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

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Can backgrounded apps record audio?
I'd like to find out: Can backgrounded apps record audio? In the past as I recall, I found that backgrounded apps were pretty restricted and couldn't do much of anything. However I'm not familiar with the current state of affairs. With iOS 15.8 and above, can backgrounded apps record audio if they've been given permission by the user to access the microphone? Thanks.
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Jan ’26
MPMusicPlayerController.applicationMusicPlayer.currentPlaybackRate no longer working in iOS 26.0 (Tahoe)?
I'm wondering if someone happened issues with currentPlaybackRate in released version of iOS 26.0? There is no issue happened in case of iOS 18.5. When I changed currentPlaybackRate on iOS 26.0, it seems to unexpectedly change currentPlaybackRate to be 0 or 1.0 forcibly no matter DRM or non-DRM contents. And also, playing music will be abnormal behavior and unstable with noise if currentPlaybackRate is not 1.0. And changes stop state and play state frequently.
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Oct ’25
How to consume video from an RTSP service?
Hi,It seems like it's pretty easy to consume HTTP Live Streaming content in an iOS app. Unfortunately, I need to consume media from an RTSP server. It seems to me that this is a very similar thing, and that all of the underpinnings for doing it ought to be present in iOS, but I'm having a devil of a time figuring out how to make it work without doing a lot of programming.For starters, I know that there are web-based services that can consume an RTSP stream and rebroadcast it as an HTTP Live Stream that can be easily consumed by the media players in iOS. This won't work for me because my application needs to function in an environment where there is no internet access (it's on a private Wifi network where the only other thing on the network is the device that is serving the RTSP stream).Having read everything I can get my hands on and exploring third-party and open-source solutions, I've compiled the following list of ideas:1. Using an iOS build of the open-source ffmpeg library, which supports RTSP, I've come up with a test app that can receive the RTSP packets, decode them, create UIImages out of the frames, and display those frames on-screen. This provides a crude player, but performance is poor, most likely because ffmpeg can't take advantage of any hardware acceleration. It also doesn't provide me with any way to integrate the video stream into AVFoundation, so I'm on my own as far as saving the stream to a file, transcoding it, etc.2. I know that the AVURLAsset class doesn't directly support the RTSP scheme. Since I have access to the undecoded RTSP packets via ffmpeg, I've thought it should be possible to implement RTSP support myself via a custom NSURLProtocol, essentially fooling AVFoundation into reading those packets as if they originated in a file. I'm not sure if this would work, since the raw packets coming from the RTSP server might lack the headers that would otherwise be present in data being read from a file. I'm not even sure if AVFoundation would recognize my custom protocol.3. If a protocol doesn't work, I've considered that I might be able to implement my own local HTTP Live Streaming server that converts the RTSP packets into an HTTP stream that the media players can read. This sounds like a terribly convoluted solution to the problem, at best, and very difficult at worst.4. Going back to solution (1), if I could speed up the decoding by using some iOS CoreVideo function instead of ffmpeg, this solution might be okay. However, I can't find any documentation for CoreVideo on iOS (Apple only documents it for OS X).5. I'm certainly willing to license a third-party solution if it works well and provides good performance. Unfortunately, everything I've found so far is pretty crummy and mostly just leverages ffmpeg and/or VLC. What is most disappointing to me is that nobody seems to be able or willing to provide a solution that neatly integrates with AVFoundation. I really want to make my RTSP stream available as an AVAsset so I can use it with AVFoundation players and other classes -- I don't want to build an app that relies on custom third-party code for everything.Any ideas, tips, advice would be greatly appreciated.Thanks,Frank
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Oct ’25
Apple News Publisher: How To Successfully Apply
Hi there, Can anyone tell me how to possibly get approved as an Apple News Publisher in 2025? We attempted in 2024, but received this message from Apple support: "Thank you for your interest in Apple News. At this time, we're not accepting new applications." When I inquired further, I got this second response: "Apple News is no longer accepting unsolicited applications. To learn more about Apple News requirements, visit the Apple News support page. If you have any feedback, please use this form to send us your comments. Keep in mind that while we read all feedback, we are unable to respond to each submission individually." My questions are: Is this still the case? (Especially when you are a legit local news outlet) Is there a link to apply as a news publisher? I don't seem to have that option at all. Thanks for any feedback.
