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

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How to detect a song end?
I'm playing library items (MPMediaItem) and apple music tracks (Track) in MPMusicPlayerApplicationController.applicationQueuePlayer, but I can't use the actual Queue functionality because I can't figure out how to get both media types into the same queue. If there's a way to get both types in a single queue, that would solve my problem, but I've given up on that one. Because I can't use a queue, I have to be able to detect when a song ends so that I can put the next song in the queue and play it. The only way I can figure out to detect when a song ends is by watching the playBackState, and I've actually got that pretty much working, but it's really ugly, because you get playBackState of paused when a song ends, and when a bluetooth speaker disconnects, etc. The only answer I've been able to find on the internet is to watch the MPMusicPlayerControllerNowPlayingItemDidChange, and when that fires, and the nowPlayingItem is NIL, a song ends.. but that's not the case. When a song ends, the nowPlayingItem remains the same. There's got to be an answer to this problem, right?
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5.4k
Jan ’25
MusicKit in playgrounds not supported?
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!
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1.3k
Apr ’25
ScreenCaptureKit and mixed Retina/non-Retina configuration
The two ScreenCaptureKit WWDC22 sessions show how to capture with the new framework but the retina factor is hardcoded to 2 in SCStreamConfiguration. When using on a non-retina display, the screencapture is floating on the upper-left corner of the image buffer. There does not seem to be a simple way to retrieve the retina factor from the SCShareableContent data (when configuring the capture). When processing the streaming output, the SCStreamFrameInfo attachment is supposed to have a scaleFactor property but .scaleFactor does not return a value. I have found out that the attachement dictionary contains SCStreamUpdateFrameDisplayResolution. This entry gives me the retina factor but it is not an official SCStreamFrameInfo key. I list the keys to access it. What is the proper way with ScreenCapture to handle the retina factors ?
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823
Jun ’25
Terrible performance when using MusicKit's Artwork with UIKit
I'm building a UIKit app that reads user's Apple Music library and displays it. In MusicKit there is the Artwork structure which I need to use to display artwork images in the app. Since I'm not using SwiftUI I cannot use the ArtworkImage view that is recommended way of displaying those images but the Artwork structure has a method that returns url for the image which can be used to read the image. The way I have it setup is really simple: extension MusicKit.Song { func imageURL(for cgSize: CGSize) -> URL? { return artwork?.url( width: Int(cgSize.width), height: Int(cgSize.height) ) } func localImage(for cgSize: CGSize) -> UIImage? { guard let url = imageURL(for: cgSize), url.scheme == "musicKit", let data = try? Data(contentsOf: url) else { return nil } return .init(data: data) } } Now, everytime I access .artwork property (so a lot of times) the main thread gets blocked and the console output gets bombared with messages like these: 2023-07-26 11:49:47.317195+0200 Plum[998:297199] [Artwork] Failed to create color analysis for artwork: <MPMediaLibraryArtwork: 0x289591590> with error; Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=4099 "The connection to service named com.apple.mediaartworkd.xpc was invalidated: failed at lookup with error 159 - Sandbox restriction." UserInfo={NSDebugDescription=The connection to service named com.apple.mediaartworkd.xpc was invalidated: failed at lookup with error 159 - Sandbox restriction.} 2023-07-26 11:49:47.317262+0200 Plum[998:297199] [Artwork] Failed to create color analysis for artwork: file:///var/mobile/Media/iTunes_Control/iTunes/Artwork/Originals/4b/48d7b8d349d2de858413ae4561b6ba1b294dc7 2023-07-26 11:49:47.323099+0200 Plum[998:297013] [Plum] IIOImageWriteSession:121: cannot create: '/var/mobile/Media/iTunes_Control/iTunes/Artwork/Caches/320x320/4b/48d7b8d349d2de858413ae4561b6ba1b294dc7.sb-f9c7943d-6ciLNp'error = 1 (Operation not permitted) My guess is that the most performance-heavy task here is performing the color analysis for each artwork but IMO the property backgroundColor should not be a stored property if that's the case. I am not planning to use it anywhere and if so it should be a computed async property so it doesn't block the caller. I know I can move the call to a background thread and that fixes the issue of blocking main thread but still the loading times for each artwork are terribly slow and that impacts the UX. SwiftUI's ArtworkImage loads the artworks much quicker and without the errors so there must be a better way to do it.
