Dive into the technical aspects of audio on your device, including codecs, format support, and customization options.

Audio Documentation

Posts under Audio subtopic

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How to inform Logic Pro that AU view does not have a fixed aspect ratio?
I have an AUv3 that passes all validation and can be loaded into Logic Pro without issue. The UI for the plug in can be any aspect ratio but Logic insists on presenting it in a view with a fixed aspect ratio. That is when resizing, both the height and width are resized. I have never managed to work out what it is I need to do specify to Logic to allow the user to resize width or height independently of each other. Can anyone tell me what I need to specify in the AU code that will inform Logic that the view can be resized from any side of the window/panel?
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202
Apr ’25
How can I find the user's "Favorite Songs" playlist?
It sounds simple but searching for the name "Favorite Songs" is a non-starter because it's called different names in different countries, even if I specify "&l=en_us" on the query. So is there another property, relationship or combination thereof which I can use to tell me when I've found the right playlist? Properties I've looked at so far: canEdit: will always be false so narrows things down a little inFavorites: not helpful as it depends on whether the user has favourite the favourites playlist, so not relevant hasCatalog: seems always true so again may narrow things down a bit isPublic: doesn't help Adding the catalog relationship doesn't seem to show anything immediately useful either. Can anyone help? Ideally I'd like to see this as a "kind" or "type" as it has different properties to other playlists, but frankly I'll take anything at this point.
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289
Jul ’25
Unstable Playlist.Entry.id causes crashes when removing duplicates
When multiple identical songs are added to a playlist, Playlist.Entry.id uses a suffix-based identifier (e.g. songID_0, songID_1, etc.). Removing one entry causes others to shift, changing their .id values. This leads to diffing errors and collection view crashes in SwiftUI or UIKit when entries are updated. Steps to Reproduce: Add the same song to a playlist multiple times. Observe .id.rawValue of entries (e.g. i.SONGID_0, i.SONGID_1). Remove one entry. Fetch playlist again — note the other IDs have shifted. FB18879062
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547
Jul ’25
UIDocumentPickerViewController in Audiounit Extension unable to receive touches
Hello, I have an existing AUv3 instrument plugin. In the plug in, users can access files (audio files, song projects) via a UIDocumentPickerViewController In Logic Pro, (and some other hosts, but not all), the document picker is unable to receive touches, while a keyboard case is attached to the iPad. Removing the case (this is an Apple brand iPad case) allows the interactions to resume and allows me to pick files in the usual way. One of my users reports this non-responsive behavior occurs even after disconnecting their keyboard. I have fiddled with entitlements all day, and have determined that is not the issue, since the keyboard disconnection appears to fix it every time for me. Here is my, very boilerplate, presentation code : guard let type = UTType("com.my.type") else { return } let fileBrowser = UIDocumentPickerViewController(forOpeningContentTypes: [type]) fileBrowser.overrideUserInterfaceStyle = .dark fileBrowser.delegate = self fileBrowser.directoryURL = myFileFolderURL() self.present(fileBrowser, animated: true) {
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565
Jul ’25
Background recording app getting killed by watch dog.. how to avoid?
We have the necessary background recording entitlements, and for many users... do not run into any issues. However, there is a subset of users that routinely get recordings ending.. we have narrowed this down and believe it to be the work of the watch dog. First we removed the entire view hierarchy when app is backgrounded. There is just 'Text("Recording")' This got the CPU usage in profiler down to 0%. We saw massive improvements to recording success rate. We walked away assuming that was enough. However we are still seeing the same sort of crashes. All in the background. We're using Observation to drive audio state changes to a Live Activity. Are those Observations causing the problem? Why doesn't apple provide a better API to background audio? The internet is full of weird issues https://stackoverflow.com/questions/76010213/why-is-my-react-native-app-sometimes-terminated-in-the-background-while-tracking https://stackoverflow.com/questions/71656047/why-is-my-react-native-app-terminating-in-the-background-while-recording-ios-r https://github.com/expo/expo/issues/16807 This is such a terrible user experience. And we have very little visibility into what is happening and why. No where in apple documentation states that in order for background recording to work, the app can only be 'Text("Recording")' It does not outline a CPU or memory threshold. It just kills us.