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Apr ’25
Question about PT Framework channel tone behaviour
I've been wondering if there is a way to modify or even disable tones for indicating channel states. The behaviour regarding tones seems like a black box with little documentation. During migration to Apple's PT Framework we've noticed that there are few scenarios where a tone is played which doesn't match certain certifications. For example; moving from a channel to another produces a tone which would fail a test case. I understand the reasoning fully, as it marks that the channel is ready to transmit or receive, but this doesn't mirror the behaviour of TETRA which would be wanted in this case. I'm also wondering if there would be any way to directly communicate feedback regarding PT Framework?
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Oct ’25
When does AVPlayer exclude _HLS_part query param in LL-HLS requests?
Hello, I'm investigating an issue with LL-HLS playback using AVPlayer, specifically during DVR Live seeking (seeking to a past time). I noticed that in certain seeking scenarios, AVPlayer sends a Blocking Playlist Reload request that includes the _HLS_msn parameter but is missing the _HLS_part parameter. While I understand this is compliant with the HLS spec, I would like to know the specific criteria AVPlayer uses to decide when to drop the _HLS_part parameter. Does AVPlayer intentionally omit the part info when it determines that loading a specific partial segment is unnecessary during a seek operation? Clarification on this behavior would help us greatly in debugging our stream delivery. Thanks in advance.
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Dec ’25
Torch Freezes Ultra-Wide Camera When Switching Between Wide & Ultra-Wide Lenses (AVFoundation Bug?)
I'm developing an iOS app using AVFoundation for real-time video capture and object detection. While implementing torch functionality with camera switching (between Wide and Ultra-Wide lenses), I encountered a critical issue where the camera freezes when toggling the torch while the Ultra-Wide camera is active. Issue If the torch is ON and I switch from Wide to Ultra-Wide, the camera freezes If the Ultra-Wide camera is active and I try to turn the torch ON, the camera freezes The iPhone Camera app allows using the torch while recording video with the Ultra-Wide lens, so this should be possible via AVFoundation as well. Code snippet DispatchQueue.global(qos: .userInitiated).async { [weak self] in guard let self = self else { return } let isSwitchingToUltraWide = !self.isUsingFisheyeCamera let cameraType: AVCaptureDevice.DeviceType = isSwitchingToUltraWide ? .builtInUltraWideCamera : .builtInWideAngleCamera let cameraName = isSwitchingToUltraWide ? "Ultra Wide" : "Wide" guard let selectedCamera = AVCaptureDevice.default(cameraType, for: .video, position: .back) else { DispatchQueue.main.async { self.showAlert(title: "Camera Error", message: "\(cameraName) camera is not available on this device.") } return } do { let currentInput = self.videoCapture.captureSession.inputs.first as? AVCaptureDeviceInput self.videoCapture.captureSession.beginConfiguration() if isSwitchingToUltraWide && self.isFlashlightOn { self.forceEnableTorchThroughWide() } if let currentInput = currentInput { self.videoCapture.captureSession.removeInput(currentInput) } let videoInput = try AVCaptureDeviceInput(device: selectedCamera) self.videoCapture.captureSession.addInput(videoInput) self.videoCapture.captureSession.commitConfiguration() self.videoCapture.updateVideoOrientation() DispatchQueue.main.async { if let barButton = sender as? UIBarButtonItem { barButton.title = isSwitchingToUltraWide ? "Wide" : "Ultra Wide" barButton.tintColor = isSwitchingToUltraWide ? UIColor.systemGreen : UIColor.white } print("Switched to \(cameraName) camera.") } self.isUsingFisheyeCamera.toggle() } catch { DispatchQueue.main.async { self.showAlert(title: "Camera Error", message: "Failed to switch to \(cameraName) camera: \(error.localizedDescription)") } } } } Expected Behavior Torch should be able to work when Ultra-Wide is active, just like the iPhone Camera app does. The camera should not freeze when switching between Wide and Ultra-Wide with the torch ON. AVCaptureSession should not crash when toggling the torch while Ultra-Wide is active. Questions & Help Needed Is this a known issue with AVFoundation? How does the iPhone Camera app allow using the torch while recording in Ultra-Wide? What’s the correct way to switch between Wide and Ultra-Wide cameras without freezing when the torch is active? Info Device tested: iPhone 13 Pro / iPhone 15 Pro / Iphone 15 iOS Version: iOS 17.3 / iOS 18.0 Xcode Version: 16.2
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Oct ’25
Apple Music API: Adding To Collaborative playlist gives 500 error
I am using https://developer.apple.com/documentation/applemusicapi/add-tracks-to-a-library-playlist to add tracks to playlists. This endpoint works fine for all playlists except for collaborative playlists. For collaborative playlist I get the following 500 error as a response: "errors": [ { "id": "<some id>", "title": "Upstream Service Error", "detail": "Unable to update tracks", "status": "500", "code": "50001" } ] } Steps to reproduce: Create a playlist in your library. Use the api to add a song. Confirm that it works. Make that same playlist collaborative. Update the playlist ID in your api request (as making a playlist collaborative changes its id) Confirm that you get the 500 error.
