1.May I ask if the Background Upload can run normally in the Release version of ios 26.1? I used the Release version of ios 26.1 for debugging and found that the background upload couldn't be triggered for a long time.
I debugged in ios 26.2 and found that background upload could be triggered normally, but kept triggering an Error: "Error returned from daemon: error Domain=com.apple.accounts Code=7 "(null)"
Photos & Camera
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Apple Watch app closes when changing photo permissions in the iPhone app.
App A is installed simultaneously on both the paired iPhone and Apple Watch.
I'm running App A on both my iPhone and Apple Watch.
When I change the photo permissions on App A installed on my iPhone, App A running on my Apple Watch automatically closes.
At first, I assumed App A on my iPhone was abnormally closing, causing App A on my Apple Watch to also close.
However, I've determined that changing the photo permissions is the cause of the app closing.
I don't think this behavior existed before WatchOS/iOS 26.
Is this behavior a natural addition to WatchOS/iOS 26?
If I go to the home screen while running app A on my iPhone and change its photo permissions in the Settings app, app A running on my Apple Watch automatically closes.
Recently Apple gave us the possibility to upload asset resources in the background. We implemented our background upload extension but when our CI tried to upload the app on TestFlight we got an error that the extension point identifier - in our case com.apple.photos.backgound-upload - is not an official one. Any idea when it will become official and we will be able to release a working background uploading?
I'm trying to benchmark a Core Image filter chains memory footprint and notice a weird quirk in instruments.
On a real device, even with a simple Core Image chain, the memory balloons each time I ran the filter. See attached screen shots.
Running on iPhone 17 Pro:
Running on simulator (M2 Macbook Pro)
As you can see there's a huge build up of 4MB "VM: IOSurface" memory on the real device, but the simulator seems to clean it up correctly.
Here's my basic code:
func processImage() {
guard let inputImage = ContentViewModel.loadImageFromBundle(name: "kitty.HEIC") else {
print("Failed to load sample_image from bundle")
return
}
var outputImage = inputImage
outputImage = outputImage.applyingFilter("CIBloom", parameters: [
kCIInputRadiusKey: 20,
kCIInputIntensityKey: 0.8
])
DispatchQueue.global(qos: .userInitiated).async {
let data = self.context.jpegRepresentation(of: outputImage, colorSpace: CGColorSpace(name: CGColorSpace.sRGB)!)
if let data = data, let uiImage = UIImage(data: data) {
DispatchQueue.main.async {
self.displayImage = Image(uiImage: uiImage)
}
}
}
}
Why is this happening? Seems like a bug to me or I need to release an object. At the very least makes it challenging to measure memory usage.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Alex
Device: iPhone 17 Pro
iOS Version: iOS 26.1
Camera: Ultra-wide (0.5x) using AVCaptureSession
Our camera app freezes on iPhone 17 when switching frame rates (30fps ↔ 60fps). This works fine on iPhone 16 Pro and earlier.
What We've Observed:
Freeze happens on frame rate change - particularly when stabilization was enabled
Thread.sleep is used - to allow camera hardware to settle before re-enabling stabilization
Works on older iPhones - only iPhone 17 exhibits this behavior
Console shows these errors before freeze:
17281
<<<< FigXPCUtilities >>>> signalled err=18446744073709534335 <<<< FigCaptureSourceRemote >>>> err=-17281
Is Thread.sleep on the main thread causing the freeze? Should all camera configuration be on a background queue?
Is there something specific about iPhone 17 ultra-wide camera that requires different handling?
Should we use session.beginConfiguration() / session.commitConfiguration() instead of direct device configuration?
Is calling setFrameRate from a property's didSet (which runs synchronously) problematic?
Are the FigCaptureSourceRemote errors (-17281) indicative of the problem, and what do they mean?