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425
Mar ’25
Intermittent Memory Leak Indicated in Simulator When Using AVAudioEngine with mainMixerNode Only
Hello, I'm observing an intermittent memory leak being reported in the iOS Simulator when initializing and starting an AVAudioEngine. Even with minimal setup—just attaching a single AVAudioPlayerNode and connecting it to the mainMixerNode—Xcode's memory diagnostics and Instruments sometimes flag a leak. Here is a simplified version of the code I'm using: // This function is called when the user taps a button in the view controller: #import "ViewController.h" @interface ViewController () @end @implementation ViewController - (void)viewDidLoad { [super viewDidLoad]; } - (IBAction)myButtonAction:(id)sender { NSLog(@"Test"); soundCreate(); } @end // media.m static AVAudioEngine *audioEngine = nil; void soundCreate(void) { if (audioEngine != nil) return; [[AVAudioSession sharedInstance] setCategory:AVAudioSessionCategoryAmbient error:nil]; [[AVAudioSession sharedInstance] setActive:YES error:nil]; audioEngine = [[AVAudioEngine alloc] init]; AVAudioPlayerNode* playerNode = [[AVAudioPlayerNode alloc] init]; [audioEngine attachNode:playerNode]; [audioEngine connect:playerNode to:(AVAudioNode *)[audioEngine mainMixerNode] format:nil]; [audioEngine startAndReturnError:nil]; } In the memory leak report, the following call stack is repeated, seemingly in a loop: ListenerMap::InsertEvent(XAudioUnitEvent const&, ListenerBinding*) AudioToolboxCore ListenerMap::AddParameter(AUListener*, void*, XAudioUnitEvent const&) AudioToolboxCore AUListenerAddParameter AudioToolboxCore addOrRemoveParameterListeners(OpaqueAudioComponentInstance*, AUListenerBase*, AUParameterTree*, bool) AudioToolboxCore 0x180178ddf
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127
Apr ’25
occasional glitches and empty buffers when using AudioFileStream + AVAudioConverter
I'm streaming mp3 audio data using URLSession/AudioFileStream/AVAudioConverter and getting occasional silent buffers and glitches (little bleeps and whoops as opposed to clicks). The issues are present in an offline test, so this isn't an issue of underruns. Doing some buffering on the input coming from the URLSession (URLSessionDataTask) reduces the glitches/silent buffers to rather infrequent, but they do still happen occasionally. var bufferedData = Data() func parseBytes(data: Data) { bufferedData.append(data) // XXX: this buffering reduces glitching // to rather infrequent. But why? if bufferedData.count > 32768 { bufferedData.withUnsafeBytes { (bytes: UnsafeRawBufferPointer) in guard let baseAddress = bytes.baseAddress else { return } let result = AudioFileStreamParseBytes(audioStream!, UInt32(bufferedData.count), baseAddress, []) if result != noErr { print("❌ error parsing stream: \(result)") } } bufferedData = Data() } } No errors are returned by AudioFileStream or AVAudioConverter. func handlePackets(data: Data, packetDescriptions: [AudioStreamPacketDescription]) { guard let audioConverter else { return } var maxPacketSize: UInt32 = 0 for packetDescription in packetDescriptions { maxPacketSize = max(maxPacketSize, packetDescription.mDataByteSize) if packetDescription.mDataByteSize == 0 { print("EMPTY PACKET") } if Int(packetDescription.mStartOffset) + Int(packetDescription.mDataByteSize) > data.count { print("❌ Invalid packet: offset \(packetDescription.mStartOffset) + size \(packetDescription.mDataByteSize) > data.count \(data.count)") } } let bufferIn = AVAudioCompressedBuffer(format: inFormat!, packetCapacity: AVAudioPacketCount(packetDescriptions.count), maximumPacketSize: Int(maxPacketSize)) bufferIn.byteLength = UInt32(data.count) for i in 0 ..< Int(packetDescriptions.count) { bufferIn.packetDescriptions![i] = packetDescriptions[i] } bufferIn.packetCount = AVAudioPacketCount(packetDescriptions.count) _ = data.withUnsafeBytes { ptr in memcpy(bufferIn.data, ptr.baseAddress, data.count) } if verbose { print("handlePackets: \(data.count) bytes") } // Setup input provider closure var inputProvided = false let inputBlock: AVAudioConverterInputBlock = { packetCount, statusPtr in if !inputProvided { inputProvided = true statusPtr.pointee = .haveData return bufferIn } else { statusPtr.pointee = .noDataNow return nil } } // Loop until converter runs dry or is done while true { let bufferOut = AVAudioPCMBuffer(pcmFormat: outFormat, frameCapacity: 4096)! bufferOut.frameLength = 0 var error: NSError? let status = audioConverter.convert(to: bufferOut, error: &error, withInputFrom: inputBlock) switch