(This only started happening as of Xcode 26.)
I know macOS and watchOS don't support this property, but all other platforms do (did?) up until I upgraded Xcode. Now when I compile I get this:
Value of type 'AVPlayerItem' has no member 'externalMetadata'
Explore the integration of media technologies within your app. Discuss working with audio, video, camera, and other media functionalities.
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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!
Hello,
I am building an iOS-only, commercial app that uses AVSpeechSynthesizer with system voices, strictly using the APIs provided by Apple. Before distributing the app, I want to ensure that my current implementation does not conflict with the iOS Software License Agreement (SLA) and is aligned with Apple’s intended usage.
For a better playback experience (more accurate estimation of utterance duration and smoother skip forward/backward during playback), I currently synthesize speech using:
AVSpeechSynthesizer.write(_:toBufferCallback:)
Converting the received AVAudioPCMBuffer buffers into audio data
Storing the audio inside the app sandbox
Playing it back using AVAudioPlayer / AVAudioEngine
The cached audio is:
Generated fully on-device using system voices
Stored only inside the app’s private container
Used only for internal playback controls (timeline, seek, skip ±5 seconds)
Never shared, exported, uploaded, or exposed outside the app
The alternative approaches would be:
Keeping the generated audio entirely in memory (RAM) for playback purposes, without writing it to the file system at any point
Or using AVSpeechSynthesizer.speak(_:) and playing speech strictly in real time which has a poorer user experience compared to my approach
I have reviewed the current iOS Software License Agreement:
https://www.apple.com/legal/sla/docs/iOS18_iPadOS18.pdf
In particular, section (f) mentions restrictions around System Characters, Live Captions, and Personal Voice, including the following excerpt:
“…use … only for your personal, non-commercial use…
No other creation or use of the System Characters, Live Captions, or Personal Voice is permitted by this License, including but not limited to the use, reproduction, display, performance, recording, publishing or redistribution in a … commercial context.”
I do not see a specific reference in the SLA to system text-to-speech voices used via AVSpeechSynthesizer, and I want to be certain that temporarily caching synthesized speech for internal, non-exported playback is acceptable in a commercial app.
My question is:
Is caching AVSpeechSynthesizer system-voice output inside the app sandbox for internal playback acceptable, or is Apple’s recommended approach to rely only on real-time playback (speak(_:)) or strictly in-memory buffering without file storage?
If this question falls outside DTS technical scope and is instead a policy or licensing matter, I would appreciate guidance on the authoritative Apple documentation or the correct Apple team/contact.
Thank you.
In iOS 26 (Developer Beta), the AVCaptureMetadataOutputObjectsDelegate no longer receives callbacks when metadataOutput.metadataObjectTypes = [.face] is set. On earlier iOS versions the issue does not occur. Interestingly, face detection works if I set the sessionPreset to .medium, but not with .high — except on the iPhone 16 Pro Max, where it works regardless.
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.
[Note: this issue was happening on a main testing device, and after testing the same code on other devices, this issue is only happening on 1 out of 4 devices]
We are successfully getting a MusicCatalogResourceResponse for every song ID where we make the MusicCatalogResourceRequest. We are able to display the song title, artist name, and album artwork for each Song in the response.
However - when we go to play the song, there are some songs that play, and several songs that do not play. For the songs that don't play, the console shows “Failed to prepareToPlay error=<MPMusicPlayerControllerErrorDomain.6 "Failed to prepare to play" {}>”
let musicPlayer = ApplicationMusicPlayer.shared
func playSong(_ song: Song) {
musicPlayer.queue = [song]
Task {
try await musicPlayer.prepareToPlay()
try await musicPlayer.play()
}
Is there anything else we can investigate about what may be causing specific song IDs not to play on this specific device?
Even if we remove line 6 musicPlayer.prepareToPlay() we still see the same console error when running playSong with the Songs that don't work.
It is always the same song IDs that we can play and always the same song IDs that we cannot get to play, even trying them across different projects with different bundle identifiers.
We can tap to play a song that works, and it starts playing immediately. Then tap a song that doesn't work, and nothing happens. Then back to a song that works. It's consistent which songs succeed and fail on this device.
Perhaps there is an issue specific to this very iPad when it comes to certain specific songs, but we'd like to be confident that an app relying on MusicKit will be able to play songs that have been successfully loaded with a MusicCatalogResourceResponse.
Thanks for any help or suggestions about what we may be able to investigate further on the device or what we should consider when launching an app that expects anyone with Apple Music to be able to listen to any of the songs loaded by the app.
