(Note: this is part 3 of a 3 part posting. See Part 1 or Part 2) At WWDC25 we launched a new type of Lab event for the developer community - Group Labs. A Group Lab is a panel Q&A designed for a large audience of developers. Group Labs are a unique opportunity for the community to submit questions directly to a panel of Apple engineers and designers. Here are the highlights from the WWDC25 Group Lab for Camera & Photos. WWDC25 Camera & Photos group lab ran for one hour at 6 PM PST on Tuesday June 10th, 2025 Question 24 What’s the best approach for optimizing barcode scanning using AVFoundation or Vision in low-light or angled scenarios Turn on flash in low-light scenarios Lower framerate to improve exposure and reduce noise Wait until the capture is in focus/notify your user that they need to get closer Question 25 Recent iPhone models introduced macro mode which automatically switch between lenses to take into account of the focal distance difference. Is there official API to implement this, or should I implement them myself using LiDAR values. Using builtInTripleCamera and builtInDualWideCamera will automatically switch to macro when available Question 26 Is there a way to quickly create a thumbnail after the user selects an image with PhotosPicker? File provider API Additional questions from the WWDC25 in-person labs that occurred later in the WWDC week Question 1 When should I build my custom photo picker instead of using the system one? Always start with the system picker -> try embeddable customization APIs -> fallback to custom picker for very special needs Question 2 I'm building a new camera app for pros and I want to give my users the most un-processed image possible, and the most control over the capture as possible. How can I do that with AVCapture? If stills, Brief Bayer RAW capture overview, or Pro RAW if you want Apple's processing and dynamic range If video, talk about prores LOG. Custom exposure settings are available throguh the apis maybe global/local tonemapping discussion?

Device: iPhone 16 Pro Max OS: iOS 26.0.1 AVCaptureDevice.DeviceType: builtInUltraWideCamera avtiveFormat: <AVCaptureDeviceFormat: 0x10ffb9ac0 'vide'/'420v' 1440x1080, { 1- 60 fps}, photo dims:{1440x1080,2016x1512}, fov:101.022, gdc fov:103.625, binned, max zoom:94.50 (upscales @1.40), system zoom range:1.0-3.0, AF System:1, ISO:15.0-3600.0, SS:0.000023-1.000000, system exposure bias range:-2.0-2.0, supports multicam, supports CS RoI, supports Smart Style, supports Smudge Detection> API: device.isFocusModeSupported(.continuousAutoFocus) == true setting: device.focusMode = .continuousAutoFocus setting is ok, but it's not working actually with continuousAutoFocus

Hi, I’m building a PPG-based heart rate feature where the user places their finger over the rear telephoto camera. On iPhone 16 Pro Max, I'm explicitly selecting the telephoto lens like this: videoDevice = AVCaptureDevice.default(.builtInTelephotoCamera, for: .video, position: .back) And trying to lock it: if #available(iOS 15.0, *), device.activePrimaryConstituentDeviceSwitchingBehavior != .unsupported { try? device.lockForConfiguration() device.setPrimaryConstituentDeviceSwitchingBehavior(.locked, restrictedSwitchingBehaviorConditions: []) device.unlockForConfiguration() } I also lock everything else to prevent dynamic changes: try device.lockForConfiguration() device.focusMode = .locked device.exposureMode = .locked device.whiteBalanceMode = .locked device.videoZoomFactor = 1.0 device.automaticallyEnablesLowLightBoostWhenAvailable = false device.automaticallyAdjustsVideoHDREnabled = false device.unlockForConfiguration() Despite this, the camera still switches to another lens, especially under different lighting, even though the user’s finger fully covers the lens. Questions: How can I completely prevent lens switching in this scenario? Would using videoZoomFactor = 3.0 or 5.0 better enforce use of the telephoto lens? Thanks! Gal

For devices that are still on ios17, playing Fairplay encrypted content still works fine. For devices that I've upgraded to ios26 playing the same content in the same app no longer works. I can advance and see the stream frames by tapping +10 scrubbing so I know that the content is being decrypted but tapping the play button of AVPlayer for an AVPlayerItem now does nothing in ios26. Is this a breaking change or is there a stricter requirement that I now have to implement?

