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?

In my app I use AVAssetReaderTrackOutput to extract PCM audio from a user-provided video or audio file and display it as a waveform. Recently a user reported that the waveform is not in sync with his video, and after receiving the video I noticed that the waveform is in fact double as long as the video duration, i.e. it shows the audio in slow-motion, so to speak. Until now I was using CMFormatDescription.audioStreamBasicDescription.mSampleRate which for this particular user video returns 22'050. But in this case it seems that this value is wrong... because the audio file has two audio channels with different sample rates, as returned by CMFormatDescription.audioFormatList.map({ $0.mASBD.mSampleRate }) The first channel has a sample rate of 44'100, the second one 22'050. If I use the first sample rate, the waveform is perfectly in sync with the video. The problem is given by the fact that the ratio between the audio data length and the sample rate multiplied by the audio duration is 8, double the ratio for the first audio file (4). In the code below this ratio is given by Double(length) / (sampleRate * asset.duration.seconds) When commenting out the line with the sampleRate variable definition in the code below and uncommenting the following line, the ratios for both audio files are 4, which is the expected result. I would expect audioStreamBasicDescription to return the correct sample rate, i.e. the one used by AVAssetReaderTrackOutput, which (I think) somehow merges the stereo tracks. The documentation is sparse, and in particular it’s not documented whether the lower or higher sample rate is used; in this case, it seems like the higher one is used, but audioStreamBasicDescription for some reason returns the lower one. Does anybody know why this is the case or how I should extract the sample rate of the produced PCM audio data? Should I always take the higher one? I created FB19620455. let openPanel = NSOpenPanel() openPanel.allowedContentTypes = [.audiovisualContent] openPanel.runModal() let url = openPanel.urls[0] let asset = AVURLAsset(url: url) let assetTrack = asset.tracks(withMediaType: .audio)[0] let assetReader = try! AVAssetReader(asset: asset) let readerOutput = AVAssetReaderTrackOutput(track: assetTrack, outputSettings: [AVFormatIDKey: Int(kAudioFormatLinearPCM), AVLinearPCMBitDepthKey: 16, AVLinearPCMIsBigEndianKey: false, AVLinearPCMIsFloatKey: false, AVLinearPCMIsNonInterleaved: false]) readerOutput.alwaysCopiesSampleData = false assetReader.add(readerOutput) let formatDescriptions = assetTrack.formatDescriptions as! [CMFormatDescription] let sampleRate = formatDescriptions[0].audioStreamBasicDescription!.mSampleRate //let sampleRate = formatDescriptions[0].audioFormatList.map({ $0.mASBD.mSampleRate }).max()! print(formatDescriptions[0].audioStreamBasicDescription!.mSampleRate) print(formatDescriptions[0].audioFormatList.map({ $0.mASBD.mSampleRate })) if !assetReader.startReading() { preconditionFailure() } var length = 0 while assetReader.status == .reading { guard let sampleBuffer = readerOutput.copyNextSampleBuffer(), let blockBuffer = sampleBuffer.dataBuffer else { break } length += blockBuffer.dataLength } print(Double(length) / (sampleRate * asset.duration.seconds))

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?

I’m trying to build a playlist editor on macOS. I can create playlists via the Apple Music HTTP API, but DELETE always returns 401 even immediately after creation with the same tokens. Minimal repro: #!/usr/bin/env bash set -euo pipefail BASE_URL="https://api.music.apple.com/v1" PLAYLIST_NAME="${PLAYLIST_NAME:-blah}" : "${APPLE_MUSIC_DEV_TOKEN:?}" : "${APPLE_MUSIC_USER_TOKEN:?}" create_body="$(mktemp)" delete_body="$(mktemp)" trap 'rm -f "$create_body" "$delete_body"' EXIT curl -sS --compressed -o "$create_body" -w "Create status: %{http_code}\n" \ -X POST "${BASE_URL}/me/library/playlists" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer ${APPLE_MUSIC_DEV_TOKEN}" \ -H "Music-User-Token: ${APPLE_MUSIC_USER_TOKEN}" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d "{\"attributes\":{\"name\":\"${PLAYLIST_NAME}\"}}" playlist_id="$(python3 - "$create_body" <<'PY' import json, sys with open(sys.argv[1], "r", encoding="utf-8") as f: data = json.load(f) print(data["data"][0]["id"]) PY )" curl -sS --compressed -o "$delete_body" -w "Delete status: %{http_code}\n" \ -X DELETE "${BASE_URL}/me/library/playlists/${playlist_id}" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer ${APPLE_MUSIC_DEV_TOKEN}" \ -H "Music-User-Token: ${APPLE_MUSIC_USER_TOKEN}" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" I capture the response bodies like this: cat "$create_body" cat "$delete_body" Result: Create: 201 Delete: 401 I also checked the latest macOS SDK’s MusicKit interfaces and MusicLibrary.createPlaylist/edit/add(to:) are marked @available(macOS, unavailable), so I can’t create/ delete via MusicKit on macOS either. Question: How can I implement a playlist editor on macOS (create/delete/modify) if: MusicKit write APIs are unavailable on macOS, and The HTTP API can create but DELETE returns 401? Any guidance or official workaround would be hugely appreciated.