5
0
1.5k
Mar ’25
HDR10 MVHECV can not play on Safari
Hi, just generated a HDR10 MVHEVC file, mediainfo is below: Color range : Limited Color primaries : BT.2020 Transfer characteristics : PQ Matrix coefficients : BT.2020 non-constant Codec configuration box : hvcC+lhvC then generate the segment files with below command: mediafilesegmenter --iso-fragmented -t 4 -f av_1 av_new_1.mov then upload the segment files and prog_index.m3u8 to web server. just find that can not play the HLS stream on Safari... the url is http://ip/vod/prog_index.m3u8 just checked that if i remove the tag Transfer characteristics : PQ when generating the MVHEVC file. above same mediafilesegmenter command and upload the files to web server. the new version of HLS stream is can play on Safari... Is there any way to play HLS PQ video on Safari. thanks.
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822
Feb ’25
How to detect the end of playback with the system music player?
Since iOS 12 it has become difficult to detect the end of playback using the system music player. In earlier iOS versions, the now playing item would be set nil and you would receive a notification that the player stopped. In iOS 12 and later, nowPlayingItem still contains the current song and the only notification you get is MPMusicPlayerControllerPlaybackStateDidChangeNotification with the playbackState set to MPMusicPlaybackStatePaused. Pressing pause in my car (or any remote access) generates the same conditions making it difficult to correctly detect the difference. It would be nice if they added a notification that playback was done (similar to the other players). Any suggestions?
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786
Mar ’25
Playlist IDs from MusicKit not working with Apple Music API
I am building an app for MacOS and I am trying to implement the code to add songs to a library playlist (which is added below). The issue I am having is that if I use Music Kit to load a users library playlists, the ID for the playlist (which is just a string of numbers) does not work with the Add tracks to a Library Playlist endpoint of Apple Music API. If I retrieve the playlists from the Apple Music API and use that playlist ID (which is different than the id I get from MusicKit) my code works fine and adds the song to the playlist. The problem is that when getting a users library playlists from Apple Music API is that it does not give me all of the library playlists that I get when using Music Kit and it also does not give me Artwork for playlists that have the collage of album covers, so I would prefer to use Music Kit to get the playlists. I have also tested trying to retrieve a single playlist using the Apple Music API with the playlist Id from Music Kit and it does not work. I get the error that the resource cannot be found. Since this is a macOs app I cannot use MusicKit to add songs to library playlists. Does anyone know a way to resolve this? Or a possible workaround? Ideally I want to use MusicKit to get the library playlists and have some way to use the playlist Id and add songs to that playlist. Below is my code for adding a song to a playlist using the Apple Music API, which works correctly only if I originally get the library playlist's id value from a playlist retrieved from the Apple Music API. Also, does anyone know why the playlist Id's are not universal and are different when using Music Kit and Apple Music API? For songs and tracks it does not seem to matter if I use music kit or Apple Music API, the Id's are in the correct format for Apple Music API to use and work with my code. Thanks everyone for any and all help! func addToPlaylist(songs: [Track], playlist: Playlist, alert: Binding<AlertItem?>) async { let tracks = AppleMusicPlaylistPostRequestBody(data: songs.compactMap { AppleMusicPlaylistPostRequestItem(id: $0.id.rawValue, type: "songs") // or "library-songs" }) let playlistID = playlist.id // Build the request URL for adding a song to a playlist guard let url = URL(string: "https://api.music.apple.com/v1/me/library/playlists/\(playlistID)/tracks") else { alert.wrappedValue = AlertItem(title: "Error", message: "Invalid URL for the playlist.") return } // Authorization Header guard let musicUserToken = try? await MusicUserTokenProvider().getUserMusicToken() else { alert.wrappedValue = AlertItem(title: "Error", message: "Unable to retrieve Music User Token.") return } do { var request = URLRequest(url: url) request.httpMethod = "POST" request.setValue("Bearer \(musicUserToken)", forHTTPHeaderField: "Authorization") request.setValue("application/json", forHTTPHeaderField: "Content-Type") let encoder = JSONEncoder() let data = try encoder.encode(tracks) request.httpBody = data let musicRequest = MusicDataRequest(urlRequest: request) let musicRequestResponse = try await musicRequest.response() // Check if the request was successful (status 201) if musicRequestResponse.urlResponse.statusCode == 201 { alert.wrappedValue = AlertItem(title: "Success", message: "Song successfully added to the playlist.") } else { print("Status Code: \(musicRequestResponse.urlResponse.statusCode)") print("Response Data: \(String(data: musicRequestResponse.data, encoding: .utf8) ?? "No Data")") // Attempt to decode the error response into the AppleMusicErrorResponse model if let appleMusicError = try? JSONDecoder().decode(AppleMusicErrorResponse.self, from: musicRequestResponse.data) { let errorMessage = appleMusicError.errors.first?.detail ?? "Unknown error occurred." alert.wrappedValue = AlertItem(title: "Error", message: errorMessage) } else { alert.wrappedValue = AlertItem(title: "Error", message: "Failed to add song to the playlist.") } } } catch { alert.wrappedValue = AlertItem(title: "Error", message: "Network error: \(error.localizedDescription)") } }
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790
Dec ’24
How can I add support for Apple Music lyrics sharing in my app?