Hi, Could anybody share the full list of supported Predicate keys for the PHFetchOptions? I'm aware of the list that is posted in the documentation: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/photos/phfetchoptions However I have reason to believe that this is not an exhaustive list and there also seem to be mistakes in this doc. i.e. isFavorite does not work but favorite does. Through some experimentation I also found that this works: NSPredicate(format: "adjustmentFormatIdentifier == 'com.pixelmatorteam.touch.x.photo.PhotosAdjustmentData.EmbeddedSlimSidecarFileInfo.compressed'") even though adjustmentFormatIdentifier is not listed as a supported key. Are there other secret keys that you are aware of? Specifically I want to filter a fetch result for edited items. Something like this: NSPredicate(format: "hasAdjustments == true") (I tried this, doesn't work) The native Photos app has such a filter which leads me to believe that there probably is a key for this: If one of the Framework Developers reads this: Could you please update the documentation page with this information? Finally if there really aren't any more secret keys, is there a way to achieve this with adjustmentFormatIdentifier? I have tried a bunch of stuff already like adjustmentFormatIdentifier != nil but for some reason that gives me the exact opposite of what I want: all the photos without edits. 🫠 Any tips on the correct syntax here would be much appreciated.

Hello, Has anyone else experienced variations in the accuracy of the playbackTime value? After a few seconds of playback, the reported time adjusts by a fraction of a second, making it difficult to calculate the actual playbackTime of the audio. This can be recreated by playing a song in MusicKit, recording the start time of the audio, playing for at least 10-20 seconds, and then comparing the playbackTime value to one calculated using the start time of the audio. In my experience this jump occurs after about 10 seconds of playback. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

This is my native module code implementation I'm getting base64 encoded string from server and passing this to my native module of pcm player to play audio App.tsx PcmPlayer.writeChunk(e.data); PcmPlayer.swift import AVFoundation @objc(PcmPlayer) class PcmPlayer: RCTEventEmitter { private var engine: AVAudioEngine? private var playerNode: AVAudioPlayerNode? private var format: AVAudioFormat? private var bufferQueue = [Data]() private var isPlaying = false private var hasEnded = false private var scheduledBufferCount = 0 private let minBufferBytes = 50000 private let pcmQueue = DispatchQueue(label: "pcm.queue") override init() { super.init() } override func supportedEvents() -> [String]! { return ["onStatus", "onMessage"] } @objc(initPlayer:channels:bitsPerSample:) func initPlayer(_ sampleRate: NSNumber, channels: NSNumber, bitsPerSample: NSNumber) { pcmQueue.async { self.stopInternal() let session = AVAudioSession.sharedInstance() do { try session.setCategory(.playback, mode: .default, options: []) try session.setActive(true, options: .notifyOthersOnDeactivation) try session.setMode(.default) print("🔈 Audio session active. Output route:", session.currentRoute.outputs) } catch { print("❌ Audio session setup failed:", error) return } self.engine = AVAudioEngine() self.playerNode = AVAudioPlayerNode() guard let engine = self.engine, let playerNode = self.playerNode else { print("❌ Engine or playerNode is nil") return } engine.attach(playerNode) self.format = AVAudioFormat(commonFormat: .pcmFormatFloat32, sampleRate: sampleRate.doubleValue, channels: AVAudioChannelCount(channels.uintValue), interleaved: false) guard let format = self.format else { print("❌ Failed to create AVAudioFormat") return } engine.connect(playerNode, to: engine.mainMixerNode, format: format) do { try engine.start() playerNode.play() engine.mainMixerNode.outputVolume = 1.0 print("✅ AVAudioEngine started with format:", format) } catch { print("❌ Engine start failed:", error) } self.hasEnded = false } } @objc(writeChunk:) func writeChunk(_ base64Pcm: String) { pcmQueue.async { guard base64Pcm.count >= 10 else { print("⚠️ Skipping short base64 string") return } var padded = base64Pcm let mod4 = base64Pcm.count % 4 if mod4 > 0 { padded += String(repeating: "=", count: 4 - mod4) } guard let data = Data(base64Encoded: padded, options: .ignoreUnknownCharacters) else { print("❌ Failed to decode base64") return } self.bufferQueue.append(data) print("📥 Received PCM chunk (\(data.count) bytes)") print("📥 writeChunk called. isPlaying=\(self.isPlaying), bufferQueue.count=\(self.bufferQueue.count)") if !self.isPlaying { self.isPlaying = true self.waitForBufferAndStartPlayback() } else if self.scheduledBufferCount == 0 { self.isPlaying = true self.waitForBufferAndStartPlayback() } } } private func waitForBufferAndStartPlayback() { DispatchQueue.global().async { while self.queueSize() < self.minBufferBytes && !self.hasEnded { Thread.sleep(forTimeInterval: 0.01) } self.writeLoop() } } private func writeLoop() { DispatchQueue.global().async { writeLoop: while self.isPlaying { if self.bufferQueue.isEmpty { for _ in 0..<100 { Thread.sleep(forTimeInterval: 0.01) if !self.bufferQueue.isEmpty { break } } if self.bufferQueue.isEmpty { print("🔇 No more data to play after waiting") self.isPlaying = false break writeLoop } } var data: Data? self.pcmQueue.sync { if !self.bufferQueue.isEmpty { data = self.bufferQueue.removeFirst() } } guard let chunk = data else { print("⚠️ No data to process") continue } if let buffer = self.pcmBufferFromData(chunk) { self.scheduledBufferCount += 1 self.playerNode?.scheduleBuffer(buffer, completionHandler: { self.pcmQueue.async { self.scheduledBufferCount -= 1 if self.bufferQueue.isEmpty && self.scheduledBufferCount == 0 { print("ℹ️ Playback idle - waiting for more data") self.isPlaying = false } } }) } } } } private func pcmBufferFromData(_ data: Data) -> AVAudioPCMBuffer? { guard let format = self.format else { return nil } let frameCount = UInt32(data.count / 2) guard let buffer = AVAudioPCMBuffer(pcmFormat: format, frameCapacity: frameCount) else { print("❌ Failed to create AVAudioPCMBuffer") return nil } buffer.frameLength = frameCount guard let floatChannelData = buffer.floatChannelData?[0] else { print("❌ floatChannelData is nil") return nil } data.withUnsafeBytes { (rawBuffer: UnsafeRawBufferPointer) in let int16Buffer = rawBuffer.bindMemory(to: Int16.self) let count = min(int16Buffer.count, Int(frameCount)) for i in 0..<count { floatChannelData[i] = Float32(int16Buffer[i]) / Float32(Int16.max) } } return buffer } @objc(stopPlayer) func stopPlayer() { pcmQueue.async { self.stopInternal() } } private func stopInternal() { print("🛑 stopInternal called") self.playerNode?.stop() self.engine?.stop() self.engine?.reset() self.playerNode = nil self.engine = nil self.format = nil self.bufferQueue.removeAll() self.isPlaying = false self.hasEnded = true self.scheduledBufferCount = 0 } @objc(canWrite:rejecter:) func canWrite(_ resolve: @escaping RCTPromiseResolveBlock, rejecter reject: RCTPromiseRejectBlock) { pcmQueue.async { resolve(self.bufferQueue.count < 20) } } @objc(flushPlayer:rejecter:) func flushPlayer(_ resolve: @escaping RCTPromiseResolveBlock, rejecter reject: RCTPromiseRejectBlock) { pcmQueue.async { self.bufferQueue.removeAll() resolve(nil) } } @objc static override func requiresMainQueueSetup() -> Bool { return false } private func queueSize() -> Int { return pcmQueue.sync { return self.bufferQueue.reduce(0) { $0 + $1.count } } } } I couldn't able to hear any audio via my real iOS device also it is working fine on emulator.