status { case .haveData: if verbose { print("✅ convert returned haveData: \(bufferOut.frameLength) frames") } if bufferOut.frameLength > 0 { if bufferOut.isSilent { print("(haveData) SILENT BUFFER at frame \(totalFrames), pending: \(pendingFrames), inputPackets=\(bufferIn.packetCount), outputFrames=\(bufferOut.frameLength)") } outBuffers.append(bufferOut) totalFrames += Int(bufferOut.frameLength) } case .inputRanDry: if verbose { print("🔁 convert returned inputRanDry: \(bufferOut.frameLength) frames") } if bufferOut.frameLength > 0 { if bufferOut.isSilent { print("(inputRanDry) SILENT BUFFER at frame \(totalFrames), pending: \(pendingFrames), inputPackets=\(bufferIn.packetCount), outputFrames=\(bufferOut.frameLength)") } outBuffers.append(bufferOut) totalFrames += Int(bufferOut.frameLength) } return // wait for next handlePackets case .endOfStream: if verbose { print("✅ convert returned endOfStream") } return case .error: if verbose { print("❌ convert returned error") } if let error = error { print("error converting: \(error.localizedDescription)") } return @unknown default: fatalError() } } }
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559
Jul ’25
Different behaviors of USB-C to Headphone Jack Adapters
I bought two "Apple USB-C to Headphone Jack Adapters". Upon closer inspection, they seems to be of different generations: The one with product ID 0x110a on top is working fine. The one with product ID 0x110b has two issues: There is a short but loud click noise on the headphone when I connect it to the iPad. When I play audio using AVAudioPlayer the first half of a second or so is cut off. Here's how I'm playing the audio: audioPlayer = try AVAudioPlayer(contentsOf: url) audioPlayer?.delegate = self audioPlayer?.prepareToPlay() audioPlayer?.play() Is this a known issue? Am I doing something wrong?
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334
Jul ’25
What is the best approach to multi-channel, per-channel volume control.
I've got a setup using AVAudioEngine with several tone generator nodes, each with a chain of processing nodes, the chains then mixed into the main output. Generator ➡️ Effect ➡️... ➡️ .mainMixerNode ➡️ .outputNode). Generator ➡️ Effect ➡️... ⤴️ ... Generator ➡️ Effect ➡️... ⤴️ The user should be able to mute any chain individually. I've found several potential approaches to muting, but not terribly happy with any of them. Adjust the amplitudes directly in my tone generators. Issue: Consumes CPU even when completely muted. 4 generators adds ~15% cpu, even when all chains are muted. Detach/attach chains that are muted/unmuted. Issue: Causes loud clicking/popping sounds whenever muted/unmuted. Fade mixer output volume while detaching/attaching a chain (just cutting the volume immediately to 0 doesn't get rid of the clicking/popping). Issue: Causes all channels to fade during the transition, so not ideal. The rest of these ideas are variations on making volume control+detatch/attach work for individual chains, since approach #3 worked well. Add an AVAudioMixer to the end of each chain (just for volume control). Issue: Only the mixer on the final chain functions -- the others block all output. Not sure what's going on there. Use matrix mixer (for multi-input volume control). Plus detach/attach to reduce CPU if necessary. Not yet attempted, due to perceived complexity and reports of fragility in order of wiring in. A bunch of effort before I even know if it's going to work. Develop my own fader node to put on the end of each channel. Unlike the tone generator (simple AVSourceNode), developing an effect node seems complex and time consuming. Might not even fix CPU use. I'm not completely averse to the learning curve of either 5 or 6, but would rather get some guidance on best approach before diving in. They both seem likely to take more effort than I'd like for the simple behavior I'm trying to achieve.
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350
Jul ’25
Why Does WebView Audio Get Quiet During RTC Calls? (AVAudioSession Analysis)
I developed an educational app that implements audio-video communication through RTC, while using WebView to display course materials during classes. However, some users are experiencing an issue where the audio playback from WebView is very quiet. I've checked that the AVAudioSessionCategory is set by RTC to AVAudioSessionCategoryPlayAndRecord, and the AVAudioSessionCategoryOption also includes AVAudioSessionCategoryOptionMixWithOthers. What could be causing the WebView audio to be suppressed, and how can this be resolved?
