExcludingDesktopWindows:NO onScreenWindowsOnly:YES completionHandler:^(SCShareableContent* content, NSError* error){ NSLog(@"running"); if(!error){ self.availableWindows = content; for (__unused SCWindow* aWin in self.availableWindows.windows) { [NSThread sleepForTimeInterval:0.01]; } [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] postNotificationName:@"windowWasFound" object:self.availableWindows]; } else{ [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] postNotificationName:@"windowWasNotFound" object:nil]; } }]; } } -(void) notif:(NSNotification*) aNotif { if(aNotif.object) [self performSelectorOnMainThread:@selector(updateAvailableWindows) withObject:nil waitUntilDone:NO]; else{ NSLog(@"Not Found"); self.keepRunning = NO; } } @end How to replicate: Compile and run the program from multiple terminal windows (terminal must be granted screen recording permission) and notice that the output stops, when the replayd stops responding (our assumption). Restarting the application does nothing, before the replayd also is restarted. Running th application in Xcode gives the following error: [ERROR] -[RPDaemonProxy fetchShareableContentWithOption:windowID:currentProcess:withCompletionHandler:]_block_invoke:902 error: 4097 This error is not something we have been able to detect in our applications - and since the only workaround is restarting replayd and the applications, catching the error would help us.
2
0
596
Jan ’25
How start AVPictureInPicture when video is paused
I have AVPlayer with AVPictureInPictureController. Play video in app and picture In Picture works except one situation. Issue is: I pause video in application and during switch to background is not PiP activate. What do I wrong? import UIKit import AVKit import AVFoundation class ViewControllerSec: UIViewController,AVPictureInPictureControllerDelegate { var pipPlayer: AVPlayer! var avCanvas : UIView! var pipCanvas: AVPlayerLayer? var pipController: AVPictureInPictureController! var mainViewControler : UIViewController! var playerItem : AVPlayerItem! var videoAvasset : AVAsset! public func link(to parentViewController : UIViewController) { mainViewControler = parentViewController setup() } @objc func appWillResignActiveNotification(application: UIApplication) { guard let pipController = pipController else { print("PiP not supported") return } print("PIP isSuspend: \(pipController.isPictureInPictureSuspended)") print("PIP isPossible: \(pipController.isPictureInPicturePossible)" if playerItem.status == .readyToPlay { if pipPlayer.rate == 0 { pipPlayer.play() } pipController.startPictureInPicture(). ---> Errorin log: Failed to start picture in picture. } else { print("Player not ready for PiP.") } } private func setupAudio() { do { let session = AVAudioSession.sharedInstance() try session.setCategory(.playback, mode: .moviePlayback) try session.setActive(true) } catch { print("Audio session setup failed: \(error.localizedDescription)") } } @objc func playerItemDidFailToPlayToEnd(_ notification: Notification) { if let error = notification.userInfo?[AVPlayerItemFailedToPlayToEndTimeErrorKey] as? Error { print("Failed to play to end: \(error.localizedDescription)") } } func setup() { setupAudio() guard let videoURL = URL(string: "https://demo.unified-streaming.com/k8s/features/stable/video/tears-of-steel/tears-of-steel.mp4/.m3u8") else { return } videoAvasset = AVAsset(url: videoURL) playerItem = AVPlayerItem(asset: videoAvasset) addPlayerObservers() pipPlayer = AVPlayer(playerItem: playerItem) avCanvas = UIView(frame: view.bounds) pipCanvas = AVPlayerLayer(player: pipPlayer) guard let pipCanvas else { return } pipCanvas.frame = avCanvas.bounds //pipCanvas.videoGravity = .resizeAspectFill mainViewControler.view.addSubview(avCanvas) avCanvas.layer.addSublayer(pipCanvas) if AVPictureInPictureController.isPictureInPictureSupported() { pipController = AVPictureInPictureController(playerLayer: pipCanvas) pipController?.delegate = self pipController?.canStartPictureInPictureAutomaticallyFromInline = true } let playButton = UIButton(frame: CGRect(x: 20, y: 50, width: 100, height: 50)) playButton.setTitle("Play", for: .normal) playButton.backgroundColor = .blue playButton.addTarget(self, action: #selector(playTapped), for: .touchUpInside) mainViewControler.view.addSubview(playButton) let pauseButton = UIButton(frame: CGRect(x: 140, y: 50, width: 100, height: 50)) pauseButton.setTitle("Pause", for: .normal) pauseButton.backgroundColor = .red