Hi, We have created an app which allows recording 4K 60 fps videos in the app. We have noted that some time the recording switched to 20 fps (the value 20 is constant) even though the resolution settings is at 4K 60fps. We are using AVCaptureDevice to invoke the camera. has anyone experienced this problem before ? What is unique to 20 fps? Why does it resort to 20 fps from 60 fps and why not to other numbers ?

Hi Team, We are using AVFoundation to read metadata from a stream and have noticed some delay between when the stream provides metadata and when the app receives it. Could someone from the team advise on ways to reduce this? Thanks

Queria saber quando lança o IOS 26 oficialmente I wanted to know when iOS 26 will be officially released.

Since MacOS 26 Apple Music has inconsitent drops to the Quality of some Tracks indiscrimantly. I don't know if others Expereinced it. It doesn't happen on the Speakers or connected via Bluetooth, but the AUX I/O has it quite often. It is more noticable on Headphones with 48kHz and higher Frequency Bandwidth. Here is the FB18062589

Fetching the featured artists in a playlist, no longer works in iOS 26.1 beta let detailedPlaylist = try await playlist.with([.tracks, .featuredArtists], preferredSource: .library) Throws error when using .library and using .catalog returns empty array. This works correctly in iOS 26.0 and iOS 18 versions

Hi everyone, I'm developing a visionOS app for Apple Vision Pro, and I've encountered an issue related to window resizing at runtime when using AVPlayer to play a live HLS stream. ✅ What I'm Trying to Do Play a live HLS stream (from Wowza) inside my app using AVPlayer. Support resizing the immersive window using Vision Pro’s built-in runtime scaling gesture. Stream works fine at default window size when the app launches. ❌ Problem If I resize the app’s window at runtime (using the Vision Pro pinch-drag gesture), then try to start the stream, it does not play. Instead, it just shows the "Loading live stream..." state and never proceeds to playback. This issue only occurs after resizing the window — if I don’t resize, the stream works perfectly every time. 🧪 What I’ve Tried Verified the HLS URL — it’s working and plays fine in Safari and in the app before resizing. Set .automaticallyWaitsToMinimizeStalling = false on AVPlayer. Observed that .status on AVPlayerItem never reaches .readyToPlay after resizing. Tried to force window size back using UIWindowScene.requestGeometryUpdate(...), but behavior persists.