Hello, I have a CarPlay Navigation app and utilize the AVSpeechSynthesizer to speak directions to a user. Everything works great on my CarPlay simulator as well as when plugged into my GMC truck. However, I found out yesterday that one of my users with a Ford truck the audio would cut in an out. After much troubleshooting, I was able to replicate this on my own truck when using Bluetooth to connect to CarPlay. My user was also utilizing Bluetooth. Has anyone else experienced this? Is there a fix to the problem? import SwiftUI import AVFoundation class TextToSpeechService: NSObject, ObservableObject, AVSpeechSynthesizerDelegate { private var speechSynthesizer = AVSpeechSynthesizer() static let shared = TextToSpeechService() override init() { super.init() speechSynthesizer.delegate = self } func configureAudioSession() { speechSynthesizer.delegate = self do { try AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().setCategory(.playback, mode: .voicePrompt, options: [.mixWithOthers, .allowBluetooth]) } catch { print("Failed to set audio session category: \(error.localizedDescription)") } } func speak(_ text: String) { Task(priority: .high) { let speechUtterance = AVSpeechUtterance(string: text) speechUtterance.voice = AVSpeechSynthesisVoice(language: AVSpeechSynthesisVoice.currentLanguageCode()) try AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().setActive(true, options: .notifyOthersOnDeactivation) speechSynthesizer.speak(speechUtterance) } } func speechSynthesizer(_ synthesizer: AVSpeechSynthesizer, didFinish utterance: AVSpeechUtterance) { Task { stopSpeech() try AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().setActive(false) } } func stopSpeech() { speechSynthesizer.stopSpeaking(at: .immediate) } }

I am developing an app that plays HLS audio. When using AVPlayerItem with AVURLAsset, can AVAssetResourceLoaderDelegate correctly handle HLS segments? My goal is to use AVAssetResourceLoaderDelegate to add authentication HTTP headers when accessing HLS .m3u8 and .ts files. I can successfully download the files, but playback fails with errors. Specifically, I am observing the following cases: A. AVAssetResourceLoaderDelegate is canceled, and CoreMediaErrorDomain -12881 occurs In NSURLConnectionDataDelegate’s didReceiveResponse method, set contentInformationRequest In didReceiveData, call dataRequest respondWithData resourceLoader didCancelLoadingRequest is called CoreMediaErrorDomain -12881 occurs B. CoreMediaErrorDomain -12881 occurs In NSURLConnectionDataDelegate’s didReceiveResponse method, set contentInformationRequest In connection didReceiveData, buffer all received data until the end In connectionDidFinishLoading, pass the buffered data to respondWithData Call loadingRequest finishLoading CoreMediaErrorDomain -12881 occurs In both cases, dataRequest.requestsAllDataToEndOfResource is YES. For this use case, I am not using AVURLAssetHTTPHeaderFieldsKey because I need to apply the most up-to-date authentication data at the moment each file is accessed. I would appreciate any advice or suggestions you might have. Thank you in advance!

AVAudioFormat has no Swift concurrency annotations but the documentation states "Instances of this class are immutable." This made me always assume it was safe to pass AVAudioFormat instances around. Is this the case? If so can it be marked as Sendable? Am I missing something?