I noticed that Instagram and iMessage support receiving shared lyrics from Apple Music. Specifically, when users long-press lyrics, a sheet pops up showing iMessage and Instagram. Clicking on either app generates a beautifully formatted lyrics image. I've looked through MusicKit documentation but couldn't find any related APIs. How can I implement this functionality in my app?
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429
Feb ’25
How to Implement Screen Mirroring in iOS for Google TV?
I am developing an iOS application that supports screen mirroring to Google TV (or Chromecast with Google TV). My goal is to mirror the iPhone/iPad screen in real time to a Google TV device. What I Have Tried So Far I have explored multiple approaches but haven't found a direct way to achieve low-latency screen mirroring. Here are some of my findings: Google Cast SDK: Google Cast SDK is primarily designed for casting media (videos, images, audio) rather than real-time mirroring. It supports custom receiver applications, but there are no direct APIs for full screen mirroring. Casting a recorded video is possible, but it introduces latency and is not real-time. ReplayKit for Screen Capture: RPScreenRecorder.shared().startCapture(handler: ...) allows capturing the iPhone screen as a video stream. However, sending this stream to Google TV in real time is a challenge. I could potentially encode the video as HLS and stream it, but the delay is significant. RTSP/UDP Streaming: Some third-party libraries support RTSP/UDP streaming for real-time screen sharing. Google TV does not natively support RTSP, making this approach difficult. My Questions: Is it possible to achieve real-time screen mirroring on Google TV using Google Cast SDK? Does Google TV support WebRTC or any low-latency streaming protocol that can be used from iOS? Are there any alternative approaches to mirror an iOS screen to Google TV with minimal latency? I would appreciate any guidance, code examples, or references to relevant documentation.
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607
2w
Call Limit of the Apple Music API
We are planning to develop an application using the Apple Music API. We would like to design our system based on the details of the rate limits mentioned below and have a few questions: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/applemusicapi/generating-developer-tokens#Request-Rate-Limiting Regarding the Catalog API (/v1/catalog/*), we understand that server-side caching is enabled, making it less likely to reach the rate limit. Is this understanding correct? (Excluding the search API) For APIs like the Library API (/v1/me/library/*), where responses vary by user, we assume they are more likely to reach the rate limit. Is this correct? We plan to implement optimizations to minimize unnecessary API calls. Given this, would the current Music API be able to handle a significant increase in users? (Assuming a DAU of around 100,000 to 1,000,000) If the API cannot support this scale, would it be allowed under Apple’s policy to cache responses from the Catalog API (/v1/catalog/*) via our proxy server to avoid hitting the rate limit? The third question is the one we most want to confirm.
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458
Feb ’25
How Does iPhone 15+ (USB-C) Support UVC Devices? Is MFi Certification Required?
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?
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226
Mar ’25
MusicKit for Android reports an error when playing stations
When I use musicKit SDK for Android 1.1.2, I found that MediaContainerType only defines three types: NONE = 0; ALBUM = 1; PLAYLIST = 2; The RADIO_STATION type is not defined. However, the documentation of com.apple.android.music.playback.model states that the RADIO_STATION type is supported. This problem causes an error after I pass in the stations ID: MediaSessionManager com.apple.android.music.sdk.testapp D onPlaybackError() Quincy java.io.IOException May I ask how to solve this problem?