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556
Jul ’25
Lightning to HDMI mirrors
I am developing a VOD playback app, but when I stream video to an external monitor connected via HDMI with Lightning on iOS 18 or later, the screen goes dark and I cannot confirm playback. The app I am developing does not detect the HDMI and display the Player separately, but simply mirrors the video. We have confirmed that the same phenomenon occurs with other services, but we were able to confirm playback with some services such as Apple TV. Please let us know if there are any other necessary settings such as video certificates required for video playback. We would also like to know if the problem occurs with iOS 18 or later.
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283
Mar ’25
MusicKit - Skipping Forwards or Backwards does not update
Hello everyone, I am working on an app that allows you to review your own music using Apple Music. Currently I am running into an issue with the skipping forwards and backwards outside of the app. How it should work: When skipping forward or backwards on the lock or home screen of an iPhone, the next or previous song on an album should play and the information should change to reflect that in the app. If you play a song in Apple Music, you can see a Now Playing view in the lock screen. When you skip forward or backwards, it will do either action and it would reflect that when you see a little frequency icon on artwork image of a song. What it's doing: When skipping forward or backwards on the lock or home screen of an iPhone, the next or previous song is reflected outside of the app, but not in the app. When skipping a song outside of the app, it works correctly to head to the next song. But when I return to the app, it is not reflected NOTE: I am not using MusicKit variables such as Track, Album to display the songs. Since I want to grab the songs and review them I need a rating so I created my own that grabs the MusicItemID, name, artist(s), etc. NOTE: I am using ApplicationMusicPlayer.shared Is there a way to get the song to reflect in my app? (If its easier, a simple example of it would be nice. No need to create an entire xprod file)
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99
Apr ’25
AVAudioEngine failing with -10877 on macOS 26 beta, no devices detected via AVFoundation but HAL works
I’m developing a macOS audio monitoring app using AVAudioEngine, and I’ve run into a critical issue on macOS 26 beta where AVFoundation fails to detect any input devices, and AVAudioEngine.start() throws the familiar error 10877. FB#: FB19024508 Strange Behavior: AVAudioEngine.inputNode shows no channels or input format on bus 0. AVAudioEngine.start() fails with -10877 (AudioUnit connection error). AVCaptureDevice.DiscoverySession returns zero audio devices. Microphone permission is granted (authorized), and the app is properly signed and sandboxed with com.apple.security.device.audio-input. However, CoreAudio HAL does detect all input/output devices: Using AudioObjectGetPropertyDataSize and AudioObjectGetPropertyData with kAudioHardwarePropertyDevices, I can enumerate 14+ devices, including AirPods, USB DACs, and BlackHole. This suggests the lower-level audio stack is functional. I have tried: Resetting CoreAudio with sudo killall coreaudiod Rebuilding and re-signing the app Clearing TCC with tccutil reset Microphone Running on Apple Silicon and testing Rosetta/native detection via sysctl.proc_translated Using a fallback mechanism that logs device info from HAL and rotates logs for submission via Feedback Assistant I have submitted logs and a reproducible test case via Feedback Assitant : FB#: FB19024508]
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424
Jul ’25
Audio driver based on AudioDriverKit sometimes hangs after sleep
Dear Sirs, I’ve written a virtual audio driver based on AudioDriverKit and running as dext in my MacOS app. Sometimes when waking up from a sleep state the recording side of my driver extension seems to hang and I don’t see any calls to my io_operation callback. Then the recording app like a DAW seems to hang when trying to start a recording. This doesn’t happen after short sleep states or after a complete new start of my MacBook. I already opened a case in Feedback-Assistant on 5th of May (FB17503622) which also includes a sysdiagnose and a ktrace but I didn't get any feedback so far. Meanwhile some of our customers are getting angry and I'd like to know if there's anything I could do to fix this problem on my side. We’re not sure whether this worked in previous MacOS versions, we think we didn’t observe this before 15.3.1 but at least since 15.3.1. we’ve seen this problem. Best regards, Johannes
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186
Aug ’25
Incorrect 5.1 / Atmos channel mapping on Apple TV 4K (2022)
I ran 5.1 audio tests in both YouTube and Apple Music, and I noticed that when sound is supposed to play from the rear or front surround speakers, it’s also duplicated in the front left and right channels. I’m absolutely sure the issue is with the Apple TV, because I played the same video directly through my TV’s native system, and the channel separation was correct. Everything used to work perfectly before, so this must be a software issue. I’m currently on tvOS 26 Developer Beta 5, but I’m certain the problem also existed on the stable tvOS 18.5. I’ve already reset and updated my Apple TV, and I also tried switching the audio format to forced Dolby Atmos 5.1. On the forums, I mostly see complaints about Dolby Atmos not working at all — in my case, everything technically works, but not the way it’s supposed to.