pauseButton.addTarget(self, action: #selector(pauseTapped), for: .touchUpInside) mainViewControler.view.addSubview(pauseButton) let pipButton = UIButton(frame: CGRect(x: 260, y: 50, width: 150, height: 50)) pipButton.setTitle("Start PiP", for: .normal) pipButton.backgroundColor = .green pipButton.addTarget(self, action: #selector(startPictureInPicture), for: .touchUpInside) mainViewControler.view.addSubview(pipButton) print("Error:\(String(describing: pipPlayer.error?.localizedDescription))") NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(forName: UIApplication.didEnterBackgroundNotification, object: nil, queue: nil) { [weak self] _ in guard let self = self else { return } if self.pipPlayer.rate == 0 { self.pipPlayer.play() pipController?.startPictureInPicture() } } func addPlayerObservers() { playerItem?.addObserver(self, forKeyPath: "status", options: [.old, .new], context: nil) NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(self, selector: #selector(playerDidFinishPlaying(_:)), name: .AVPlayerItemDidPlayToEndTime, object: playerItem) } override func observeValue(forKeyPath keyPath: String?, of object: Any?, change: [NSKeyValueChangeKey : Any]?, context: UnsafeMutableRawPointer?) { if keyPath == "status" { if let statusNumber = change?[.newKey] as? NSNumber { let status = AVPlayer.Status(rawValue: statusNumber.intValue)! switch status { case .readyToPlay: print("Player is ready to play") case .failed: print("Player failed: \(String(describing: playerItem?.error))") case .unknown: print("Player status is unknown") @unknown default: fatalError() } } } } @objc func playerDidFinishPlaying(_ notification: Notification) { print("Video finished playing.") } deinit { playerItem?.removeObserver(self, forKeyPath: "status") NotificationCenter.default.removeObserver(self) } @objc func playTapped() { pipPlayer.play() } @objc func pauseTapped() { pipPlayer.pause() } @objc func startPictureInPicture() { if let pipController = pipController, !pipController.isPictureInPictureActive { pipController.startPictureInPicture() } } @objc func stopPictureInPicture() { if let pipController = pipController, pipController.isPictureInPictureActive { pipController.stopPictureInPicture() } } func pictureInPictureController(_ pictureInPictureController: AVPictureInPictureController, failedToStartPictureInPictureWithError error: Error) { print("Failed to start PiP: \(error.localizedDescription)") if let underlyingError = (error as NSError).userInfo[NSUnderlyingErrorKey] { print("Underlying error: \(underlyingError)") } } }
1
0
510
Jan ’25
Recording A/V .mov file with SMPTE timecode
Hello, I used following technical note to develop app that record mov file with SMPTE timecode. https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/technotes/tn2310/_index.html As result, a timecode track is present within .mov file (other tracks are audio and video) Unfortunately, QuickTime Player doesn't display timecode information. Analyser tools like mediainfo or online service as https://media-analyzer.pro/app show that timecode track has null duration (and so no "time code of last frame" example n° of TC track : Other ID : 3 Type : Time code Format : QuickTime TC Frame rate : 60.000 FPS Time code of first frame : 17:39:59:00 Time code, stripped : Yes Title : Core Media Time Code Encoded date : 2024-09-10 15:39:46 UTC Tagged date : 2024-09-10 15:39:59 UTC example 2 of Timecode track : 0000569562Quicktime Timecode #0 00007f6b8a'trak' Track atom #1 00007f6b92'tkhd' Track header atom #2 size 92 (0x5C) type 'tkhd' (hex 74 6B 68 64) version 0 flags 15 (0xF) creation_time 0xE30618C2, '2024-09-10 15:39:46' modification_time 0xE30618CF, '2024-09-10 15:39:59' track_ID 3 reserved 0 duration 0 reserved [0, 0] In each case, duration is considered as null even if the record's duration is more than 20s. STEPS TO REPRODUCE Use AVAssetWriter for video and audio. Create AVAssetWrite for timecode and associate it with video track. Just before stopping record, a sample buffer containing SMPTE is generated and added. All track are marked as finished before stopping the record with finishWritingWithCompletionHandler.
1
0
545
Oct ’24
Apple Music Bug
Since the iOS 18 update, there's been a bug that always occurs when listening to music through Apple Music. When music is playing and the iPhone enters or exits standby mode, the music pauses by itself for 1 second. The initial conditions were the same as when this problem didn’t exist.
2
0
631
Oct ’24