A functioning Multiplatform app, which includes use of Continuity Camera on an M1MacMini running Sequoia 15.5, works correctly capturing photos with AVCapturePhoto. However, that app (and a test app just for Continuity Camera) crashes at delegate callback when run on a 2017 MacBookPro under MacOS 13.7.5. The app was created with Xcode 16 (various releases) and using Swift 6 (but tried with 5). Compiling and running the test app with Xcode 15.2 on the 13.7.5 machine also crashes at delegate callback.
The iPhone 15 Continuity Camera gets detected and set up correctly, and preview video works correctly. It's when the CapturePhoto code is run that the crash occurs.
The relevant capture code is:
func capturePhoto() {
let captureSettings = AVCapturePhotoSettings()
captureSettings.flashMode = .auto
photoOutput.maxPhotoQualityPrioritization = .quality
photoOutput.capturePhoto(with: captureSettings, delegate: PhotoDelegate.shared)
print("**** CameraManager: capturePhoto")
}
and the delegate callbacks are:
class PhotoDelegate: NSObject, AVCapturePhotoCaptureDelegate {
nonisolated(unsafe) static let shared = PhotoDelegate()
// MARK: - Delegate callbacks
func photoOutput(
_ output: AVCapturePhotoOutput,
didFinishProcessingPhoto photo: AVCapturePhoto,
error: (any Error)?
) {
print("**** CameraManager: didFinishProcessingPhoto")
guard let pData = photo.fileDataRepresentation() else {
print("**** photoOutput is empty")
return
}
print("**** photoOutput data is \(pData.count) bytes")
}
func photoOutput(
_ output: AVCapturePhotoOutput,
willBeginCaptureFor resolvedSettings: AVCaptureResolvedPhotoSettings
) {
print("**** CameraManager: willBeginCaptureFor")
}
func photoOutput(_ output: AVCapturePhotoOutput, willCapturePhotoFor resolvedSettings: AVCaptureResolvedPhotoSettings) {
print("**** CameraManager: willCaptureCapturePhotoFor")
}
}
The crash report significant parts are.....
Crashed Thread: 3 Dispatch queue: com.apple.cmio.CMIOExtensionProviderHostContext
Exception Type: EXC_BAD_ACCESS (SIGSEGV)
Exception Codes: KERN_INVALID_ADDRESS at 0x0000000000000000
Exception Codes: 0x0000000000000001, 0x0000000000000000
Termination Reason: Namespace SIGNAL, Code 11 Segmentation fault: 11
Terminating Process: exc handler [30850]
VM Region Info: 0 is not in any region. Bytes before following region: 4296495104
REGION TYPE START - END [ VSIZE] PRT/MAX SHRMOD REGION DETAIL
UNUSED SPACE AT START
--->
__TEXT 100175000-10017f000 [ 40K] r-x/r-x SM=COW ...tinuityCamera
Thread 0:: Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread
0 libsystem_kernel.dylib 0x7ff803aed552 mach_msg2_trap + 10
1 libsystem_kernel.dylib 0x7ff803afb6cd mach_msg2_internal + 78
2 libsystem_kernel.dylib 0x7ff803af4584 mach_msg_overwrite + 692
3 libsystem_kernel.dylib 0x7ff803aed83a mach_msg + 19
4 CoreFoundation 0x7ff803c07f8f __CFRunLoopServiceMachPort + 145
5 CoreFoundation 0x7ff803c06a10 __CFRunLoopRun + 1365
6 CoreFoundation 0x7ff803c05e51 CFRunLoopRunSpecific + 560
7 HIToolbox 0x7ff80d694f3d RunCurrentEventLoopInMode + 292
8 HIToolbox 0x7ff80d694d4e ReceiveNextEventCommon + 657
9 HIToolbox 0x7ff80d694aa8 _BlockUntilNextEventMatchingListInModeWithFilter + 64
10 AppKit 0x7ff806ca59d8 _DPSNextEvent + 858
11 AppKit 0x7ff806ca4882 -[NSApplication(NSEvent) _nextEventMatchingEventMask:untilDate:inMode:dequeue:] + 1214
12 AppKit 0x7ff806c96ef7 -[NSApplication run] + 586
13 AppKit 0x7ff806c6b111 NSApplicationMain + 817
14 SwiftUI 0x7ff90e03a9fb 0x7ff90dfb4000 + 551419
15 SwiftUI 0x7ff90f0778b4 0x7ff90dfb4000 + 17578164
16 SwiftUI 0x7ff90e9906cf 0x7ff90dfb4000 + 10340047
17 ContinuityCamera 0x10017b49e 0x100175000 + 25758
18 dyld 0x7ff8037d1418 start + 1896
Thread 1:
0 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x7ff803b27bb0 start_wqthread + 0
Thread 2:
0 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x7ff803b27bb0 start_wqthread + 0
Thread 3 Crashed:: Dispatch queue: com.apple.cmio.CMIOExtensionProviderHostContext
0 ??? 0x0 ???