Specific iPad details: iPad Pro (12.9-inch) (6th generation) running iPadOS 26.4 Beta
Two of the song IDs that won't play on this iPad (even though we can access and display their album artwork and all other information): 943204000 and 1441164805
I have a question regarding the behavior of AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().outputVolume.
Observed behavior:
When the app is in the foreground, I read audioSession.outputVolume (for example, 0.1).
The app is then moved to the background.
While the app is in the background, the user changes the system volume using the hardware buttons (for example, to 0.5).
When the app returns to the foreground, audioSession.outputVolume still reports the previous value (0.1).
From my testing, outputVolume only seems to update when the system volume is changed while the app is in the foreground. Volume changes made while the app is in the background are not reflected when the app returns to the foreground.
Questions:
According to Apple’s documentation for AVAudioSession.outputVolume:
“The systemwide output volume set by the user.”
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/avfaudio/avaudiosession/outputvolume
However, based on our testing on iOS 18.6.2 and iOS 18.1, the observed behavior seems to differ from this description.
Questions:
The documentation states that outputVolume represents the system-wide volume set by the user. In our testing, the value does not reflect volume changes made while the app is in the background and only updates when the app is in the foreground.Is this the expected behavior of AVAudioSession.outputVolume?
Is there any other recommended way in Swift to retrieve the current system volume that reflects user changes made both while the app is in the foreground and while it is in the background?
Any clarification on the intended behavior or recommended handling would be greatly appreciated.
Has anyone been able to successfully use MusicCatalogSearchRequest in a playgrounds app?
I have configured my playground similar to a regular app: app id with automatic music token generation turned on, music access authorized within the app itself, but whenever I query MusicCatalogSearchRequest I get an error thrown with .developerTokenRequestFailed.
Considering musickit is restricted in the sim, it would not surprise me if it was the same in playgrounds but it would be super helpful if I could prototype with musickit in playgrounds 4!
I'm creating Live Photos programmatically in my app using the Photos and AVFoundation frameworks. While the Live Photos work perfectly in the Photos app (long press shows motion), users cannot set them as motion wallpapers. The system shows "Motion not available" message.
Here's my approach for creating Live Photos:
// 1. Create video with required metadata
let writer = try AVAssetWriter(outputURL: videoURL, fileType: .mov)
let contentIdentifier = AVMutableMetadataItem()
contentIdentifier.identifier = .quickTimeMetadataContentIdentifier
contentIdentifier.value = assetIdentifier as NSString
writer.metadata = [contentIdentifier]
// Video settings: 882x1920, H.264, 30fps, 2 seconds
// Added still-image-time metadata at middle frame
// 2. Create HEIC image with asset identifier
var makerAppleDict: [String: Any] = [:]
makerAppleDict["17"] = assetIdentifier // Required key for Live Photo
metadata[kCGImagePropertyMakerAppleDictionary as String] = makerAppleDict
// 3. Generate Live Photo
PHLivePhoto.request(
withResourceFileURLs: [photoURL, videoURL],
placeholderImage: nil,
targetSize: .zero,
contentMode: .aspectFit
) { livePhoto, info in
// Success - Live Photo created
}
// 4. Save to Photos library
PHAssetCreationRequest.forAsset().addResource(with: .photo, fileURL: photoURL, options: nil)
PHAssetCreationRequest.forAsset().addResource(with: .pairedVideo, fileURL: videoURL, options: nil)
What I've Tried
Matching exact video specifications from Camera app (882x1920, H.264, 30fps)
Adding all documented metadata (content identifier, still-image-time)
Testing various video durations (1.5s, 2s, 3s)
Different image formats (HEIC, JPEG)
Comparing with exiftool against working Live Photos
Expected Behavior
Live Photos created programmatically should be eligible for motion wallpapers, just like those from the Camera app.
Actual Behavior
System shows "Motion not available" and only allows setting as static wallpaper.
Any insights or workarounds would be greatly appreciated. This is affecting our users who want to use their created content as wallpapers.
Questions
Are there additional undocumented requirements for Live Photos to be wallpaper-eligible?
Is this a deliberate restriction for third-party apps, or a bug?
Has anyone successfully created Live Photos that work as motion wallpapers?
Environment
iOS 17.0 - 18.1
Xcode 16.0
Tested on iPhone 16 Pro
Topic:
Media Technologies
SubTopic:
Photos & Camera
Tags:
LivePhotosKit JS
PhotoKit
Core Image
AVFoundation
In the past, when using Lightning, many external devices had to go through MFi certification. However, since the iPhone 15 switched from Lightning to USB-C, is MFi certification still required?