Hello, I have an iOS camera app that captures exposure brackets and performs custom HDR processing. On iOS 26, I’m observing a visual difference between: a single photo captured at –2 EV, and the –2 EV frame from an exposure bracket (–2 / 0 / +2 EV). On iOS 26: The single –2 EV image looks natural and consistent. The –2 EV image from the bracket appears clamped / distorted, most noticeably in high dynamic range scenes (highlight compression and loss of detail). On iOS 18, both approaches produce visually identical and correct –2 EV images. The issue only appears for bracketed captures on iOS 26. Attachments (examples) iOS 26 Single capture –2 EV (JPEG): /Users/danilobudimir/Downloads/ios26SingleImage/JPEG image-4006-8B77-51-0.jpeg Single capture –2 EV — Capture report (dumped settings): /Users/danilobudimir/Downloads/ios26SingleImage/UnderExposureDebug_CaptureReport_2026-01-09T15-59-20Z.md Bracket capture –2 EV frame (JPEG): /Users/danilobudimir/Downloads/bracket_iOS26/JPEG image-45CE-9793-A5-0.jpeg Bracket capture — Capture report (dumped settings): /Users/danilobudimir/Downloads/bracket_iOS26/UnderExposureDebug_CaptureReport_2026-01-09T15-55-42Z.md iOS 18 Single capture –2 EV (JPEG): /Users/danilobudimir/Downloads/ios18SingleImage/JPEG image-47FD-AF73-28-0.jpeg Single capture –2 EV — Capture report: /Users/danilobudimir/Downloads/ios18SingleImage/UnderExposureDebug_CaptureReport_2026-01-09T16-25-27Z.md Bracket capture — –2 EV frame (JPEG): /Users/danilobudimir/Downloads/bracket_iOS18/JPEG image-4A4C-9E93-46-0.jpeg Bracket capture — Capture report: /Users/danilobudimir/Downloads/bracket_iOS18/UnderExposureDebug_CaptureReport_2026-01-09T16-27-23Z.md Question Is there any new behavior in iOS 26 AVFoundation related to: AVCapturePhotoBracketSettings, tone mapping / HDR preprocessing, or internal image processing applied specifically to bracketed frames? Is there a new flag, format requirement or opt-out mechanism required to preserve linear underexposed frames in exposure brackets?

I noticed that AVSampleBufferDisplayLayerContentLayer is not released when the AVSampleBufferDisplayLayer is removed and released. It is possible to reproduce the issue with the simple code: import AVFoundation import UIKit class ViewController: UIViewController { var displayBufferLayer: AVSampleBufferDisplayLayer? override func viewDidLoad() { super.viewDidLoad() let displayBufferLayer = AVSampleBufferDisplayLayer() displayBufferLayer.videoGravity = .resizeAspectFill displayBufferLayer.frame = view.bounds view.layer.insertSublayer(displayBufferLayer, at: 0) self.displayBufferLayer = displayBufferLayer DispatchQueue.main.asyncAfter(deadline: .now() + 1) { self.displayBufferLayer?.flush() self.displayBufferLayer?.removeFromSuperlayer() self.displayBufferLayer = nil } } } In my real project I have mutliple AVSampleBufferDisplayLayer created and removed in different view controllers, this is problematic because the amount of leaked AVSampleBufferDisplayLayerContentLayer keeps increasing. I wonder that maybe I should use a pool of AVSampleBufferDisplayLayer and reuse them, however I'm slightly afraid that this can also lead to strange bugs. Edit: It doesn't cause leaks on iOS 18 device but leaks on iPad Pro, iOS 17.5.1

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 ?