1 AVFCapture 0x7ff82045996c StreamAsyncStillCaptureCallback + 61
2 CoreMediaIO 0x7ff813a4358f __94-[CMIOExtensionProviderHostContext captureAsyncStillImageWithStreamID:uniqueID:options:reply:]_block_invoke + 498
3 libxpc.dylib 0x7ff803875b33 _xpc_connection_reply_callout + 36
4 libxpc.dylib 0x7ff803875ab2 _xpc_connection_call_reply_async + 69
5 libdispatch.dylib 0x7ff80398b099 _dispatch_client_callout3 + 8
6 libdispatch.dylib 0x7ff8039a6795 _dispatch_mach_msg_async_reply_invoke + 387
7 libdispatch.dylib 0x7ff803991088 _dispatch_lane_serial_drain + 393
8 libdispatch.dylib 0x7ff803991d6c _dispatch_lane_invoke + 417
9 libdispatch.dylib 0x7ff80399c3fc _dispatch_workloop_worker_thread + 765
10 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x7ff803b28c55 _pthread_wqthread + 327
11 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x7ff803b27bbf start_wqthread + 15
Of course, the MacBookPro is an old device - but Continuity Camera works with the installed Photo Booth app, so it's possible.
Any thoughts on solving this situation would be appreciated.
Regards, Michaela
PHPhotoLibrary.authorizationStatus(for: .readWrite) == .authorized
Iinfo.plist Privacy - Photo Library Usage Description set
I check authorization before attempting to get the photoPickerItem.itemIdentifier, but every time the return value from itemIdentifier is nil. Seems I missing some permissions, but unsure why the system is still keeping _shouldExposeItemIdentifier set to false.
Topic:
Media Technologies
SubTopic:
Photos & Camera
I am new to Swift and iOS development, and I have a question about video capture performance.
Is it possible to capture video at a resolution of 4032×3024 while simultaneously running a vision/ML model on the video stream (e.g., using Vision or CoreML)?
I want to know:
whether iOS devices support capturing video at that resolution,
whether the frame rate drops significantly at that scale,
and whether it is practical to run a Vision/ML model in real-time while recording at such a high resolution.
If anyone has experience with high-resolution AVCaptureSession setups or combining them with real-time ML processing, I would really appreciate guidance or sample code.
Hi all,
I'm using Apple Sample Code below to create application using dockkit.
"Controlling a DockKit accessory using your camera app"
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/dockkit/controlling-a-dockkit-accessory-using-your-camera-app?changes=_8
I used vision hand recognition and put the observation data to dockAccessory.track, but Belkin or Insta360 devices never move on iPhone 16 Pro Max with iOS 18.3.
If I use other functions like face search (system tracking) in the app, those work ok.
I used Belkin and Insta360 Flow 2 Pro to reproduce the problem.
My friend is also saying that the custom tracking feature was working fine on the OS 18 beta, but on recent iOS 18.3 that feature does not work.
If I can get the iOS 18.0 beta then we can test that feature. But I cannot revert my iOS from 18.3 to the iOS 18.0 Beta.
Regards,
TO
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.
I’m writing to report a serious usability regression in the iOS 26 Photos app. Folders can still be created and albums can still be assigned to them, but folders can no longer be opened to view the albums they contain. A container that cannot be opened is not a container, and this breaks a fundamental information architecture model that has existed in Photos for well over a decade.