Our company has developed several UVC devices, and we have confirmed that iPads can read frames from external cameras through the external device type in AVFoundation. However, this is not supported on iPhones.
We are currently exploring feasible ways to enable UVC device support on iPhones. Is MFi certification the only option? If so, is the MFi certification process for USB-C the same as it was for Lightning? Does it still require purchasing an MFi chip and manufacturing specially designed USB-C cables?
Is there any way we can detect the status of the Show When Muted and Show on Skip Back device settings in code ?
Hi 👋! We have a SpriteKit-based app where we play AVAudio sounds in three different ways:
Effects (incl. UI sounds) with AVAudioPlayer.
Long looping tracks with AVAudioPlayer.
Short animation effects on the timeline of SpriteKit's SKScene files (effectively SKAudioNode nodes).
We've found that when you exit the app or otherwise interrupt audio plays, future audio plays often fail. For example, there's a WebKit-based video trailer inside the app, and if you play it, our looping background music track (2.) will stop playing, and won't resume as you close the trailer (return from WebKit). This is probably due to us not manually restarting the track (so may well be easily fixed). Periodically played AVAudioPlayer audio (1.) are not affected.
However, the more concerning thing is that the audio tracks on SKScene file timelines (3.) will no longer play. My hypothesis is that AVAudioEngine gets interrupted, and needs to be restarted for those AVAudioNode elements to regain functionality. Thing is, we don't deal with AVAudioEngine at all currently in the app, meaning it is never initiated to begin with.
Obviously things return to normal when you remove the app from short-term memory and restart it. However, it seems many of our users aren't doing this, and often report audio failing presumably due to some interruption in the past without the app ever being cleared from memory.
Any idea why timeline-run SKAudioNodes would fail like this? Should the app react to app backgrounding/foregrounding regarding audio?
Any help would be very much appreciated ✌️!
Is it possible to perform speech-to-text using AVAudioEngine to capture microphone input while being on a FaceTime call at the same time?
I tried implementing this, but whenever I attempt to start the AVAudioEngine while a FaceTime call is active, I get the following error:
“The operation couldn’t be completed. (OSStatus error 2003329396)”
I assume this might be due to microphone resource restrictions during FaceTime, but I’d like to confirm whether this limitation is at the system level or if there’s any possible workaround or entitlement that allows concurrent microphone access.
Has anyone encountered this issue or found a solution?
I made a CMIOExtension (a virtual camera) which generates its own output, for use in our in-house software testing. I wanted to make a video source with 29.97, 30, 59.94 and 60fps output.
To this end, I created a CMIOExtensionDeviceSource which creates a CMIOExtensionDevice with one CMIOExtensionStreamSource with various stream formats contained in [CMIOExtensionStreamFormat], including one with both maxFrameDuration and minFrameDuration = CMTimeMake(value: 1000, timescale: 30000) and another with both maxFrameDuration and minFrameDuration = CMTimeMake(value: 1001, timescale: 30000)
I've held off on the creation of the 59.94/60fps source for now until this problem is resolved.
my virtual camera works, it produces a signal, but when I examine its associated AVCaptureDevice in the debugger, I find
(lldb) po self.captureDevice?.formats[0].videoSupportedFrameRateRanges[0].maxFrameDuration
▿ Optional<CMTime>
▿ some : CMTime
- value : 1000000
- timescale : 30000000
▿ flags : CMTimeFlags
- rawValue : 1
- epoch : 0
I get the same value, 1000000/30000000, or exactly 30fps, for all the formats of my AVCaptureDevice.
Is there something I'm doing wrong, or do CMIOExtensionDevices always round the frame rates?
I can't force CoreMediaIO to produce frames at exactly my desired frame interval, but I'd like to ensure that the average frame rate is my desired rate. How can I do that? Frame emission is governed by a repeating DispatchSourceTimer with a repeat time specified in nanoseconds with the TimerFlags set to 'strict'.
Hello,
I have been running into issues with setting nowPlayingInfo information, specifically updating information for CarPlay and the CPNowPlayingTemplate.
When I start playback for an item, I see lock screen information update as expected, along with the CarPlay now playing information.
However, the playing items are books with collections of tracks. When I select a new track(chapter) within the book, I set the MPMediaItemPropertyTitle to the new chapter name. This change is reflected correctly on the lock screen, but almost never appears correctly on the CarPlay CPNowPlayingTemplate. The previous chapter title remains set and never updates.
I see "Application exceeded audio metadata throttle limit." in the debug console fairly frequently.
From that a I figured that I need to minimize updates to the nowPlayingInfo dictionary. What I did:
I store the metadata dictionary in a local dictionary and only set values in the main nowPlayingInfo dictionary when they are different from the current value.