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Oct ’25
Lock screen media controls for MusicKit/ ApplicationMusicPlayer
Hi, when using ApplicationMusicPlayer from MusicKit my app automatically gets the media controls on the lock screen: Play/ Pause, Skip Buttons, Playback Position etc. I would like to customize these. Tried a bunch of things, e.g. using MPRemoteCommandCenter. So far I haven't had any success. Does anyone know how I can customize the media controls of ApplicationMusicPlayer. Thank you.
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Sep ’25
Failure on attempt to import track as spatial audio
I'm working on a project to support spatial audio editing, using this sample project as a reference: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/Cinematic/editing-spatial-audio-with-an-audio-mix This sample works well on an unedited capture, but does not work for a capture that has already been edited. The failure is occurring at "let audioInfo = try await CNAssetSpatialAudioInfo(asset: myAsset)", which is throwing "no eligible audio tracks in asset". I also find that for already edited captures, if i use CNAssetSpatialAudioInfo.assetContainsSpatialAudio, it returns false. What i mean by "already edited" is that if I take a spatial capture with my iPhone 16, and then edit that capture in the Photos app using the Cinematic effect, and then save the edited output (e.g. edited_capture.mov), I can't import that edited_capture.mov into my project as a spatial audio asset. Is this intentional behavior or a bug? If it's intentional, can you describe why?
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Sep ’25
Audio session activation occasionally fails from CarPlay
I'm working on adding CarPlay support to an audio app and am running into an issue. Occasionally, when a user opens the app from CarPlay while the main app scene is either not connected or is currently in the background, I will receive an error when attempting to activate the audio session. The code below mimics my setup: do { try AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().setCategory(.playback, mode: .spokenAudio) try AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().setActive(true) } catch { print(error) // NSOSStatusErrorDomain - 560557684: Session activation failed } That error code maps to AVAudioSession.ErrorCode.cannotInterruptOthers. Once in this state, all subsequent attempts to play different pieces of content will fail. However, things will start working normally if the user opens the app on their phone and tries again from CarPlay (while the app is in the foreground on their phone). I'm not sure why it would behave this way and want to note that I do have the audio background mode capability enabled. Has anyone else encountered this? Are there any workarounds or changes I could make to prevent this from happening?
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Apr ’25
Orientation does not work on iPhone 17 and above.
I'm receiving output from avcapturesession and capturing an image using Vision, but the image is output in landscape orientation instead of portrait. Even when I set the orientation to up in ciimage, cgimage, and uiimage, the image is still output in landscape orientation. On iPhones 16 and below, the image is output in portrait orientation. But on iPhones 17 and above, the image is output in landscape orientation. Please help.
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Dec ’25
iPad app on macOS not asking for microphone permission
Hello, I have an iOS app that is recording audio that is working fine on iPads/iPhones. It asks for microphone permission and after that recording works. I installed the same app on my M3 MacBook via TestFlight since iPad apps are supposed to work without a change that way. The app starts fine and everything, but it never asks for Microphone permission, so I can't record. Do I need to do something to make this happen (this is not macCatalyst, its running the arm64 iPhone binary on macOS) thanks
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Mar ’25
Improving Speech Analyzer Transcription for technical terms
I am developing an app with transcription and I am exploring ways to improve the transcription from the SpeechAnalyzer/Transcriber for technical terms. SFSpeech... recognition had the capability of being augmented by contextualStrings. Does something similar exist for SpeechAnalyzer/Transcriber? If so please point me towards the documentation and any sample code that may exist for this. If there are other options, please let me know.