This change disproportionately harms users who maintain large, intentional photo libraries—travel archives, projects, professional work, or long-term personal documentation—where hierarchy and ordering are essential. Search and automated surfacing are not substitutes for deliberate structure. Removing the ability to browse folder → album hierarchy on iOS strips users of control while still exposing the UI for folder creation, which is internally inconsistent.
If this behavior is intentional, it should be clearly documented and the folder UI removed to avoid misleading users. If it is not intentional, it needs urgent correction. At minimum, iOS should retain parity with macOS Photos for basic navigation of folders and albums. This is not a niche request; it is a regression in core functionality.
Topic:
Media Technologies
SubTopic:
Photos & Camera
I'm adopting Liquid Glass in iOS 26, when I try to test VNDocumentCameraViewController with document scanning after Liquid Glass enabled, there's a crash just after a photo is taken in VNDocumentCameraViewController, here's the screenshot when it crashed
The exception output in XCode console is this:
*** Terminating app due to uncaught exception 'NSInternalInconsistencyException', reason: 'Layout requested for visible navigation bar, <UINavigationBar: 0x1240bde00; frame = (0 117; 390 54); opaque = NO; tintColor = UIExtendedSRGBColorSpace 1 1 0 1; layer = <CALayer: 0x120c21e60>> standardAppearance=0x12407b900 scrollEdgeAppearance=0x12407bb80 compactAppearance=0x12407b880 no-scroll-edge-support, when the top item belongs to a different navigation bar. topItem = <UINavigationItem: 0x1240bd800> style=navigator leftBarButtonItems=0x123d4e5f0 rightBarButtonItems=0x123d4d5a0, navigation bar = <UINavigationBar: 0x107b9ad00; frame = (0 47; 390 54); opaque = NO; autoresize = W; tintColor = UIExtendedSRGBColorSpace 1 1 0 1; layer = <CALayer: 0x120c20150>> delegate=0x10a805200 standardAppearance=0x107b2c300 scrollEdgeAppearance=0x107b2c280 compactAppearance=0x107b2c100, possibly from a client attempt to nest wrapped navigation controllers.'
*** First throw call stack:
(0x18e1db994 0x18b0f5814 0x18c092aa0 0x193b18660 0x193a7d540 0x193a7e020 0x1953ec4a0 0x1943b7d78 0x18ed83420 0x18ed82f74 0x18eb83134 0x18eb44c10 0x18eb70bc4 0x18eb7e74c 0x193ac8cd0 0x193ac8c04 0x193ad6afc 0x193ad5f8c 0x27b456560 0x18e12c4cc 0x18e15c0b0 0x18e15bfd8 0x18e133c1c 0x18e132a6c 0x22ed54498 0x193af6ba4 0x193a9fa78 0x193bcb68c 0x102cc2718 0x102cc2688 0x102cc2794 0x18b14ae28)
libc++abi: terminating due to uncaught exception of type NSException
We have a very strange issue that I am trying to solve or find the best practice for.
We have a SwiftUI View that uses the Camera to preview. So as suggested in Apples Docs we check authorisation status and then if it's not determined we request authorisation.
We also have the privacy entry in the info.plist
case .notDetermined:
AVCaptureDevice.requestAccess(for: .video) { accessStatusAuthorised in
if !accessStatusAuthorised {
self.cameraStatus = .notAuthorised
} else {
self.isAuthorized = true
self.cameraStatus = .authorised
self.startCameraSession(cameraPosition: cameraPosition)
}
}
case .restricted:
cameraStatus = .notAuthorised
isAuthorized = false
case .denied:
cameraStatus = .notAuthorised
isAuthorized = false
case .authorized:
cameraStatus = .authorised
isAuthorized = true
startCameraSession(cameraPosition: cameraPosition)
break
@unknown default:
isAuthorized = true
cameraStatus = .notAuthorised
}
However when we call this code it freezes the Camera feed, even when allow has been tapped.