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97
Aug ’25
Ducking MusicKit output when playing another sound
I am developing an app that uses MusicKit to play music and then I need to have spoken words played to the user, while ducking the audio coming from MusicKit (application music player) the built in Siri voices are not off sufficient quality so I am using an external service to create an mp3 file and then play this back using AVAudioSession Sample code below the problem I am having is that .duckOthers is not ducking the Application Music Player output Is this a bug or am I doing this wrong? // Configure audio session for system-wide ducking try AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().setCategory(.playback, mode: .spokenAudio, options: [.duckOthers, .mixWithOthers]) try AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().setActive(true) // Set the ducking level to maximum try AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().setPreferredIOBufferDuration(0.005) // Create and configure audio player self.audioPlayer = try AVAudioPlayer(data: audioData) self.audioPlayer?.delegate = self self.audioPlayer?.volume = 1.0 // Ensure full volume for speech self.audioPlayer?.prepareToPlay() // Set the audio player's settings for maximum clarity self.audioPlayer?.enableRate = false self.audioPlayer?.pan = 0.0 // Center the audio self.audioPlayer?.play()
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62
Apr ’25
SpeechTranscriber extremely slow (14+ seconds) despite proper locale allocation and optimization
Using the official SwiftTranscriptionSampleApp from WWDC 2025, speech transcription takes 14+ seconds from audio input to first result, making it unusable for real-time applications. Environment iOS: 26.0 Beta Xcode: Beta 5 Device: iPhone 16 pro Sample App: Official Apple SwiftTranscriptionSampleApp from WWDC 2025 Configuration Tested Locale: en-US (properly allocated with AssetInventory.allocate(locale:)) and es-ES Setup: All optimizations applied (preheating, high priority, model retention) I started testing in my own app to replace SFSpeech API and include speech detection but after long fights with documentation (this part is quite terrible TBH) I tested the example (https://developer.apple.com/documentation/speech/bringing-advanced-speech-to-text-capabilities-to-your-app) and saw same results. I added some logs to check the specific time: 🎙️ [20:30:41.532] ✅ Analyzer started successfully - ready to receive audio! 🎙️ [20:30:41.532] Listening for transcription results... 🎙️ [20:30:56.342] 🚀 FIRST TRANSCRIPTION RESULT after 14.810s: 'Hello' (isFinal: false) Questions Is this expected performance for iOS 26 Beta, because old SFSpeech is far faster? Are there additional optimization steps for SpeechTranscriber? Should we expect significant performance improvements in later betas?
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218
Aug ’25
Error -50 writing to AVAudioFile
I'm trying to write 16-bit interleaved 2-channel data captured from a LiveSwitch audio source to a AVAudioFile. The buffer and file formats match but I get a bad parameter error from the API. Does this API not support the specified format or is there some other issue? Here is the debugger output. (lldb) po audioFile.url ▿ file:///private/var/mobile/Containers/Data/Application/1EB14379-0CF2-41B6-B742-4C9A80728DB3/tmp/Heart%20Sounds%201 - _url : file:///private/var/mobile/Containers/Data/Application/1EB14379-0CF2-41B6-B742-4C9A80728DB3/tmp/Heart%20Sounds%201 - _parseInfo : nil - _baseParseInfo : nil (lldb) po error Error Domain=com.apple.coreaudio.avfaudio Code=-50 "(null)" UserInfo={failed call=ExtAudioFileWrite(_impl->_extAudioFile, buffer.frameLength, buffer.audioBufferList)} (lldb) po buffer.format <AVAudioFormat 0x302a12b20: 2 ch, 44100 Hz, Int16, interleaved> (lldb) po audioFile.fileFormat <AVAudioFormat 0x302a515e0: 2 ch, 44100 Hz, Int16, interleaved> (lldb) po buffer.frameLength 882 (lldb) po buffer.audioBufferList ▿ 0x0000000300941e60 - pointerValue : 12894608992 This code handles the details of converting the Live Switch frame into an AVAudioPCMBuffer. extension FMLiveSwitchAudioFrame { func convertedToPCMBuffer() -> AVAudioPCMBuffer { Self.convertToAVAudioPCMBuffer(from: self)! } static func convertToAVAudioPCMBuffer(from frame: FMLiveSwitchAudioFrame) -> AVAudioPCMBuffer? { // Retrieve the audio buffer and format details from