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Sep ’25
Create live photo throw Optional(Error Domain=PHPhotosErrorDomain Code=-1 "(null)")
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
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Mar ’25
Disabling Hardware OIS via AVFoundation — Clarification on AVCaptureVideoStabilizationMode
Hello everyone, I'm looking for a definitive clarification on how to completely disable all video stabilization, including the hardware OIS, using AVFoundation. The goal is to achieve a completely raw, unstabilized video feed, which is crucial when using external equipment like gimbals to avoid conflicting stabilization motions. My research points to using the AVCaptureConnection property preferredVideoStabilizationMode and setting it to AVCaptureVideoStabilizationMode.off. The documentation for the .off case states: A mode that doesn’t stabilize video capture. This description is slightly ambiguous. It's unclear whether this only affects software-level stabilization (EIS, EIS+OIS, etc) or if it guarantees the complete deactivation of the physical OIS module. For professional video applications, this is a critical distinction. So, I'd like to ask the community: Has anyone been able to definitively confirm that setting preferredVideoStabilizationMode to .off also disables the hardware OIS? Are there any known tests or documentation that prove this behavior? Is there an alternative or more direct method to ensure the OIS module is physically inactive during video capture? What is the community's best practice for ensuring absolutely no stabilization is applied to the video pipeline? Any insights or shared experiences on this topic would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
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Sep ’25
MusicKit for Android reports an error when playing stations
我在使用 musicKit SDK for Android 1.1.2 时,发现 MediaContainerType 只定义了三种类型: 无 = 0; 专辑 = 1; 播放列表 = 2; 未定义 RADIO_STATION 类型。 但是,com.apple.android.music.playback.model 的文档指出支持 RADIO_STATION 类型。 此问题在我传入 stations ID 后会导致错误: MediaSessionManager com.apple.android.music.sdk.testapp D onPlaybackError() Quincy java.io.IOException 请问如何解决这个问题?
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May ’25
Clarification on SPC Version 3 Availability and Requirements (SDK 26 Certificate Bundle)
Hello, I’m using a valid certificate bundle generated with SDK 26 (combined RSA‑1024 + RSA‑2048). However, all my devices currently still generate SPC v2 during playback, including my iPhone 16 under iOS 26.2. Apple staff mentioned that future iOS versions will send SPC v3 when using an SDK 26 certificate bundle. Could you please clarify: Which iOS/macOS versions will first support SPC v3? Are there any additional client‑side requirements (Safari version, playback APIs, headers, etc.) to trigger SPC v3? Is there any way to test SPC v3 today, e.g., using beta builds? Thank you!
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AVAssetDownloadConfiguration: How many video variants are actually downloaded when multiple variants exist in the HLS master playlist?
Hi, I’m trying to better understand how AVAssetDownloadConfiguration selects video variants when downloading HLS content for offline playback. Suppose I have an HLS master playlist (.m3u8) that contains several video variants defined with #EXT-X-STREAM-INF. For example, the master playlist may contain multiple video streams like this: Same resolution, different BANDWIDTH Or different resolutions (for example 720p, 1080p, etc.) My question is: How many video variants are actually downloaded when using AVAssetDownloadConfiguration without specifying any variantQualifiers? In other words: If the master playlist contains multiple video variants, will the download task fetch only one variant, or multiple variants? Does the behavior differ depending on whether the variants differ only by BANDWIDTH or also by RESOLUTION? What I observed in testing In my tests, I always end up with only one video variant downloaded, specifically the one with the highest BANDWIDTH parameter. In the m3u8 files I tested, all video variants had identical parameters (resolution, codec, frame rate, etc.) and differed only by the BANDWIDTH attribute in the master playlist. However, when inspecting the downloaded .movpkg, I noticed something interesting in boot.xml. It lists two video streams: one with complete="true" (the one with highest bandwidth) another with complete="no" (the one with lowest bandwidth) I actually had 3 video streams listed in m3u8, but the one with middle bandwidth wasn't listed in boot.xml file at all. There are also additional streams for audio and subtitles in boot.xml file. This made me wonder whether the system initially attempts to download another video variant (possibly a lower bitrate one), but then switches to the highest-quality variant and only completes that one. Additional question about variantQualifiers If I provide a predicate such as: NSPredicate(format: "peakBitRate > 0") which should theoretically match all variants, will the download task attempt to download all matching video variants, or will it still select only one? Summary So the main questions are: Without variantQualifiers, does AVAssetDownloadConfiguration always download a single video variant, and if so, how is it chosen? Does the behavior differ if variants have different resolutions vs only different bitrates? When a predicate matches multiple variants, can multiple video variants actually be downloaded in a single .movpkg? Why might boot.xml list multiple video streams when only one appears to be fully downloaded? Any clarification on the intended behavior would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
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