However and this is the confusing part.
If we do not call the code above, we still get the permission for camera access pop up and the camera works fine after allowing.
What im concerned about is changing the code to do this and its a possible apple bug that gets fixed and hey then none of the Apps allow the camera function.
I cannot see any where that the process has changed for iOS 26 / Xcode 26.
Can anyone shed any light on this or had similar experience ?
Environment
Device: iPhone 15 Pro
iOS: iOS 18.0
Framework: AVFoundation
App type: Custom camera app using AVCaptureSession + AVCaptureVideoPreviewLayer
I’m seeing an intermittent but frequent issue where the camera preview layer briefly flashes empty after certain interruptions, even though the capture session reports itself as running and no errors are emitted.
This happens most often after:
Locking and unlocking the device
Switching cameras (back ↔ front)
The issue is not 100% reproducible, but occurs often enough to be noticeable in normal usage.
What happens
The preview layer briefly flashes as empty (sometimes just a “micro-frame”)
Duration: typically ~0.5–2 seconds before frames resume
session.isRunning == true throughout
No crash, no runtime error, no interruption end failure
Focus/exposure restore correctly once frames resume
Visually it looks like the preview layer loses frames temporarily, even though the session appears healthy.
Repro
Intermittent but frequent after:
Lock → unlock device
Switching camera (front/back)
Timing-dependent and non-deterministic
Happens multiple times per session, but not every time
Key observation
AVCaptureSession.isRunning == true does not guarantee that frames are actually flowing.
To verify this, I added an AVCaptureVideoDataOutput temporarily:
During the blank period, no sample buffers are delivered
Frames resume after ~1–2s without any explicit restart
Session state remains “running” the entire time
What I’ve tried (did NOT fix it)
Adding delays before/after startRunning() (0.1–0.5s)
Calling startRunning() on different queues
Restarting the session in AVCaptureSessionInterruptionEnded
Verifying session.connections (all show isActive == true)
Rebuilding inputs/outputs during interruption recovery
Ensuring startRunning() is never called between beginConfiguration() / commitConfiguration()
(Hit the expected runtime warning when attempted)
None of the above removed the brief blank preview.
Workaround (works visually but expensive)
This visually fixes the issue, but:
Energy impact jumps from Low → High in Xcode Energy Gauge
AVCaptureVideoDataOutput processes 30–60 FPS continuously
The gap only lasts ~1–2s, but toggling the delegate on/off cleanly is difficult
Overall CPU and energy cost is not acceptable for production
Additional notes
CPU usage is already relatively high even without the workaround (this app is camera-heavy by nature)
With the workaround enabled, energy impact becomes noticeably worse
The issue feels like a timing/state desync between session state and actual frame delivery, not a UI issue
Questions
Is this a known behavior where AVCaptureSession.isRunning == true but frames are temporarily unavailable after interruptions?
Is there a recommended way to detect actual frame flow resumption (not just session state)?
Should the AVCaptureVideoPreviewLayer.connection (isActive / isEnabled) be explicitly checked or reset after interruptions?
Is there a lightweight, energy-efficient way to bridge this short “no frames” gap without using AVCaptureVideoDataOutput?
Is rebuilding the entire session the only reliable solution here, or is there a better pattern Apple recommends?
Hi,
I’m trying to implement the new PhotoKit PHBackgroundResourceUploadExtension. I created the extension, enabled full photo library access in the host app, and registered the extension point using the string: com.apple.photos.background-upload.
However, when I attempted to enable the extension with:
try library.setUploadJobExtensionEnabled(true)
I received the following error:
Error Domain=PHPhotosErrorDomain Code=-1 "(null)"
This happens when running the app on Xcode 26.1 and 26.2 Beta, using the iPhone 17 Pro Max simulator (iOS 26.1 and 26.2).
My question is: Is this extension supported on the simulator?
I’m asking because at the moment it’s difficult for me to test this on a physical device.
Also, What's the meaning of the error?
Thanks.