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78
Apr ’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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63
May ’25
TypeScript definitions for MusicKit JS
I take that MusicKit JS is built with TypeScript, based on the attributions in the script: https://js-cdn.music.apple.com/musickit/v3/musickit.js In the script it points to https://js-cdn.music.apple.com/musickit/v1/acknowledgements.txt – I assume this should be the v3 URL for the v3 version? It returns the same content nonetheless. This contains attributions for TypeScript. Currently there's a third-party effort with DefinitelyTyped, which publishes the NPM package @types/musickit-js. The latest supported version available is v1. However, there is no version compatible with v3. This makes it hard to use MusicKit JS v3 in a TypeScript project. Please publish the types, ideally on the CDN along with the musickit.js file. Also consider publishing an officially Apple supported DefinitelyTyped package, or help to maintain the existing @types/musickit-js to make consuming this even easier.
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156
Jun ’25
_MediaPlayer_AppIntents compilation error for iOS 26
getting an interesting error attempting to compile my app in Xcode 26 beta. error: Unable to find module dependency: '_MediaPlayer_AppIntents' (in target 'icatcher' from project 'icatcher') note: A dependency of main module 'MainModuleCrossImportOverlays' (in target 'icatcher' from project 'icatcher') Unable to find module dependency: '_MediaPlayer_AppIntents' Not sure what to try and pull to fix this issue
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134
Jun ’25
Apple Music API Library Playlist Images
Hi, I'm sending an API request to: https://api.music.apple.com/v1/me/library/playlists?limit=$limit&offset=$offset To list all of the users library playlists, however the resulting objects do not contain the playlist artwork in the JSON. I've tried adding the extend and include attributes as well but to no avail. A partial example of the response: {"id": PLAYLIST_ID, "type": "library-playlists", "href": "/v1/me/library/playlists/PLAYLIST_ID", "attributes": {"lastModifiedDate": "2024-09-18T20:18:24Z", "canEdit": true, "name": "Afro Party Anthems", "isPublic": false, "description": {"standard": "Definitive African party starters"}, "hasCatalog": false, "dateAdded": "2022-03-10T18:30:56Z", "playParams": {"id": PLAYLIST_ID, "kind": "playlist", "isLibrary": true}}, "relationships": {"catalog": {"href": "/v1/me/library/playlists/PLAYLIST_ID/catalog", "data": []}}} Is there a way to get the artwork URL without sending a request for each playlist? And if not can this be fixed?
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99
Jun ’25
Apple Music / MusicKit and Simulator
It's been an ask for a few years and I'm wondering if there are any plans, or whether the '26 SDKs/Tools allow Apple Music to work in the simulator? I develop for the Vision Pro so the usual 'fix' of running on the device is a bit of a hard ask. At the very least a small sample library that works in the simulator would be welcome (similar to how photos works) Cheers
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172
Jul ’25
Access to favorited artists from Music API?
It's been well over a year since Apple added favoriting of artists back to Apple Music (the little star icon on an artist page), but yet I still haven't seen a way to get this data from an authenticated user from Music API. I was expecting to hear something about this during the WWDC, but there have been no announcements that I've caught. Has anyone else heard anything? People assume when they provide access to their Apple Music account that we can actually get to the data in their Apple Music account, and we end up looking a little dumb not being able to get this core data.
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292
Jul ’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.
5
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788
Oct ’25
Mute behavior of Volume button on AVPlayerViewController iOS 26
With older iOS versions, when user taps Mute/Volume button on AVPLayerViewController to unmute, the system restores the sound volume of device to the level when user muted before. On iOS 26, when user taps unmute button on screen, the volume starts from 0 (not restore). (but it still restores if user unmutes by pressing physical volume buttons). As I understand, the Volume bar/button on AVPlayerViewController is MPVolumeView, and I can not control it. So this is a feature of the system. But I got complaints that this is a bug. I did not find documents that describe this change of Mute button behavior. I need some bases to explain this situation. Thank you.
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124
Oct ’25