the FMLiveSwitchAudioFrame guard let buffer = frame.buffer(), let format = buffer.format() as? FMLiveSwitchAudioFormat else { return nil } // Extract PCM format details from FMLiveSwitchAudioFormat let sampleRate = Double(format.clockRate()) let channelCount = AVAudioChannelCount(format.channelCount()) // Determine bytes per sample based on bit depth let bitsPerSample = 16 let bytesPerSample = bitsPerSample / 8 let bytesPerFrame = bytesPerSample * Int(channelCount) let frameLength = AVAudioFrameCount(Int(buffer.dataBuffer().length()) / bytesPerFrame) // Create an AVAudioFormat from the FMLiveSwitchAudioFormat guard let avAudioFormat = AVAudioFormat(commonFormat: .pcmFormatInt16, sampleRate: sampleRate, channels: channelCount, interleaved: true) else { return nil } // Create an AudioBufferList to wrap the existing buffer let audioBufferList = UnsafeMutablePointer<AudioBufferList>.allocate(capacity: 1) audioBufferList.pointee.mNumberBuffers = 1 audioBufferList.pointee.mBuffers.mNumberChannels = channelCount audioBufferList.pointee.mBuffers.mDataByteSize = UInt32(buffer.dataBuffer().length()) audioBufferList.pointee.mBuffers.mData = buffer.dataBuffer().data().mutableBytes // Directly use LiveSwitch buffer // Transfer ownership of the buffer to AVAudioPCMBuffer let pcmBuffer = AVAudioPCMBuffer(pcmFormat: avAudioFormat, bufferListNoCopy: audioBufferList) /* { buffer in // Ensure the buffer is freed when AVAudioPCMBuffer is deallocated buffer.deallocate() // Only call this if LiveSwitch allows manual deallocation } */ pcmBuffer?.frameLength = frameLength return pcmBuffer } } This is the handler that is invoked with every frame in order to convert it for use with AVAudioFile and optionally update a scrolling signal display on the screen. private func onRaisedFrame(obj: Any!) -> Void { // Bail out early if no one is interested in the data. guard isMonitoring else { return } // Convert LS frame to AVAudioPCMBuffer (no-copy) let frame = obj as! FMLiveSwitchAudioFrame let buffer = frame.convertedToPCMBuffer() // Hand subscribers a reference to the buffer for rendering to display. bufferPublisher?.send(buffer) // If we have and output file, store the data there, as well. guard let audioFile = self.audioFile else { return } do { try audioFile.write(from: buffer) // FIXME: This call is throwing error -50 } catch { FMLiveSwitchLog.error(withMessage: "Failed to write buffer to audio file at \(audioFile.url): \(error)") self.audioFile = nil } } This is how the audio file is being setup. static var recordingFormat: AVAudioFormat = { AVAudioFormat(commonFormat: .pcmFormatInt16, sampleRate: 44_100, channels: 2, interleaved: true)! }() let audioFile = try AVAudioFile(forWriting: outputURL, settings: Self.recordingFormat.settings)
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457
Mar ’25
How to detect when iOS Camera app starts video recording (with Allow Audio Playback ON)?
Since iOS 18, the system setting “Allow Audio Playback” (enabled by default) allows third-party app audio to continue playing while the user is recording video with the Camera app. This has created a problem for the app I’m developing. ➡️ The problem: My app plays continuous audio in both foreground and background states. If the user starts recording video using the iOS Camera app, the app’s audio — still playing in the background — gets captured in the video — obviously an unintended behavior. Yes, the user could stop the app manually before starting the video recording, but that can’t be guaranteed. As a developer, I need a way to stop the app’s audio before the video recording begins. So far, I haven’t found a reliable way to detect when video recording starts if ‘Allow Audio Playback’ is ON. ➡️ What I’ve tried: — AVAudioSession.interruptionNotification → doesn’t fire — devicesChangedEventStream → not triggered I don’t want to request mic permission (app doesn’t use mic). also, disabling the app from playing audio in the background isn’t an option as it is a crucial part of the user experience ➡️ What I need: A reliable, supported way to detect when the Camera app begins video recording, without requiring mic access — so I can stop audio and avoid unintentional overlap with the user’s recordings. Any official guidance, workarounds, or AVFoundation techniques would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
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268
Aug ’25