Hi Apple Developer Support Team,
We are developing an iOS application using a camera package within a hybrid (cross-platform) framework, and we would like to confirm whether it is possible to disable the camera shutter sound programmatically.
As per our understanding, the shutter sound on iOS is system-controlled and depends on the device’s silent/ring mode, and there is no App Store–approved API available to force-disable this sound. Kindly confirm whether this understanding is correct or if any supported alternative approach exists for hybrid or native implementations.
Thank you for your clarification.
Best regards,
ParkhyaSolutions
Hi everyone,
I’m seeing recurring internal AVFoundation camera logs on iOS 26.2 and I’m trying to understand whether this is expected behavior or a regression in the capture pipeline.
These logs appear shortly after starting an AVCaptureSession, while video frames are being delivered, and also when the camera is stopped or the capture session is torn down.
<<<< FigXPCUtilities >>>> signalled err=-17281 at <>:302
<<<< FigCaptureSourceRemote >>>> Fig assert: "err == 0 " at bail (FigCaptureSourceRemote.m:569) - (err=-17281)
Even in this clean, minimal setup, the same logs appear on iOS 26.2
The exact same logic did not produce these logs on iOS 18.x.
To rule out issues caused by my own code, GPT created a minimal SwiftUI example from scratch.
My primary interest is to perform real-time processing on the video frames delivered by the camera (via AVCaptureVideoDataOutput), for tasks such as analysis, computer vision, or custom frame handling, while simultaneously displaying the live preview.
Thanks in advance for any insight.
Example Code
At which point in the image processing pipeline does iOS apply the white balance gains which can be set via AVCaptureDevice.setWhiteBalanceModeLocked(with:completionHandler:)?
Are those gains applied in the analog part of the camera pipeline, before the pixel voltage gets converted via the ADC to digital values? Or does the camera first convert the pixel voltages to digital values and then the gains are applied to the digital values?
Is this consistent across devices or can the behavior vary from device to device?
While implementing the new background backup feature introduced in iOS 26.1, I create a PHAssetResourceUploadJob in an Extension. On iOS 26.1, the system successfully triggers the upload. However, on iOS 26.2, although the job is created successfully and all related configurations are correctly set, the system does not trigger the upload.
Could you please help confirm the cause of this issue? Thank you.
Hello Apple Developer Support,
I’m developing a virtual camera using the CMIOExtensionDevice / CMIOExtensionStreamSource APIs on macOS. While the virtual camera appears in system settings and apps like Zoom and Google Meet, the video output exhibits the following issues:
Jittering frames: The first frame sometimes appears correctly, but subsequent frames flicker or jitter.
Solid color fill: Eventually, the camera feed fills entirely with a solid accent color (e.g., blue), rather than the intended video content.
Console logs: Repeated messages appear in Console.app:
Invalid display 0x00000000
Setup details:
The virtual camera is created using CMIOExtensionDevice and CMIOExtensionStream.
Video frames are rendered from NSImage/CGImage using CGContext and copied into CVPixelBuffers.
Frame delivery is controlled by a DispatchSourceTimer at 60 FPS.
macOS version: 26.2
Xcode version: 26.1
Observations:
The Invalid display 0x00000000 logs suggest that CGContext drawing or NSImage operations are failing in headless mode (i.e., there is no real display attached to the virtual camera).
Using CIContext with .useSoftwareRenderer = true appears to mitigate some flicker, but not entirely.
Questions / Requests:
Is it expected that CoreMediaIO virtual cameras cannot reliably render CGImage / NSImage frames offscreen?
Are there recommended APIs or approaches to render virtual camera frames fully headless to avoid display-dependent jitter?
Is there any documentation or sample code from Apple showing stable video output from a virtual camera extension that does not rely on a physical display?
Any guidance or examples would be greatly appreciated. This issue prevents the virtual camera from being used reliably in standard video apps.
Thank you,
Savvy
Topic:
Media Technologies
SubTopic:
Photos & Camera
Tags:
System Extensions
Core Media
Continuity Camera