When using AVSampleBufferDisplayLayer to play uncompressed H.264 and H.265 video with B-frames more than 7, frame drops occur. The more B-frames there are, the more noticeable the frame drops become, for example 15 bframes. Use FFmpeg to transcode a video file with visible timestamps and frame numbers (x264 or x265 ): ffmpeg -i test.mp4 -vf "drawtext=fontsize=45:text=%{pts} %{n}:y=400" -c:v libx264 -x264-params "bframes=15:b-adapt=0" -crf 30 -y x264_bf15.mp4 ffmpeg -i test.mp4 -vf "drawtext=fontsize=45:text=%{pts} %{n}:y=400" -c:v libx265 -x265-params "bframes=15:b-adapt=0" -crf 30 -y x265_bf15.mp4 Use the demo player from this repository to reproduce the issue: https://github.com/msfrms/CustomPlayer frame drops can be observed. And following log can be found in devices console. mediaserverd <<<< IQ-CA >>>> piqca_gmstats_dump: FIQCA(0x1266f4000) recent frames: enqueued: 184, displayed: 138, dropped: 42, flushed: 0, evicted: 3, >16ms late: 2 PS. I was using iphone11 iOS14.6, to replay this issue. May I ask why frame drops occur in this case? Is there any configuration or API usage change that could help fix the frame drop issue? Many thanks!

Hello, As far as I know and in all of my testing there is no way for a user or a developer to change the frame rate of the video output on iPadOS. If you connect an iPad via a USB Hub or a USB to HDMI Adaptor and then connect it to an external monitor it will output at 59.94fps. I have a video app where a user monitors live video at 25fps and 30fps, they often output to an external display and there are times when the external display will stutter due to the mismatch in frame rate, ie. using 25fps and outputting at 59.94fps. I thought it was impossible to change the video output frame rate, then in V3.1 of the Blackmagic Camera App I saw an interesting change in their release notes: ‘Support for HDMI Monitoring at Sensor Rate and Resolution’ This means there is some way to modify it, not sure if this is done via a Private API that Apple has allowed Blackmagic to use. If so, how can we access this or is there a way to enable this that is undocumented? Thanks!

Hello, I am developing a custom player SDK using AVPlayer to support HLS and LL-HLS live streaming. I have some questions about the internal logic of AVPlayer regarding ABR, as this information is not explicitly covered in the documentation. ABR Switching Logic: Does AVPlayer trigger bitrate switching primarily based on stall occurrences (buffer starvation)? I am curious if the switching logic is reactive to stalls or if it proactively switches to prevent them based on throughput estimation. Developer Controls for ABR: To influence or control the ABR selection, are preferredPeakBitRate and preferredForwardBufferDuration the only properties available to developers? Are there any other recommended APIs to assist with ABR decisions? Thank you for your help.

I'm receiving output from avcapturesession and capturing an image using Vision, but the image is output in landscape orientation instead of portrait. Even when I set the orientation to up in ciimage, cgimage, and uiimage, the image is still output in landscape orientation. On iPhones 16 and below, the image is output in portrait orientation. But on iPhones 17 and above, the image is output in landscape orientation. Please help.

Hello Apple team and developer community, I am preparing a visionOS app for a fair environment, where we want to automatically stream the current experience to a nearby monitor via AirPlay, without requiring guests or staff to manually interact with the Control Center or AirPlay pickers all the time. The goal is to provide a smooth, frictionless setup so attendees can focus on the demo, not the configuration. Feature Request: A supported API or method to programmatically start/stop AirPlay video streaming (mirroring or external playback) from within a visionOS app, allowing the current experience to be instantly displayed on an external monitor or Apple TV for the audience. Context & Rationale: In a trade fair or exhibition setting, rapid guest turnaround and minimal staff intervention are crucial. Having to manually guide each visitor through AirPlay setup is impractical. As I understood, AVRoutePickerView can be used for this on iOS/macOS, but this is not available in visionOS. Enabling similar automated streaming on visionOS would make the device far more suitable for live demos and public showcases. Questions: Are there any supported workarounds or best practices for enabling automated screen streaming or AirPlay initiation on visionOS in public demo environments that I missed? Is Apple considering adding programmatic AirPlay control or accessibility features to support such use cases in future visionOS releases? Thank you for considering this request! If there are recommended patterns, entitlements, or accessibility solutions we could explore for trade fair scenarios, your guidance would be greatly appreciated. Best regards, Julian Zürn - IPI, HS Kempten

Looking to implement to UI to tell the user to clean their lens in our app. Implemented the KVO for the cameraLensSmudgeDetectionStatus but I'm having issues reliably triggering it in, both in our app and the main camera app. Tried to get inventive by putting tupperware over the lens, but I think the model driving this or the LiDAR sensor might be smart enough to detect there is something close to the lens. Is there any way to trigger this change in a similar way we can trigger thermal changes in debug? Thanks.