I kick off the nowPlayingInfo update via a task that initially sleeps for around 2 seconds (not a final value, just for my current testing). If a previous Task is active, it gets cancelled, so that only one update can happen within that time window.
Neither of these things have been sufficient. I can switch between different titles entirely and the information updates (including cover art).
But when I switch chapters within a title, the MPMediaItemPropertyTitle continues to get dropped. I know the value is getting set, because it updates on the lock screen correctly.
In total, I have 12 keys I update for info, though with the above changes, usually 2-4 of them actually get updated with high frequency.
I am running out of ideas to satisfy the throttling thresholds to accurately display metadata. I could use some advice.
Thanks.
Hello,
My company has an in-store app with FPS SDK 4.x (1024) keys. We've handed those keys over to a trusted third-party and we do not have them. We've been in-store for several years.
The person that created the keys in our organization mistakenly stored them encrypted to our third-party's PGP keys, so we cannot decrypt them, and the third party also has no mechanism to provide us with the keys even though it is in their runtime environment. They only have secure mechanisms for us to upload keys onto their servers.
We are trying to migrate to a different third-party DRM provider, and would like to obtain new keys. Unfortunately, the developer portal won't let me create new keys, saying that we have exceeded the number of keys allowed, which I assume is one.
Additionally, the new DRM provider can only support SDK 4.x keys, and it appears that we can only request SDK 5.x keys on the Apple Developer portal, as the SDK 4.0 option is grayed out. Regardless, it seems that we are not able to request any keys.
We've submitted a request to the support e-mail address and received an automated e-mail that the response should take a few days, but may take longer on occasion. It's now been a month. The e-mail says that the reply address is not monitored. Is there any way we can accelerate this?
Thank you,
Carlos
I’ve been using Apple Music API for quite a while now and a recent change must have happened which is quite disruptive.
On many occasions, artists release singles from an album as part of promoting this album. For recent examples, Harry Styles released “Aperture” (a single) to promote his upcoming album “Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally“. Similarly, Bruno Mars released “I Just Might”, a single from the upcoming album “The Romantic”.
Previously, those would return at the endpoint ”artists/{artist_id}/albums” with a “- Single” suffix. But it seems a recent change happens where they only appear as playable tracks inside the album.
This behavior is also evident in the Apple Music app itself. Those singles no longer appear under “Singles & EPs”. Instead, they would only be visible if the single becomes popular enough to be shown on “Top Songs“. Otherwise one would have to know to tap on the (future) album to discover if there are released singles.
Meanwhile Spotify’s API returns those as singles properly, just like Apple Music API used to.
This change must be recent but the question is if it’s intentional, and if so, how can the API be used from here on out to “extract” those singles and represent them?
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
Hello,
I'm developing an app that displays a photo library using UICollectionView and PHCachingImageManager. I'd like to achieve a user experience similar to the native iOS Photos app, where low-quality images are shown quickly while scrolling, and higher-quality images are loaded for visible cells once scrolling stops.
I'm currently using the following approach:
While Scrolling: I'm using the UICollectionViewDataSourcePrefetching protocol. In the prefetchItemsAt method, I call startCachingImages with low-quality options to cache images in advance.
After Scrolling Stops: In the scrollViewDidEndDecelerating method, I intend to load high-quality images for the currently visible cells.
I have a few questions regarding this approach:
What is the best practice for managing both low-quality and high-quality images efficiently with PHCachingImageManager? Is it correct to call startCachingImages with fastFormat options and then call it again with highQualityFormat in scrollViewDidEndDecelerating?
How can I minimize the delay when a low-quality image is replaced by a high-quality one? Are there any additional strategies to help pre-load high-quality images more effectively?
Topic:
Media Technologies
SubTopic:
Photos & Camera
Hi
We’re updating our KSM to support SPC v2/v3 and currently operate with both legacy SDK4 credentials (ASK + 1024 cert) and SDK26 credentials (certificate bundle + provisioning data + 1024/2048 keys).
Our client apps run across a wide range of iOS/tvOS versions, so we want to follow Apple’s recommended client strategy for certificate selection. The docs describe SHA‑1 vs SHA‑256 in the SPC header, but do not specify which OS versions should use SDK4 vs SDK26 credentials.
Could you clarify:
Is there an official minimum iOS/tvOS version where you recommend SDK26 credentials for client apps?
For older OS versions (e.g. iOS 15), is SDK4 still the recommended choice for client apps?
Are there any official migration guidelines for client apps moving from SDK4 to SDK26 credentials?
Thanks in advance.