Is there any way for me to use an AutoMix api in my IOS apps, I would play tracks using the Apple Music api and use AutoMix to attempt to merge tracks. Is this feature/api available to developers.

When I play an HDR video in the iPhone Photos app, I can see the HDR effect obviously. But if this HDR video is played continuously for more than 30-40 minutes, the HDR effect will disappear and the brightness will be compressed to the SDR range. This issue will appear on any iPhone. Depending on the phone, it may be 20-30 minutes, or 30-40 minutes, or even a few minutes, such as iPhone 12 mini. Similarly, if I use AVPlayer to play and preview an HDR video, if it plays more than 30-40 minutes, the HDR effect will disappear and the screen brightness will dim. Also the currentEDRHeadroom will gradually decrease to 1 Note, test it with an HDR video longer than 1 hour, and if the video is short, please loop it. My question is how to avoid losing the HDR effect after 30-40 minutes when I use CAMetalLayer to render any HDR video.

The operation couldn’t be completed. (CoreMediaErrorDomain error -19156 - The operation couldn’t be completed. (CoreMediaErrorDomain error -19156.

I have some tried-and-tested code that records and plays back audio via AUHAL which breaks on Tahoe on Intel. The same code works fine on Sequioa and also works on Tahoe on Apple Silicon. To start with something simple, the following code to request access to the Microphone doesn't work as it should: bool RequestMicrophoneAccess () { __block AVAuthorizationStatus status = [AVCaptureDevice authorizationStatusForMediaType: AVMediaTypeAudio]; if (status == AVAuthorizationStatusAuthorized) return true; __block bool done = false; [AVCaptureDevice requestAccessForMediaType: AVMediaTypeAudio completionHandler: ^ (BOOL granted) { status = (granted) ? AVAuthorizationStatusAuthorized : AVAuthorizationStatusDenied; done = true; }]; while (!done) CFRunLoopRunInMode (kCFRunLoopDefaultMode, 2.0, true); return status == AVAuthorizationStatusAuthorized; } On Tahoe on Intel, the code runs to completion but granted is always returned as NO. Tellingly, the popup to ask the user to grant microphone access is never displayed, even though the app is not present in the Privacy pane and never appears there. On Apple Silicon, everything works fine. There are some other problems, but I'm hoping they have a common underlying cause and that the Apple guys can figure out what's wrong from the information in this post. I'd be happy to test any potential fix. Thanks.

Hey there, We're seeing a high rate of 403 - Invalid Authentication on this endpoint v1/me/library/artists since a few days. Does anyone have the same issue ?

Our Final Cut Pro workflow extension built with ProExtensionHost framework uses an advanced NSPasteboardItemDataProvider system with multi-version FCPXML support (1.9, 1.10, 1.13) and proper relative path UIDs for Motion templates. We've implemented clip wrapper approach with placeholder assets and elements containing effects to enable direct timeline drag functionality. However, drag and drop from our Final Cut Pro workflow extension directly to timeline is still not working despite proper element structure in our FCPXML. Our implementation creates valid clip elements with effects applied, but Final Cut Pro timeline doesn't accept them during drag operations from our ProExtensionHost-based workflow extension. Steps to Reproduce: Create Final Cut Pro workflow extension using ProExtensionHost framework with NSPasteboardItemDataProvider implementation Generate FCPXML with proper element structure: Expected Result: Clip should be accepted by timeline and effect applied from workflow extension Actual Result: Timeline rejects drag operation from ProExtensionHost-based workflow extension Question: Are there additional requirements or ProExtensionHost API calls needed beyond standard NSPasteboardItemDataProvider for Final Cut Pro workflow extension timeline drag functionality?

{ "aps": { "content-available": 1 }, "audio_file_name": "ding.caf", "audio_url": "https://example.com/audio.mp3" } When the app is in the background or killed, it receives a remote APNs push. The data format is roughly as shown above. How can I play the MP3 audio file at the specified "audio_url"? The user does not need to interact with the device when receiving the APNs. How can I play the audio file immediately after receiving it?