I'm adopting Liquid Glass in iOS 26, when I try to test VNDocumentCameraViewController with document scanning after Liquid Glass enabled, there's a crash just after a photo is taken in VNDocumentCameraViewController, here's the screenshot when it crashed The exception output in XCode console is this: *** Terminating app due to uncaught exception 'NSInternalInconsistencyException', reason: 'Layout requested for visible navigation bar, <UINavigationBar: 0x1240bde00; frame = (0 117; 390 54); opaque = NO; tintColor = UIExtendedSRGBColorSpace 1 1 0 1; layer = <CALayer: 0x120c21e60>> standardAppearance=0x12407b900 scrollEdgeAppearance=0x12407bb80 compactAppearance=0x12407b880 no-scroll-edge-support, when the top item belongs to a different navigation bar. topItem = <UINavigationItem: 0x1240bd800> style=navigator leftBarButtonItems=0x123d4e5f0 rightBarButtonItems=0x123d4d5a0, navigation bar = <UINavigationBar: 0x107b9ad00; frame = (0 47; 390 54); opaque = NO; autoresize = W; tintColor = UIExtendedSRGBColorSpace 1 1 0 1; layer = <CALayer: 0x120c20150>> delegate=0x10a805200 standardAppearance=0x107b2c300 scrollEdgeAppearance=0x107b2c280 compactAppearance=0x107b2c100, possibly from a client attempt to nest wrapped navigation controllers.' *** First throw call stack: (0x18e1db994 0x18b0f5814 0x18c092aa0 0x193b18660 0x193a7d540 0x193a7e020 0x1953ec4a0 0x1943b7d78 0x18ed83420 0x18ed82f74 0x18eb83134 0x18eb44c10 0x18eb70bc4 0x18eb7e74c 0x193ac8cd0 0x193ac8c04 0x193ad6afc 0x193ad5f8c 0x27b456560 0x18e12c4cc 0x18e15c0b0 0x18e15bfd8 0x18e133c1c 0x18e132a6c 0x22ed54498 0x193af6ba4 0x193a9fa78 0x193bcb68c 0x102cc2718 0x102cc2688 0x102cc2794 0x18b14ae28) libc++abi: terminating due to uncaught exception of type NSException

I'm writing a simple app for iOS and I'd like to be able to do some text to speech in it. I have a basic audio manager class with a "speak" function: import Foundation import AVFoundation class AudioManager { static let shared = AudioManager() var audioPlayer: AVAudioPlayer? var isPlaying: Bool { return audioPlayer?.isPlaying ?? false } var playbackPosition: TimeInterval = 0 func playSound(named name: String) { guard let url = Bundle.main.url(forResource: name, withExtension: "mp3") else { print("Sound file not found") return } do { if audioPlayer == nil || !isPlaying { audioPlayer = try AVAudioPlayer(contentsOf: url) audioPlayer?.currentTime = playbackPosition audioPlayer?.prepareToPlay() audioPlayer?.play() } else { print("Sound is already playing") } } catch { print("Error playing sound: \(error.localizedDescription)") } } func stopSound() { if let player = audioPlayer { playbackPosition = player.currentTime player.stop() } } func speak(text: String) { let synthesizer = AVSpeechSynthesizer() let utterance = AVSpeechUtterance(string: text) utterance.voice = AVSpeechSynthesisVoice(language: "en-GB") synthesizer.speak(utterance) } } And my app shows text in a ScrollView: ScrollView { Text(self.description) .padding() .foregroundColor(.black) .font(.headline) .background(Color.gray.opacity(0)) }.onAppear { AudioManager.shared.speak(text: self.description) } However, the text doesn't get read out (in the simulator). I see some output in the console: Error fetching voices: Swift.DecodingError.dataCorrupted(Swift.DecodingError.Context(codingPath: [], debugDescription: "Invalid container metadata for _UnkeyedDecodingContainer, found keyedGraphEncodingNodeID", underlyingError: nil)). Using fallback voices. I'm probably doing something wrong here, but not sure what.

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.

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.